Functional foods – Importers join Japan’s nutraceuticals boom e-learner – Online language learning is cheap, easy and fun Funds at the ready – Asia prepares for looming financial crisis Security hole – Q&A with logistics expert Dr Yutaka Watanabe
Bio boom 07 George Zarifi Danone Japan
2012
THE MAGAZINE OF THE EUROPEAN BUSINESS COUNCIL IN JAPAN / THE EUROPEAN (EU) CHAMBER OF COMMERCE IN JAPAN
LeT’s mAke exCeLLeNT hAppeN.
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8 8 Functional foods Importers join Japan’s nutraceuticals boom By Geoff Botting
16 e-learner Online language learning is fun, easy and cheap By Geoff Botting
22 Funds at the ready Asia prepares for looming financial crisis By Anthony Rowley
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1642 2410 Cover photograph Benjamin Parks
COLUMNS 7 From the Editor
26 In Committee
32 Culture Shock
10 Q&A
Bizarre customs-jurisdiction lines tangle the logistics business. By Geoff Botting.
David C Hulme talks to Dr Yutaka Watanabe about the Japan-sized hole in global supplychain security.
28 Green Biz
Bruno Pifre works traditional Japanese pottery from the clay of Oishida. By Alena Eckelmann.
15 Executive Notes Dan Slater gives seven reasons to expect an avalanche of foreign direct investment in Japan.
21 Chamber Voice Marko Saarelainen, President, Finnish Chamber of Commerce in Japan. By David C Hulme.
24 Investing in Japan Danone Japan goes it alone, and now has a hit product on its hands. By Gavin Blair.
Organic cosmetics are booming, and the story has just begun. By Alena Eckelmann.
29 Events Events for the European business community in Japan.
30 Shop Window Consolidation rolls on in consumer electronics. By Roy Larke.
31 Event Report Sweden Day in Tokyo 2012 – a triumph at short notice. By David C Hulme.
34 EBC committee schedule 40 EBC Personality Leaner but not meaner, Clas Bystedt keeps up a sizzling pace. By David C Hulme.
42 Lens Flair Shimoda city council is helping to keep the geisha tradition alive. By Jeremy SuttonHibbert
44 Work Place Head brewer George Juniper aims to produce Japan’s top ales and lagers.
The Mission of the European Business Council To promote an impediment-free environment for European business in Japan. July 2012
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Your Move. Our World. Publisher Vickie Paradise Green
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The European (EU) Chamber of Commerce in Japan
Editor-in-chief David C Hulme
The EBC is the trade policy arm of the seventeen European national chambers of commerce and business associations in Japan
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Big in Japan: Parasols
Contributors Geoff Botting gets a handle on e-learning, page 16
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
Gavin has been writing about Japan for about a decade and currently contributes articles to magazines, websites and newspapers in Asia, Europe and the United States on a wide range of topics, from business and politics to culture and entertainment. “You have to admire anyone who can sell something to the people who originally invented it. In a sense, that is what Danone has done with its flagship Bio brand, by selling probiotic yoghurt to the country that
Alena Eckelmann unmasks the organic cosmetics market, page 28
Alena underwent business training in Tokyo on the Executive Training Program (ETP), then began to write about business, culture, travel and people in Japan. A researcher at heart and by profession, she enjoys
of his lair in Nakano ward, Tokyo, writing mainly about business, travel and social issues. “Many of us at some point have tried to learn a foreign language on a computer. In the early days, the main tools were CD-ROMs run on bulky desktop units. Those days are long gone. Now e-learners study on the run – using mobile devices and storing their study materials in the cloud. It seems that IT has finally found its niche in the field of language education.
Gavin Blair examines the Danone phenomenon, page 24
first gave it to the world in the form of Yakult drinks.”
on-the-ground investigation and observation. She contributes articles to magazines and websites in Japan and in Europe. “Exploring the organic cosmetics market, I discovered again how extremely wellinformed Japanese consumers are and how easily they are influenced by trendsetters. A recent manual for beginners by organic specialist Chiaki Yoshikawa provides details on no fewer than 110 brands. Sales of certain brands jumped after they were mentioned in actress/model Risa Hirako’s 2009 book, Little Secret.”
FROM TH E EDITOR
Send a message
Are we allowed to be this optimistic? Regular columnist Dan Slater (Executive Notes, page 15) reckons Japan is about to become popular again, and provides a list of reasons to expect a rush of inward foreign direct investment. He argues that Japan has characteristics, assets and circumstances that make investment here essential to any company intending to do business in Asia. Not only is this country perfectly positioned to reap the benefits of regional economic vigour, but it is also undergoing socioeconomic changes that generate multibillion-dollar opportunities. Soon after Slater’s column landed on my desk, I discussed the content with Hans-Peter Musahl, who chairs the EBC Tax Committee. His comment, in essence: “That’s all very well, but now we have to get the message RO BIZ - half page 190mm(W) 136mm(H) out.” Mainly back to xour European governments and corporate headquarters, that is. Accordingly, I urge everyone to give Slater’s column careful attention and share it with
the appropriate decision-makers. We do not have to look far to justify optimism. Geoff Botting’s report about Japan’s nutraceuticals boom (Functional foods, page 8) and Alena Eckelmann’s piece on organic cosmetics (Green Biz, page 28) show how a competitive effort can pay off in the Japanese market. Investing in Japan this month (page 24) is about a company making major inroads in an area that its Japanese competitors would have thought they had fully understood and probably saturated. The lesson is that real competitors simply burrow in and compete.
Icelandic entrepreneur Arnar Jensson, interviewed by Geoff Botting for the story about online language learning (e-learner, page 16) is one person prepared to make a competitive effort to take advantage of change. The story goes that he sat under a tree in a Tokyo park, day after day for months, while writing a prize-winning business plan for Cooori, which is featured in Botting’s article. With this mid-year issue I wish to thank all EBC members who make time for interviews and provide information to make EURObiZ Japan more interesting and informative. It is a pleasure to work with a group of such gracious and helpful people. And please, at least read Executive Notes this time. David C Hulme Editor-in-Chief
hulme@paradigm.co.jp
Importers join Japan’s nutraceuticals boom Text GEOFF BOTTING
W
ant to cut your ingestion of fat? No problem, just drink a fizzy cola. Looking to trim your calorie intake? Then how about a chocolate bar? If you need more collagen in your diet, to give your skin a nice healthy glow, then sit down with a canned alcoholic cocktail ... or two. Yes, it is possible to have the proverbial cake and to eat it too, thanks to nutraceuticals,
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foods and beverages that provide specific health or medical benefits. Nutraceuticals are divided into three categories: functional foods (tokuho), dietary supplements and medical foods. The functional foods, which include such products as fat-fighting chocolate bars, account for a majority of the market in Japan, a country that happens to be one of the world’s biggest and arguably most innovative markets for these products. Where else is a cola soft drink a
health food? Mets Cola, launched by Kirin Holdings this past spring, contains an ingestible dextrin ingredient that reduces fat absorption while you eat. (It also uses an artificial sweetener in lieu of sugar.) Japan pioneered the modern functional foods field back in the early 1960s when pharmaceutical companies started rolling out energy drinks that catered to a growing market of stressed-out, overworked salarymen who had little time to sit down for three
claims for dealing with fatigue and depression. The demographics factor, he believes, cuts both ways. Yes, the number of elderly, who tend to be hungry consumers of health-related products, continues to rise. However, this segment of the market may have become saturated a while back. “Demographics may suggest that [the elderly] need these kinds of healthcare products, but it could be the case that everybody who would use them is already covered. That’s my feeling,” says Bailey, who writes regularly for the website Nutraceuticals World. Where does this leave the foreign brands? Is there much room for them in a declining market that has long been dominated by highly innovative and competitive domestic players? The answer is yes, according to Aaron Toussaint, research manager at Five by Fifty, a Tokyo-based research agency. But it probably depends on where you are from. “There’s a very strong perception among Japanese consumers regarding northern European products – whether they be German, Danish or Scandinavian – that these are not only eco-friendly, but also very good for you, that they are in tune with your body and with nature,” he says. Otsuka Pharmaceutical, one of Japan’s largest drug makers, has been capitalising on Europe’s healthy image. It acquired Nutrition & Santé in 2008, and has since been marketing several of the French company’s brands in Japan. The latest product rollout, in March, was for Gerlinéa, a chocolate-covered bar for weight control. In contrast, some European products have managed to find comfortable niches. The business of Beauty Pollen, based in Tokyo, is centred on a single ingredient imported from Sweden. The pollen extract, which is contained in a drink mix, apparently gives the body a sustained energy boost, and is reputed to slow down the ageing process. “It’s delicious and even infants can drink it. It’s very good for children’s development, but it’s also effective for the elderly, including people with Alzheimer’s disease,” says company president Sueaki Sato.
JAPANESE PEOPLE OFTEN LOOK TO FOOD BEFORE MEDICINE OR EXERCISE TO FIGHT BAD HEALTH OR DISEASE He adds that Beauty Pollen has been in business for 36 years, with continued growth unaffected by either the ups and downs of Japan’s economy or the cycles of the nutraceuticals industry. The company has a staff of six and generates about ¥120 million in annual sales. Sato credits much of that success on the reliability of Sweden, which he describes as “a stable place, politically and economically”. Some foreign exporters and manufacturers have been quick to figure out and then play up the functional aspect of their food products, as they cater to Japanese consumers’ enthusiasm for health-enhancing ingredients. When women go to supermarkets in Japan, to cite one example, they’re reminded that lean beef is rich in iron, which can help fight anaemia and fatigue. That message comes from Meat & Livestock Australia, which has been running its “Iron Beauty” campaign throughout Japan for just over a year, aimed at stemming a decline in exports of Ozzie beef to Japan. What might explain Japan’s special enthusiasm for nutraceuticals? History and culture seem to provide answers. Early on, Japan adopted traditional Chinese medicine, which uses foods to treat diseases. Then there is Japan’s own culinary culture. “Traditional Japanese meals are not only varied but they’re healthy,” Toussaint points out, adding that Japanese people often look to food before medicine or exercise to fight ill health or disease. “Some would say that if you’re overweight, you don’t have to exercise very much; it’s more important to work on your diet. If you have digestive problems, then you should eat more yoghurt or genmai [brown rice],” he adds. “There seems to be an attitude among many Japanese that diet can solve all your problems.”
July 2012
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healthy meals a day. Japan has become the world’s second-biggest market for nutraceuticals. Data published in 2006 by Paul Yamaguchi and Associates, a US-based consulting company that recently ceased business, showed that Japanese consumers were spending, on average, around $214 a year on such products, Americans $144 and Europeans $99. “The drinks market is very advanced. The consumers like new things, so there’s a greater variety of products and the lifecycle is faster than elsewhere,” says Francisco Demingo of DSM Nutritional Products, a Dutch company that supplies vitamins and nutritional ingredients for a wide range of functional F&B and dietary supplement products sold in Japan. Japan’s market for functional foods skyrocketed throughout the 1990s, chalking up double-digit growth year after year. For the 10-year period from 1997, sales climbed from ¥131.5 billion to ¥679.8 billion, according to the Japan Health and Nutrition Food Association. But then came a levelling off from around 2008 — and then a drop off. By fiscal 2011, sales had shrunk to a mere ¥517.5 billion, below the 2003 figure. Why the decline? With Japan’s rapidly ageing population – not to mention a younger generation that remains as busy and stressed-out as ever – shouldn’t the elixir business be booming? Not necessarily, according to Ron Bailey, a U.S.-based international technical consultant for nutritional foods. Japan’s stagnated macroeconomic situation largely explains the decline, he believes. “The whole malaise in the country was part of the problem. [Consumers] got tired of lots of things,” Bailey says. “Over the last few years, the overall economy has been the problem, and it was compounded [last year] by the tsunami and earthquake.” Bailey says the 1990s, by contrast, when deregulatory moves led directly to a burst of new and innovative products, was a time of excitement for the tokuho market. As the 21st century got under way, however, the market settled down, especially after the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare refused to approve a new category for products with efficacy
Security hole
David C Hulme talks to Dr Yutaka Watanabe, professor, Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology Photo BENJAMIN PARKS
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Q&A
Yutaka Watanabe has travelled the world conducting research on port logistics and green container transportation, and is an authority on logistics and supply chain security. You have said that Japan is an easy target for terrorists wishing to transport materials. Why is this? That is a well-timed question. The police have just recently arrested the last two fugitive members of Aum Shinrikyo, the cult that launched the 1995 sarin poison gas attack in a Tokyo subway. Why were we attacked in such a way? It was because Japanese people are totally complacent. This may be partly because of Japan-US military cooperation. After World War II, we lost the sense of responsibility for taking care of ourselves. Japanese people are far too trusting. I made such a mistake myself in the Netherlands three years ago. I had a first-class seat on the train to Rotterdam. In our Shinkansen, in first class, nothing is ever stolen. I was very confident, and had a nap. The train stopped for two minutes at a station, and during those two minutes someone came onto the train, walked through the carriage and took my luggage from above my head. At the next station I rushed to the police station. The young policeman was laughing. He said: ‘A Japanese robbed again! Listen, professor, you must understand … in Holland we have a culture of stealing.’ I realised that in Europe, people understand that they must take care of their own belongings and have responsibility for their own safety. Why is the supply chain a problem? Until about 15 years ago, the large Japanese companies had everything organised. Second-tier Japanese companies got business from the big companies, and third-tier companies got business from second-tier companies. There was no place in this pyramid for companies from other countries. Within the pyramid, everything went smoothly. Nobody had to worry about security.
Now that pyramid is being steadily dismantled. Internationalisation is inevitable. The problem is that Japanese top management has neglected the security risk that comes with it. That is a huge mistake. In 2008, a number of Japanese consumers were poisoned by gyoza [dumplings] imported from China by JT Foods. It was a serious mistake for JT Foods to use a supplier in China without sending anyone there to check on the actual situation. It turns out that the food processor in question had little or no restriction on employees bringing personal possessions into the factory. There was none of the access security that is standard for developed countries. What should Japanese companies be doing? There are standards, such as those of TAPA [Transported Asset Protection Association], for such businesses as warehousing and trucking that have physical assets, such as vehicles and buildings. TAPA requirements include strong fences with CCD cameras and access control. No European or US company will do business with a logistics provider that lacks such security. In Indonesia or Thailand, for example, if a warehouse has lax security, it will be robbed in a matter of days. Japanese companies have been making no distinction with regard to security. Since 10 or 15 years ago, when they rushed into China, Thailand and Indonesia, they encountered many problems. Japanese companies insured their overseas facilities and businesses with Japanese insurers, and the insurance companies suffered badly. The three biggest Japanese insurance companies came to me a few years ago to ask about how to manage the security situation. They told me they were paying out huge
amounts to Japanese companies for incidents and accidents. What is the solution? There is already progress, because many overseas branches of Japanese companies got Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) status or obtained certification under other local security standards. Here in Japan, though, very few companies got that kind of certification. A terrorist organisation could take advantage of this complacency. Why is the private sector better at this task than governments? Here is an extreme example. Last year’s tsunami exposed the problem of Japan’s attitude toward security. The [US Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s] Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards had reported more than five years earlier that certain Japanese nuclear power plants were vulnerable to damage by tsunami. The government ignored the report, because of fear of negative publicity. That means we must have the private sector involved in security. Here is another example. Japan Customs is now operating a Japanese Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) system. The customs authorities want to take the position of leadership over the private sector. Then they want to have a network of AEO agreements with other national governments. This would mean that Japanese customs authorisation of a Japanese company is automatically recognised by other governments. And Japan would reciprocate. It is an absolutely stupid idea. The purposes are never compatible. The EU has a very smart way to involve the private sector. They issue AEO guidelines. Then it is up to each company to find its own path to security compliance. July 2012
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Q&A
COMPANIES THAT GET SECURITY QUALIFICATIONS SHOULD BE MUCH MORE HIGHLY REWARDED
Who monitors the AEO system? That’s the weak point of the AEO. The initial certification process is very stringent, and documentation has to be renewed periodically, but there is no ongoing audit or monitoring process.
and the EU, but not in Japan. In Japan, if one insurer offered a security discount, its rivals would simply lower their charges without any consideration for security. So, it does not happen.
Who, then, is really responsible for security against terrorist activity? The international community of governments must lead the way regarding this issue. But the private sector has to do the groundwork and provide the manpower for auditing, monitoring and even enforcement of the system. In Europe, there are highly specialised private port-security companies. I would like to see more and more use of such companies, supported and subsidised by governments. That will be necessary because there is no direct revenue generated through providing security for ports, airports and other sensitive areas. The problem in Japan is that people do not understand the great value of security. Japanese companies only want to pay for things that directly benefit the bottom line. Japanese insurers should also develop a system so that they can offer lower tariffs to clients that obtain security certification. That happens in the US
Where does the chief security officer [CSO] come in? In Japan, it is very difficult for a company to have an independent CSO on its board. It may be possible to include the CSO job with that of chief financial officer. However, Japan has a long way to go in this regard. There should be much more emphasis on security issues, and companies that get security qualifications should be much more highly rewarded. Business performance is always praised, but security should be promoted much more. The leaders in that category should be able to win more business, while also suffering fewer incidents and reducing their costs for insurance. What is the problem with hub ports? The problem at container hub ports such as Shanghai, Singapore, Pusan and Rotterdam is the huge volumes of cargo passing through. It is totally impossible to inspect every container. Containers
from places where security may be compromised, such as Japan, can go from there to anywhere in the world. What part of the supply chain security issue worries you most right now? Security is like a passport between cultures. Nobody can assume that people of other cultures will understand them, but we must trade. The US and the European countries are our friends. What worries me most is that our supply chain vulnerability may be used by terrorists to cause a problem for our friends.
About ISO The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is the world’s largest developer and publisher of global standards. Coordinated from Geneva, Switzerland, the ISO is a network of the national standards institutes of 164 countries. As an NGO, it forms a bridge between the public and private sectors. ISO 28000:2007 specifies the requirements for a security management system, and is applicable to organisations of every size.
July 2012
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EXE C UTI V E N OTE S
Money magnet Why Japan can expect an investment boom I will make a forecast: 2012–13 will be the year that foreign investment into Japan explodes. Japan will become fashionable again, and the reasons are obvious – if you can avoid media distortions. I have not always been as bullish on Japan as JPMorgan’s Jesper Koll and some others. However, having worked in finance and in China, I have some insights into what Japan does well. The first of my seven reasons for optimism is that Japan is more ethical and better run than China, India or the global finance industry. The problem of unchecked greed is clear enough, but even the reputations of foreign banks for competent management have taken a massive beating. Risk-management tools have been shown to be pretty much useless, and back-office operations were often hopelessly flawed and inaccurate. In China, the government’s reputation for sound management is also suffering, as cases of elite infighting and breathtaking corruption come to light. In contrast, Japan’s superior management and risk control mean Japan will plod along in relative safety long after India, China and finance-driven economies struggle to recover from their respective post-bubble doldrums. Second, Japan is more pragmatic and less ideological. Western economies are in trouble partly because of a self-induced ideological frenzy. This ideological bias (the idea that markets are self-correcting) was largely the cause of the crisis and has exacerbated the crash. For example, although the nominal aim of governments and supranational organisations is to reduce government debt, why is debt rising in so many countries? Indeed, austerity policies are actually increasing debt-toGDP ratios. Rather, the crisis appears to have been a heaven-sent opportunity for free market fundamentalists to
“roll back the frontiers of the state”. Look at David Cameron in the UK, who is acting like a re-incarnation of the Iron Lady. As part of his strategy to reduce the role of government, Cameron appears intent on privatising the National Health Service – along American lines. This is patently daft. Third, Japan is still insulated by a thick layer of financial muscle. Its GDP is almost 50% larger than Germany’s. Its government debt, while vast, is still comfortably funded domestically. In contrast, the UK and the United States have run deficits with the rest of the world for over 25 years. Fourth, Japan has low individual and corporate debt. Half of the listed Japanese companies have zero debt. That is because Japan’s response to globalisation was to “lend and sell” rather than “borrow and buy”. Japan (like Germany) pulled off a magnificent export bonanza. Individuals and companies used the proceeds to pay off the last of the debt accumulated during the bubble years. Fifth, Japanese companies have reoriented with amazing speed away from their traditional export markets in the EU and the US, to Asia. As a tidal wave of Japanese yen rushes towards Asia, foreign companies are slowly realising that they absolutely must have a presence in Japan if they want to benefit from this opportunity. Any company, for example, that wants to service Toyota, once more the largest car manufacturer in the world, needs a presence in Japan even if the aim is to sell to Toyota internationally. It may not be the traditional factory and sales network selling to Japanese buyers, but foreign companies will need to send competent and well-paid staff to establish relations with Japan’s corporate elite. Best of all, foreign companies will be welcome and necessary partners, since Japanese companies need help in
JAPAN IS CHANGING UNBELIEVABLY FAST. DON’T BE FOOLED BY INSTITUTIONAL AND POLITICAL INERTIA operating to global standards. Sixth, Japan is changing unbelievably fast. Don’t be fooled by institutional and political inertia. The changes are colossal, and they are a gold mine. Since the Japanese economy is so huge, a small shift in habits can release billion-dollar opportunities – as Coca Cola found when it started selling bottled tea in Japan. Tea, until very recently, was usually drunk at home, freshly made. Seventh, Japan has technology that many foreign companies need. Indeed, Japan is still the big beast in the Asian neighborhood. Sure, it doesn’t scamper around as much as it used to, but trade surpluses with China, South Korea and ASEAN nations show that those countries still couldn’t function without Japan’s high-end manufacturing inputs. In effect, non-Japanese companies have little choice but to invest in Japan. As the engines of unsustainable global growth come to a juddering halt, Japan has to feature more highly in corporate investment plans. The country is predictable, rich, safe and experiencing dramatic and lucrative change. Only a fool could ignore this. DAN SLATER Director of the Economist Corporate Network in Tokyo
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e-learner Online language learning is fun, easy and cheap Text GEOFF BOTTING
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HOW DO YOU MAKE THE LANGUAGE PART OF THE STUDENT’S WORLD?
L
orenzo Fanini spends at least an hour a day studying the Japanese language. But he doesn’t open any books or go to a school. Instead, the assistant university professor runs an app on his iPhone or iPad called Cooori, or logs on to its website on his laptop. “The thing I’ve often lacked is time,” says Fanini, who has been living in Japan for the past decade. “But I really like the [Cooori] interface and I like how it’s laid out – and it’s basically quite addictive. I’ve found myself using it on a regular basis.” Increasing numbers of people use the Internet, often via mobile devices, for serious study of a foreign language. These e-learners are spoiled for choice. A quick search of the web reveals an endless list of language products and services, ranging from free flashcard systems to highly structured courses that charge monthly fees. In addition to Cooori, the players include Rosetta Stone, Anki, iKnow, Rikai.com and Ling-Q, to name only a few. Their services are run on personal computers, smartphones, tablets or e-readers. Using PCs for learning languages is nothing new. The original software products, usually running on CD-ROMs, have been popular ever since computers first became a standard piece of home equipment in the mid-’90s. But the current generation of tools is vastly different. Whereas many products in the past were little more than reformatted workbooks, the new platforms take full advantage of
mobile technologies, including cloud services. The upshot is that learners are no longer tethered to their desks or bottled up in classrooms. Furthermore, they can study in snatches, wherever and whenever they want. “If you are waiting three minutes for the elevator, then you can make those three minutes count,” says Arnar Jensson, Cooori’s CEO. A large body of recent research supports that kind of learning approach. Cramming is bad, say many scientists who specialise in learning, because it bombards the brain with more information than it can handle. The result is poor retention. The most effective way of remembering material is by studying in short and frequent bursts. The software that powers the latest generation of products and services has similarly seen a quantum leap. Highly refined algorithms constantly evaluate the skill levels of individual learners. During a lesson, therefore, according to the industry’s players, the programme presents materials perfectly matched to the needs of the student. Cooori is one of several learning platforms whose black box is built around the spaced repetition system (SRS). The assumption behind the SRS is that learners will eventually forget items, such as vocabulary, unless they are reminded at specific intervals. The idea is to prod the student at the optimal times – just as they are on the verge of forgetting what they have recently learned. As Jensson explains: “Say you’ve got a new word in your memory now.
ALANA BONZI
In three minutes or 10 minutes it’s forgotten. But if I were to ask you about it right before you were to forget, you could give the right answer. Now the word is no longer three minutes in your memory. The interval expands. Now it’s 20 minutes in your memory and we ask you in 18 minutes. The interval becomes two days, two weeks and so on.” Reminders are electronic flashcards, but these are like flashcards on steroids. Clicking inside and around them reveals a range of information that explains or enhances the items being presented. “Mono” (者), for instance, means a person, but is “rarely used without a qualifier”, we are told. Also, a voice repeats the material on the cards, and the cards for learning kanji show an animation of the characters being drawn, so as to teach correct stroke order when writing. But what sets Cooori apart, says Jensson, is its vast library of example sentences. The idea is to put all the vocabulary and grammar that students learn into context. Jensson cites the difference in nuance between the Japanese word tomodachi (友達), which means “friend”, and yujin (友 人), which has a very similar meaning. The difference in nuance is explained through example sentences. The Cooori service is in the final stages of beta testing, with a full launch planned for mid-2013. After the Japanese courses are ready, the company says it will press on with many other languages. “Just imagine an Arab person learning Icelandic,” enthuses Jensson, July 2012
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leisure and relaxation at PaciďŹ c Islands Club Saipan
www.picresorts.com +1 670 234-7976 reservations@picsaipan.com
RICHARD GREHAN
FOCUS
Arnar Jensson
an Icelander who has a PhD from the Tokyo Institute of Technology, where he studied speech recognition systems. iKnow, operated by Tokyo-based Cerego Japan, is a similar learning platform in that SRS is at the root of its structured online courses. In March, iKnow added something new: Skype video lessons. So now its Japanese customers have the chance to put their course material into practical use by having live conversation sessions with a human. Cerego Japan founder and chairman Andrew Smith Lewis stresses that the new service, called iKnow Live, involves a lot more effort on the part of the student and the teacher than would a casual online chat. “It’s a structured lesson tailored to your individual strengths and weaknesses,” he explains. “Essentially, iKnow allows you to learn and remember core lexical chunks: vocabulary, key terminology and so on. iKnow Live gives you the chance to practice that with an instructor.” All the roughly 400 Skype-equipped instructors are based in the Philippines. Cerego’s chairman says iKnow has roughly 60,000 paying customers, evenly split between corporate and individual consumers, and nearly all are Japanese people learning English. It also offers Japanese-language courses. About a quarter of a million people are signed up for the website’s free services. Many users are attracted to the
platform for all the aforementioned conveniences. Cost is another big factor, Smith Lewis says. iKnow has several price plans, and its most popular one is ¥700 per month for a one-year contract, which is a tiny fraction of what a brick-and-mortar language school would charge. Lang-8, a social networking system (SNS) based in Kyoto, is even cheaper: free for the basic service and ¥525 per month for the premium one. However, the focus of this social networking site is on written-language skills. What’s more, the teaching is done by the learners themselves. The idea is for the subscriber to use the site to make friends with native speakers of the language thtat the subscriber is studying. Members exchange passages that they have written and which are then corrected by their fellow Lang-8 members. So where do trained and qualified language instructors – human ones, that is – fit into this online revolution in language learning? Alana Bonzi, an English-language instructor at Keio University, isn’t scared of being replaced by algorithms. She is, however, excited by the potential of e-learning tools as an effective supplement to her classroom instruction. Her main challenge, she says, is to keep students motivated after they have closed their textbooks and left the classroom. “How do you make the language part of the student’s world?” That seems to
be missing in conventional classroom study, says Bonzi, who has an MBA from McGill University in Canada. She is now exploring SNSs as a possible way of prodding her Japanese students to engage with people overseas with whom they share common interests. “If you’re passionate about something, say cooking, then that passion makes you use the language,” Bonzi explains. Opinion is divided regarding the extent to which online services will supplant teaching by humans. “I think humans are highly overrated, and we don’t need them anymore,” Lewis Smith says with a laugh. Switching to a more serious tone, he adds: “Technology has brought us a long way, and you can go very far these days. One day, I think, we could see a bulletproof, standalone system.” Karl Rosvold, who has an MA from the University of Tokyo, where he researched reading comprehension, has doubts. “I think apps on smartphones will make learning more efficient, but I don’t think they can replace [a complete learning programme],” he says. “You can learn a whole lot online, but it will have to be more than spaced repetition.” Even so, Rosvold agrees with everyone else in the business that learning languages online is convenient and effective, and will grow dramatically in the years to come. July 2012
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CHAMBER VOICE
Marko Saarelainen
President, Finnish Chamber of Commerce in Japan www.fcc.or.jp Text and photo DAVID C HULME The Finnish Chamber of Commerce in Japan (FCCJ) is in great shape, with stable leadership, stable membership, an active board, excellent internal relations, good communication with other chambers, and a balance sheet that actually balances. “My policy is to keep us out of the red,” says Marko Saarelainen, who was elected to a third term as FCCJ president in April. “In my first year we ended up just ¥900 ahead, and we have been ahead ever since.” Last year’s triple disaster still looms large. “We did not lose any members, so in that sense it was a good year, but the tragedy changed our plans a lot,” says Saarelainen. The chamber shifted the focus of its activities to charity events. The Embassy of Finland, Tokyo, hosted a concert by popular Finnish songwriter and musician Matti Esko. A midsummer concert and party at Finland Village in Nagano prefecture was dedicated to raising money for children in Tohoku. “Afterwards, we travelled to Sendai, bringing presents and real Moomins [the hippo-like character created by Finnish writer and illustrator Tove Jansson] from Moomin World in Finland. We sang and danced with the children,” says Saarelainen. “The tragedy made us tighter as a group in the chamber,” he notes, adding that the embassy did an outstanding job of utilising Facebook and other social media. A rich slate of events is scheduled for the year ahead, with monthly luncheon meetings at the Hotel Okura and social Club Evenings at various venues. The early-July Club Evening, with a Scandinavian design theme, was held at the Aoyama-dori showroom of Honka Japan, of which Saaralainen is president.
Two annual golf tournaments involving the FCCJ are on the social calendar. One is the North America-Europe golf challenge. The other is the Stora Enso Cup, between the Swedish and Finnish chambers. The FCCJ recovered the cup in the most recent encounter last April. “We aim to be the most active of the small chambers,” says Saarelainen. “We also have a lot of ideas for excursions and company visits.” One such excursion would be to the Japanese Diet, where Finnish-born Tsurunen Marutei is a member. Having a very active board of directors, says Saarelainen, means that there are always a lot of ideas to sift through. Membership is being affected by the increasing attractiveness of markets such as China, India and Indonesia, he says. Telecommunications company Nokia has already left. IT companies that needed to have research centres in Japan now have many other options in Asia. However, says the FCCJ president, forest-cluster businesses – including importers of wooden buildings and furniture – “should find Japan again”. Membership has been at the same level for five or six years, with a few newcomers joining and a few others leaving or being expelled. The current leaders make sure that standards are kept and that members are not overly passive. “We don’t want to waste resources on members that do not contribute,” he says. The only paid official is executive director Clas Bystedt, who Saarelainen says is a great asset not only to the FCCJ, but also to “the whole Nordic community”. The chamber provides advisory services to two sets of members. One group is Japanese corporate members who want
We aim to be the most active of the small chambers. information on doing business in Finland, Finnish business practices and living in Finland, plus contacts and data resources. Finnish members make use of similar information relevant to operating in Japan, including help with IT and office automation, and seek advice about such issues as the rules of employment in Japan. The increasing presence of Japanese nationals at FCCJ events, explains Saarelainen, is because many Finnish companies have “sent their Finnish manager back to Finland and hired a Japanese president”. In lean times, it has often been necessary to eliminate the expatriate package. One issue, energy, has the potential to make a significant difference on the economic front. “We will build two nuclear power plants in Finland in the coming years,” says Saarelainen. “If a Japanese company wins those tenders, it will blow out the trade statistics.”
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Funds at the ready T
he threat of a widening eurozone crisis hangs heavily over Asia, but it seems unlikely that the region will have to go cap in hand to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as it did during the Asian financial crisis in 1997-98. Eisuke Sakakibara, the man behind Japan’s dramatic bid to launch an Asian Monetary Fund (AMF) at that time, notes that Asia now has a safety net, in the shape of the Chiang Mai Initative Multilateralisation (CMIM) agreement. Thirteen Asian nations have committed a total of $240 billion to the fund, initially launched in 2000 in Chiang Mai, Thailand, to bail out troubled members in the event of a new balance of payments crisis. It may well be tested soon, Sakakibara says, as the lingering European crisis could become much worse. “Some kind of regional banking crisis involving French, and
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July 2012
Asia prepares for looming financial crisis Text ANTHONY ROWLEY
maybe German, banks,” he says, is likely within six months or a year. This could negatively impact Asian exports or dry up bank loans and trade finance from Europe. “In that event, the Chiang Mai agreement could be activated.” “I hope we don’t have another crisis, but no one can be complacent,” says Takehiko Nakao, Japan’s vice finance minister for international affairs (a position Sakakibara held at the time of the 1997 crisis). “The US and European countries thought in 2007 that there was no chance of a crisis and that the financial sector could take care of everything,” he adds wryly. Others also express caution. Unexpected events do happen, notes Diwa Guinigundo, deputy governor of the Philippine central bank. South Korean finance minister Bahk Jae-wan agrees. “There is a possibility of capital outflows from the ASEAN
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ASIA COULD BE SUBJECT TO CONTINUED WITHDRAWAL OF EUROPEAN CREDIT Asian Development Bank president Haruhiko Kuroda
[Association of Southeast Asian Nations] region in the coming months [and] we cannot exclude the possibility that the CMIM will be used,” he warns. Former deputy prime minister and economic minister of Thailand Olarn Chaipravat, who like Sakakibara was active at the centre of the 1997-98 Asian crisis, says that “some newer members” of ASEAN might have to turn to the CMIM for help if the eurozone crisis spreads to Asia. Sakakibara suggests that smaller countries might not be the only ones needing help. Haruhiko Kuroda, Asian Development Bank president, added his voice to the chorus of concern over a possible new crisis developing in Asia. “Asia could be subject to continued withdrawal of European credit in the coming months,” he says, underlining what many believe to be one of the biggest risks facing the region. “We know that European banks have withdrawn a substantial amount of loans from Asia,” and this has affected various countries, says Kuroda. “Banks in some European countries continue to suffer from non-performing assets and forced deleveraging.” If the eurozone crisis does spread, Asia should at least be better prepared than it was in 1997, when shock waves spread quickly across the region. At that time, Thailand, Indonesia and South Korea were among the nations that had borrowed heavily from foreign banks, short-term and at fixed exchange rates. Once the market began to test their ability to repay, they were forced to go to the IMF for bailout funds, which came with harsh conditions attached. Governments in some countries – Indonesia for one – collapsed, economies plunged into recession, and trade all but dried up. The “Asian Economic Miracle” appeared to be at an end. It was at the IMF and World Bank annual meeting in Hong Kong, in October 1997, that Sakakibara put foward his revolutionary plan for an AMF. The idea was quickly shot down in flames by the IMF (which feared the rise of a rival institution), by the US Treasury (which saw a threat to dollar hegemony) and China (which perceived a risk of increased Japanese power). A much less radical plan for regional financial cooperation, known as the Manila Framework, was then hammered out (by people such as former US Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers). But Asian nations quickly saw that this diluted initiative left them at the mercy of an IMF that seemed increasingly out of touch with Asia’s economic needs and political realities. Within three years of the failure of the AMF plan, a more modest alternative was hatched in Chiang Mai by the so-called ASEAN+3 group (ASEAN plus Japan, China and South Korea). This Chiang Mai Initiative (CMI) comprised a network of agreements among central banks to make hard-currency loans or “swap lines” available to member
countries facing balance-of-payments difficulties. So far, even in difficult times – such as the economic slump after the US dot-com bubble burst (2000-2002) and the global financial crisis of 2008-09 – the fund has not been used. Instead, Asian nations that have needed help have relied on dollar-swap lines from the US Federal Reserve or from the Bank of Japan. This is by no means a failure of the CMIM (as CMI has been called since being “multilaterised” into a kind of super-swap agreement among the ASEAN+3 and Hong Kong several years ago). Asia has simply been moving with caution that the eurozone crisis vindicates. There would be little point, CMIM supporters argue, in having a regional monetary fund in Asia unless it had IMF-like capabilities to monitor members’ economies and decide what conditions should be attached to the loans it makes. As the eurozone crisis has proved, it is a good idea for member countries to understand each other’s fiscal policies before committing to monetary cooperation. The CMIM has also been busy building up its support infrastructure, including the regional monitoring arm in Singapore known as the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO). With AMRO in operation since January, the CMIM is now more or less ready to go. CMIM resources were doubled this May to a more muscular $240 billion (though that is small compared to Asia’s total foreign exchange reserves of some $4 trillion). The fund can now disburse up to 30% of its reserves, even if recipient countries do not have an IMF programme in place. This percentage restriction will likely be raised to 40% in 2014 and 50% or more later. The CMIM has also been armed with a “precautionary credit line”, so it can lend to countries that are perceived to be vulnerable to a run on their currencies but have yet to run into financial difficulties. This should help shore up market confidence. Asked whether the CMIM is now a de facto AMF of the kind dreamed of by Sakakibara 15 years ago, Nakao says: “Yes, I think it is. We just don’t need to call it an Asian monetary fund.” Sakakibara notes that it will not be a true AMF until its members agree to pool the CMIM’s resources in a single managed fund, rather than keeping them in individual central banks. What is perhaps most important is that China is now fully on board with the idea of a regional monetary arrangement in which it will participate alongside Japan. “I’m a strong promoter of the CMIM. It’s very useful for members of the region to provide resources to it,” China’s vicefinance minister Li Yong said in Manila. “We are very happy to double the fund in size, and in future we would agree to review the size if enough members decide to do so.” That, Sakakibara acknowledges, is a great step forward.
July 2012
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DANONE … LOCALISES EVERYTHING FROM PACKAGING AND PORTION SIZES TO TASTE AND TEXTURE
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I N V E ST I N G I N J A PA N
Bio boom Danone Japan
B
Text GAVIN BLAIR Photo BENJAMIN PARKS
ringing probiotic yoghurt to the land that gave the world Yakult may seem like a tall order, yet Danone Japan has done exactly that with its Bio brand. Although Danone has more than a quarter of a century of history in Japan, its turning point came in 2007 when it took full control of the joint venture it had operated until then with Ajinomoto and Calpis. The company has averaged annual sales growth of 20% since then, with what CEO George Zarifi describes as “a simple, single-minded focus and passion” for its flagship Bio yoghurts and drinks. Its share of Japan’s million-tons-per-year yoghurt market grew from 2–3% to 11%. Divorcing itself from local partners was not without challenges. Zarifi relates that Danone had to “re-establish relationships, particularly with government authorities and outside stakeholders, and establish a reputation independently of Ajinomoto and Calpis, which are very well-regarded companies in Japan”. The company’s success in Japan has not gone unnoticed. Danone took home the Company of the Year Award for 2011 during the French Chamber of Commerce in Japan’s inaugural awards ceremony, while its spectacular sales growth has also grabbed the attention of global headquarters. “It has changed how Japan is viewed in Paris. For years, Danone Japan was a tiny footnote at the end of the regional results. Today it’s one of the top focuses for Paris,” says Zarifi. “As a country manager, there are positives and negatives in that,” he continues. “The high level of focus in Paris is great because resources are easy to come by; but it is a challenge because expectations keep getting higher.” The company currently has around 350 employees in Japan, approximately half in production, sourcing and quality control; and the rest in commercial roles in sales and marketing. With a Japan-dedicated R&D unit located within the Danone production facility in Tatebayashi, Gunma prefecture, the company localises everything from packaging and portion sizes to taste and texture. Danone does this more for Japan than for any other market, according to Zarifi. The standard yoghurt pack worldwide is 125gm. It is 80gm for the Japanese market. With the smaller portion, the recipe had to be changed to deliver the digestive benefit that the product promises. Even the rim of the yoghurt drink bottles had to be redesigned, as a small number of customers here cut their lips on the original version. Zarifi relates that he had a hard time convincing headquarters that the change was essential because Japanese mouths really are more sensitive.
Even though the company puts a great deal of effort into localisation for Japanese consumers, Danone is still able to rely on the worldwide infrastructure of its parent company to help drive growth here. “The advantage of being a multinational is that we have a global portfolio of products, innovations and best practices that we can tap into,” explains Zarifi. “In Japan, the key to success has been to choose the right product, get it as close to perfect as possible for local customers, and put everything behind it.” While the ageing population in Japan is creating problems for companies in many sectors, the demographic means opportunity for others. Elderly consumers form one of the most health-conscious segments of the population, and may also provide a blueprint for other greying markets. “The ‘health through food’ notion in Japan, especially for seniors, is more and more interesting for Europe and the United States. Japan is becoming a learning centre for how to adapt to changing demographics and socioeconomics,” says Zarifi. As for the ever-present issue of rules, regulations and restrictions in Japan, he sees little difference to the situation in other territories. “The regulatory environment for food is getting tighter and tighter here, as it is in the rest of the world. Along with the EFSA [European Food Safety Authority] and Japan’s FOSHU [Food for Specified Health Uses], they all seem to be watching each other and moving mostly in step,” he notes. Zarifi sees nothing but a bright future for Danone Japan, believing its success in recent years can be continued. “More than any other country, there’s a recognition [in Japan] that food brings health,” he says. “We’ve doubled sales over the last five years; our ambition is to double again over the next five years.”
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Logistics and Freight// Critical mass Text GEOFF BOTTING
H
ave you ever heard of ‘Baraki’?” asks Mark Slade, president of DHL Global Forwarding Japan. “No, not ‘Ibaraki’,” he stresses, “but Baraki.” He explains that Baraki is a very small district in the city of Ichikawa, located well inside Chiba prefecture. Japanese customs officials, however, don’t see it that way. “[Customs] cut out tiny little chunks of two chome [city blocks] of Baraki, and put them under the jurisdiction of Tokyo Customs,” explains Slade, the new chairman of the EBC Logistics and Freight Committee. He points at a map of the Kanto region, which reveals that such irrational demarcation is not an isolated case. Tokyo Customs, for example, has jurisdiction not just in Tokyo, but also in Saitama and Gumma prefectures, 26
July 2012
in addition to another tiny enclave at Narita Airport, also in Chiba. So, who supervises the remaining 99% of Chiba prefecture? Why, Yokohama Customs, of course! And why should Slade and his colleagues on the committee care? “In terms of where we place our facilities, we basically need two separate licenses and two different sets of infrastructure,” he explains. Given that the Kanto region’s two customs authorities are, for the most part, mutually exclusive, the situation creates excessive red tape, higher costs and lower efficiency. Redrawing the jurisdictions of Japan’s customs authorities is part of the committee’s latest set of recommendations. Slade gave a presentation, titled “Proposal for Simplification of Customs Procedures within Japan”, to explain these ideas on 10 May to around 30 members of the International Propeller Club of Japan, a group of logistics professionals.
“The Japanese operators were especially receptive,” he recalls. The presentation was his first such advocacy effort since taking up the committee chairman’s post in January. For months before that, the committee was “dormant”, he says, and he is now trying to kick-start it again. Slade wants to add to the committee membership roll, which now includes DHL Japan, Greenwings Japan, Ikea Japan and TNT Express Worldwide (Japan). “It would be great if we can get the message out that the committee has been revived,” he says. “I would like to attract the interest of other people.” Other agenda items concern the liberalisation of customs brokerage, and the business of moving and clearing goods through customs barriers. Specific issues include the deregulation of fees and use of the Authorized Economic Operator, a framework of the World Customs Organization aimed at improving procedures – to
IN COMMITTEE
Logistics and Freight Committee Key advocacy issues k Deregulation of territory – Jurisdictions of the different customs offices should be redrawn in a rational way, as they are currently complicated and are based on historical legacy. k Deregulation of fees in customs handling – Caps on the fees should be eliminated. k Authorised Economic Operator – This framework of the World Customs Organization, which is aimed at improving customs procedures, should be used in Japan to gain greater efficiency. gain efficiency benefits in Japan. Customs jurisdictions are a legacy problem. Before the aviation era, almost all foreign cargo came by sea to Yokohama and other designated port cities such as Kobe and
Nagasaki. When aircraft started bringing in the cargo, new customs authorities were created, but with little restructuring of the old ones. “It would be to everybody’s benefit to do something about it,” the committee leader says. “The situation is not discriminatory to foreigners, but it does stunt the growth of foreign players in the market, because the critical mass you need is split in two.” Regarding another agenda item, pricing deregulation, Japan caps fees for customs clearance. The committee wants the caps eliminated, so that freight forwarders and others can set prices based on the market. This issue mainly affects highly regulated cargo (e.g., life-science or wildlife products) that requires complex – and costly – customs procedures. Capping the fees that operators can charge makes such critical work unattractive for the contracted companies. “It can be a disservice to the client, because you end up providing shoddy
service [in an activity] that’s very important and extremely complex,” says Slade, speaking from the view of a freight forwarder. “We really want to get the word out about these issues.” He adds, though, that he wants all operators, Japanese and foreign alike, to avoid taking a confrontational stance with Japanese officials. “We have good relations with customs people. We don’t have problems with them,” he says. Indeed, he heaps praise on Japan as a market for foreign logistics companies. “In Japan, the road and airport infrastructures are world class,” he says. “Congestion is limited … It’s overbuilt, and that’s not a negative, but [rather] a positive for us.” Despite the recommendations, he sees Japan’s regulatory landscape as basically fair. “In general, we have a level playing field,” he says. “For international incoming and outgoing, I don’t see any real constraints on our activities.” July 2012
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GREEN BIZ
Organic cosmetics Expanding a promising niche Text ALENA ECKELMANN
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GRI
T
he Japanese market for organic cosmetics has been booming over the past three years, yet is still in its infancy. The overall cosmetics market in Japan, worth over ¥2 trillion (with skincare, makeup and hair care being the largest segments), is considered to be the second-largest after that in the United States. However, organic cosmetics are still very much a niche here. Sogo Kikaku Center (Total Planning Center), a marketing research firm based in Osaka, estimates that the market for natural and organic cosmetics in Japan is currently worth ¥167bn. This includes products that are not third-party certified. Certified organic products, which are considered to be “authentic organic”, constitute a market worth an estimated ¥15–20bn. Checking the labels, one finds the logos of French certifier Ecocert, German BDIH (Bundesverband der Industrie- und Handelsunternehmen, the association of industries and trading firms), French COSMEBIO (Charte des Cosmétique Bio, the professional association for natural, ecological and organic cosmetics) and others. “For a product to carry our organic cosmetics label, a minimum of 95% of all plant-based ingredients in the formula and a minimum of 10% of all ingredients by weight must come from organic farming,” says Donald Nordeng, president of Ecocert Japan, which is currently the only third-party certifier for organic cosmetics in Japan. Many of the well-established international natural and organic brands have been imported into Japan during the past five years. In 2008, the full range of 120 original Dr.Hauschka Skin Care products from Germany was introduced by Goodhope Research Institute (GRI), the brand’s exclusive Japanese importer. The year before, the full range of Lavera, another German brand, was introduced into Japan by Natural Leben, its exclusive importer.
Masako Koto, brand manager of Dr.Hauschka at GRI, estimates the brand’s market share in Japan at 7-8%. The sales target this year is ¥1bn. According to Hanako Sasaki, executive president of Natural Leben, the Lavera brand is expected to grow to a market share of 3–4% over the next few years. “Japanese consumers now seek safety and reliability in the food, clothes and cosmetics they buy. This tendency seems to have accelerated since the triple disaster last year,” observes Sasaki. Popular European-lifestyle cosmeticbrand retailers such as The Body Shop and L’Occitane, have also introduced their own organic cosmetic lines that have been certified by Ecocert. Nordeng reckons that their sales figures might top that of Dr.Hauschka and Lavera, considering the number of retail outlets they run in Japan. “The Japanese cosmetics market is fairly saturated with imported organic products. There are already several stand-alone stores and boutiques focused on organic cosmetics,” says Nordeng, adding that 80% of the products in these stores are certified by Ecocert. Another such store is CosmeKitchen, a leading specialist retailer of natural and organic cosmetics. The first CosmeKitchen shop was set up in Tokyo’s Daikanyama district in 2004. Now there are 18 stores across Japan,
and the number is growing fast. Since the beginning of this year, four new stores have been opened in some of the trendiest areas and include one in Laforet Harajuku and another in Shibuya Hikarie multi-storey buildings. The shops have 60 natural and organic brands, and there are 2,000 products from around the world on their shelves. Japanese cosmetics manufacturers have joined the boom. New made-inJapan organic cosmetics have increased rapidly over the past three years. Greek company Apivita (a name combining the Greek words for “bee” and “life”) draws on a tradition going all the way back to Hippocrates. Its range of over 300 products, all made in accredited laboratories, comes from honey, pollen, royal jelly, beeswax and herbs native to the Greek islands. Apivita entered Japan in 2010 in partnership with Ajinomoto. It now has seven stores around the country, including shops in Tokyo, Kyoto and Kobe. Koto of Dr.Hauschka is concerned about the future of imported brands. “Japan-made organic cosmetics are thoroughly researched, and they are specifically developed to perfectly match Japanese skin type,” she says. “Even though European organic cosmetic brands are still popular in Japan, we need to customise our products to be able to sell here in the future.”
EVENTS
M Upcoming events any airlines reduced services to Narita International Airport as European business travellers cancelled trips following the triple disaster of 11 March. But now European airlines are coaxing passengers back to Tokyo. “We are trying slowly and steadily to get the whole business back to normal,” says Jenny Fürstenbach, passenger sales manager for Japan at SAS, which celebrated 60 years of business in Japan in April. SAS put aBusiness lot of energy into coun> Austrian Council www.abc-jpn.org teracting the negative image of Japan following revelations of the meltdown BBQ at orphanage at the Fukushima nuclear plant. July “For a long time the foreign media portrayed theonly image that Japan Fee: members Contact: had sunktokio@advantageaustria.org in the sea, everything was radioactive, and we all lived in shelters,” > Joint Chamber: ABC and SCCIJ After Fürstenbach says. “So, we realised that Summer Cocktail we needed to help our crew and sales September staff understand that the situation in Venue: Embassy, Commercial Section Tokyo isAustrian quite normal.” Fee: (non-members) In¥8,500 May and June SAS ran a points Contact: tokio@advantageaustria.org campaign for travellers looking to visit Tokyo through of the end of 2011. > British Chamber Commerce in Japan Members of the SAS EuroBonus mileage www.bccjapan.com program have the chance to visit Japan Luncheon andfor panel discussion: for 40,000 points an economy class “Who owns Japan? And who to seat on a roundtrip basis, compared the standard runs it?” 80,000 points. travellers remain wary about 11Leisure July, Wednesday, 12:00-14:00 visiting Japan, but SAS has seen a pick Panelists: Waku Miller, Michael Woodford’s up in business travellers. “That in is Japan; a good media coordinator and interpreter John research associate sign,Buchanan, because ifauthor, business travellers feelof the Business Research, safeCentre then for leisure travellers willUniversity follow,” of Cambridge Fürstenbach says. Venue: Shangri-La Hotel Tokyo, 27F, Conway Turkish Room, TokyoAirlines Station set up a special fare in April and(members), May, donating of the Fee: ¥6,000 ¥7,000part (non-members Contact: proceedsinfo@bccjapan.com of ticket prices to the victims of the disaster, according to information > BCCJ and Tokyo Chamber of Commerce on the company’s website. A donation & Industry of ¥3.9 million was made to the disaster area through Japanese Red Cross Olympic 51the Night* Society. 19 July, Thursday, 19:00-21:00 For Lufthansa German Airlines, which Venue: Conrad 1F, Hamarikyu celebrated 50Tokyo yearsAnnex, of doing business in Room, Shiodome or Shimbashi stations Tokyo in January, the Japanese market Fee: ¥5,000 (members), ¥6,000 is the second most important intercon(non-members) tinental info@bccjapan.com market after the United States. Contact: company intends *The Joint networking event to focus on Japan during the autumn and winter period, Breakfast and panel offering attractive prices. discussion “We want to show that Japan can be 6 September, Thursday, 08:00-09:30 one of the more attractive places when Contact: info@bccjapan.com it comes to cost,” says Otto F. Benz, general manager for Japan.
Lufthansa also organised a oneweek study tour to Japan for about 25 representatives of the German travel industry in early August, allowing decision makers to gather information and get a firsthand impression of the postdisaster situation. “They got a clear picture that Tokyo is a safe place, and that tourists can visit,” Benz says. “It was important they came here because only when the agents are convinced Tokyo is safe will they generate new programmes.” For Finnair, 2010 saw Japanese sales overtake Finland-based sales, andinit > Finnish Chamber of Commerce is Japan no surprise that the airline aims to www.fcc.or.jp boost the number of Japanese leisure passengers visiting Europe. Mercedes-Benz Japan Cup Finnair was helped by the fact that, The NorthitAmericaalongAnnual with Lufthansa, is one of only Europe Golf in Japan two airlines thatChallenge fly daily services to Central Japan 28 September, FridayInternational Airport near Nagoya, and Kansai International Venue: Atsugi Kokusai Country Club, Airport near Osaka. Kanagawa prefecture promotes the shortest flight Fee:Finnair ¥24,000 Contact: times towww.dccgolf-japan.com a number of regional European locations where no direct Japan flights > Ireland Japan Chamber of Commerce exist, such as Manchester. It is also www.ijcc.jp hoping to cash in on the natural beauty Joint of the Chamber polar lights. BBQ: IJCC with “We compete with other countries Australia/New Zealand and regions – such as Canada and July Alaska – for ownership of the aurora, Contact: secretariat@ijcc.jp but this is really something for Japanese people toJapan come and see,” says Sakari Ireland Golf Challenge Romu, sales director Japan. 29 September, Saturday Opinions differ on when the Japanese Contact: secretariat@ijcc.jp market will fully recover. > Italian Chamberthat of Commerce in Japan Romu believes European travelwww.iccj.or.jp lers are unlikely to return until spring 2012. The Finnair sales director has ICCJ Summer Gala La Cena advised Japanese tourist authorities to della Camera conserve all their energies for a market 12 July, Thursday, 19:00-22:00 rebound then. “Next year’s viewing Venue: Riva deglicherry Etruschiblossom Italian Restaurant, Minami-Aoyama is the next key period for Europeans to Fee: ¥7,500 (members), return,” Romu says. ¥10,000 (non-members) But SAS’s Fürstenbach is reluctant to Contact: iccj@iccj.or.jp write off 2011 yet. > Netherlands of Commerce “Three weeksChamber after I arrived in Marchin Japan 2010, we experienced the Icelandic ash www.nccj.jp cloud, and we said ‘Oh! This is not a normal year’,” she says. “2009 wasn’t a Aperitif normal year either as we had the swine 5 September, Wednesday, from 19:00 flu. So, if you start looking at it that way, Contact: nccj@nccj.jp you will never have a normal year. “Tokyo has been back to normal for some time, and we want to mirror that as much as possible,” she adds. Lufthansa’s Benz asks a rhetorical
question: Is this the country to invest in? And his answer is an unequivocal Yes! “Japan is in a difficult situation, but the trend is positive rather than negative,” Benz says. “European business travellers will return in full by next year.”
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July Luncheon: “Reimagining Japan – How can Japan globalise?” 11 July, Wednesday, 12:00-14:00
Speaker: Dr Marco Ziegler, Partner, McKinsey & Company Venue: Grand Hyatt Tokyo, 2F, Anise Room Fee: ¥8,000 (members and non-members) Contact: info@sccij.jp
Compiled by DAVID UMEDA July 2012
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SHOP WINDOW
Electricals connecting Yamada Denki 19.0% Yamada Denki
Bic Camera + Kojima Edion K’s Holdings
48.5% Others
10.2%
Bic Camera + Kojima
Yodobashi Camera 7.8%
Bic Camera (pre-merger)
Edion
7.5%
Joshin Denki 7.1%
Kojima (pre-merger)
K’s Holdings
Yodobashi Camera
Best Denki Nojima 500
1,000 1,500 Sales ¥bn
2,000
In May, fifth-ranked consumer electronics (CE) chain Bic Camera announced that the following month it would buy a more than 50% stake in the seventh-largest chain, Kojima. With market share in the sector already heavily concentrated and leading companies competing increasingly on location, such mergers are now inevitable and mean a narrower channel for any European firms exporting CE goods to Japan. Bic Camera is a small chain consisting entirely of largeformat stores in city centres. It has attempted to expand, but access to 20,000m² locations in major cities is limited. Since 2005 its market share has been under attack from Yamada Denki, which has easier-to-shop stores and lower prices. Kojima has been struggling to compete with the new breed of CE chains led by the nation’s number-one outlet. It has spent the past decade attempting to turn itself into a Yamada lookalike, closing its many small stores and opening bigger, mostly out-of-town outlets. The merger makes sense on paper. Bic’s inner-city stores combined with Kojima’s out-of-town locations make it the second-largest CE retailer, with annual sales of around ¥900bn, although still less than half the revenue of Yamada Denki. Size brings the potential for increased buying power and access to investment funds. In the real world of Japanese retail mergers, however, such a pretty business hypothesis often remains just that. Bic will likely take years to consolidate the two supply chains, and Kojima executives will continue to have a 30
July 2012
Note: All figures FY2011 except Yodobashi (FY2010) COMPANY REPORTS; JAPANCONSUMING
significant say, slowing full integration – or stopping it completely. The same is true at Edion, now the thirdlargest CE group, which remains hamstrung by disjointed mergers that have left each acquired chain largely independent operationally. The best that can be said of this latest deal is that it has shown the rest of the sector that the writing is on the wall. The merger leaves just eight retailers with a combined market share of 60.6%, but the leaders want more. Best Denki and Joshin Denki are certainly potential targets. Executives may be guarding their fiefdoms, but with Yamada growing ever stronger it is certain that the Bic Camera-Kojima merger will not be the last. Such deals may ward off takeovers, but unless executives show exceptional leadership, the operational efficiencies and store innovations needed to take on Yamada will not be forthcoming. ROY LARKE 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.
JC
JapanConsuming
For more information, please see www.japanconsuming.com or contact Sally Bedown at subs@japanconsuming.com
SEANPAVONEPHOTO / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
0
EVENT REPORT
Sweden Day in Tokyo 2012 2–3 June, Embassy of Sweden, Tokyo Text and photos DAVID C HULME
S
weden Day in Tokyo 2012 was cheerful, relaxed, inclusive and efficient. “This is the Swedish way,” said Mats Bruzaeus, Garuda Japan president and saxophonist, whose Jazzing Vikings quartet entertained the crowd in the courtyard of the Embassy of Sweden. The two-day event, the first Sweden Day in Tokyo to be held at the embassy, also commemorated the 20th anniversary of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Japan (SCCJ). “We had very little time to arrange this event after it was initially suggested by the newly arrived Swedish Ambassador, Dr Lars Vargö, as a joint event between the embassy and the SCCJ,” said chamber chairman Stefan Gustafsson. It was certainly an ambitious project, especially when considering the arrangements for sponsors’ booths both inside and outside, food and beverage stalls, and entertainment, plus a colourful one-off magazine packed with information. In addition, there were the guests of honour. King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia crossed the courtyard and entered the embassy for their official cocktail reception, and the Jazz Vikings struck up a rendition of the old Swedish song “Värmlandsvisan”. Later, his majesty walked through the exhibition area, greeting everyone as he went. Guests were certainly impressed with Ambassador Vargö’s decision to make large parts of the embassy compound available. He had successfully combined embassy and chamber of commerce events while posted in South Korea, but without the use of any such venue as the embassy in Tokyo. The story goes that the original embassy was built, near the Hotel Okura, on a generous tract of land donated more than a
century ago by Swedish businesses. “Then one day Mr [Minoru] Mori came knocking, and said he needed airspace so he could build a tall building next door, and offering to buy half the embassy property,” related Bruzaeus. A deal said to be worth some $200 million was sealed, about a quarter of which was used to build today’s spacious, practical and visually satisfying complex. “It is a solid building too,” said an embassy staffer. “I was glad to be here during the earthquake.” There was plenty available to entertain. Sponsors’ exhibits were well attended, and food and drink stands did a roaring trade. “We will be able to donate a substantial part of the proceeds to reconstruction efforts in Tohoku, via the Heartquake Association,” said Gustafsson. Children ran and played everywhere. In the courtyard, some climbed awestruck into the cabins of the mighty Volvo and Scania trucks on display. Downstairs, they ate free Ikea hot dogs, cried when their colourful balloons suddenly burst, explored the rockery around a beautiful carp pool, or
clambered about the installations of a large nursery room. The whole event was streamed live using both fixed and mobile cameras. “Right now, my friend in Hong Kong is watching,” said Bruzaeus, referring to his mobile phone. In the middle of the lawn by the carp pool stood a Swedish traditional (though slightly early) midsummer pole, the midsommarstång. And there were plenty of willing participants in an extended ring dance when the nyckelharpa began to play. “All in all, this was the biggest event in SCCJ history,” said Gustafsson. “The only miscalculation was that 1,500 hot dogs turned out to be insufficient.”
Top: Märta-Linn Åkerrén of Swedish restaurant Lilla Dalarna serves traditional dishes. Below: Young and old dance to the nyckelharpa.
July 2012
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Passion in clay Text by ALENA ECKELMANN Photos JOHN CHUCK
A
potter by profession and at heart, Frenchman Bruno Pifre is patient enough to make things that last. Pifre came to Japan in 1979, when he was 22, to learn about yakimono (Japanese pottery). He already had four years of training 32
July 2012
in France, and had expanded his knowledge of traditions, forms and techniques by using his summer holidays to visit pottery villages in Portugal, Tunisia and South America. As he travelled among Japan’s famous kilns in Bizen, Hagi, Karatsu and Kyoto, he learned of a French potter who was training in Mashiko, a pottery village
in Tochigi prefecture. At the time, he knew only two words of Japanese, daijoubu and dame (“okay” and “not okay”), and he figured that linking up with a countryman would help him gain access to the closed circles of Japan’s pottery dynasties. Yakimono is said to be one of Japan’s oldest crafts, originating
C U LT U R E S H O C K
REALISING THIS DREAM MIGHT TAKE 100 YEARS
in prehistory. Kilns and the potter’s wheel have been used in Japan for the past 17 centuries. Over the following millennium, Korean and Chinese immigrants introduced new techniques for shaping, decorating, firing and glazing. Hundreds of kilns were set up in areas where suitable clay was readily available, and over time, pottery villages grew around them. The Mashiko kiln site joined the ranks of Japan’s established pottery villages when Shoji Hamada, designated a Living National Treasure for his contributions to Japanese pottery, set up there in the 1930s. His student, Tatsuzou Shimaoka – who became famous for his mingei (folk art) pottery and who was later also designated a Living National Treasure – became Pifre’s teacher. “I was very lucky to have been taught by a true yakimono master and to have received a small stipend and free accommodation which honoured the fact that I already had some years of pottery experience. The majority of students had to pay a fee to be taught, or they became unpaid apprentices,” recalls Pifre. He meant to train for only a short time and then return to France, but the time stretched to two years and he met his future wife. After marrying, the couple moved to her hometown in Miyagi prefecture. Pifre searched the region for clay
deposits that were suitable for pottery and for a place to build a kiln. He found both in Oishida, in neighbouring Yamagata prefecture, and there he erected a noborigama (chambered climbing kiln) similar to that used by his sensei in Mashiko. “Creating a pottery tradition starts with clay. Bizen uses Bizen clay and Oishida uses Oishida clay. It all takes time. My dream is to build a pottery village here in Oishida, like the famous Bizen one,” states Pifre. He is well aware that realising this dream might take 100 years or more, requiring the cooperation of future generations. For 26 years, he was the only potter in Oishida, and only recently has a second potter set up a kiln nearby. There is no lack of interest, mainly from women who want to study pottery for a while, but don’t take it to a professional level. “The master/apprentice system does not work these days, with young people more interested in playing computer games than in learning a traditional craft, and in getting paid rather than enduring years of apprenticeship,” Pifre laments. At least the clay is abundant. The soil around Oishida is 70% the type of sand used for industrial manufacturing of glass. The clay ballast is discarded by the glass industry, at a rate of 100 tons per day, of which Pifre can use only two to three tons in a whole year.
He is not daunted by the length of time it will take to fulfill his vision of an Oishida yakimono machi (town). After all, he built his own house using local rocks and clay, a few centimetres at time. It took him 15 years to complete the project – 10 years for the 3m-tall, 50cm-wide stone base and another five for the clay top. Wooden beams were recycled from traditional kominka (farmhouses). Four years ago he and his wife moved into what looks like a European traditional house that easily withstands the heavy snow in Tohoku’s winter. In his fifties now, Pifre is here to stay. He has been living in Japan for longer than he lived in France, and his Japanese is at native-speaker level. His creations – mainly tableware for daily use, but also some decorative items – show both Japanese and French influences. There are coffee cups, plates, candleholders, bowls, pitchers and wine goblets. There are also sake cups and ichirin sashi (single-bloom vases). The logs used to fire the kiln, the ash of which creates a particular glaze, have become a source of concern, however. “Since the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant I am worried about radiation; whether I can use trees from the local area, and whether people will still buy my pottery,” he explains. Still, he continues his work on foundations that are solid. July 2012
33
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GOLF SPECIAL
Teeing off W
The leader board for the golfing industry in Japan is world-class
Text DAVID UMEDA
hile the present-day economy has made course fees more reasonable, the brick-and-mortar market here still demands the very best in equipment, instruction, sponsorship and media coverage. And to keep those consumer prices affordable, B2B activity in Japan requires cost-effective advanced engineering and savvy marketing strategies. Proprietary products Established in 1970, Lakewood Golf Club has set up in recent years an
international sales marketing team to cater to the requirements of the expanding expatriate golf market in Japan to inbound tourists travelling from overseas. “Our flagship property, located in Kanagawa prefecture, is just a one-hour drive from downtown Tokyo,” points out Jim Fletcher, a member of Lakewood GC’s international sales marketing team. In addition to the stunning view of Mt. Fuji from all 36 holes, the golf club also features a second clubhouse, Kohantei, which boasts a sushi bar, private dining areas, and VIP locker rooms. “Conference facilities help develop business relationships in a relaxing golfing environment,” adds Fletcher.
Nike continues to develop products that meet the standards of both tourlevel players and skilled amateurs. The 20XI golf ball is no exception. Gone is the rubber core, replaced by a lighter, low-density RZN core that distributes weight to the perimeter, effectively increasing ball MOI [moment of inertia regarding rotation speed], adding yards and minimising travel off line. At PING Golf Japan, they are dedicated to engineering and designing the highest-performance golf equipment, so players of any ability can shoot lower scores and better enjoy their time on the course. “We subscribe to a philosophy of ‘Performance Innovation’, which is July 2012
37
GOLF SPECIAL
achieved through a painstaking attention to detail,” says John K Solheim, president and representative director. “The laws of physics have guided the test and design process at PING for more than 53 years.” Industry insights Many foreign senior executives of multinational companies do not have the opportunity to study Japanese, due to their short-term, three-to-five-year stay in Japan, according to Fletcher. “We provide a complete English service which permits these executives to entertain their VIP clients at the high standards equivalent to their Japanese counterparts.” Nike R&D is firmly rooted in the game. The 20XI golf ball’s proprietary resin core chemistry delivers an average 2-3 mph increase in ball speed. But the beauty of Nike is how they also pay attention to the production. The ball’s new materials allow more precise manufacturing processes for more consistency – ball to ball. PING is constantly dialling-in the fine details of their designs, realising that several small refinements can lead to big performance gains. PING engineers, for example, took their search for distance
a step further by pairing their heavy heads with a highly innovative highbalance-point shaft, which promotes a simultaneous increase in energy, momentum and MOI. “We also understand the ‘turn-over effect’ of a golf club, and have designed rotational properties into the head that allow it to transmit speed and power to the ball with a square clubface,” says Solheim. Promoting the sport The dynamics of the sport are recognised in every Nike product, from tee to green. The mantle of the 20XI golf ball has heavier outer layers, resulting in perimeter weighting to achieve the highest levels of MOI while reducing driver spin. Yet the softer urethane cover allows for more spin around the greens, enabling greater short iron spin and control. It’s no exaggeration when Nike states, “Join the Revolution”, in promoting their latest golf ball sensation. For those prepared to venture a little farther from Tokyo, Lakewood Golf Club’s Sunpark Akeno has an 18-hole course located in Nirasaki, Yamanashi
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prefecture. “Conference facilities combined with Western-style/sized rooms allow business to be mixed with pleasure in a serene atmosphere,” says Fletcher, “all the while enjoying the spectacular views of the Southern Alps of Japan.” Lakewood GC’s course in Tomioka, Gunma prefecture, should not be overlooked by Tokyoites as well, he continues. This 27-hole course is a hidden gem with similar design features to other Lakewood courses designed by Ted Robinson, the famous architect who also designed Ko Olina in Hawaii. At PING, ‘value’ means more than getting your money’s worth. “It means having a personal connection with the brand,” says Solheim. “It is a bond formed from the first swing, when golfers instantly value how the PING clubs will help them play better today, tomorrow, and for years to come.” Like the game itself, the golf industry recognises that the play, club, ball and course are different at each stage: off the tee, along the fairway, approaching the green, and sinking the putt. Then, of course, there’s having something to celebrate at the 19th hole.
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Clas G Bystedt The organiser Text DAVID C HULME Photo TOMO MARUKAWA
C
las Bystedt’s wife, Yoko, certainly knows how to get his attention. As the couple prepared for a family trip to Hawaii three years ago, she pointed to a photograph of his 105kg frame and remarked: “Looking like that, you can’t go to the beach”. “I got the message immediately,” he laughs, admitting that although he played a lot of sport in his younger years, life in Japan had meant less exercise and more calories. “I knew that my knees would not bear the strain of running, so I started walking, as fast as I could, aiming to do two hours every day. In three weeks I will have walked to Finland and back.” The equivalent distance, that is, of 15,640km along the streets of western Tokyo. The slimmed-down Bystedt, some 25kg lighter, is a dynamo. He serves part-time as executive director of the Finnish Chamber of Commerce in Japan (FCCJ). He is the person behind the Foreign Chambers in Japan’s bi-annual Foreign Chambers Business Confidence Survey, and main organiser of the Mercedes-Benz Japan Cup – the annual North America-Europe golf challenge in Japan. He has helped organise the Scandinavian Christmas Party in Tokyo for close to 20 years. For corporate clients, he says, “I still do about 10 websites and some email bulletins.” Having taken care of all that and more, plus walking for two hours, he sleeps like a baby. “I love sleep. On the weekends I can sleep for 12 hours at a stretch,” he says. With a BSc in economics from
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July 2012
Finland’s Åbo Swedish School of Economics, Bystedt did not get caught napping by the digital revolution. He acquired his first computer in 1978 and built his first website in 1994, the year Netscape was launched. He began his career as an export consultant at Finland’s VIEXPO Export Centre in Jakobstad and advanced to become the centre’s managing director. Then Japan called. “One dark, rainy day in September [1988] I saw that the trade commission was looking for someone to go to Japan. It took a couple of seconds to decide to apply,” he recalls. It was a natural enough move. Bystedt had met Yoko in 1972 when she visited Finland for Christmas. They married two years later, and had since visited Japan regularly with their two growing sons. “I was interested in Japan, and I felt it would be nice to let our children know
Do you like natto? Title: Executive Director, FCCJ Time in Japan: “24 years” Career highlight: “The Hakuba 98 promotion house in Nagano.” Regret: “Not learning to speak Japanese properly.” Favourite saying: “ ‘Better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt’ - Abraham Lincoln.” Favourite book: “Larry King’s spoken autobiography.” Cannot live without: “My 11pm Gin and Tonic. Only one. I have had it for more than 30 years.” Lesson learned in Japan: “There is always something new to learn about Japan.” Natto: “I can live without it.”
about Japan,” he says. After six years, first as commercial attaché and then as first secretary (commercial) with the trade office of the Embassy of Finland, Bystedt’s term of employment ended. “I liked it here. The economic conditions in Finland were terrible, and I had nothing to go back to,” he explains. “Since August 1994, I have been basically self-employed, at first consulting for companies coming into Japan.” Bystedt was also perfectly positioned for the task of project manager for Finland’s Hakuba ’98 Nagano Olympics promotion. “We had a big log house, promoting about 15 Finnish companies, which invited their clients to the house. We had two Finnish chefs and a big sauna. We took people to the venues and back by car, and organised their accommodation around the area,” he relates. “I lived in that house for about four weeks, and it was fantastic. It was really successful as well.” Bystedt’s IT-savvy meant the house had computers and Internet access so athletes could visit to check their emails. “They could also meet the company people and have photos taken with them. I had a printer to print those photos for them,” he says. It was at Hakuba ’98 that Nokia got wind of Bystedt’s skills and approached him about working on their website. “I just pulled a figure out of my sleeve – probably far too cheap. I did their website for three or four years. Then it got too big for me,” he says. In the following years, he built websites for many Finnish companies in Japan, as well as for the Embassy of Finland, Tokyo.
EBC PERSONALITY
“That work has decreased because most of the big companies have one big central server with various language versions,” he says. “They don’t need that kind of localisation anymore.” It was the year after the Nagano Olympics that the FCCJ was founded. “There had been a lot of discussion in the Finnish community about founding a chamber of commerce. I did some calculations on membership, fees and so on, and I made a proposal,” Bystedt explains. The ongoing relationship
works for the chamber because it does not need to outsource anything to do with IT, communications or social networking. “My wife and I take care of everything,” he says. “Most of the new work that I get now is through chamber contacts, so it has value for me.” Feeling fit and alert, Bystedt rejects talk of retirement, even when Yoko broaches the subject. “I would love to work as long as I have my health, and my brain is working.
I think it is impossible to get bored with my work, and if I stopped I would probably be dead soon,” he says. “I will just take it one year at a time and try to stay healthy.” Walking many of the streets of western Tokyo 100 times or more, Bystedt notes, eventually gets boring. This has led to the new interest of listening to audio books and podcasts during his ambulations. As for reaching the 16,460km goal, he says: “I will have to set a new target.”
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Nurturing tradition Photos and text JEREMY SUTTON-HIBBERT Three trainee geisha, known as maiko until they make their debut appearance, have been hired by the Shimoda city council after responding to advertisements placed by the city at the Hello Work employment office. The council hopes, by appointing the young ladies and supervising their training, to help keep the geisha tradition alive in historical Shimoda, in picturesque Izu peninsula. They will undertake formal duties, such as performing specialised music and dance routines, at local festivals and for tour groups.
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LENS FLAIR
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WORK PLACE
George Juniper Head Brewer, Brimmer Brewing George Juniper, from the UK, is head brewer at Brimmer Brewing, which was established in Kanagawa prefecture about a year ago. Owner Scott Brimmer aims to produce the finest ales and lagers in Japan, and since early this year his draft beers have been sold to pubs and bars in the Tokyo and Kanagawa (Kawasaki, Yokohama) areas. “Most of the equipment comes from Germany. Most of the malt comes from England. We now also have a bottling machine that will be put into operation soon,” says Juniper, who started brewing at the age of 13, with the encouragement of his mother. Photo PADDY O’CONNOR
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