3WAVES BLOG

Monday January 23rd, 2012 | Posted in Travel & Tourism | Comments Off

Winters in Japan can be bitterly cold and while there are fun times to be had skiing and snowboarding in the cold months, for me personally a day trip to a hotspring cannot be beaten. There are thousands of hotsprings (‘onsen’ in Japanese) scattered throughout Japan many of which have existed for centuries. They are enjoyed by both young and old for their relaxation and healing properties and with many onsens containing different combinations of minerals they are all said to have their own unique therapeutic benefits.  Due to their ubiquity and relatively low cost they are easily accessible to short-stay travellers – many located close to Tokyo.

While there are many onsens catering to modest tourists who prefer to keep their privates well and truly private, the majority of onsens require patrons to leave their sensibilities at the door and embrace the Japanese tradition of going nude. There are small towels which one can use as a modesty towel as you walk into the onsen, however, for water purity reasons no clothing or towels are allowed to enter the water. And while it may seem superfluous, it is customary that you shower before you enter the hotspring.

For travellers looking to experience a Japanese onsen while they are here, yet not keen to go the full monty, there are many resorts which allow swim wear to be worn. And many are located just one hour by train from Tokyo – easily accessible for day-trippers staying in Tokyo. For those adventure seekers looking for something truly unique check out a resort called Yunessan (http://www.yunessun.com/english/yunessun.html)  offering some interesting variations on the traditional Japanese onsen. It is one of the more reasonably priced onsens and bathers can enjoy thermal water mixed with Red Wine, Coffee, Green Tea, Chocolate, and Rose Petals all promising different health benefits – and of course they also have the traditional onsen versions for those looking for something a little more ‘natural’. 

So if you are conducting field work in Tokyo during the winter months and have a day in between groups then be sure to visit a Japanese onsen. It’s not only a trip that will warm you up, but it’s an experience that allows you to get closer to Japanese culture and Japanese nature in a way that not many others can.

Wednesday January 18th, 2012 | Posted in Bits & Pieces | Comments Off

Power saving has never been high on the agenda in Tokyo. The vast abundance of neo-signs and illuminations quite easily made Tokyo one of the brightest cities in the world - it was not only cool to wear sunglasses at night, but quite frankly it was absolutely necessary.  Since the March 2011 earthquake and subsequent power shortages, however, power saving has become a national obsession and both private citizens and businesses alike have all made major efforts to cut their overall power usage.

The streets of Tokyo at Christmas time are usually lined with the brightest of illuminations attracting people from all over Japan throughout the Christmas period. This year, however, local businesses and councils were faced with an interesting dilemma – how to light up the streets and attract the crowds, while at the same time fulfilling their power saving obligations. Many businesses simply turned to power saving LED lighting while some others got a little more creative. Some councils turned to bio-diesel made from used cooking oil collected from restaurants and private homes in their respective areas. Other businesses turned to solar energy generation installing solar panels on top of buildings to power their lighting.  

In summer time the hum of air-conditioners can be heard far and wide. So how did residents respond to the dilemma of dealing with the summer heat while cutting back on air-conditioner usage? Many local councils distributed fast growing vines which could be grown in front of sun exposed windows. These proved very popular and not only did they provide a cheap and long term solution to cooling in summer, but they also greened up 100s of thousands of homes throughout Japan. Many other residents simply put up blinds on sun exposed windows to keep out the heat, while many businesses in Japan encouraged workers to dress in light clothing with short sleeves, and ties were of course a no no.

Which makes one wonder just how easily our behaviour in regards to power savings can change and how simple solutions can often be the most effective when faced with the necessity to do so - a lesson every country and in fact every private citizen can learn from especially as the issue of climate change becomes ever more serious and governments fail to take action themselves.

Thursday January 12th, 2012 | Posted in Market Watch, Socio-cultural Insights, Uncategorized | Comments Off

Above: Crowds gather at Tokyo’s Senso-ji in Asakusa to celebrate New Year’s Eve

Last year saw some monumental and fundamental changes in Japanese consumer behavior.  The March 11th tragedies shaped this to a large degree… but so did the excessively strong yen and the fact that Japan was late to embrace some larger global trends like Facebook and smartphones.  In the following post, we look at some major consumer trends for 2011 and see what’s in store for 2012.  One thing is for sure, Japan will try it’s hardest to keep us guessing throughout the year:
Read the rest of this entry

Wednesday January 11th, 2012 | Posted in Social Media | Comments Off

Social media has really made inroads in Japan especially over the last 12 months when social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and the home grown Mixi have all seen large growth in membership and usage. While Mixi has always been the front runner of social networking sites in Japan a recent Nielsen report found that Facebook is now pulling ahead for the very first time with around 11 million users. When the report came out, however, Mixi quickly issued a statement asserting their membership is actually double the 8.4 million users stated by Nielsen and the discrepancy came from the report’s failure to include mobile phone users within their findings. Around the same time, however, Mixi announced a partnership with Twitter which suggests it is somewhat concerned about the emergence of Facebook here.

The mobile phone is still a major access point to online content especially for younger users with many foregoing purchasing home PCs in preference for cheaper smartphones which now offer many of the same capabilities. However, limitations with the mobile phone became evident when the Tohoku earthquake hit in March 2011 and the mobile phone network went down. So where did people turn to connect with friends and family? They turned to social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Mixi which all experienced record use over this time. The video above gives a clear depiction of just how social media came into its own in 2011 with an illustration of Twitter usage in March.

Wednesday October 5th, 2011 | Posted in Health & Beauty | Comments Off

While shaving one’s face has traditionally been a part of the male domain a recent trend in Japan has emerged for lady’s face shaving services and products. Many female targeted beauty salons across Japan now offer face shaving services not only to remove unsightly hair, but also to make the skin much clearer, radiant, and more supple.

The trend kicked off through a local Tokyo salon called Beauty Face some years ago and since its inception it has grown to over 60 stores across Japan. Not wanting to lose out to competition many more salons across the country have started to offer the face shaving service and momentum has started to build.

It is no wonder then that a new product has entered the market targeted at females who wish to shave their face in the comfort of their own homes. A beauty product manufacturer KAI has teamed up with the salon chain Beauty Face in offering these products. While the product’s main benefit is to remove unwanted hair they also claim the product can increase the skin’s moisture and natural oil levels.

The product was released in March this year so we will be watching this one closely to see if product space increases over time in-store.

Tuesday August 2nd, 2011 | Posted in Advertising, Food & Beverage | Comments Off

Last summer, Suntory Highball cocktails were the talk of the town in Tokyo’s izakayas, bars and clubs.  Trendy youths and staid salarymen alike were bellying up to the bar to try the new drink fad; which is a mix of club soda and whiskey made popular in Japan by Suntory’s Kaku brand.  But as trends in Japan go, last year’s ‘hottest’ cold beverage is this year’s convenience store staple.  Other brands have gotten in on the game with their own ‘highballs in a can’.  Count among those Jack Daniels, Four Roses and I.W. Harper and you have some pretty stiff competition between American whiskey brands and Suntory, the domestic favorite.  But Suntory was quick on the draw and so remains the champ for now… even having created its first Highball Bar called ‘Suntory Highball Bar – Shinbashi 1923′.  The shot bar is a throwback to 1920’s era watering holes and is located near Tokyo’s trendy Ginza and the oh-so-fun eating stalls under the train tracks in Yurakucho.  Next time you are in Tokyo you can grab a highball out on the town or pop into the combini for a can.  So be like Bill Murray and for relaxing times make it Suntory time, or JD-time, or Four Roses time, or Harper time.  You pick.

Tuesday June 14th, 2011 | Posted in Food & Beverage | Comments Off

In a previous article we wrote about the growing popularity of Collagen within health and beauty products and also within food and beverages. Its benefits include maintaining healthy and supple looking skin, reducing pain in joints, and generally making one look younger. It seems the trend has continued to grow and one recent company has really pushed the use of collagen to the limits – collagen with beer! The concept was created when an employee mixed collagen with a carbonated drink producing a fanatastic froth of bubbles which then quickly progressed to the idea of mixing collagen with beer. The collagen has no smell or noticeable taste, yet produces a creamy froth of delicate bubbles - creating a product which girls can enjoy on a girl’s night out or by themselves in the comfort of their own homes according to the manufacturer. So you can not only enhance the taste of beer, but beer can now also be thought of as an alcoholic beverage which makes you look younger! Who would have thought ….

Wednesday June 1st, 2011 | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

It seems that disasters really do bring people together. While many industries in Japan experienced a sudden drop in sales after the March earthquake as consumers tightened their purse strings, sales of engagement rings jumped 40% in the month of April. The earthquake and tsunami reaped vast amounts of devastation across Northeast Japan killing thousands, leaving hundreds of thousands homeless, and leaving an entire nation in shock and sadness. However, like many disasters do it made everyone reflect upon what is really important in their lives evident in the sudden rise in marriage proposals and also brought communities and the nation as a whole together in many different ways. Here are just a few examples that struck me as a sure sign the sense of community here is stronger than ever:

- Companies far and wide are offering paid days off to their employees for them to volunteer in the disaster-stricken zone arranging transport and setting up temporary accommodation for their stay.

- Drop off zones have been organised within community wards across Japan where residents can donate much needed supplies from water, to blankets and pillows, and even alcohol for weekly delivery runs up north.

- Many hotels have opened up their doors in Tokyo to residents who have lost their homes or been forced out of their homes from the north.

- Local department stores, retail and clothing stores, restaurants and shopping districts have banded together with community campaigns to promote local business. Special sales, restaurant specials,    live shows and club events are helping communities come together and serving to aid local businesses in hard times.

The disaster has also exhibited the world’s deep solidarity with Japan with not only financial assistance flooding in from foreign governments far and wide, but vast amounts of privately raised donations never seen before. Private donations from the international community have far exceeded those of any other international disaster with private citizens from the US, Taiwan, UK, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, and many European nations providing 100s of millions of dollars in aid for those directly affected and touching the hearts of every Japanese citizen from Hokkaido to Kyushu. While the events of March 11 will never be forgotten, nor will the solidarity shown within local communities and support shown from across the world in the months following.

Sumowrestlers serve food to tsunami evacuees

Wednesday February 2nd, 2011 | Posted in Food & Beverage | Comments Off

Walking out of a sea-side sushi restaurant just recently I came across this eye-catching display at the counter offering none other than Kit-Kats laced with WASABI! For those who do not know Wasabi or haven’t experienced the excruciating pain of a Wasabi hot rush coursing through your sinuses, Wasabi is a hot green paste one lightly has with sushi to spice up the experience and purportedly kill any bacteria within the raw fish. Despite having already consumed one’s recommended daily dose of Wasabi, I was curious enough to buy a pack and see if the product was in fact a gimmick to attract unsuspecting foreigners or somehow this product had passed all the consumer  taste tests and Nestle were for real in launching this product. The first taste that I was presented with was a sweet white chocolate taste followed quickly by a light spicy sensation coming from the inner flakes …. actually not too bad …. certainly not the extreme burning sensation one normally feels when the sushi chef has accidentally miscalculated (I have my doubts) the optimal amount of Wasabi to dollop under your raw tuna.  Although I wasn’t completely sold on the taste it certainly added an intriguing dimension to the regular Kit-Kat taste. Try everything once I suppose ….

Sunday December 12th, 2010 | Posted in Socio-cultural Insights | Comments Off

It’s a well-known fact that Facebook, with over 500,000,000 users, is the world’s largest and most universal social networking site (SNS).  But in net-savvy Japan, where social networking is also popular, Facebook is known to only a few and used by even fewer.  With only 1.3 million registered users, Facebook is outshone by several other, more local social networking sites that are successful simply because they understand the content needs relevant to Japanese culture.  In terms of total users, GREE is currently at the top (21.25 million) and is a relative newcomer largely unknown outside of Japan.  GREE combines online and mobile gaming with social networking to great success with its site valued at $3 billion USD.  It is followed very closely by mixi (21.02 million users), Japan’s best known social networking site which specializes in “community entertainment” that connects people through online forums and common interests.  Mobage Town follows very closely as well (20.48 million users) with a social networking/gaming platform that is 99% mobile phone-based.
 
All of these SNS’s share common characteristics that make them more successful locally than the global standard Facebook.  The overwhelming reason is that social networking and socializing in general is so inherently different than in the West and other cultures.  Facebook focuses on calling attention to the individual, where one person can display their every personal detail to any number of friends.  But Japanese SNSs understand that culture here centers not on the individual but the group and community.  All of these sites seek to create online communities that allow individuals to either remain anonymous or seek friendship with those who share common interests through forums or gaming experiences.  In online communities where individual identity is often not revealed, Japanese feel more free to express true opinions anonymously.  Most Japanese SNSs also have stronger blogging/online forum functions than Facebook or even Twitter for that matter.  Japanese are such avid bloggers that these functions are integral to any SNS worth its weight here.  Facebook’s global network of friends stands in stark contrast to Japan’s relative lack of international social interaction.  This makes for some fascinating adaptations for social networking that are completely new, innovative and not seen anywhere else in the world.