EURObiZ Japan February 2011

Come y with me Q&A with Shinichi Nishikubo, president of Skymark Airlines

Shinichi Nishikubo Skymark Airlines president and CEO

ALSO INSIDE //

WHISKY ROUNDTABLE

The good stuff goes from strength to strength

OPERA SOFTWARE Access the cloud

02

2011

the magaZine of the european business council in Japan / the european (eu) chamber of commerce in Japan

Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert

8 FOCUS 8 Hard to swallow Tariff and non-tariff barriers mean that only 3% of the alcohol drunk in Japan is from Europe.

By Rob Goss

16 Roundtable: the good stuff Scotch in Japan goes from strength to strength.

By Geoff Botting

24 App-ing your game New devices are levelling the playing field for games and applications in Japan, say European developers. By Andy Sharp

CHAMBER SPOTLIGHT 2

February 2011

28 Despite economic turmoil back home, The Icelandic Chamber of Commerce in Japan is thriving

1638 1454 Cover photograph Benjamin Parks

COLUMNS 7 From the Editor 7 Inbox – your letters 14 Q&A David McNeill interviews Shinichi Nishikubo, president and CEO of Skymark Airlines.

22 EBC committee schedule 23 Executive Notes

aim is “healthy business in a healthy society”. By Geoff Botting.

49 Upcoming Events

34 Industry Experts

51 Shop Window

Hospitality

37 Event Report The Economist Conferences Japan Summit 2010 discussed some of Japan’s most pressing challenges.

Dan Slater of the Economist Corporate Networks shares stories of success and failure from the recent recession.

38 Culture Shock

30 Investing in Japan

41 Green Biz

Internet browsers made by Norway’s Opera Software International AS run on products ranging from the Nintendo DSi to in-car entertainment systems.

Julian Ryall talks to professional manga writer, Sean Michael Wilson.

The E-idea awards aim to raise awareness of climate change by harnessing the entrepreneurial talents of young businesspeople, reports Christopher S Thomas.

32 In Committee

43 Who’s Who Directory

The Sustainable Development Committee’s

HR and Recruitment Consulting

Europe and Japan business-related events.

Fewer weddings are taking place in Japan, but more money is being spent.

52 EBC Personality Michael Loefflad is president of Wuerth Japan and chairman of the European Training Programme alumni network.

54 Lens Flair The art of yabusame horseback archery is around 1,000 years old.

56 Work Place Jordan Searle is business development manager at ECCO Japan.

The Mission of the European Business Council To promote an impediment-free environment for European business in Japan.

February 2011

3

Publisher Vickie Paradise Green

European Business Council in Japan (EBC)

paradise@paradigm.co.jp

The European (EU) Chamber of Commerce in Japan

Editor-in-chief Tony McNicol

The EBC is the trade policy arm of the seventeen European national chamber of commerce and business associations in Japan

tonymcnicol@paradigm.co.jp

Senior Editor David Umeda

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Published by Paradigm 4-18-12 Takanawa, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan 108-0074 Tel: 03-5447-8831 Fax: 03-5447-8832 www.paradigm.co.jp Published monthly in Tokyo. All rights reserved.

The views and opinions expressed herein (other than editorials by the EBC ) are solely the opinions and views of their authors. The EBC is not responsible or liable for any portions thereof.

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Subscription rates are: one year ¥9,000; two years ¥15,000; three years ¥22,000. ¥800 per copy. Rates include domestic postage or surface postage for overseas subscribers. Add ¥7,500 per year if overseas airmail is preferred. Please allow eight weeks for changes of address to take effect. Subscription requests should be sent to eurobiz@paradigm.co.jp If you prefer not to receive this magazine, and for all matters related to distribution, please send an email to eurobiz@paradigm.co.jp EURObiZ Japan welcomes story ideas from readers and proposals from writers and photographers. Letters to the editor may be edited for length and style.

Big in Japan: Kit Kats, U-karu corn puffs and koala-shaped chocolate biscuits.

Contributors andy sharp writes about about European iPhone and iPad application developers, page 24

Andy is an independent journalist and translator based in Tokyo. He regularly contributes business and current affairs

Geoff is a Canadian who has worked in Japan for the past two decades. A former newspaper and wire service reporter and copyeditor, he now works freelance out of his lair in Nakano ward, Tokyo.

“I was surprised by the attitude of Scotch whisky industry representatives to the aggressive marketing campaigns now being waged in Japan by the local distillers. The efforts mainly concern the “highball”, lowpriced whisky mixed with soda and perhaps ice or lemon. Rather than a threat, the trend

david umeda compiles the chamber events listing, page 49

Tel: +81 (0)3 5228 1820 Fax: +81 (0)3 5228 1830 W W W. E C O V I S . C O . J P

Chairman Tommy kullberg

Creative Director Richard Grehan

David has been senior editor at Paradigm since 1999, and previously was

articles to such publications as The Diplomat and JAL’s in-flight magazine, Skyward. He was a staff writer for The Daily Yomiuri for four years following spells working in the video game and semiconductor industries.

“I played all the games mentioned in the story on my iPhone. They were so much fun that I found myself shopping in the Apple App Store. And, as a journalist, I’m also now considering splashing out on an iPad so I can use iA’s Writer application.”

geoff botting moderates a whisky industry roundtable, page 16 is viewed by the Scotch industry as a boon for their own business, as it is introducing a younger generation of consumers to the rather more esoteric pleasures of fine whisky.”

communications manager at the Tokyo American Club. He first came to Japan back in 1963 as a boy soprano in the famed Mitchell Singing Boys on the last leg of a six-month world tour.

“Keeping in touch with the EBC member chambers for the Upcoming Events column is a great way to appreciate how doing business in Japan requires sharing time and knowledge.”

FRoM TH E EDIToR

Sputnik moments Barack Obama recently described the difficult situation facing the United States as a “Sputnik moment”. In 1957, with cold war rivalry at its height, the USSR stunned the US with the world’s first satellite launch, forcing Americans to redouble their efforts and leading to the establishment of NASA. Could this be Japan’s “Sputnik moment”? Already having dropped to the status of third-largest economy by GDP behind China, this January Japan had the further indignity of its Standard & Poor’s debt rating being downgraded – ironically, to the same level as its giant neighbour.

Can Japan’s leaders seize the moment and start rebuilding the nation’s finances? Prime Minister Kan has now pledged to launch official FTA negotiations with the EU by the end of this year. That’s a hopeful sign, but Japan and the EU are already playing catch-up.

In July, an EU-South Korea FTA will come into effect.

As well as the obvious benefits for EU business in Japan, an agreement on tariff and non-tariff barriers is a chance for the government to force domestic economic change, and a major hope for growth, without which, Japan has very little to look forward to. This issue’s frank interview with Shinichi Nishikubo, president of Skymark Airlines (page 14),

nexT 3 another brick in the mall Lego profile MonTh

inbox

3 boku robot

Selling EU robots to Japan

Tony McNicol Editor-in-Chief

tonymcnicol@paradigm.co.jp

3 ebc personality Nico Roehreke

Contact us via eurobiz@paradigm.co.jp or www.eurobiz.jp Letters to the editor may be edited for length and style.

Sweden and Japan I came across this article (Swedish chamber profile, April 2010) while collecting information for a term paper on the business relationship between Sweden and Japan. As an American who has lived and studied in Japan, and is now living in Sweden, I’ve had the unique opportunity to experience these seemingly opposite, yet surprisingly similar cultures first-hand. As a Master’s student of Marketing at Stockholm University’s School of Business, I’ve now been able to examine these cultures from a new perspective, specifically with regard to business and trade relations between Sweden and Japan.

This article makes an interesting point with regard to the increasing frugalness of Japanese society. This might explain why companies such as IKEA (whose previous attempts to enter

demonstrates just the kind of freethinking economic leadership Japan needs to pilot that change.

We have our usual cocktail of EU-Japan business stories in this issue too, including a roundtable on whisky imports, for which we borrowed the Park Hotel Tokyo’s High Society bar (page 16).

Alcohol imports in Japan are a good example of the untapped potential for EU-Japan trade. After all, we all know how fine European tipple is, and how much the Japanese like a drink. Why is only 3% of the alcohol drunk in Japan from Europe? Read the story on page 8 to find out.

hard work and the high value placed on relationships are a vital part of the business culture. It is no wonder that partnerships (such as Sony Ericsson) between Sweden and Japan are so successful.

I enjoyed reading this article, and look forward to future publications. the Japanese market ended in failure) finally achieved success.

In a country that places such high value on luxury brands it is almost amusing to imagine consumers today toting H&M purses instead of Louis Vuitton! I look forward to witnessing these changes myself on future visits.

It is also interesting to note that, despite the obvious cultural differences, within the business environment the amount of similarities are significantly greater.

In these highly innovative and technologically advanced societies,

krista Grenströmer, Stockholm, Sweden

Only 320 days until Christmas!

Thank you for the nice article about the Scandinavian Christmas Party (Festive fun, January 2011). Well captured!

Here’s hoping the article will encourage even more members to participate in this year’s party in December.

Clas G Bystedt, Scandinavian Christmas Party organizing Committee

February 2011

7

Hard to swallow

Tariff and non-tariff barriers mean that only 3% of the alcohol drunk in Japan is from Europe Text Rob Goss

8

February 2011

F o cus Defining the product One of the major barriers comes in the form of product definition. Definitions for alcoholic beverages in Japan are broad and don’t comply with internationally accepted product specifications.

In many cases high-quality imports receive the same labelling as lowerquality drinks.

Take beer, the most popular tipple in Japan. Japan has three beer beverage categories: beer, the lower quality happoshu (low-malt beer) and daisan biiru (beer-like alcohol made with malt alternatives). Beer and happoshu share a

¥220 per litre tax rate, while daisan has a considerably lower ¥178 per litre rate.

To be classified in the top beer category, Japanese liquor laws require a malt ratio of more than 67%. The regulations, partly inspired by Germany’s strict Reinheitsgebot beer purity law of 1516, also permit only a very limited range of ingredients to be used in brewing.

Hans Rubens, manager of the import beer sales and planning department at Konishi Brewing, a leading importer of Belgian beer, says you need look no further than one of his imports, Gouden Carolus Tripel, to see how product definition affects importers.

This heady 9% brew is regarded in international beer circles as a classic Belgian beer. But despite a malt ratio of 85%, in Japan it gets labelled as happoshu, not real beer, because in keeping with centuries-old Belgian brewing traditions it contains small amounts of coriander and orange peel (less than 0.005% of its total ingredients) to help balance its complex flavours.

Although Gouden comes with a premium price to match its quality,

Rubens says being hit with a happoshu label misleads Japanese consumers into thinking it is an inferior beer sold at an inflated price. To rub salt into the wound, it’s still taxed at the same ¥220per-litre rate as beer.

“Confusingly, Gouden Carolus Tripel’s similar sister beer, Classic, is deemed a beer in Japan,” Rubens says. “I don’t know of any other market with classification like this of its different beer categories.”

So what’s the solution?

“Consistency of product definitions with international norms is needed in Japan so consumers can know what they are buying,” says Robert Remnant, president of MHD Möet Hennessy Diageo and chair of the EBC liquor committee. And not just for beer.

“Some alcoholic products commonly consumed in Japan, such as whisky, cognac, vodka or tequila, are not traditional Japanese products. The current loose product definition standards in Japan on these mean that inferior quality products can be marketed to consumers.

February 2011

9

Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert

I

t should be a match made in heaven: Europe, the leading exporter of liquor worldwide, and Japan, one of the largest liquor markets in the world with annual sales of ¥6 trillion.

Yet the relationship is far from heavenly. Foreign liquor firms and importers face a toxic cocktail of tariff and non-tariff barriers. The result? In terms of value, foreign imports in 2009 accounted for a mere 3% of the total market.

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FOCUS

Tariffs are still applied to sparkling wine, still wine, sherry, port, and fortified wine

“Strict standards are needed to help consumers differentiate between what are fundamentally different products, and then be able to make informed decisions.”

Tax and tariffs But product definition is far from the only barrier. Competition is also hampered by Japan’s relatively high, and often complex, liquor taxes and import tariffs.

Although Japan has drastically reduced the tax rate on liquor that is not shochu (a spirit commonly made from grain or potatoes) over the past five years in compliance with a 1996 World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling, tariffs are still applied to sparkling wine, still wine, sherry, port and fortified wine.

For Thierry Cohen, president of Japan Europe Trading (JET), a company that specialises in importing Italian food and beverages, this poses a major problem for wine importers.

“Considering that 50% of wine sold in Japan retails for under ¥1,000, which means an ex-winery cost of around ¥180, then the ¥110 liquor tax and duty represents a 60% tax rate,” he says.

“This clearly favours continued dominance of Japanese produced alcoholic

drinks such as beer, sake and shochu, and is why the Japanese still only drink a mere two litres per capita of wine per year versus 45 litres per capita per year in Europe. There is definitely a need to put strong pressure on the government to change its tax scheme for imported wine,” Cohen says.

The current liquor tax regime is also fairly complicated by international standards, comprising 10 different tax rates applied to beers, wines and spirits.

“The different categories currently applied are certainly complex, raising questions on the rationale for the different categories and rates,” says Remnant.

“Simplifying the system [in line with international standards] would make it more transparent and would remove any concerns of protectionism, thus reinforcing Japan’s image as a trade partner.”

WTO rulings and international norms, as applied in the EU and United States, generally divide alcohol into separate categories for spirits, beer, wine and intermediate products.

“Other origin-specific products which are not substitutable with products in these categories could be classified separately. Reforming Japan’s system in such a way would help to ensure that similar products can compete fairly

with each other, ultimately benefiting Japanese consumers,” Remnant says.

European successes Yet despite the challenges, and in spite of the limited scale of imports, European liquor is still having relative success within Japan’s import market.

Data from Japanese liquor trade magazine Wands places Ireland (with Guinness and Kilkenny beer), Belgium and Germany among the top five beer exporters by volume to Japan. Although Ireland saw its volume here contract in 2010, Belgian beer saw a 13.5% increase in the volume of imports. Likewise Germany, with a 10% increase. And the industry outlook is particularly good for premium beer brands, which should spell good news for German, Belgian, British and Irish beers.

“All three beer categories have shown some decline over the past few years [together they now account for 51.8% of Japan’s liquor market, down from consistently more than 60% before 2008], but within the beer segment the premium niche is growing,” Rubens says. Konishi saw a 15% increase in the volume of its Belgian beer sales in 2010.

European wine is faring well, too, according to Japan customs data. By both volume and sales, France is by far February 2011

11

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FOCUS

Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert

Japan’s liquor laws are partly inspired by Germany’s strict Reinheitsgebot beer purity law of 1516

the biggest player in Japan’s bottled wine market, with a 38.1% market share by volume (55.3% by value). Italy is second, with an 18.4% share of the market by volume (14.9% by value).

Spain, Germany and Portugal are also in the top 10.

So what’s behind the successes?

JET’s Cohen says Italian wine has managed to maintain its near 20% market share, even against the rapid growth in low-cost (under ¥1,500 per bottle) Chilean imports, because of demand from the large number of Italian restaurants in Japan and the sheer variety of grapes (more than 250) Italy can offer. JET itself imports wine from all 20 regions of Italy, particularly Spumante Ferrari, Masi, Vietti, and Planeta, and can draw on 30 years’ experience importing wine in to Japan.

Konishi can put much of its success down to consumer education, such as organising Belgian beer and food events like the annual Belgian Beer Weekend at Roppongi Hills, and also in-store tastings across the country to try and build product awareness. This is especially important in a country where, although beer is still the most popular drink, consumers have limited

knowledge of non-lager beer.

Rubens says Konishi – which alongside Belgian brands, such as Duvel and most of the country’s famed trappist beers, imports Dutch brews and British ale – embraces the traditional and high-end image many Japanese have of European imports as part of its marketing strategy.

“We always brand Belgian beer as being ‘one shelf above’ standard Japanese premium beer, in terms of both price and quality. You don’t binge drink a ¥525 bottle of beer; we are looking at special moments of consumption,” Rubens says.

Success of course goes beyond marketing. Another beer importer, Trevor Allen, CEO of Ikon Europubs, says it’s also crucial in Japan to work on your distribution chain.

“Success is and has been difficult, but I would say building a distribution network is one of our advantages. Not many foreign-owned importers have as much breadth and depth across the distribution chain as we do,” Allen says.

“Secondly, having big brands and global names supplying us opens doors.”

Among the major brands Ikon Europubs imports, and which it also

serves at its BierVana restaurant-cumbar in Tokyo’s Nagatacho, are ales from Fuller’s and Wychwood Brewery in the United Kingdom, as well as the classic Czech pilsner Budějovický Budvar.

So what are the chances of more European successes being aided by a lowering of tax and definition barriers?

Remnant and the EBC liquor committee seem fairly upbeat.

“Japan has made significant improvements over the last 10 years on its tariff, taxation and licensing systems, making them compliant with its WTO obligations,” Remnant says.

“We believe that an opportunity to make further substantive progress exists in respect of each of the issues, particularly on product definitions, where there is a strong willingness from the industry to provide information and expertise to help bring the standards more into line with international norms.”

That would be worth raising a glass to.

Do you have an opinion on this topic you’d like to share?

Please post comments at www.eurobiz.jp or send them to eurobiz@paradigm.co.jp

February 2011

13

Come fly with me David McNeill meets Shinichi Nishikubo, president and CEO, Skymark Airlines Inc. Photo Benjamin Parks

14

February 2011

Q&A

Skymark Airlines is raising eyebrows with its plans to buy four Airbus A380s, the world’s largest passenger plane. It is part of an ambitious strategy to start a fare war in the international business market, particularly the key Tokyo-London route.

The purchase breaks a virtual embargo on the European aircraft maker in Japan, where Boeing reigns supreme. But Osaka-born entrepreneur and Skymark president Shinichi Nishikubo, who owns 49% of the airline, is not afraid to create some turbulence as he tries to turn his largely domestic company into a major global player.

Some analysts were stunned at your decision to opt for Airbus, and called it a historic moment in Japan. Is it?

I don’t think so. Airlines have to buy planes to do business. The A380 is about the same price and size as the Boeing 777 and also has four engines, so I don’t know why the decision has caused such a fuss.

I don’t understand the politics of Airbus versus Boeing. The core of Skymark’s fleet will still be Boeing 737s. We’re simply trying to build an airline business late in the game and what happened before us is not relevant. For me it’s about the same as choosing between a Mercedes and a BMW – they are both good cars.

So why opt for Airbus?

Apart from the news value, the A380 is a very smooth ride; it’s fast and at the technological cutting-edge. I’ve been a passenger and the attention to cabin comfort is very impressive. Once you’ve tried it, other planes pale in comparison.

That’s very important in Japan. If you filled the A380 with economy seats you could fit 853 people. We intend to put in half that amount, for the sake of comfort.

I admire Ryanair’s low-cost, no-frills approach. I’ve been on their planes. The people who ride those planes understand that they’re getting the service they pay for: for example, you can’t recline your seat or pull down a service tray. But you can’t adopt that approach with Japanese customers. They want good service.

There has also been surprise that your company is expanding from the domestic to the international market.

Others may have pigeonholed low-cost airlines as focusing only on domestic routes using a single type of aircraft, but we never thought like that at all.

We’re just concerned about how to grow our business. If you look at Ryanair and EasyJet in Europe, they’re covering a very wide area. Japan is far too small to sustain a business like that.

There is no competition in the international business routes here. A full-price ticket from Narita to London is ¥1.11 million. We can do that for half, between ¥200,000 and ¥500,000. (The A380s are scheduled to begin flying Tokyo – London from November 2014, competing against Virgin Atlantic Airways, British Airways, All Nippon Airways [ANA] and Japan Airlines [JAL]). Analysts think that our plans to buy Airbus are out of whack with our small size. But we don’t agree with that at all.

Whether we buy Airbus or Boeing, the risks are about the same.

You tend to explain these issues to the foreign but not the domestic media.

Hence, I suppose, your decision in December to give a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan. Why? The people who work for the Japanese media are not journalists, they’re salarymen. I prefer dealing with the foreign press.

Skymark has failed to get landing slots for international flights at Haneda Airport. Is that a disappointment?

Well, Haneda is convenient, and of course Narita International Airport is quite a long way from Tokyo. But JAL and ANA protect Haneda like it’s their own turf and worked very hard to strongly resist new entrants.

Skymark encountered fierce resistance in its attempts to fly from Haneda. A lot of effort was put into allocating as many landing slots as possible, for international flights, to other countries’ airlines so as to exclude us. Also, Haneda said the A380 couldn’t land during the daytime, because it creates so much turbulence. For those reasons, we chose Narita.

As regards the long-term future, we’ve decided to base ourselves in Narita and we haven’t decided yet whether to reapply for slots at Haneda. One of Narita’s runways is too short, but it’s due to be lengthened in November. We’ve no plans

A lot of effort was put into allocating as many [Haneda] landing slots as possible, for international flights, to other countries’ airlines so as to exclude us to lobby or enlist politicians in our cause.

We don’t get involved with politicians.

The Airbus purchase will cost a reported [by Bloomberg] $1.9 billion. You’ve ordered another 25 planes, in addition to the 18 in your existing fleet. Some observers worry that you’re overreaching – they note that Skymark’s share price fell nearly 6% in the two weeks after the Airbus announcement.

The actual cost of the four A380s is $1.5 billion. It’s true that many people expressed surprise at that news, but although we’re smaller than the two big Japanese airlines, we’re growing tremendously fast. Four years from now, we’ll probably have 40 to 50 aircraft in our fleet. Our business results are good – we estimate a profit of ¥10 billion this fiscal year and expect to top that next year. We hold ¥14 billion of cash reserves. And our share price has since bounced back. We’re not worried about financing.

What I can say with confidence is that our prices will be lower than those of the other airlines. And if we succeed, others will have no choice but to follow suit. Of course we understand there are risks. But I believe these are the kind of challenges that should be taken on by an airline company.

Do you have an opinion on this topic you’d like to share?

Please post comments at www.eurobiz.jp or send them to eurobiz@paradigm.co.jp

February 2011

15

Takayuki Suzuki, cocktail designer, director of the Suzuki Takayuki Bartenders School

Mike Murphy, whisky connoisseur and contributor to Whisky Magazine Japan.

Geoff Botting, moderator

Roundtable: The good stuff Scotch in Japan is going from strength to strength Moderated by Geoff Botting Photos Rob Gilhooly

W

hisky is on a roll. Global shipments of Scotch, that symbol of luxury and affluence, increased 17% in the first half of 2010, with particularly robust growth seen in the Asia-Pacific region. The previous year, Scotch exports headed for Japan grew in value by 3%, the first upturn since 2001.

Here, domestic whisky shipments have picked up since early last year, bringing to an end a three-decade decline. The turnaround is in large part thanks to a boom in low-priced highballs (whisky mixed with soda). Meanwhile, premium Japanese whiskies from Nikka and Yamazaki have been winning some of the whisky world’s highest accolades.

To hear about Japan’s whisky renaissance, EURObiZ sat down with four whisky experts in the HIGH SOCIETY bar at the Park Hotel Tokyo in Shiodome.

16

February 2011

FOCUS David Croll, CEO of Whisk-e Limited, a specialist importerdistributor of whiskies.

Frank Boyland, director for Asia at Scottish Development International

EURObiZ: How do you explain that one luxury product, namely single malt whisky, is enjoying increased sales in an otherwise gloomy world economy?

David Croll: The very expensive whiskies have held up because the people buying them tend to be people who have money even in a recession. Much of that market is driven by the bar trade.

Mike Murphy: The people I sit around the bar with are people with disposable income, but I’ve noticed that the age group is getting a lot younger than me, and I’m in my late forties. I’m drinking now with “kids” in their late twenties and early thirties.

DC: The Japanese market is hourglassshaped, with connoisseurs at the top buying a lot of the expensive stuff, and then right at the bottom of the market

here, you’ll walk into a discount store or retailer and see five litre plastic buckets of whisky. However, the middle market really hasn’t been there.

EURObiZ: What’s the most popular Scotch at HIGH SOCIETY? Takayuki Suzuki: Everything (laughs).

There are a lot different types of whiskies now compared to before. And the customers are a divided bunch as well. So there aren’t any particular favourites. It was different in years past, though, when there was just, say, Glenmorangie and a few others.

Nowadays, Japanese customers tend to like the sherry-cask whiskies.

EURObiZ: What about Irish whiskies?

DC: They’ve been doing very well overseas, particularly in the United States.

But in Japan, they remain a minor player.

EURObiZ: Has the boom in low-priced domestic whisky spilled over yet to the high-end specialty bars?

MM: Suntory is appealing to the type of person who goes to the izakaya (Japanese-style pub). These folks have tried the highball, and now they’re wondering, “What’s the next step?” So they go to a bar and ask for highballs with a bit of lemon, and so on. I think we’re seeing an upmarket shift.

TS: The hotel bars, like HIGH SOCIETY, are a different market, so we haven’t seen much of an effect. Still, the highball boom is taking place in izakaya, and more and more customers elsewhere are ordering highballs, and therefore whisky.

February 2011

17

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Established in the UK Since 1855

FOCUS

We have been doing pairings with sushi and sashimi David Croll

EURObiZ: Are Scotch importers worried that this trend might deprive them of market share?

Frank Boyland: Not at all. I think Suntory is doing a great, groundbreaking, very innovative thing; that is, they are educating palates. They are offering whisky in the form of highballs to young people at ¥400, making it very accessible. So then maybe these consumers will start trying something peatier or something out of a sherry cask, for example.

I think this is one of the most innovative things taking place in the world right now for whisky.

DC: Previously, people didn’t have the opportunity to drink whisky on a regular basis. Because it wasn’t in the izakaya, they had to go out to [Western-style] bars to find it.

FB: Whisky had also been associated with a kind of snobbishness, but the highball boom is removing the snob factor. The market for spirits throughout the Asia-Pacific region is about $47.5 billion, and whisky makes up about 40% of it. So there’s plenty of room for everybody.

mood. Bartenders these days have to be like sommeliers. They have to figure out what’s best for you from among 1,600 bottles.

DC: Anyway, most connoisseurs are not very brand loyal, and I think Mike is the perfect example of that. They love single-malt whisky, and they want to keep trying different ones.

MM: I’m not looking for brand; I’m looking for taste. When I go to a bar, I rarely have the same drink twice. One of the bars I go to has 1,600 different bottles of whisky. When I go in, the bartender will ask me how I’m feeling today and find the right whisky for my

EURObiZ: Some critics say that the Scotch distilleries have become too conservative or complacent, that they are not doing enough marketing to respond to today’s whisky trends. Is that true?

FB: I think there might have been a reluctance in the past. I can tell you, though, that in the 1960s when Glenfiddich tried the triangular-shaped green bottle, and then a year later opened the distillery to the public, everyone said, “My god, who would want to visit a distillery?! And who wants whisky in a bottle like that?!”

Well, now there’s a £30 million industry in Scotland of people visiting the Scotch distilleries, and Glenfiddich has since established itself as the number one malt whisky brand in the world.

DC: There was complacency in the past. But now everyone is aware of cask management (the careful

February 2011

19

St. Mary’s International School

56th St. Mary’s International Ball 2011

The St. Mary’s Association presents the highlight of the school social calendar on the evening of Friday, 11 March, at The Capitol Hotel Tokyu.

T

he 2010-2011 school year continues to be a most momentous one for St. Mary’s International School, a boys’ school founded in 1954. The new gym, art and music building, pool and cafeteria, and baseball field have been in full operation since August 2010. The new parking lot has opened and the Multi-Purpose Hall will be completed in April. It has been 40 years since our international school moved to its present location in the picturesque residential district of Setagaya. We have

nearly 950 boys in Readiness Programme through Grade 12, representing about 55 countries.

The theme for this year’s annual ball is “AbunDance”, and is for the benefit of the Multi-Purpose Hall fundraising project. The recently re-opened Capitol Hotel Tokyu provides the ideal setting for an evening of fine dining, dancing, and sparkling entertainment by our St. Mary’s International School bands and choirs, along with special guest music artists. In addition, there will be a Dream Auction and a Raffle, with exceptional

prizes donated by our very generous sponsors. A reception and welcome drink starts off the festivities at 6 p.m., followed by a full-course dinner with dessert, live entertainment, auction and raffle – and dance, dance, dance!

For further details and reservations, please contact the St. Mary’s International School O∑ce at Tel: 03-3709-3411, Fax: 03-3707-1950, or e-mail: ballrsvp2011@gmail.com

FoCUS

ONE OF THE BARS I GO TO HAS 1,600 differenT boTTles OF WHISKY … BARTENDERS THESE DAYS HAVE TO BE LIKE SOMMELIERS Mike Murphy

overseas markets. Are they a threat to Scotch in Japan?

TS: Japanese drinkers know that Japanese whisky can be high quality.

But if the price is comparable, they will go for Scotch. It’s like Seiko watches.

Everyone knows that the quality is really good, but if they’re looking for a watch in the ¥500,000 price range, then they’ll go for a different brand.

High-quality Japanese whisky here is generally ordered by foreign customers.

MM: On the other hand, the connoisseurs overseas really want the Japanese whiskies. When I’m online, I get requests from people who want me to get them a bottle of Hibiki or whatever.

selection of casks to age whisky with the aim of giving it a distinctive flavour), and a lot of distilleries now are coming out with second and third “expressions” that give completely different flavour profiles. That’s a lot more common now than four or five years ago.

EURobiZ: Part of the trend and renewed popularity for whisky stems from a new generation of whisky-base cocktails. What’s their secret?

TS: Whisky cocktails are extremely difficult. They have their own individuality, and it’s a real challenge to create a “story” to draw out the best points of the base whisky. With standard cocktails – whisky and Coke or whisky and tonic – it’s impossible to appreciate the flavour of the whisky.

MM: Can you imagine whisky paired with balsamic vinegar? That’s one of Suzuki-san’s creations.

EURoBIZ: one aspect of whisky’s renaissance is its pairing with food, often resulting in some highly unusual combinations. How about pairings with Japanese food?

DC: We have been doing pairings with sushi and sashimi. There are some that

don’t work, and some that are fantastic. One great one is engawa (halibut fin), a buttery white fish, with Caol Ila (a light Scotch with peaty, floral and peppery notes).

MM: The thing to be careful about is that Japanese dishes don’t have extreme flavours, so in order to pair it with a strong single malt, you’ve got to cut the alcohol down with water, soda, etc., or you’ll blow your taste buds.

EURobiZ: Premium Japanese whiskies have started to make inroads in some

EURobiZ: So what lies in store for whisky in Japan?

DC: For a long time, whisky has been, you could almost say, a dirty word.

It was something in which many people had no interest in at all. But, it’s become much more accepted and written about in the media.

Right now, the whisky industry in Japan has a really interesting opportunity to convert people from being highball drinkers to whisky drinkers. It’s not a tsunami yet, but it’s something that lots of people are aware of.

February 2011

21

c o mmittee schedule

Upcoming meetings R Animal Health

R Materials

R Sustainable Development

10 Feb, Thu, 14:00-, Off-site 27 May, Fri, 14:00-, Off-site

1 Feb, Tue, 17:30-, EBC 25 Apr, 17:30-, EBC

4 Feb, Fri, 09:00-, EBC 6 May, Fri, 09:00-, EBC

R Asset Management

R Medical Equipment

R Telecommunications Carriers

25 Mar, Fri, 12:00-, EBC 27 May, Fri, 12:00-, EBC

24 Feb, Thu, 14:00-, Off-site 24 Mar, Thu, 14:00-, Off-site 21 Apr, Thu, 14:00-, Off-site 26 May, Thu, 14:00-, Off-site 23 June, Thu, 14:00-, Off-site

17 Mar, Thu, 10:00-, EBC 16 June, Thu, 10:00-, EBC

R Automotive Components 17 Mar, Thu, 16:00-, EBC 30 June, Thu, 16:00-, EBC

R Environmental Technology 17 Feb, Thu, TBA, EBC

R Legal Services

R Railways

R Telecommunications Equipment 17 Mar, Thu, 10:00, EBC 16 June, Thu, 10:00-, EBC

8 Feb, Tue, 08:30-, EBC 5 Apr, Tue, 08:30-, EBC 7 June, Tue, 08:30-, EBC

17 Feb, Thu, 18:30-, Off-site 19 May, Thu, 18:30-, Off-site

Committee meeting dates are subject to change. Please contact the EBC secretariat for confirmation.

Tel: 03-3263-6222. E-mail: ebc@gol.com

EXECUTIVE NoTES

Fight club Executives share stories of success and failure from the recent financial crisis “daddy, what did you do during the great financial crisis?”

A group of country managers assembled last week for a module from the “Streetfighting MBA”, organised by the Economist Corporate Network, to answer this very question.

Three executives from three Western multinationals had been asked to speak on the topic of “Lessons from the Crisis: what did you do right, what did you do wrong?” The idea was to get the unvarnished truth about important calls general managers in Japan had made – and to assess whether those calls had been successful.

It was not an easy presentation for the executives to make, since it translated management challenges down to a very personal level. Indeed, one of the questions posed was whether country managers had done enough to justify their expat packages – a burden on corporate coffers these days.

All three speakers confessed to having to downsize up to 20% of their staff. Judging by audience reactions, this wasn’t unusual. The first speaker explained that he laid off administration staff rather than revenue-generating technicians.

His offer was fairly low-ball, at one month’s salary per year of salary (that’s low-ball by Japan standards, I suppose!).

He hired an outside consultant, whose advice was to get it all over within an afternoon. The selected individuals were brought in, and many signed the ready-made forms on the spot. However, one female employee went the Japanese equivalent of “postal”, and ended up suing the country manager all the way to the high court. However, given that costs are not awarded in Japan, according to the speaker, her payout was probably soaked up by her high legal costs.

In terms of the effect on staff morale, the speaker estimated that it went up. “I think I chose the under-performers, who were a burden on the team. So getting rid of them actually ended up improving productivity and morale,” he said. Of course, we have to take his word that he did actually select the right people.

This speaker raised an important point about “retaining the faith” of one’s senior management. If the senior manager in question happens to be the one that originally hired you, it helps. Conversely, if you are strangers to each other, mutual loyalty is weaker, and the senior manager may be tempted to make a scapegoat out of you.

All speakers agreed that it was extremely important to do scrupulous and frequent reporting, in strict accordance with company guidelines. Demonstrating that one can cleave to company policy without daily supervision is important to faraway head office, and can reap dividends.

In terms of target-setting in such a difficult environment,

THE SPEAKER INSISTED THAT AT LEAST SOME OF HIS PRODUCT BE cusToMised To The Japanese MarKeT, DESPITE THE EXTRA AND ONEROUS COST TO THE COMPANY one speaker made the interesting comment that he put his career on the line at one point. “Although targets are generally top-down, and it’s important not to be too negative, on some issues you have to show steel,” he said.

In particular, the speaker insisted that at least some of his product be customised to the Japanese market, despite the extra and onerous cost to the company. “Making tough calls like that is one reason you are well paid. Don’t do it often, but do it when it matters,” he said.

One classic problem often faced by multinationals occurred when cost cuts had to be made in Japan, despite losses originating in other countries or regions. This was not especially good for morale here.

A hotly debated item was the question of companywide salary cuts. One speaker, from an American company, thought this was an appalling idea; good staff would walk out the door, and poor workers would stay. However, a German company representative said it worked at his company. Perhaps this is a matter of European versus United States company cultures.

One speaker didn’t want to sound cold-blooded, but said it was important not to “waste a good crisis”. He said changes needed to be sustainable, such as controlling staff costs.

Symbolic measures like cutting newspaper subscriptions, entertainment and travel were stopgap measures at best.

All the speakers agreed that it has been a tough few years.

But having weathered the crisis, they felt that they had repaid the confidence of their boards, and were now professionally in an enhanced position.

dan slaTer Dan Slater is director of the Economist Corporate Network (www.corporatenetwork.com) in Tokyo, and you can reach him at danslater@economist.com.

February 2011

23

App-ing yo ur game

New devic es the playin are levelling g games and ďŹ eld for a in Japan, s pplications a developers y European Text AND Y

24

February 2011

SHARP

FoCUS tony mCniCoL

Alexis Gresoviac, Gameloft

tony mCniCoL

W

estern firms long fumbled for the key to the treasures of Japan’s tightly locked ¥300 billion video game market. But the 2008 launch of the iPhone here seems to have pried open the market and allowed innovative application makers, both start-ups and international players, to win over pernickety Japanese gamers.

Japan’s smart phone and tablet market is still relatively small. Apple is notoriously close-lipped on sales figures (and would not divulge data on applications), but the number of iPhones in Japan is estimated at between 3 million and 5 million, and of iPads at around 500,000 units.

Yet these portable devices have turned the market dynamic on its head, says Hawken King, founder of Dadako Studios. “You used to have to get into bed with a publisher and be a trusted developer for a platform [a computer

Hawken king, Dadako Studios Japan

or console on which games and other applications run].

“But [publishers] took massive royalties, leaving game companies with nothing. It was a self-destructive cycle,” the Briton says. “But now we have this very accessible market place, where it only costs $100 to become a registered developer and then it’s up to you.”

Since opening its Tokyo office in 2004, France’s Gameloft has become, by its reckoning, the biggest seller of iPhone game applications on the Japanese market.

Gameloft Managing Director Alexis Gresoviac has a good idea why. “Our smart phone game applications offer the same quality as games for handheld consoles such as the DS or the PSP, but at around ¥600 they are much cheaper,” the Frenchman says.

King’s Dadako Studios, founded in January 2010, is at the other end of the size spectrum. The Briton works with a single lead programmer and outside partners on applications such as its innovative Facemakr avatar creator.

Global downloads of the app were about 38,000 at the time of writing,

NOW WE HAVE THIS VERY ACCESSIBLE MARKET PLACE, WHERE iT only cosTs $100 TO BECOME A REGISTERED DEVELOPER AND THEN IT’S UP TO YOU Hawken king, Dadako Studios Japan

with about one-third of sales in Japan.

Guillaume Hansali, CEO of web development and consultancy firm Wizcorp, is another European innovator who has created a bang. Wizcorp’s Ka-boom! is an application within an iPhone application.

Described by Hansali as the first social augmented-reality game, Ka-boom! is hosted in the Sekai Camera application (a camera that uses GPS to provide live data on stores, restaurants and other things around you), and February 2011

25

Incorporated wizards

We grow innovation

www.wizcorp.jp

FOCUS

Web applications are the future … native applications are just a phase … sooner or later everything will run in browsers

TONY MCNICOL

Oliver Reichenstein, Information Architects (iA)

involves planting virtual bombs around the world to blowup other players. The game’s website shows that bombs have been dropped across the world, including some politically sensitive areas.

Hansali believes that Westerners have a mindset better geared to application development than their Japanese counterparts.

“Japanese are very good at doing one thing and doing it deeply. This fits the model of [conventional] games; when you make a game you make it for one use, one platform, maybe one type of device,” he says. “But applications are supposed to fit on different platforms, in different languages. You have to maintain and improve them all the time, and this is something Western people are good at.”

Yet it is not all fun and games.

Information Architects (iA) is a Zurichand Tokyo-based company known for its Web Trend Map (trustworthy internet names and domains plotted on the Tokyo Metro map) and news website development. But the passion of Oliver Reichenstein, its Swiss founder, for good writing has led to iA developing Writer, a minimalist writing application for the iPad.

“Professional journalists use simple text [editors]. These programs have no formatting functions and so they feel they can concentrate more easily.

They say [Microsoft] Word is too busy,” Reichenstein says. “I found that if you take away these functions, you take away a lot of the incitement for writer’s block.”

Reichenstein says that people have told him they would get an iPad even if Writer were the only application. Since going on sale on 20 October last year, the application has been selling about 500 units a day, and has been endorsed

by Stephen Fry, the renowned British wit and digital enthusiast.

Tokyo-based German tech writer Serkan Toto points out three barriers to success in the Japanese market: “Language, customer support in Japanese, and distribution; i.e., once the app is released in the Japanese App Store, how can developers reach out to local media or key influencers to create a buzz to make their product stand out?”

Another challenge is getting Apple’s seal of approval. Several developers interviewed for this story described Apple as almost omnipotent in its

ability to push applications.

But while Apple’s iPhone helped launch the smart phone in Japan, Google’s Android operating system is set to send it into orbit. Major mobile operators KDDI (au) and NTT DOCOMO are already installing Android as the operating system on their new smart phones.

Gameloft’s Gresoviac predicts that around 50 million phones here will operate on Android within the next couple of years. He also sees mobile applications as the future of gaming.

But others disagree.

“Web applications are the future,” iA’s Reichenstein says, adding that he feels native applications (those that run on the computer’s operating system) are just a phase, and that sooner or later everything will run in browsers such as Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari.

Hansali, however, is still weighing up the options. “We also believe in the web app. Native applications are fast, they have the best effects, the best graphics, but web apps are getting closer to them,” he says. “Do we try to get stronger on the native side, or on web applications?”

February 2011

27

The Icelandic Chamber of Commerce in Japan Casa Versole 501, 2-16-3 Higashi-shinbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-0021 Email: arni@atlantis-ltd.com

www.isccj.or.jp

ISCCJ Directors Chairman:

Mr Arni Pall Einarsson, Atlantis

Vice-Chairman:

Mr Kanji Ohashi, Grand Hyatt

Director:

Mr Michio Murata, Nishikawa Sangyo

Director:

Mr Fujiyasu Sakata, Viking

Director:

Mr Jun Watanabe, Maruha Nichiro

Honorary Chairman: Mr Stefan L. Stefansson, Icelandic Ambassador

Island nations

What do clean energy, tourism and seafood have in common?

They are, according to Arni Pall Einarsson, chairman of The Icelandic Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ISCCJ), the three “pillars” of Icelandic business.

The population of Iceland is just 320,000 and Einarsson estimates that 50 or so Icelanders live in Japan, many of them students. The chamber has 15 member companies, mostly Japanese, many of which are involved in the seafood trade.

Icelandic regulars on the Japanese dinner table include Greenland halibut, redfish and capelin (better known in Japan as shishamo). Einarsson’s own employer has a $250 million turnover business bringing Norwegian and Chilean Salmon, and farmed bluefin tuna, to Japan.

Other members of the ISCCJ include Nishikawa Sangyo, a bedding company and one of the biggest buyers of Icelandic duck down. Mori Hospitality Corporation/Grand Hyatt is

Reykjavik

NORWAY

SWEDEN

UK DENMARK IRELAND

Arni Pall Einarsson, chairman of The Icelandic Chamber of Commerce in Japan NETHERLANDS

28

GERMANY

February 2011 BELGIUM

POLA

C hamber S p o tlight

A 550kg northern bluefin tuna caught by Atlantis

represented in the chamber by its CEO and president Kanji Ohashi, who is the vice-chairman of the ISCCJ and an honorary consul for Iceland.

Something Japan and Iceland have in common – apart from being island nations and having a keen appreciation for fish – is that they are both geothermal hotspots. Yet, while Iceland has made extensive use of its renewable energy resources, Einarsson points out, Japan has not. Japan’s total geothermal energy usage is less than Iceland’s, despite a population 390 times larger.

“Geothermal has been forgotten in the quest for solar and wind energy,” says Einarsson. “There is an incredible amount of heat in the earth’s mantle which can be harnessed.” His country boasts one of the highest proportions of renewable energy in the world.

“Iceland is a cold place, but our houses are always warm, regardless of the weather,” he says. That’s thanks to proper insulation and geothermal water pumped into nearly every home.

Ironically, almost all of the geothermal power equipment in Iceland is made in

Japan. Hence, the ISCCJ’s membership includes power industry firms such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Fuji Electric Systems.

Due to its modest size, the ISCCJ has no staff of its own, but is run in close cooperation with the Icelandic embassy, occasionally using the embassy facilities for seminars. “Their role and support is essential,” stresses Einarsson. The Chamber was founded in January 2003, at the embassy, by the Icelandic Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Larger events are held in other venues, such as a recent seminar on geothermal energy which was held at the United Nations University. This particular event was in fact prepared and run by the Embassy of Iceland. Einarsson has been chairman of the chamber since 2009, when he was approached by the embassy. “It was an opportunity to do something interesting for Iceland,” he says.

Tourism between Iceland and Japan is limited, due to the geographical distance and the absence of direct flights.

But the number of Japanese tourists visiting Iceland has grown steadily to 10,000 per year. Popular attractions for Japanese include hot springs, glaciers, and the Aurora Borealis.

The global recession has been a catastrophe for Iceland, but Einarsson says that the effect on Icelandic business in Japan has been minimal. Regrettably, a few Japanese investors in the Icelandic boom “got their fingers very burnt”, but otherwise it is business as usual.

What has changed is Icelanders’ image of their country, says Einarsson.

“People were incredibly cocky and sure of themselves. They honestly thought the boom was based on business acumen, hard work and savvy. Of course, it all turned out to be a house of cards.

The image Icelanders have of their own ability and economy has taken a beating.

The global recession has been a catastrophe for Iceland, but Einarsson says that the effect on Icelandic business in Japan has been minimal “But we still believe in the quality of life in Iceland: our clean natural environment, high level of education, and democracy,” he says. “There are a lot of things that are still rock solid in Iceland.

We still have an incredible amount of sustainable natural resources.”

And, like his compatriots here, Einarsson is full of admiration for the business skills of the Japanese. “You understand why many of the biggest brand names in the world are Japanese,” he says. “Icelanders are a very hardworking, well-educated and strong people, but we have a lot to learn from Japan in terms of business, never mind craftsmanship and engineering.

“I’m always pretty gung-ho about Japan,” he says. Admittedly, Japan has major problems, but it is also “on the doorstep of the Chinese economic miracle”, and it has a very strong business relationship with both the United States and with Europe. Besides, it owns and operates some of the world’s biggest brand names and corporations.

“I don’t see any major boom in the foreseeable future, but I think Japan will remain strong,” says Einarsson. He believes that the modest growth of the Japanese economy in recent years is somewhat intentional. “The Japanese are very careful to avoid any sort of bubble,” he stresses. “They tried that in the 1980s and 1990s.”

February 2011

29

“Anything with a screen” Opera Software International AS Text and photo Tony McNicol

30

February 2011

I N V E ST I N G I N J A PA N

A

ccording to Tatsuki Tomita, country manager and vice president for Opera Software International AS, his Norwegian employer does “just one thing”: makes web browsers. In fact, those browsers are on more mobile phones than any other company’s, browser and its software is carried in devices ranging from the Nintendo DSi to in-car entertainment systems.

Opera was formed in 1994 as a research project of Norwegian telecommunications giant, Telenor. When Tomita joined in 2001, Opera had just 50 employees, mostly in Oslo.

Now it has more than 700 staff in 14 offices around the world, including the Japan office which 35-year-old Tomita heads.

The office here was set up in December 2004, but Tomita’s first encounter with Opera came several years before. At the time, he was studying for a business degree in Sapporo.

Then Opera didn’t have a browser that could display Japanese web pages, but Tomita was enthusiastically sending feedback on the English version to Norway. “I was just an ordinary user of the Opera browser,” he says.

Back in the early 2000s Japan’s mobile phone internet was well ahead of Europe’s and the US’s. “I had an idea that Opera should get into the mobile space,” recalls Tomita. He was introduced to someone in Opera’s business department by email. And in 2001 Tomita travelled to Oslo for a six-month trainee position, which was followed by a full-time role.

While still in Norway he helped launch a browser able to show Japanese characters. On finding users were reluctant to pay for the download by credit card, Tomita worked with a distributor to package the software for sale in shops. At one time approximately a million PC users in Japan were using Opera’s browser.

In 2004 he returned to Tokyo. At first, Opera’s Tokyo operation consisted of just Tomita and two other employees. “We actually started in my two-bedroom apartment,” he recalls.

“My wife wasn’t too happy about the whole setup.”

Not long after, Opera started producing browsers for game consoles such as the Nintendo DS and Wii – and for mobile phones. “We offered the first full-featured PC-type internet browser on a mobile phone,” says Tomita.

Today they are in their fourth office with more than 40 staff, and host a stream of software engineers seconded from Europe. Most KDDI phones use Opera browsers, as do the DS and Wii game consoles.

opera software international as 3 World HQ in Oslo, Norway 3 Japan office set up in December 2004 3 700 employees worldwide and 40 in Japan 3 Opera internet browsers are used by the Nintendo DS and Wii, mobile phones, and internet-connected TVs, among other devices

WE ACTUALLY STARTED THE COMPANY IN MY Two-bedrooM aparTMenT … MY WIFE WASN’T TOO HAPPY ABOUT THE WHOLE SETUP “To be honest, I think that we were lucky,” says Tomita.

He acknowledges the mobile phone market’s reputation for being particularly difficult to enter. “The timing was right. We had a good product, good partners and many people supporting us.”

Opera already has a “very high” share of the market for internet-connected TVs, a market Tomita believes will grow substantially. As well as just using TVs to display web pages, broadcasters are now looking to imbed web content in actual broadcasts – say make it easier for people to put comments about TV programmes on social networks while watching the programmes. Merging TV-shopping and e-commerce is another possibility.

Ironically, while the popularity of iPhone and Android phones has opened up the mobile communications market to foreign companies (see page 24 this issue), for Opera it has made life a little difficult. The iPhone comes with Apple’s Safari browser installed, and Android phones with Google’s Chrome.

“The competition is getting tougher, but then it has always been tough,” says a phlegmatic Tomita. Opera is used to being up against some of the world’s biggest software companies.

The company doesn’t write software from scratch in Japan, but adapts its products to the local market. Quality expectations are predictably high, with users demanding “complete reliability”, says Tomita. “Working with Japanese customers has definitely helped us improve our systems and qualitycontrol processes.”

The ongoing migration of web browsing to phones, game consoles and other non-PC devices has helped the company.

Browsers can be used in all sorts of interfaces, Tomita stresses. Possibilities include in-car entertainment systems, TVs, in-flight entertainment, even photocopiers and robots: “anything that has a screen,” in fact.

Another way to put it is that a browser is a tool to access the cloud (data and software stored as part of the internet). “[Our browsers] enable relatively dumb devices to be smarter,” says Tomita.

February 2011

31

Sustainable development// Healthy business in a healthy society Text GEoFF BoTTING

I

nside the Tokyo office of MIE PROJECT, an importer of organic and fair-trade food items, the shelves are neatly lined with jars and packages of sauces, jams and other products.

Right beside them are several stacks of books, most on the topic of the environment.

“I’m still learning about sustainable development, and I’m reading a lot about it,” explains Duco Delgorge, MIE PROJECT’s president and owner of the books.

Delgorge grabs a copy of The Blue Economy-10 Years, 100 Innovations, 100 Million Jobs, by Gunter Pauli. “This is on my must-read list. It basically says, ‘Let’s find examples from nature that we can copy. This fundamental concept makes sense to me – finding ways to mimic nature, rather than competing with it.”

Such an approach is food for thought for the Sustainable Development Committee, which Delgorge chairs.

Established in April 2010, it is one of the newest EBC committees.

But what exactly is sustainable 32

February 2011

DELGORGE STRESSES THAT MEMBERSHIP OF THE COMMITTEE IS open To anyone in The ebc development? The most frequently cited definition comes from the Brundtland Report of 1987, describing it as development that “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.

Why should businesses care about this approach? Ray Bremner, a fellow committee member and chairman of Unilever Japan, answers: “A business’s success depends on a society’s success.

You can’t have healthy businesses in societies that are unhealthy.”

For now, most of the committee members are in either consumer goods or construction. The EBC committees covering those industries, among others, have already advocated in favour of sustainable practices. But Delgorge

and others believe it is essential for the EBC to have a committee dedicated to what he calls “the defining issue of our time”.

“When other committees talk about sustainable development, they do so from their own sector’s point of view, whereas when we talk about it, it’s from a sustainable development point of view. That may seem like a subtle difference, but I think it is an important one.

“Because if you’re talking country to country from a macro perspective regarding something about which everyone is concerned, there might be a greater motivation to make the necessary changes than if it came from a specific sector request.”

Delgorge stresses that membership of the committee is open to anyone in the EBC. At the same time, he says the committee has no plans to impose its views on others. “I hate to impose myself on anyone,” he says. “I’m here to help carry forward an agenda that I’m personally passionate about, and I’m happy to work with anyone else who has that agenda.”

I n C o mmittee

The chairman is confident that the committee membership will grow as global environmental problems become more evident.

Asked about what the committee aims to achieve in the near future, Bremner says it hopes to convince the Japanese government and other authorities of the need to act quickly.

“Where there are barriers to things that are clearly an advantage to people – whether they’re regulatory barriers or consumer-habit barriers – we need to ask what everyone can do to try and take the best way forward. Thus, things that are good for the Japanese consumer and good for the world can take place or happen more quickly,” says Bremner, whose company owns some of the world’s best-known consumer brands, mainly in the fields of food, personal care and housekeeping.

Japan is a land of glaring contradictions when it comes to sustainable development. On one hand, the country boasts world-leading technologies in energy efficiency, and certain environment friendly practices and systems are

Sustainable development committee key advocacy issues k Raising awareness. The government should make a greater effort to raise awareness about sustainable development. k Organic food. Certification of organic food products should be streamlined, and tariffs on these products should be reduced. k Construction. The government should promote the construction of sustainable and green buildings, while the construction industry should make more use of energyconserving technologies from abroad. common. “The public transport system here is fantastic,” Delgorge notes.

Yet at the same time, unsustainable practices abound, such as excessive packaging and disposable chopsticks.

But nowhere is unsustainability more evident than in the construction industry. Due to inadequate insulation and single-pane windows, Japan’s office and

residential buildings leak huge amounts of energy.

In the EBC’s 2010 White Paper, the Sustainable Development Committee points out that up to 40% of Japan’s greenhouse-gas emissions come from buildings. Introducing standards requiring the use of energy-efficient materials and technologies would lead to a significant decline in that figure.

Delgorge’s interest in sustainable development started in 1992 after reading a book, Beyond the Limits, a follow up to the seminal Limits to Growth (1972), by Donnella Meadows, Jorgen Randers and Dennis Meadows.

“It was when I read this that I said one day I’d do something about sustainable development in my own small way.

Everyone has to find their own way,” he says, putting the book back alongside his tidy rows of organic products.

Do you have an opinion on this topic you’d like to share?

Please post comments at www.eurobiz.jp or send them to eurobiz@paradigm.co.jp

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industry experts | Hospitality

“As much as we work to be the preferred choice among Tokyo’s luxury hotels, we also strive to be a preferred employer”

For years, Japan has worked on attracting global travellers, with governmentsupported organisations spearheading campaigns to increase the annual number of foreign visitors and boost Japan’s position as a tourism nation.

The opening of the fourth runway last year at Haneda airport enabled the expansion of connections to gateway cities around the world and facilitated an increase in inbound foreign travellers thanks to the airport’s accessibility and proximity to metropolitan Tokyo.

Having enjoyed an increase in international travellers over the past year, Grand Hyatt Tokyo will continue to work to attract guests from overseas, with a focus on Asia, including mainland China, Hong Kong and Singapore, where the travel market is expanding significantly, as well as such emerging markets as the Middle East and Russia.

The MICE market is also a segment on which we will come to focus this year. Tokyo is a city known for its safe environment, thereby allowing people to visit free from many typical urban hindrances. Japan’s unique culture is also appealing to many visitors, combining traditional ancient history and a modern culture that is often in

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the vanguard of the latest trends. Also, Japan’s efficient transportation systems facilitate mobility. In order to effectively promote Tokyo as a destination, it remains crucial to collaborate with such organisations as the Japan National Tourism Organisation and the Tokyo Convention & Visitors Bureau, as well as attend international fairs, such as the International Luxury Travel Market and the Asia Luxury Travel Market.

The arrival of Chef Thomas Baehner as our new executive chef last year was a key milestone. His wealth of experience and creativity is taking our culinary level to new heights, evolving products while ensuring the identity of each restaurant. Our restaurants with outside terraces, a luxury amenity for restaurants in Tokyo, have shown impressive results. Meanwhile, The Oak Door and Maduro, our steakhouse and main bar, have made their mark on the culinary and entertainment map. The launch of the new wedding collection, “Voyage”, with its innovative “Urban”, “Classic” and “Nature” concepts, has had a fresh impact on the local industry.

As much as we work to be the preferred choice among Tokyo’s luxury hotels, we also strive to be a preferred

employer. Beyond the ability to envision the future, developing management capabilities make a difference. Our principle objective this year is to reinforce our management development programmes, including training, exchange programmes with sister hotels such as the Shanghai properties, and making full use of our benefit programmes.

Our main focus for the years to come is “People, People and People.”

Celebrating our eighth anniversary this year, Grand Hyatt Tokyo will continue to offer guests luxury accommodation and authentic hospitality.

The experience at our dynamic lifestyle destination is sure to leave a dramatic impression of style and luxury that offers high standards of service and an abundance of quality products, as acknowledged by even the most discerning guest.

Christophe Lorvo General Manager Grand Hyatt Tokyo 6-10-3 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0032 Tel: 03-4333-1234 tokyo.grand.hyatt.com

industry experts | Hospitality

“Compelling food and new discoveries on each visit”

Authenticity is a requirement when aiming to satisfy culinary tastes in the Japan market. That is why hotels such as ours cultivate relationships with chefs who are not only standouts on a global scale, but also sensitive to “local” preferences. Cuisine[s] Michel Troigros opened on 15 September 2006 inside the hotel, and is overseen by renowned chef Michel Troisgros, who has a longstanding relationship with the Hyatt Regency Tokyo.

For four consecutive years, the restaurant has earned two stars in the Michelin Guide Tokyo.

Tradition is another element that shapes the culinary arts here, where heritage helps define posterity. Michel is the third-generation owner-chef of La Maison Troisgros in Roanne, France, which has enjoyed a three-star rating in the Michelin Guide for more than four decades. Executive chef and director Lionel Beccat carries on the spirit of Troisgros’ vision in Tokyo, while incorporating cooking techniques from all over Japan that fashion local ingredients to complement the climate and seasonal characteristics.

In a city that boasts an abundance of restaurants, the need for distinctive marketing remains paramount. Attaching the plural form “[s]” to “cuisine” in the

restaurant name reflects chef Troisgros’ philosophy. He embraces diverse approaches to cooking, and a passion for sharing a profound culinary style that has been sculpted by the many inspiring dishes and ingredients he has encountered during his world travels.

In no other area of expertise does topography play a more essential role than inside the kitchen. Japan, like Europe, is blessed with fresh produce, fruits, meats, poultry and seafood.

Troisgros believes that his customers deserve only the finest treatment. To this end, only the freshest select ingredients from around the world are used, their rich flavours drawn out in his dishes.

A key strategy in Tokyo is developing loyalty among the most discerning diners. The menu strives to offer compelling food and new discoveries on each visit. In addition to lunch and dinner course menus, Cuisine[s] Michel Troisgros provides an à la carte menu featuring 20 selections, with a few popular standards that have been served since the opening.

The delicate flavours and purity of contemporary cuisine require appropriate pairing with fine French wines. The walkin cellar stores a continuously-updated selection of 230 wines under optimum conditions. There are wines of Burgundy,

six types each of rosés and blanc de blancs, 10 types of standard brand and three vintage champagnes, eight prestige cuvées, and digestifs, cognacs and eaux de vie.

Ambience must be a critical extension of a restaurant’s exceptional dishes.

Renowned designer Takashi Sugimoto, who has been responsible for designing many Hyatt hotels around the world, takes advantage of the restaurant’s ground floor location to incorporate views of the ever-changing seasons.

As is the case in cosmopolitan capitals the world over, the interior of Cuisine[s] Michel Troisgros strikes the delicate balance between indigenous and French themes, classic and contemporary elements.

Cuisine[s] Michel Troisgros Hyatt Regency Tokyo (1F) 2-7-2 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-0023 Tel: 03-3348-1234 www.troisgros.jp Restaurant Hours: 11:30-14:00/ 18:00-21:30 Closed on Wednesdays from January to November, except May 4, 2011

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Industry experts | Hospitality

“Market innovation takes advantage of a fully equipped resort, and brings a whole new dimension to a resort getaway”

Resort vacations respond to timeless urges. Vacationers seek paradise away from the routine of urban living.

Recreational activity and spas equate with good health. There is adventure diving below the ocean’s surface or trekking terrain. Romance is in the air from sunrise to sunset.

What often is overlooked when planning a getaway to a beach resort, however, is striking the proper balance.

After all, too much sun can spoil any idyllic holiday. That’s where the unique concept of Pacific Islands Club (PIC) enters the equation. Within 58,000m2 of beachfront property, PIC Saipan provides over 60 different types of sports and recreational activities, and free of charge to its guests.

Especially for visitors from Japan, personalised service is paramount. Whether with family, friends or alone, travellers expect a level of attention that is neither intrusive nor aloof. The expansive facilities and modern resort accommodations merge with PIC’s special ambassadors of adventure, the PIC Clubmates. These “animators” are available to help guests enjoy the glorious blue skies, crystal clear waters, spectacular sunsets and the myriad of other activities for the perfect 36

February 2011

tropical getaway. Also lively, fun-filled nightly entertainment is performed by the multi-talented Clubmates.

Travelling needn’t be a series of compromises when with the family. Yet, resort vacations are all too often associated with adult preferences. PIC Saipan takes the responsibility and the worry out of family holidays with the Kids’ Club (ages 4-11) at no extra charge (except for lunch if all day), offering both indoor and outdoor supervised fun, from 09:0016:00, around Tsunami Falls.

Accommodations, restaurants and bars remain the staples of any resort. PIC Saipan is no exception. All rooms feature the comforts and modern amenities you’ve come to expect. The upper end of accommodations includes the Tasi Ocean Front Spa room with an outdoor spa just 20m from the beach, and the Hibiscus and Flametree suites with expansive ocean views.

In appealing to the range of reasons people head to a resort, it is imperative that global benchmarks are met across the board. A lack of certain standard features or compromised versions would be noticed – despite exceptional strengths in, say, pristine waters and white-sandy beaches. That’s why PIC Saipan aims to

be the all-inclusive, exclusive resort. The Thai Spa offers three deluxe spa rooms, each filled with unique Thai art objects, imported Thai furnishings and tropical flowers handpicked daily. The uplifting aromas of spices, fragrant flowers, and pure essential oils make every spa room a paradise for the senses, along with skilled Thai therapists. A full line of exotic tropical body treatments and nail care are available from 10:00-midnight. There is also Swedish massage and Shiatsu.

Market innovation takes advantage of a fully equipped resort, and brings a whole new dimension to a resort getaway. PIC Saipan accommodates hundreds of groups travelling for conferences, training, team building, or on a corporate incentive or school excursion.

We also have hosted a mega pop-star concert for 1,000 fans!

PIC Saipan Email: sales@picsaipan.com or reservations@picsaipan.com Skype: picsaipan www.picresorts-saipan.com

EVENT REPORT

“De-globalisation”?

Japan Summit 2010

16 December 2010, Hotel New Otani Tokyo Text and photos Tony McNicol

“Japan is in the throes of a seismic generational shift,” claimed the organisers of the Economist Conferences Japan Summit 2010. Some might describe the current situation as more like slow subsidence, but there was plenty to talk about at the Hotel New Otani. The event’s aim was to bring together politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen “to seek concrete answers on Japan’s future direction”.

Appropriately enough for the event’s optimistic tagline — Generation Change in Japan. New Leaders, New Outlook — probably the most memorable speakers of the day were the youngest.

Kouta Matsuda (42) of the Your Party, and founder of Tully’s Coffee Japan, complained that “entrepreneurs are completely un-respected in Japan”.

Later on, president of popular SNS site Gree, Yoshikazu Tanaka (at 33 one of the youngest billionaires in the world), lamented that his generation had “never seen a Japan that is full of vitality”.

It must be a terrible time to be young in Japan – at least, if you are not Yoshikazu Tanaka – but several speakers lamented the apparent insularity of Japan’s youth. (The numbers of Japanese students at top universities in the West is at a record low). Yuji Genda of the University of Tokyo said that young people were reluctant to travel, live or study abroad, or even move to other Japanese cities.

Naresh Sethi, president of British American Tobacco Japan, complained that while “young people around the world are looking at the global village, the only island left is Japan”. His own company travels to job fairs in Boston in

Why do foreign firms typically fail to achieve market shares in Japan comparable to operations elsewhere?

the United States to recruit Japanesespeaking Chinese and Korean graduates.

Nevertheless, one of the winners of the Japan Summit student essay contest stood up to say the blame lies not with any purported insularity, but with students’ need to spend their undergraduate years trying to hook one of the few jobs available to graduates in this moribund economy.

Market share And by no means did all the distinguished elders from Japanese politics and business fully impress with their international credentials; several came to the bilingual event without English presentation materials. Perhaps that was a symptom of what, at one point in the day, Economist correspondent Kenneth Cukier pithily termed Japan’s “de-globalisation”?

EBC chairman Tommy Kullberg took part in a discussion on Japan’s long-term potential. Why, he asked, do foreign firms typically fail to achieve market

shares in Japan comparable to operations elsewhere? He fingered the familiar culprits of non-tariff barriers and an insular business culture, while calling for lower corporate tax, new trade treaties, and more foreign direct investment.

The summit’s keynote address was given by then-chief cabinet secretary Yoshito Sengoku. As well as a obligatory reference to a DPJ modern Meiji restoration, he called for the appointment of more senior female managers. Earlier on, Mitsuru Claire Chino, corporate counsel at Itochu, had echoed that sentiment with an appeal to break through the so-called bamboo ceiling. A slightly world-weary Sengoku also made some wry comments about possible retirement. In fact, he was reshuffled out of his job less than a month later.

The last word of the day was left to Graham Davis of The Economist Group.

He recalled the frankly “depressing” atmosphere of the event in 2008 during the dying days of the LDP administration, and the euphoria of the DPJ’s honeymoon in 2009. The atmosphere at the 2010 summit was more measured, and the jury is still out on whether it found the “concrete answers” it had sought.

But, if nothing else, it can claim to have brought some pressing problems into sharp relief.

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Comic hero

Text Julian Ryall Photo Tony Mcnicol

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book

C ulture S h o c k

C

omic books, says Sean Michael Wilson, are most definitely not kids’ stuff.

The only professional British manga writer in Japan, Wilson has faced the criticism that comics are something that you should grow out of during your teens and has a pretty forceful riposte ready.

“The idea of ‘growing out of it’ is a very British perspective, but there is absolutely no reason why anyone should grow out of comics,” says 40-year-old Wilson. “That’s like saying we should grow out of music because we liked Hickory Dickory Dock as a child.

“Comics have different levels of sophistication for different age groups,” he adds. “This is as good an art form as any other.”

Wilson’s passion for comics stems from a childhood in Edinburgh before the arrival of computer games, and he can still recall the day that he saw the classic British comic 2000 AD on the shelf of his local newsagent.

“Reading it, it really hit me,” he says. “It was significantly different to traditional British comics and it was just great. I fell deeply in love with it and I’m here now because of that moment.”

Home today is Kumamoto, where he arrived in 2004 after studying sociology and philosophy in Glasgow and Edinburgh, and completing a teachertraining course in London.

Angel of the Woods – a horror-mystery story with mythical aspects – was his first work and, after submitting the script to the English Arts Council, he was awarded a grant to see the project through. Published before he left Britain, the story gave him the impetus to travel to the land of manga.

The difference between manga and

Western comics, he says, is like that between spaghetti and ramen.

“They are roughly the same form, and have basically the same aim of providing us with the nourishment and enjoyment we want, but the process of making them is rather different and the taste can be very different,” he says.

There is a wide range of techniques – everything from the use of stillness and a focus on subtle details to depictions of sound – that varies between the two genres.

There are also differences in the way writers and artists work.

“Firstly, in Japan, it is still mostly one person who does the story and art, in let’s say around 75% of cases, but in Britain and the USA it’s the other way around, and maybe only 25% of published comics are by one person,” he says.

In the seven years since arriving, 14 of Wilson’s books have appeared as manga and another one is due out shortly. This latest tale, titled The Story of Lee, is set in Hong Kong and is a crosscultural romance between a British man and a Chinese woman.

He hopes it will be received as well as his most recent work, Hagakure: The Code of the Samurai (The Manga Edition), which went to a second print run after just three months.

Despite being a foreigner working in a very Japanese genre, Wilson says he came up against little in the way of opposition.

“When I first started to put myself about, I found that most of the Tokyo publishers were OK to meet me,” he says. “One or two seemed to think I was from Mars and didn’t know how to react to me, but most thought in a practical way of how they could turn me to their advantage in terms of the stories.

I’ve never suffered from self-doubt … I have simply pursued something for which I haVE a very deep love as art and a profession

“They recommended that I write stories that only I, as a foreigner, could tell,” he says. “That’s good advice. I’ve not actually done it yet, although I do intend soon to start writing a semi-autobiographical book about my experiences in Japan.

“The main difficulty is the same for any foreigner working in any industry: adjusting to the subtle ways that Japanese do business and interact,” he says. “I’ve made some mistakes along the path of learning that, and even lost deals because of it, but I’ve learned and now have a pretty good relationship with the key Japanese people that I deal with.”

Wilson has also edited a collection of manga titled Ax: Alternative manga, and has heard suggestions that it might be short-listed for the Eisner Awards, the comic industry’s equivalent of the Oscars. Publishers Weekly listed the title in its Best Books of 2010 selection.

Kumamoto city is a long way from Scotland – although Wilson says it is like the “Aberdeen of Japan” and says he chose to live there because he had lived in big cities and wanted to return to a city similar in scale to his native Edinburgh.

But he says he has succeeded in this very Japanese discipline thanks to his inability to be realistic.

“I would say that I’ve always been foolishly unrealistic,” he says. “There are those who assure themselves that a thing cannot be done, but that barrier instead gives me an energy to achieve that thing. And it has worked out moderately well for me so far.

“I’ve never suffered from self-doubt and, if you want to put it in positive terms, I have simply pursued something for which I have a very deep love as art and a profession.

“My talent as a writer is another issue altogether, but the key is the wanting to do something and then the will to do that thing,” he says.

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G reen B iz

E-ideas … for a sustainable future

A

Text Christopher S Thomas

mong all the problems facing this world, the issue of climate change is one of the most grave, and finding ways to make our lives more sustainable is an imperative for business and society.

The British Council in Japan, together with Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance (LRQA) Japan, is doing its bit to help through the E-idea competition. The project aims to raise awareness of climate change by harnessing the entrepreneurial spirit of young businesspeople as “eco-entrepreneurs and climate leaders”.

E-idea – the name incorporates the first letter of “Eco” and is a play on the Japanese word for good, ii – gives young people an opportunity to raise seed money for eco-related ideas business projects, as well as provides a platform for them to express their opinions and concerns about climate change.

The competition’s cash prizes (¥800,000, ¥600,000 and ¥400,000) serve as capital for the winners’ ventures, and executives from LRQA provide mentoring to help turn the ideas into real solutions

to environmental problems, as well as viable businesses.

“We’re working with young people because they’re the ones who will inherit the impact of climate change,” said Huw Oliphant, head of science and environment at the British Council.

“Within Japan there are a lot of good ideas about eco-solutions, but it’s difficult here for young people to turn their ideas into a project or business due to lack of opportunities,” he added.

First prize was shared by Green Edutainment Program FUNFAM, a firm that sells bamboo tableware to both help reduce the use of plastics and give children a tactile awareness of environmental issues; and Eco Quotient, an iPhone application that informs users about how to care for the environment through a fun and intuitive quiz game.

Sharing second place were three projects. Energy Literacy Platform is a system that raises awareness of how electricity is used. A module installed in the home transmits data which is then presented on a website. SuiDo! (WaterDo!) campaign is a project to reduce the use of disposable containers

We’re working with young people because they’re the ones who will inherit the impact of climate change Huw Oliphant, head of science and environment at the British Council and promote a “tap-water lifestyle”. And OFFSET Café buys solar panels to power lamps at an orphanage in Nepal so that the children can study at night.

Oliphant is pleased with the response to the project. “Young people need support and mentoring as well as financing,” he said. “So together with LRQA, we developed the E-idea competition to help young people turn their innovative ideas into reality.”

The response was so positive to the 2010 inaugural Japan competition that organisers are expanding it to six more countries: South Korea, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Australia and China.

February 2011

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Who’s Who

HR and Recruitment Consulting in Japan

February 2011

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Who’s Who // HR and Recruitment Consulting

Better hiring

W

hat would be the costs of a bad hire to your business? The costs of hiring can be readily calculated. But with a bad hire, legal costs and reputational damage to the business can be limitless.

There are always a few bad candidates, and fortunately it is only a few.

But you can’t always tell from the traditional job interview who they are. Putting into the balance a wellmanaged hiring process – including preemployment assessments and screening – is a professional and extremely cost-effective way for your business to reduce the risks of a bad hire.

With the continuing poor Japanese economy, we have discovered examples of candidates claiming education degrees they never attained, as well as employment positions and experience that ha been exaggerated. We have had cases of candidates blaming their recruitment consultant for advising

them to fill gaps in their career history by extending employment periods and inventing a continuous employment background.

Foreign and Japanese job applicants who have studied or worked in another country can be tempted not to disclose information such as a criminal conviction, or slip in a false claim thinking that their background in that other country cannot be verified. As a global business we can and do conduct checks around the world. Each country has different procedures and databases available.

Modern pre-employment screening companies ensure that the candidate is fully aware of the process and has given consent to have their employment qualifications verified. Here at First Advantage Japan we also recognise the importance of handling personal information with the utmost care, and have been accredited by the Japan PrivacyMark Organisation (www.privacymark.org) in compliance

Tim Bennett General Manager – Japan & Korea First Advantage

with the Japan Industrial Standards (JIS Q 15001:2006 [Personal Information Protection Management System - Requirements]) First Advantage is the largest provider of employment background screening services in the Asia-Pacific region.

Talent squeeze imminent in Japan’s job market

J

apanese candidates with international experience and the ability to compete and succeed globally are highly sought after by Japanese companies for their typically strong language skills and their international experience. But a change in attitude in Japan’s younger generation could threaten the availability of such candidates.

Several years ago, Japan’s younger generation aspired to either study abroad or work for companies internationally to gain global experience. Today however, Japanese youth are instead turning to what they consider to be a more stable domestic jobs market. This is as a result of the global economic crisis and lower unemployment rate in Japan compared to most countries where they would typically explore an overseas working experience.

But this is not the only challenge

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facing employers in Japan. Eventually, Japan will experience the world’s sharpest decline in labor force population, as evidenced by a recent report

by Hays and Oxford Economics, which explored the changing nature of the global skilled labor force. The whole world is watching as Japanese companies and consequently Japanese society struggles to respond effectively to a graying population and a shortage of highly skilled talent with international experience.

Small/medium sized companies face another challenge. In Japan, there is the general view that people opt to work for large established companies. But small/ medium sized companies form the large foundation of the Japanese economy, and it is extremely important for these companies to take into account their competitive positioning to secure the top talent.

Christine Wright Managing Director Hays Specialist Recruitment Japan K.K.

Thus we suggest that it is essential for small/medium companies to articulate a compelling vision to attract top talent since they have the potential to account for strong economic growth.

At Hays, we are the experts in recruiting and securing the top talent and in developing value-added solutions.

O

ver the last twenty years in Japan, those considered top players in their fields have found it increasingly easy to change job. One reason for these highfliers’ success could be their ability to adapt to the demands of globalisation.

But what about the others?

Japanese people possess relatively low English-language abilities in a global marketplace that values English communication skills and cross-cultural understanding. Add to that a decrease in recent years in the number of Japanese going to study or work abroad, and one can see why the pool of candidates willing and ready to work in a global setting is shrinking.

Among college students, the focus is now on the benefits of long-term, fulltime employment in a large company, where one can count on raises and promotions commensurate with age

and continued service. The goal is not to become an outstanding worker, or asset to the company, but rather to gain entrance to a top company as a fullfledged employee. From the other perspective, many Japanese organisations seeking full-time employees limit their search to new graduates, even giving preference to those who repeated a year over those who graduated the previous year. With such thinking on both sides of the hiring process, it is little wonder jobs are hard to come by for college students these days. Perhaps some thought should be given to cultivating the individuality so highly prized on the international stage?

These realities and conditions found in markets like Japan clearly show that some do not adequately appreciate the necessity for globalisation. Kaneko & Associates is about more than just executive recruitment. We consider our

Nobi Kaneko President Kaneko & Associates

broader mission to include facilitating a smooth transition for employees at all levels in companies with international ties, as well as challenging people’s attitudes to globalisation.

Future in the clouds

What does 2011 hold for hiring and salaries in IT?

F

ollowing the market challenges of 2009, firms again re-visited projects put on hold during the downturn. This business drove much of the technology vendor recruitment we witnessed in 2010 and hiring volumes improved markedly.

To meet the requirements for cost effectiveness, many managers took a more streamlined approach to their businesses strategies, and directed much of their investment focus from legacy technologies to high-growth areas, such as cloud computing.

This shift in business focus affected hiring strategies for managers responsible for implementing these new services. On one hand, the high demand for candidates experienced in cloud computing technologies resulted

in severely short supply. Companies as a result had to focus on adding generalist network and infrastructure professionals who were capable of adapting to this field to their teams.

On the contrary, professionals working with legacy systems found that their divisions became the target of internal restructuring, and often had difficulty securing further employment.

Over the course of 2010, we found that the key to securing talented technology professionals depended far more on the nature of the project and the technology a potential new employer had to offer than simply remuneration packages. As a result, there was minimal movement in the salary levels within technology vendor companies. However we expect

James Kikuchi Director – Information Technology Robert Walters Japan 2011 to see some increase in salaries as more and more players enter an already competitive market with even greater client expectations.

View the full results at www.robertwalters.com/salarysurvey

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Who’s Who // HR and Recruitment Consulting

Challenges in securing globalised human capital in Japan

Who’s Who // HR and Recruitment Consulting

Advance Inc. kamiyacho MT Bldg. 14F, 4-3-2 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-0001 Tel: 03-5404-3530 E-mail: aparvez@advance-tokyo.com Web: www.advance-tokyo.com Established: 1998 Staff: 10+ Contact: Al isago parvez, Ceo & representative Director Advance inc. is a licensed executive search firm focused on recruiting high-performing business professionals to our corporate clients globally since 1998.

Al parvez and his associates are experienced in recruiting for a wide range of positions at all levels. A seasoned veteran with nearly 20 years of experience in the Japan recruiting industry, he has developed recruiting and consulting methods that give Advance inc. a competitive edge. the Advance team takes pride in our good track record of providing fast, reliable and flexible service throughout the entire recruiting process. We are one of the few recruiting firms in tokyo that takes a hands-on approach in hiring the best people. We interview and screen our candidates in person and present resumes in a timely manner once we are contracted.

We are able to conduct success-based as well as retained searches, and have a wide range of value-added services for our corporate clients, including startups.

“We’re a small company but we do great things”.

équilibre k.k.

Yebisu Garden Place Tower F18, 4-20-3 Ebisu, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-6018 Tel: 03-5789-5548 Fax: 03-3724-7690 E-mail: info@e-quilibre.jp Web: www.e-quilibre.jp Established: 2006 Staff: 3 Contact: philippe grall, Ceo “Shine like a diamond to inspire and lead your team.” if, as the head of an organisation, you are interested in improving your interpersonal communication, changing your corporate culture, building an effective team, and clarifying your organisation’ vision and mission, our Leadership Coaching can help. our high-quality tailormade coaching program can help you become an effective and inspiring leader. During each face-to-face session, every two weeks for a period of six months to one year, you will spend two hours in a comfortable place, reflecting on yourself and utilising powerful self-improvement techniques. équilibre k.k. specialises in leadership and emotional intelligence development, tapping 20 years of study and practice of personal development techniques. We have coached and trained hundreds of executives and managers in Japan. our team includes two executive coaches and trainers certified in nLp (neuro-Linguistic programming). individual- and group-coaching services are in english, Japanese and french. Contact us to learn how we can help you achieve your professional and personal goals.

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East West Consulting k.k.

Chichibuya Bldg., 3-7-4 kojimachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 102-0083 Tel: 03-3222-5531 Fax: 03-3222-5585 E-mail: eastwest@ewc.co.jp Web: www.ewc.co.jp/en/ Established: 1987 Staff: 120 Contact: nobuko muromatsu, president A company’s success depends not only upon its excellent products and efficient business models, but also on its ability to secure the kinds of people able to achieve the company’s goals. east West Consulting scouts the market for such dynamic, skilled, and experienced individuals.

Since 1987 east West Consulting has helped a broad array of international companies achieve success in the Japan market. We are widely recognized as tokyo’s leading executive search firm. our clients range from many of the most prominent fortune 500 companies to dot-com start-ups and successfully emerging enterprises that we are proud to have helped through the establishment phase. east West’s unique recruiting system has been specifically designed for and honed in Japanese market conditions, by executive search professionals with many decades of cumulative experience here, and our clients can benefit from a number of distinctive advantages.

First Advantage Japan k.k.

ASk Bldg. 3F, 1-24-4 Ebisu, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0013 Tel: 03-5449-7373 Fax: 03-5449-7374 E-mail: info-jp@fadv.com Web: www.fadvasia.com Established: 2000 Staff: 20 Contact: Chiho Wakayama Do you really know whom you are hiring? Whether or not your employees have access to confidential or private information, they represent your business and its reputation, and that is worth protecting. first Advantage is a global industry leader in background screening with our business growing steadily to support the strict compliance requirements of Japan’s financial sector. today our knowledge and services help a wide spectrum of businesses and ensure they know whom they are hiring, especially for businesses in finance, it, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing and education. our global scope allows us to check your potential employees’ backgrounds in Japan or overseas.

Let us help your business, too. for more information about introducing screening to your business, enhancing the screening you already perform, or outsourcing your screening function, please contact Chiho Wakayama at info-jp@fadv.com or visit our website at www.fadv.com

Hays Specialist Recruitment Japan k.k.

Akasaka Twin Tower, Main Tower 7F, 2-17-22 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-0052.

Azuchi-machi Bldg. 5F, 3-4-10 Azuchi-machi, Chuo-ku, osaka 541-0052 Tel: 03-3560-1188 (tokyo), 06-4705-5545 (osaka) Fax: 03-3560-1189 (tokyo), 06-4705-5546 (osaka) E-mail: inquiry@hays.co.jp Web: www.hays.co.jp Established: 2001 Staff: 100+ Contact: Christine Wright, managing Director We are the experts in recruiting qualified, professional and skilled people across a wide range of specialised industries and professions for permanent positions, contract roles and temporary assignments.

At Hays, we believe the right job can transform a person’s life and the right person can transform a business. We’re passionate about connecting our candidates with the right job for them. our recruiting experts are available to you in the following specialisms: accountancy & finance, banking, finance technology, human resource, human resource management, information technology, legal, office professionals, pharma, property, sales & marketing, and supply chain.

Devoted to both clients and candidates, we power the world of work.

Who’s Who // HR and Recruitment Consulting

Icon Partners Icon Partners k.k.

Nikko-bisou Bldg. 2F, 1-7-6 Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 103-0027 Tel: 03-5255-3961 Fax: 03-5255-3980 E-mail: info@icon-partners.com Web: www.icon-partners.com Established: 2006 Staff: 12 in Japan Contact: Jeremy Sanderson, Ceo icon partners is a contingency search agency specialising in Accounting, it and Hr positions. team members work exclusively on mandates in their own areas of expertise, bringing a greater degree of understanding to our clients’ needs than generalist recruiters are able to. this means better candidate matching and less wasted time for our customers. information is shared openly between recruiters (strictly within pipL guidelines), giving more opportunities to candidates and access to a greater talent pool for clients. restrictive practices in many recruitment companies create an information logjam, slowing down the process for both clients and candidates. At icon partners our recruiters are rewarded for good teamwork and information sharing. this can only be good for our customers! founded in 2006 by Jeremy Sanderson, our vision has always been to deliver quality service with customer-friendly working practices. We are a highly multicultural company, with a strong tradition of bilingual service.

kaneko & Associates Japan

Robert Walters Japan k.k.

Roppongi Hills keyaki-Zaka Terrace Level 6, 6-15-1 Roppongi Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0032

Shibuya Minami Tokyu Building 14F, 3-12-18 Shibuya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0002

Tel: 03-5413-3399 Fax: 03-5413-3229 E-mail: info@kanekoassociates.com Web: kanekoassociates.com Established: 2006 Contact: Aiko Soda, public relations/marketing kaneko & Associates (k&A) is an executive search firm specialising in senior-level and management positions. Since its establishment in California in 1998, the company has demonstrated excellence in search services and human capital consulting for global corporations. in 2006, k&A established an office in tokyo, and has been able to provide more timely services to clients in Japan and other Asian countries. k&A’s mission is to provide strategic support in executive talent selection for client corporations. We recognise that professional talent is a corporate necessity. therefore, we provide close partnerships with our clients by offering them integrated services such as reports of market trends, analysis of competitors and executive selection advice, as well as recruiting and placing candidates. our consultants are client-focused professionals, with high integrity and the motivation to succeed. With our continuous effort, k&A leads assignments, even for arduous positions, to completion.

Tel: 03-4570-1500 Fax: 03-4570-1599 E-mail: info@robertwalters.co.jp Web: www.robertwalters.co.jp Established: 2000 Staff: 1,700 globally Contact: David Swan, managing director robert Walters is one of the world’s leading specialist professional recruitment consultancies for permanent and contract recruitment. our tokyo and osaka-based offices have been active in building integrated partnerships with clients and candidates, enabling us to consistently deliver the most relevant match of skills and culture. this is our ultimate goal as recruitment and sourcing specialists, and the solutions we create are underpinned by a number of essential and defining attributes. robert Walters Japan has the distinct advantage of size, proven track record, and the capability to tap into an unparalleled global network. our synergistic application of these unrivalled strengths in the following industries enables us to bring clients and candidates together in the most efficient and productive way: advertising & media, asset management, banking & securities, chemicals, consulting & services, entertainment, healthcare, hospitality, insurance, it & telecom, logistics, manufacturing & components, real estates, retail, and luxury & consumer goods.

February 2011

47

Get

COMMITTEES

> Aeronautics,

involved Some 300 of the over 2,500 affiliated local European companies and individuals participate directly in one or more of the EBC’s 28 industry committees covering a wide variety of economic sectors.

Space & Defence > Airlines > Animal Health > Asset Management > Automobile > Automotive Components > Banking > Business Aviation > Business Continuity Management > Construction > Cosmetics > Environmental Technology > Food > Human Resources > Insurance

> Legal

Services

> Liquor > Logistics

& Freight

> Materials > Medical

Diagnostics

> Medical

Equipment

> Patents,

Trademarks & Licences

> Railways > Retail

& Wholesale

> Sustainable

Development

> Tax > Telecommunications

Carriers

> Telecommunications

Equipment

To join the EBC visit www.ebc-jp.com For more information please contact the EBC Secretariat.

Alison Murray, EBC Executive Director. Tel: 03-3263-6222. E-mail: ebc@gol.com

events

Upcoming events Belgian-Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce in Japan www.blccj.or.jp

BLCCJ New Year Party 9 February, Wednesday, 18:30 doors open Venue: La Brasserie, L’Institut Franco-Japonais de Tokyo, Iidabashi Fee: ¥9,000 (members and spouses/partners), ¥12,000 (non-members) Contact: info@blccj.or.jp

British Chamber of Commerce in Japan www.bccjapan.com

BCCJ 51 Night 10 March, Thursday, 19:00-21:00 Venue: ANA InterContinental Tokyo, MIXX Bar and Lounge, 36F Fee: ¥4,000 (members & their guests) Contact: info@bccjapan.com

Danish Chamber of Commerce in Japan www.dccj.org

Seminar 14 February, Monday, time to be confirmed Speaker: Jørgen Ejbøl, Chairman of JP/ Politikens Hus Venue: to be confirmed Fee: to be confirmed Contact: dccj@um.dk

Finnish Chamber of Commerce in Japan www.fcc.or.jp/

FCCJ luncheon meeting 24 February, Thursday, 12:00-14:00 Speaker: Tsutomu Okuda, chairman & CEO, J-Front Retailing Venue: Hotel Okura, Mayfair Room, South Wing 12F Fee: ¥6,000 (members), ¥8,000 (non-members) Contact: fccj@gol.com

French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Japan www.ccifj.or.jp

CCIFJ & Maison Franco-Japonaise lunch seminar: CSR management in Japanese companies 10 February, Thursday, from 12:30 Speaker: Prof. Dr. Tanimoto Kanji, Graduate

School of Commerce and Management, Hitotsubashi University Venue: Maison Franco-Japonaise meeting room Fee: free of charge Contact: reservation@ccifj.or.jp

CCIFJ Investor Club – The locomotive of Asia: How is corporate Japan benefiting from it?

15 February, Tuesday, from 18:30 Speaker: M. Jeremie Capron, CLSA analyst Venue: CCIFJ meeting room Fee: ¥4.000 (members and non-members) Contact: reservation@ccifj.or.jp

German Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Japan

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10 February, Thursday, 09:00-17:00 Speaker: Dr. Norihito Furuya, The Institute of Global Business Venue: GCCIJ, Hanzomon or Kudanshita Stations Fee: ¥58,000 (members), ¥68,000 (nonmembers) plus ¥5,500 for teaching materials) Contact: events@dihkj.or.jp * Workshop in Japanese

Ireland Japan Chamber of Commerce www.ijcc.jp

Insight Ireland 24 February, Thursday, 19:00-21:00 Speaker: Hiroshi Nonomiya, managing director, Ripplewood RHJ Holdings Venue: Hearn Room, Ireland House, Tokyo Fee: Free (members), ¥1,000 (non-members) Contact: secretariat@ijcc.jp

Italian Chamber of Commerce in Japan www.iccj.or.jp

L’Italia delle regioni – third Sardinia seminar: main dishes & wine 12 February, Saturday, 16:30-18:30 Speaker: Eiro Horikawa, owner and chef Venue: Trattoria Sarda Rena Bianca, Ebisu Fee: ¥3,000 (members), ¥4,000 (non-members Contact: iccj@iccj.or.jp

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How to resolve various global diversity issues at the office between Europeans and Japanese*

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Netherlands Chamber of Commerce in Japan http://nccj.jp

Luncheon meeting: lotgenoten, partners in circumstance* 23 February, Wednesday, 12:00-14:00 Speaker: Dr. Norihito Furuya, The Institute of Global Business Venue: Rabobank & Robeco office, Otemachi Fee: ¥2,000 (members only) Contact: nccj@nccj.jp * Open exchange of ideas on challenges of attracting and retaining Japanese staff

Swiss Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Japan www.sccij.jp

March luncheon: About the Zurich airport project 15 March, Tuesday, 12:00 to 14:00 Speaker: Riken Yamamoto, architect, Riken Yamamoto & Fieldshop Venue: Residence of the Swiss Embassy Fee: ¥8,000 Contact: sccij@gol.com

Compiled by David Umeda February 2011

49

ASIJ:learning

ADVERTORIAL

the future of

The American School in Japan’s master plan nears completion Master schools need master plans, and ASIJ’s project to improve and update its campuses, which began in 1998, is near completion.

The final two phases will bring dramatic enhancements that will help us realize the full potential of our school and create a more secure and richer learning environment for our students.

Phase 1, which will begin February 2011, will see the front of school transform both inside and out, with a new main gate and remodeled high school entrance. A new suite of athletics facilities that includes a wrestling room, dance studio, fitness center and six tennis courts will enhance our current curricular and co-curricular programs. The elevation of the tennis courts to the second story will allow us to create a designated bus drop-off and pick-up zone with covered bus parking underneath.

Phase 2, beginning in 2012, will focus on the current multipurpose room building, which will be replaced with a new two-story building. Housing elementary classrooms for art and science and a new elementary school performance space, the facility will also include a new strings room to be used by all the Chofu divisions. The creation of a Japan Center will add specialist resources to support our Japanese studies program at all levels.

Cross-divisional services, such as the kiosk, bookstore, health center and curriculum office will move to the new building,

creating space in the middle and high schools for additional learning spaces. From the new classrooms in each division to the elementary performance space and Japan Center, the impact across the curriculum, and each division, will be significant.

“As I view the drawings of Paul Tange, our architect, I can only applaud his vision to give ASIJ a greater sense of place that will create pride and a feeling of belonging for generations to come. In addition, the new front entrance and the new classroom spaces will enable our students to be safer as they disembark from buses, to have the privilege of expanding their learning experiences, and to experience the landmark of excellence that is the essence of what ASIJ represents,” says Head of School Ed Ladd.

“I am especially thrilled with the plans to develop a Japan Center on campus to ensure that the language and culture of Japan is at the heart of the school and learning experience of all students. This celebration of culture will be an invaluable resource for everyone in our community.”

The new school entrance and facade takes inspiration from the old school gate created in the 1930s.

Pre-K through grade 12. Accredited by WASC. For complete admissions information please visit: <http://community.asij.ac.jp> or call 0422-34-5300 ext. 720

SHOP WINDOW

Weddings: fewer marriages, more spent Marriage trends

Average expenditure

3 The wedding market appears to be in decline: the number of first-time marriages in 2009 was just 524,000, the fewest since 1935, and couples are getting married later – at an average 28.5 years of age for women, up from 25.9 in 1990.

3 But, the wedding market has actually expanded because those who get married tend to be older, wealthier and willing to spend more.

JC

JapanConsuming

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No. of marriages

Women Men No. of marriages 820,000

SOURCE: ZEXY

3 The average wedding budget 3 This is benefiting new types of wedding service comparose from ¥2.93 million in nies like Take and Give Needs, 2005 to ¥3.26 million in 2010, and Watabe Wedding which according to Zexy magazine. offer “House” weddings in Yano Research Institute says buildings that look like stately the market is worth ¥2.76 homes. trillion, up ¥100 billion from 3 More brides are buying five years ago. dresses rather than renting, 3 Money is being spent on boosting sales for European better locations, better food, designers. Some companies, and (good news for European such as Kuraudia, target brands) better gifts for guests niche fashions, including the and each other. Weddings are Shibuya 109 “Gal” market. much more personalised, too.

JapanConsuming is the leading provider of intelligence on consumer and retail markets in Japan. The monthly report provides news about, and in depth analysis of, current trends. For more information, please see www.japanconsuming.com or contact Sally Bedown at subs@japanconsuming.com

February 2011

51

Michael Loefflad TOOLS OF THE TRADE Text and photo ToNY MCNICoL

in a nutshell Title: Representative director and president, Wuerth Japan Time in Japan: 11 years. business career highlight: “Successfully restructuring Wuerth Japan” business career regret: “Having to release 50 people doing the above” favourite saying: “I love the Bobby McFerrin song, ‘Don’t worry, be happy’” cannot live without: “My wife and our new house” Most important lesson learnt in Japan: “Being patient with people” The secret of business success is: “Never give up” do you like natto? “No: it’s the smell”.

EBC PERSoNALITY

T

en years ago, when Michael Loefflad first came to work in Japan with Deutsche Telekom, he felt an instant affinity for his new home. “I don’t know why, but I just felt this is the place where I want to stay.”

During his career here he has participated in the European Commission’s Executive Training Programme (ETP) and worked for SKIDATA, a company that sells electronic ski pass systems.

Today, he is representative director and president of Wuerth Japan, part of the Wuerth Group – a German multinational with 60,000 employees in 85 countries that sells products including solar panels, assembly materials and tools.

Wuerth Japan is based in Yokohama from where it coordinates a network of sales representatives all over Japan. In total, the company has 40 staff and is “aggressively expanding,” says Loefflad. His target is 250 sales representatives by 2020.

“The challenge for us is to find the right sales staff,” says Loefflad. He contrasts Europe and Japan’s very different selling styles. Back home salespeople aim to “create demand” for a product – convince people that they need that product. On the other hand, Japanese salespeople tend to “go and collect sales” relying on existing and often long-standing, relationships.

Loefflad decided the Japanese way wasn’t going to work. “Our salespeople would arrive and be asked for their supplier number. If they didn’t have one, they’d be told goodbye,” he says.

“But the art of being a salesperson is getting that supplier number.”

He also decided to concentrate not only on the big players. “Everyone wants to do the big companies, but I told my salespeople ‘forget about Toyota’ … There

are many other pieces in the cake.”

Back in the office, he has tried to introduce more European-style working hours. “I’m telling everyone that they should go home at six and I’m insisting that they go home by eight,” he says. But he admits that doesn’t always happen.

“I have the impression that some people get into trouble with their wives if they go home too early.” He tries to leave at six himself, even though he does occasionally take work home. “I am trying to do this in a consensus way,” he says.

Loefflad says that his toughest task in Japan so far has been during the recession, when he was forced to lay off 50 Wuerth employees. “I had to cry when I did it,” he says. It was especially hard when ex-employees might struggle to find another job. “[But] the alternative was closing the company,” says Loefflad, “and that was no alternative at all.”

A 2003/2004 graduate of the European Training Programme, Loefflad is now chairman of the organisation’s alumni network (ETPA). Over three decades, more than 1,000 people have graduated from the programme, and around one-third of them still live in Japan.

“We alumni strongly believe that the programme is an excellent tool through which to become familiar with Japan and the Japanese language,” says Loefflad. The alumni network acts as an “interface between alumni, the EU Delegation and companies.” Other prominent alumni include the presidents of Tiffany, Jaguar and Rolls-Royce Engines.

Loefflad is also an active member of the Executive Committee of the Austrian Business Council (ABC), representing the organisation to the EBC and to the Japan Market Expansion Competition (JMEC). As chair of the ABC’s Social Welfare Committee he helps with donations of Christmas

THE ALTERNATIVE WAS CLOSING THE COMPANY … AND THAT WAS no alTernaTive aT all presents and advent calendars to an orphanage in Shinagawa.

Actually, Loefflad’s very first visit to Japan was well before his business career began. In 1983 he spent four weeks in Sapporo as part of the German national junior figure-skating team. “When I was 20 to 30 kilos lighter,” he jokes.

Although Loefflad had already travelled the world through skating, he had never been to Asia. “It was the first time that I could really say ‘this place is different’,” he recalls.

“The people here were nice, and the food was excellent … I always had a dream that I would come back.”

Last year Loefflad built a house in southern Tokyo, which he shares with his wife Akiko. His hobbies are gardening and DIY. Building his home involved some “fighting with architects to use the best materials from Europe,” he says.

The architects just weren’t aware of the need for proper insulation. “I’m not trying to save the world,” says Loefflad.

“I just want a house where I don’t need too much energy to keep it warm.”

“I love travelling to Germany for a week or two, but I’m always happy to come back to Tokyo,” he says.

“Once you are used to the kindness and friendliness in Tokyo, the tone in Europe feels a little rough. I like it smoother; I don’t like fights.”

February 2011

53

At a gallop Photos and text Rob Gilhooly

A raised arm indicates the course is clear. The sound of hooves on hardened earth crescendos. The horseman approaches the target at speed, steadies himself and unleashes an arrow from his bow â&#x20AC;&#x201C; hitting the target with a resounding thwack.

The cheer from the audience lingers long after rider and horse have disappeared to the other end of the 225m course, leaving nothing but a thin layer of dust and a shattered target in their wake.

The art of yabusame, or horseback archery, dates back at least to the Heian era (794 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 1185). Under the instruction of emperor Uda, court noble Minamoto no Yoshiari established guidelines

See all the photographs at www.eurobiz.jp

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February 2011

governing etiquette for all mounted archery in Japan.

Yabusame was recognised as a handy technique in battle, but has long been more than just an art of war. Legend has it that some 500 years before Minamoto no Yoshiariâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s time, Emperor Kimmu practiced the art in an attempt to appease the gods and bring peace and a bountiful harvest.

It is this ritualistic element that has endured, with a number of Shinto shrines and other locations across Japan holding yabusame ceremonies that attract thousands of visitors.

Yabusame is held at Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine in Kamakura each September.

L ens F lair

February 2011

55

WoRk PLACE

Jordan Searle Business Development Manager, ECCO Japan ECCO has sold shoes in the Japanese market for 28 years and set up a sales subsidiary this January. “Japan is a great opportunity.

Consumers are becoming open to brands which aren’t strictly speaking luxury, but which are still great quality,” says Searle.

Photo ToNY MCNICoL

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February 2011