One of the hardest things to get used to in Japan is dealing well with the trash. I used to have to take my trash down the street on a certain morning...burnable, plastic, cans, glass, pet bottles, milk cartons, etc. It was embarrassing enough to have to walk down the street right after getting out of bed, but what was worse was when the self-appointed neighborhood-trash-patrol woman would inspect my trash, find something wrong with it, and make me carry it back home. Everyone looking at you knows you were literally too stupid to take out your own trash.
When we want to throw something out, like a folding chair for example, here is the process. One of my friends has to call the trash hotline for me since I feel helpless to give the detailed information required. She receives a special number and makes a reservation usually about a month out. I then go to the convenience store and buy a trash seal for about $2.50 and write my special number on it. I write the date I have to put the item out on my calendar in red. I constantly check it because I can't imagine going through this process again. On that day, I put the seal on the chair and put it out. I wait for a neighbor to tell me I have done something wrong and finally get up the courage to peek outside and see if it is gone later in the day. When it is, I feel that I am really living in Japan!
For bigger items, like a TV or refrigerator, the cost is more like $50 to throw them away. In America, we have another way of dealing with trash. It's called a yard sale, and we are used to getting money for these items. So, this really hurts. Once a woman gave me her refrigerator...lucky! Imagine how surprised I was when it didn't work, and I had to pay $50 to throw it away. Are you getting a feeling for my feelings about trash about now? You may say, "Well, it's a good thing to be so concerned about recycling, etc.," and I would agree with you except that last year, Nagoya City admitted that a lot of the trash rules were really meaningless (like washing all your plastic trash before throwing it away).
What is the marketing point to all this? Well, speaking of dealing well with trash, there are no kitchen sink garbage disposals in this country, and I won't even go into what we do instead. Are you a garbage-disposal marketing company? Be a trash innovator in Japan! Contact us at www.noah-digital.co.jp/english/.
You can tell a lot about a culture by the way they care for the weakest in society. One of these weak groups is special-needs children. My son goes to a government nursery school for such children. Today they held a graduation ceremony for those moving on to elementary school or regular kindergartens. They had a slide show for each graduate, with a teacher talking about all the ways each child had grown and improved. They gave out certificates, sang a special song, and had the graduates walk out (though most were in wheelchairs) with confetti coming down. In the classrooms afterwards, each teacher gave a heart-felt speech, and then presented the students with albums of the crafts they had done, a card with special photos, flowers, little cakes and more. Several of my son's teachers cried. One young male teacher literally wept. I could go on even more about the mothers there, from whom I received notes and gifts, who are an inspiration to me.
Now, maybe they do the same exact thing in America and many other countries, and I surely hope so. But there is something pretty wonderful about a society who treats these little ones so. In Japan, childhood is the ideal time of life, and this school went out of its way to create happy childhood memories for the children and maybe especially for the moms. A lot of other stuff goes on here...some of it really funny to an American. But today I had the privilege of seeing the heart of Japan. It made me want my little Japanese son to be proud of his country one day.
Oh, I guess I have to give some kind of marketing insight...okay, Japanese love to wear black semi-formal attire to every major event, from weddings to funerals to nursery-school graduations. They love to dress up in general and haven't gone grunge yet...another good thing about this country! www.noah-digital.co.jp/english/
If you come to Japan for a visit, you may think it that there are many Christians here. You will likely see large, elaborate churches in the big cities. Some look like European cathedrals. Smaller cities have charming chapels reminiscent of the English countryside. But while these buildings have a distinctly Christian function, there may not be a living, breathing Christian for miles around. Even those posing as parsons are sometimes not Christians, as I have known a few of these guys (very, very nice guys...in case you are reading this). These buildings are instead the store fronts for Christian weddings, which are very expensive and hugely popular here. Often, brides will wear a traditional white wedding dress for the ceremony and then later change into traditional Japanese wedding attire. The ceremonies follow the standard Christian wedding and for some reason usually include the hymn, "What a Friend We Have in Jesus." The receptions differ somewhat from those in America in that guests get served a menu based on the amount of money they give the couple for a wedding present. Some poor saps just get to stand around and feel silly. This is just part of the give and take of this culture, and actually no one feels silly except us foreigners who have a hard time coughing up the minimum amount of money expected in these situations (typically more than $300). (This same give and take applies to funerals where guests who give a decent cash gift get a decent gift in return.)
There are several points in this post, though you may be missing them...One is that Japanese really love American culture or at least the forms if not the substance. This continues to hold true no matter how bad we seem to be getting. Another point is that the concept of gift giving and receiving is really different and complicated here. All I will say is that when you give someone homemade cookies, make sure you put them on a paper plate. If you put them in Tupperware or some other item that must be returned, a Japanese person will ALWAYS return your container with a gift inside it. This kind of defeats the purpose. As for marketing, well, American culture sells, and frankly, there are no interesting paper plates here, like you could find anywhere in America. Just a thought. For other great marketing insights, contact us at www.noah-digital.co.jp/english/.
As I said in my last blog, Japanese love to do things together, the same way, based on certain rules of behavior. If there is any underlying, universally accepted belief system here, it is the the belief that one should never cause other people problems or distress. There is a strong desire for a kind of surface harmony, which means the absence of upsetting things. For example, many friends have complained of people who don't say the appropriate greetings and set phrases at the appropriate times. If you enter the workplace, classroom, etc., and don't say "Good morning/afternoon/evening," it puts everyone in a seriously bad mood. Most of the rules here are just so that things can go smoothly down to the very last detail. There is a saying that a nail that sticks up will be hammered down, referring to the pressure here for everyone to fit in. But in Japanese logic, who wants to walk on a floor with a nail sticking up?
After all, the Japanese have turned an orderly society into an economic powerhouse. I remember back in the early 90s in America when "TQM: Total Quality Management," was all the rage and we were desperately trying to copy the Japanese approach to creating business harmony. It was a kind of agony for us, as we never could figure out how to do it. We just weren't that into harmony, I think.
But Japanese are far less concerned about how other Japanese think or what philosophies or values they hold. As long as no one's thinking ill of them, Japanese are satisfied with appropriate behavior. Thinking is totally free and best if kept to one's self. So, you won't find a political correctness movement here, college debating teams, or group therapy of any kind. On the other hand, many new religions are being created willy nilly (yes, I like that term). People engage in a broad array of hobbies and studies, and vary dramatically in lifestyle, tastes, goals and interests. The inner life of Japanese is as varied as the people of any country, and in fact, I would say they are a lot harder to figure out than most! For help getting beyond the superficial in Japan, contact us at www.noah-digital.co.jp/english/.
When I first put my son into nursery school, the mothers had to go all day with the children for a while. This was quite a challenge for me, and when the end of the day came, I was virtually ready to grab my child and run out the door. But instead, we had to all wait until each child and mother was ready to leave and sitting around the table. Then, we had to sing "the goodbye song" to each child. Finally, we all got up and got in our cars which were parked in a straight line and left together, at precisely the same moment. This is a glimpse into the Japanese culture of doing everything together, the same way. There is a popular child's song..."Together, together, everyone together," and as my Japanese friend said that not only means "together" but "the same." I used to be surprised when a very young Japanese friend would call me "selfish," when I parked differently from the other cars in a parking lot, i.e. face-forward instead of backing in. Another friend criticized my way of cutting vegetables as not being "correct." Here, there is one right way of doing almost everything. Americans may think this is very constricting, and certainly many Japanese claim not to like it, but in reality, as a Japanese woman recently told me, it is very comforting to know what the expectations are in every situation. If you have clear rules to follow, it increases the chances that things will go well. This tends to keep people from thinking for themselves, but let's face it, it also leads to the kind of admirable behavior we saw in Tohoku where people were waiting patiently in line for food and taking their turn without complaining. So now, do you expect me to recommend marketing strategies that appeal to this desire for rules or the-Japanese-way-or-hit-the-highway mentality? Ha! Japan is not so simple. In my next blog, I'll talk about the other side of the contradiction that is Japan. Until then, contact us if you're confused...www.noah-digital.co.jp/english/
It's hard to believe it's been one year since the earthquake/tsunami in the Tohoku area. You wouldn't know anything disastrous had happened by looking at my downtown Nagoya neighborhood. There has been a boom in housing construction, and the nearby highway-in-the-sky construction continues full-speed. The economy is gradually getting stronger, not to mention that the yen has remained too strong. This is the wonder of Japan. Though many sent supplies and volunteered, the Japanese primarily responded to this disaster by getting up the next day and going to work, working hard, and doing the same thing everyday. We love being a part of this great economy that enables Japan to overcome hardship and help other countries, too.
But we don't want to miss what the survivors in Tohoku can teach us. A friend of mine knows a man who lost everything in the tsunami. When he was interviewed on Japan public television, he said something quite amazing, "...Even though this huge tsunami washed away all of my past and all my financial basis, I felt rather refreshed...Before the tsunami, I was thinking so much about my company and its finances. But on the following morning, I saw beautiful sunshine and even a hint of early spring (which I had never noticed before the tsunami). In my own backyard I found small flowers about to bloom. I was surprised by such a joy in those things...I do not despair of what I lost, but thank God for what I have in my hands. And for hope." (It seems that when we think we must have something, it usually has us.)
Other friends who have spent time in Tohoku have talked about how thankful the people have been for every act of kindness by volunteers to the point of believing their lives have been enriched because of the disaster.
Tohoku has shown the world how to keep going, living and hoping even when all their "stuff" has been washed away. They've answered the age-old question, "What if the worst happens?" with the response, "View your situation with a thankful heart and find the good in it." (When I think of it, this response works well even when the worst hasn't happened.)
Let's buy and sell as people have since the beginning of civilization since commerce makes civilization possible, but let's not forget the un-marketing truth of the matter...that life does not consist in the abundance of one's possessions. That's something we here in Japan understand a lot better today thanks to Tohoku. www.noah-digital.co.jp/english/
