Creating and Consuming in Japan

We all know that Japan is a blend of contrasts, new and old, but how do we market new brands in a market this unique?
Shibuya at 6:00 rush hour

I have a love / hate relationship with Japan. On one hand I love the strange newness, in unfamiliarity, the Japaneseness - if you will, of Japan. And on the other hand, I hate that I sometimes can't figure out the obvious, the literal. I hate that other Westerners sometimes don't see the strong connections that the Japanese have with their past., the respect, the gentle, informed influence that has roots stronger than any American could every imagine, if they could imagine such roots. We al shoudl admire this nation of polite, driven, innovative people, all who have a history that happens to run deeper than the 250 years we in the states can recal upon. Culutrally speaking, the Japanese are very human and fascinating, and for anyone interested in design, the country offers something that one can not find anywhere else on this planet - a commercial buisness system that rivals the west, with one BZIG difference - it's all designed without using English. To make matters more fascinating, the visual influence itself is informed by a completely different set of factors, some which find thier threads from the Shinto beliefs from the 1400's or from other cuoutral factors tha range from spirits and Shogun Edo period enthisiasts to natures patterns and cycles. Together, it all explains why a childs toy may more likely be a Milk rabbit, and not a Barbie Doll, or why a single cherry blossom can emotionaly move any female, from a 4 years old with Hello Kitty backpack, to a 90 year old grandmother taking a bus trip to Hokkaido to tour the blossoms......Japan requires work, to understand, and anyone who belives that they can simple sell a product there without researching the spectrum of influences and factors which are unique to Japan, is taking an enournous risk.


I believe that nothing happens by accident in Japan. That in fact, what we find as strange, or silly trends, actually are all every explainable, even though the answers may seem incomprehensible to most Western trained business professionals.

As a visual designer, I like to arrange trips to Japan during the countries most emotional moments, those of celebration, or at those seasonal pivotal moments that are so very important to the Japanese psyche. I just returned from a business trup there which happened to occur in late February, near Girls Day, velentines day and White Day for men, and at the blooming time of Prunus mume, the sacred Ume Plum, which smenas that certain ancient Shinto shrines that happen to dedicate thier shintoism to the Ume, open up their gates and let the Japanese celebrate this first sign of spring. It's amazing yet confusing to some of my peers who I brought along for the experience of this Shinto moment of respect, to see elderly moved to tears, an odd mx of old men, young husbands and modern housewifes all crowding around the lowly but respectable Ume apricot blossom, a seemingly underdesigned pink or white flower which appears before any other organic growth, even before the leaves, on the gnarled woody branches of apparently ancient Ume trees, which are kept in certain collections at certain shrines throughout Tokyo and Japan.

A guide moves crowds or orchid enthiusiates buying orchid themed product hrough the Tokyo Dome

My colleage Jess was confused and humored even, by the Tokyoites crowding around a certain branch on this cold Sunday morning with their cell phone cameras lifted in the cold air, through the smoke of the many street vendors seeling Ume blossom carved baked, then grilled potatoes, turnips and Ocotopus, all so foreign to us, but obviously an annual celebration which many have experienced their entire lives, as we in the west attent church or temple festivals and rituals. THis, my third Ume viewing, and I already felt at home, with the familar treats and scents. Ume wine, Ume candy, Ume carved dolls, Ume clothing, Ume bonsai, Ume cell phone decorative plates, Ume Hello Kitty limited edition playsets, Ume cookies, boxed ume lunches, Ume themed everything. I knew, that if I designed an Ume foam banana cover, to carry ones banan to work, that it would have sold oh so well! ( a current trend which respects ,and protets the Banana chosen to travel to school or office).

A school boy writes a wish regarding their future success on exams, on a cedar plank, a strangely traditionla task at the annual Ume Plum viewing as Shinto shrines through out Japan. Ume Plums, or Japanese Apricot floweirng,is the first official sign of spring in Japan, but not nearly as important as the upcoming Skaura festival - the Cherry Blossom festival.

So many photos were taken at the Ume festival, that there must be albums of images, and megabytes of screensavors all across the country, Even the book stores had magazines, dedicated to what flower viewing was featured at the moment,. although most were focusing on the upcoming Cherry Blossom/girls day festivals.


Anothing about Japan, it makes me feel young. At 49 years old, I can feel 5, instantly. In the hotels, the polite staff act like parents, lots of polite parents....makeing me feel as if I could do no wrong, kindly correcting me if I step on the wrong elevator, or tip someone who I should not, ( no tipping in Japan), . I feel as if I could not make a mistake. And I have that nice comforting feeling of "doing hte right thing; when I line-up behing everyone else, the elders, the business men in navy suits in the subway, as the line up in tidy neat rows behind the green painted lines on the subway platforms. No one out of place, and if there is an american or Austrailian not standing in line, it's OK too. THis isn't a feeling of conformity, just a sense of respect, staying with boundarys, a feeling that is so foreign and refreshing for those of us used to the american rush, anger, rudeness, roughness, crudeness 0 in Japan, I feel as if I am so safe, that if I tripped or fell, or had a heart attack in the subway, that everyone would rush to my side, and besides landing on a clean floor, I surely would find myself rushed to a hospital, not left alone after thier train comes.

I also feel like a child, a sense the designers generally love, when shopping. In a Toys R Us, we shopped and I found myself focusing on what I most likely would have focused on as a five year old. The character, the color, the toy. Not the graphics, not the structure, not the brand. All of my focus went to the toy. I didn;t care what the birst said, or the end cap, I could not read it. I had to be sold purely on the image and the object. The same went for food. It all needed to communicate with me on a more visceral and primal level. Something, perhaps, many of us designers forget, the purely visual experience sometimes isn't about the complex communication of words, logos and text, but of that instant read. That primative reason why humans are wired to be attracted to sparkle or shimmer ( it might mean 'water' to our primative mind) but in Japan, it rarely means tacky, and we in the west may dismiss such effects. A bobbling head on a toy, may mean not fun, but a horrifing resembalance to a shinto spirit from the forest, a Cherry Blossom bedecked anything most certainly badges a product as not only girl friendly, but celebrates femaleness in both rebirth and spring. Image the relationships between nature, culutre and trends when one takes the time to examine and study all of the factors and infliuenced that occur in Japan. Image what brands can learn if they take the time to study the importance of Blue Hydrangeas? Asagao, the Morning Glory, which when blooms in the summer, is not merely a trailerpark chainlink fence vine here in America, but is traded on baseball cards in tokyo school yards among boys, used to decorate ceremonial swords, kimonos for men, sold in august at in tiny pots at most every florist stand at the busy train stations in Tokyo, displayed on prints that date back to the year 400, all grown and displayed at specific Shinto shrines throughout the country, dedicated to the Asagao, collected by enthusiates, seared into gift boxes of cookies in August, on lunch boxed, on banners throughout the city.

Hello Kitty Sakura Blossom themed product was everywhere, in anticipation of both Girls day, and the viewing of the Sakura (cherry) blossoms, so important to the Japanese.

Even at the ORchid GRand Prix, at the Tokyo Dome, ochid themed cookies in gift boxed were sold next to Shishido's display of fragrance based on specific species of orchids endemic only the japan, Shishido fragrances not available outside of japan since teh believe that the western world 'would not understand or appreciate' the nuance.
Starbucks has it figured out, clearly, with a stunning line of products designed properly and sensitively themed around the Sakura Blossom and girls day season. In Japan, marketing can involve cultural influence successfully, especially if it wants to connect with the consumer at a deeper level.
And the same connection repeats itself with other important plants from the Edo era, last week, the Tokyo Dome was not filled with BaseBall players, but Orchid enthusiasts, at the Tokyo Grand Prix International Orchid exhibition, the worlds' largest. And inside, half the stadium was full of the typical, but perfect traditionsl orchid species, the other half was full of orchids that my friend said looked dead, but we're infact, highly important and respected species of Japanese orchids, only grown in Japan,, because the MEAN something to the Japanese. The species of Dendrobium moniliforme, and Neofinetia falcata, found on the out laying islands of Japan, we're common Edo period plants, only grown by the wealthy, the Shogun warriers, collected and worn by the Sumo and Shogun on thier belts, signifiying thier strength and power, risking thier lives swimming the fierce channels to these islands to get these tiny plants, which they would wear and grow with pride. These are not old lady hobiests. The Neofinetia falcata orchid has deep, emotional meaning to the Japanese.

Although I could go on and say the same about at least two dozen plants, like Chrysanthemum, Hepatica, etc, most ecery week or two has a celebration or shrine dedicated to a specific plant, that has tremendous meaning to the Japanese. Shinto is not a religion, but more of a belief of spirits of nature, a very Japaneseness surrounds the beliefsm and for any westerner looking for marketing any brand in Japan, I urge you to understand and respect this phenomenon, and then work with it, intergrate it, repectfully enhance it. But never dismiss these passions as foibles or odd displays of some unknown crazyness. And this respect for nature, and the world's connections go far beyond plants, it occurs with the arts, with music, craft, woodworking, leisure time, fashion, cultural traditions, and, it all strnagely or most wonderfully connects in a sort of web too, influencing each other. Marketing in japan must be honest, it must respect, and it must be mean something. Igonorance stands out to the Japanese as clearly as ininformed brands do in the West. We must enter this market carefully, but confidently, with the fundamental understnading that things that seem random, are not, and that just as random may sell an idea in American, simply because it is new or different, doesn't mean that random will sell in Japan. Here, design must be conscious, and designers must work consciously, not randomly, Influence must be consious, informed. You must know what you are using as influence, especially in a culture that is older than 300 years, for here, culutre does indeed have deep, and knarled roots, and it's like of helpful if you are marketing a face cream that you called Nebari, since Nebari is also the Shinto inspired word, for the certain area where an anient gnarled tree or bonsai interfaces with the earth, the smooth, curvy area, muscular and strong, where the root meets the trunk. Talk about specific, but are there opportunities in this market? You bet.....but know what you are doing in this highly influeced and highly influencial part of the world.