All You Need To Succeed in Japan ... For Free!

Published Biweekly by
Richard Posner

Website
http://www.successinjapan.com 

Contact Us
newsletter@successinjapan.com 

Thoughts From Above And Below

Why Japanese Have Been Immune To Recessions

Who is the average Japanese?  He or she is a person who doesn't obsess about how well others are doing in comparison to themselves.

In highly-competitive, dog-eat-dog worlds such as can be found in the United States, the delineation between winners and losers can be, and often is, stark. 

While some carnivorous achievers eat prime cuts' from the beef of life, far too many others are chasing after the elusive, rancid bone of fame and fortune.

They've been sold a bill of goods that only exists for most in a Hollywood screen set.

The crazy chase for riches is horrifically frustrating and futile for all but the very few with the resources and wiles to stay concentrated indefinitely on a target which keeps moving.

The Japanese are by nature much more egalitarian and much more willing to settle for less.  Almost every toy and ploy is marketed and priced in a manner which makes it possible for almost every Japanese worker to possess the creature comforts which their neighbors possess.

The most important principle that checks wild swings in economic terms is the ability of the Japanese government, industry and academic cadres to foster a false idea that all Japanese are nearly equal.  Their people bite into this concept hook, line and sinker from one generation to the next despite evidence to the contrary.

In Japan, like in America, the rich-poor gap has become a great divide.  Many people here are beginning to sense that their perceptions of "Everyone is middle class" is (and always was) a factual distortion.

Free societies welcome new ideas and entrepreneurial spirit.  Some prosper, while many others live off the trickle-down scraps of the ambitious fortune-seekers and doers.

Because this entrepreneurial age has tiptoed into Japan, many Japanese are still living in a time-warped delusion of cradle-to-grave safety through conformity to conventions.

The dawning of the age of free spirits - able and willing to risk security for the chance to excel - is at Japan's doorstep. 

Regardless of whether or not you like this paradigm shift and loss of national innocence, the opportunity exists for visionaries (foreign and Japanese) to teach and coach a new generation of unashamed achievers.

Are you positioning your business or ambitions to participate in this changing of the guard in Japan?

Find Your Perfect Business!

Japan Niche Opportunity of the Week

 The Stage

The number one concern among seniors and retirees in Japan and elsewhere is to keep healthy and strong longer.  The well-heeled can buy expensive chemical stews and treatments, and many of them do.  Others are into joining health clubs and running the boring, sterile treadmills.  But by far the largest group of older Japanese are turning or returning to nature.

Every day in the Kanto and Kansai metropolitan areas early-morning buses queue to load herds of Japanese elders and an increasing number of their offspring.

Where are they off to?  To the mountains and verdant forests for hiking, sightseeing and hotspring bathing wrapped around a meal or  two of local delicacies.  

The Opportunity

Like almost everything in Japan, when a fad or trend takes hold, the people who follow that trend must dress the part and carry the tools and accessories necessary to impress others of their coolness.

Thus, what do seniors want that can subtly set themselves apart from their contemporaries while on the trail?  Methinks that item is the walking stick.

Building a website and on-site shopping catalog for regional concession stands promoting walking sticks from around the world could be wildly popular among seniors and other outdoor enthusiasts.

On the website and in the catalogue will be guidelines for personalizing the can selection, generic sticks for sale, and for the serious stick user/collector, customized walking sticks.

Absolutely, this customized stick craze could lead to a huge stick auction site and a host of other businesses around the apparel and accessories for having a walkabout in the great outdoors.

An exemplary site to teach you what can be possible is right HERE.

Do You Want to Introduce Your Product or Service in Japan?  Looking for partners?  CLICK HERE.　

Empowering Japan Resources

Hire/Admire/Venture With An Animator or Cartoonist

Japan has a strong, independent nature when it comes to animation and cartooning.  Their history - which I documented in a research report a few years ago - shows a resiliency because the industry was much less regulated and censored than their American counterparts.  That has led to a talent pool of many underpaid yet passionate cartoonist/animators and those associated with those trades.

The labor group Japan Animation Creators Association (JAniCA) revealed in a symposium in Tokyo last Friday that Japanese animators in their 20s earn an average annual salary of 1.1 million yen (US$11,600) whereas those in their 30s earn 2.14 million yen (US$22,600).

Wow!  There's some hungry blood out there in Japanville who must want to move beyond the "labor of love" phase of their craft!

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Got You Under My Skin

“See your skin closely,” proclaims the tagline for the Cosmopolitan BeautyScope. Officially licensed by the venerable ladies fashion magazine after which it’s named, this pocket-sized gadget lets you examine your dermatological imperfections in all their glory.

Simply install the bundled software on your computer (Windows Vista/XP/2000 only, sadly), jack the BeautyScope into a spare USB port, and prepare to lose the rest of your day inspecting and photographing your skin at a 30x magnification. Those zits really do look like Mt Fuji.

Representative of the useless and unnecessary gadgets that litter this archipelago, yet such a product may give you good ideas about what might sell here.

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A Former Prime Minister's Solar Initiative

Former Prime Minister Aso pledged during his short reign that he wants solar power generators installed at roughly 37,000 public schools in the next three years, a move which would keep PV production lines humming along steadily through 2012 and beyond. The total increase would boost Japanese solar production twentyfold by 2020.  Lots of capital influx was expected from Asian neighbors.  If this pans out under the new administration headed by Hasegawa, then opportunities will abound for solar consultants and solar material suppliers here.

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A New Marketing Trend?

In the U.S. and a few other western marketplaces, the use of double and triple your money back guarantees are effective motivators to get people to try an expensive product that would otherwise be too risky to buy.

Lotteria food chain is now marketing its newest hamburger, the Zetsumo Burger, with the guarantee that if you have eaten less than half of it and don't like it, you can get another free burger of your choice.

In tight times, I predict this kind of no-brainer marketing strategy will go mainstream.

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Robots On The Decline

Back in the early80s, robots were feared in the sense that they and computers would eventually replace people in the workplace.

The recent recession has caused a 40 percent decline in the sale of industrial robots, but the good news is that companies are retiring robots before they fire humans.

Watch this video to get a glimpse into the future of robotics...

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This Week's Challenge

If you did not have a great year in 2009, if you have fallen short 
of achieving your goals, and if you are not as prosperous and 
fulfilled as you would like, you need to do something differently, 
and you need to do it now.
 
Why? Because all change, all progress begins with a single decision, 
a single action, a single YES!
 
You and I both know that no matter how good or bad your results were 
in 2009 - you can always do better.
 
Unfortunately, the vast majority of people and companies don't take 
the time to plan for their future and they are simply plugging along 
with their heads down. 
 
It's similar to the pattern of Bill Murray's character, Phil Connors
in the hilarious movie Groundhog Day.
 
But, instead of repeating the same day over and again, both 
companies and individuals seem to repeat the same outlook, approach, 
and strategies. 
 
Is it any surprise that they repeat the same results?
 
September 23rd is an important date because it's marks the final 100 
day countdown of the year.
 
It also marks the date when thousands of people from around the 
world make the decision to begin the 100 Day Challenge and change 
their life for the better and I mean much better.