Pretty and Pink in Japan

About seven years ago, some Japanese friends and I started a volunteer group.  Our target was and is young adult Japanese women.  I have learned from that experience the importance of pretty, cute and soft in Japan.  (It's not just limited to young women either.  I've seen large comic or "manga" characters painted on police stations here.)  While the homepage and brochure we first designed were attractive yet realistic, members of our target audience told us they wanted pink, flowery hearts.  I have also found that softness in language is a must.  People are easily offended by what they consider an inappropriate tone.  My Japanese colleague agonizes over every word she chooses when writing on our homepage, while I fly through the English-language version without a second thought.  Japan is actually quite emotion-driven, though it would seem to be the opposite. This is just one of the many contradictions of this great, yet complicated, society.  Contact us at www.noah-digital.co.jp/english/ for marketing help in Japan.