Also, originally published, in a much cooler Mac-form at
http://web.me.com/boredinho/boreduniverse/Boredblogg/Entries/2009/5/25_A_VERBAL_PLUNGE_INTO_JAPANESE_MARKETS.html


Japan; Sushi, Sake and Samurais. Still credible associations, indeed.

Tokyo; Crowded subways, Changing sceneries and Contemporary buzz.
This is of course just merely touching the surface of what Japan and Tokyo has to offer. So how can I break the surface? How can I plunge into the wild japanese markets?


Curiosity in it self just doesn`t cut it. Talking with some norwegians about how they see japanese consumer-trends, how japanese markets are developing and how they are different from the norwegian norm, just didn`t prove to be fruitful. So what do I do?I need some terms which can help me explore, a guidebook. Well, no one is going to give me one for free so I just gotta make it myself.




Firstly, I need to understand the dynamics of japanese marketing
. I guess that this needs time and consistent efforts over a longer period than just the 72 days I have left. But I have already started. Walking around in Tokyo, checking out the different shops, noticing how the shelving is organized, the Sushi prizing strategy, how the fashion-shops are changing their clothing-line week in and week out. I guess I gotta start somewhere and when I try to understand the micro-picture of it all.



In due time
, I wanna come to grips with the great beast of the macro picture. Which involves societal-factors, long term evaluation of what works and what clearly doesn`t and maybe if they have the same criteria for determining success as we have in the west. I imagine that Japan is a country of companies like big monster-like institutions that dominates everything but I haven`t really seen the belly of the beast. I wanna get a look inside of japanese business!






Øyvind Aasen




Then comes the plunge, when I have climbed up to the big clip, gazing out on the japanese markets from the perspective of an omniscient eagle(an unreachable ideal, I can imagine). It takes courage, frustration and continuing feedback-loops.



Thirdly, the return to Norway
; What can be applied to Norway or even the some western-markets? What represents a window of opportunity or maybe blue ocean of market-opportunity? Cause clearly, the japanese does do a lot of crazy things, but does it work in Norway? And is a success in Japan a success in Norway, or should I go for the japanese failures? This seems like a Mission Impossible to determine, but the difficulty while diminish as my understanding and wisdom develops, but once again hope and hard work are still my only contributions to the process.



Then, I hope, I can return, again and again
and over again to Japan, getting inspired and can reinvent myself and being able to get myself some new,japanese mental furniture. This is the dream, it`s not an ambition yet, but a pattern in my life I deeply want to emerge. Going places, seeing things, get inspired, seek wisdom, explore my horizons and get some lifelong japanese friends and companions.


Well, the guidebook didn`t turn out that good I guess. At least I now what I want to explore, but how is still a puzzling mystery. The road is formed while walking, I presume.


Review of a new product “iPhone”

General Information
The iPhone is an internet-connect cell phone designed and marketed by Apple Inc. Its minimal hardware interface lacks a physical keyboard, so a virtual keyboard is rendered on the multi-touch screen instead. The iPhone functions as a camera phone (including text messaging and visual voicemail), a portable media player (equivalent to an iPod), and an Internet client (with email, web browsing, and local Wi-Fi connectivity). Next I will review each functions:

Phone
As a phone, the iPhone is all the same with other cell phone that we use in Japan.

E-mail
The only thing that I was disappointed in the iPhone is E-mail function. The biggest problem for iPhone users is that it does not contain “copy and paste”. So if I want to put someone’s sentences or phone number, I need to rewrite it. Also, a pictorial symbol is not available to use to other company’s phone. However, there are some useful functions that other cell phones do not have. For example, iPhone can use free mail software that we could use in computer such as Gmail or Hotmail. So I can check an e-mail which is received by Rikkyo mail account, and reply it.

Internet service
The iPhone can connect to the internet through “safari” which offered by Apple Inc. Recently, there are some cell phones which could connect to Internet sites that we use in computer, but the price to brows them are really expensive, so most of people just use sites for cell phones. Softbank mobile provide a fixed amount for iPhone users to use all communication services so it is really useful.

These three are the main function as a cell phone. The iPhone has lots more useful functions that other cell phones do not have. The iPhone starts a revolution to cell phone industry. Cell phone industry rapidly improves technology. I am looking forward some amazing cell phones that will be made in the future.


I AM: Big fun of Takeshi Tsuruno. Nowadays, I'm listening his First Alubum "TsurunoUta" again and again.

What is great about him is....his voice, the way he sing a song. The songs in TsurunoUta is not his original songs, but all the songs are really famous. He sings these famous songs in his style which is really cool. I was touched when I heard his song on TV. And it happened many times.

He is a great singer.
And a nice dad, he said.
I NEED: Concentration. I cannot concentrate on one thing for a long time especially on HW. Easily get bored. And starts to do something fun and then fell asleep. Really need to change this custom. Otherwise, I would be in trouble since this year seems pretty busy.

I WANT: Pocky. Chocobi tastes good, but need pocky.

I FEAR: Horror movies. Hates those. You cannot go to the bathroom or look at the mirror after you've seen the horror movie. There is no benefit from horror.


I am: A 23 year old student who hails from quite possibly the bowels of the United States where there are screams of agony, cries of despair, and the scent of fire and brimstone is ever present...

No, I'm from a small town that wants to be big city but just can't jump ahead 5 or 6 years with the rest of the USA. I'm completely infatuated with all things creative, artsy, design-y, and if you just so happen to mention anything NYC, it could be disastrous to your ears as I have a profound love for that city.

I need: More time to anything and everything in my life here in Japan. There is a strange phenomenon in life in which if you have any free time at all, there is a mysterious ethereal vacuum ready to switch on and steal all your time available. My last semester here I had all the time in the world and wasted it away playing video games and drawing. Now, I'm lucky to squeeze in a sufficient amount of sleep every night. I have no regrets about this particular situation, every minute of my day is packed with being around epic people and doing epic things.

I want: Every computer at Rikkyo to have at least the top 30 typefaces in my arsenal. Rockwell, FF DIN, Helvetica Neue, Didot, Futura? Hello? There has never been a chance passed by dear beloved Rikkyo to foil every possible attempt to give any of my assignments any kind of layout structure or follow any rules of typography. If I could, I would take a hammer to the printers in 8403. They also are a formidable foe to my sanity. Also, I want world peace, to be famous, rich, and... yeah I could talk about all that forever, et cetera, ceteris paribus, e pluribus unum,  ad nauseum.

I fear: Returning to the United States. I love my country, but I'm not too fond of what awaits me in my hometown... All the great friends I had before I left are all graduated, are graduating soon, or have already forgotten about me. I expect to return to a life of boredom, melancholy and a whole new level of FAIL. Will I be strong enough to conquer this juggernaut of despair that is the midwestern United States? I guess so.



I am
a 19 year old student who loves "keiba". Well, to be honest, it's illegal to bet in "keiba" in Japan when you're under 20, but I guess nobody told me not to so I bet anyway. I have a blog that I write every racing day with my friend in Rikkyo University. He was the one who made me become so addicted to "keiba".

I need to be able to use time wisely. As the time for "ichigen"- the first period is getting closer and closer, and the time I have to leave is getting closer, I just start to think that I need to use time wisely. I just get carried away reading "2chan" or other websites, playing FPS games, talking to people on Skype. Then, when I realize it's always way too late to sleep so I have to spend an all-nighter just by myself. Well, today I had to practice my presentation after I came home from "nomi" which was quite a hard task to do. I guess I really need more self-control and many others.

I want to have Mr. Donovan as my EAP teacher. Well, I can't really be whining about these things, but I'll just say that Mr. Donovan is an awesome teacher and I envy people who get to take his class.
AND, even though some people know who my present EAP teacher is, I can't really write that on the Blog.

I fear that my EAP teacher will read this BLOG!

Nah, not really.
I fear that the time I have to leave has just come and probably Roy Sensei will get angry because I left this blog post 'till the last minute!!


I am a tennis player who doesn' t belong to a Rikkyo Tennis Team. I'm also a tennis coach at a club in Setagaya, and right now, I coach from little kids to highschool students who wants to become a proffesional or a top player in Japan. So I have to be very serious whenever I go to the lesson (5 times a week), and always have to be well-prepared in terms of my self-conditioning and what to do in the lesson. I usually get home at around 11:30 pm, and usually go right to bed being totally exausted. But I strongly feel that it is a worthwhile job, so I'm looking forward to continue it until the end of my final year at Rikkyo.


I need a battery cover for my cellphone. Really, this is something very serious and I've been missing my battery cover for about 6 months now. I assume that I lost it in building 8, so if someone finds a black battery cover, please contact me. I will give you a small thank you gift in return (a trip to Hawaii).


I want to travel to many countries and see & feel many cultures. But this is gonna be something very difficult because I'm probably not going to get a long break at my tennis club. I never thought I would have this much responsibility as a tennis coach, but I must find a way to go on a long trip to Africa. Why Africa? Because I wanna see a place that's totally different from our country.


I fear my Rikkyo life would end very quickly. I want to study many things about business in school, and also become a competitive tennis player. There are so many other things I wanna do, so I really have to work hard and do what I have to do each day. But hopefully, I will get a lot of the things out from this zemi. Thursday is my favortie day.


I am a girl who loves KASUGA!! Almost all of friends around me don't understand that... I knew him in the last M-1, then I have loved him!! But, now he is too popular, appears in TV everyday, and becomes a major TV personality. Vaguely that makes me sad. One of my dreams is to meet him, and I look for the person who go to him live together!

I need time!!! From last March,I hardly have been able to have dinner with my family. I tend to make my schedule tight. I will be carefully next month so that I can more sleep, have dinner in my house, relax, and communicate with my family.

I want any dogs. I have never had any dogs as pet in my life. The reson is just my mother don't like any animals. Actually, I am hardly in my house then I will not be able to take care of the pet. I think I want to have a dog when I will bacome a mother and have any my children.

I fear my job hunting. Now is heavy economic crisis, this connects to decrease recruitings of companies. I saw my senior in my starbucks struggled with that, I thought that seriously.

I am 22 years old, studying in a business school, and now enjoying life as an exchange student in Tokyo. I am part of those people who have an identity made of different cultures: born in one country and grown up in another one with three native languages, and who have to answer questions like «which country do you prefer?», and have then to explain that we cannot choose. I am an optimistic person who has a lot of hope and expectations about life. I am curious about everything I don’t know. I am also a lazy person who is doing contradictory things: I hate wasting time, but I do waste a lot.



I need to organize my life here, so that I can be on time, to meet people and to have my work done. It is just so difficult in Tokyo, city which never sleeps... I need to sleep more as well. Actually, 48 hours days would be so much better, but still not enough I guess. I need to know how to say no a party when I don’t have time, money, or when I have to be at work  early in the morning the next day. I need to have the feeling that I do something with my life and that I learn more everyday.



I want more. I am still looking for something else, new, special, different, although I don’t know what. I want to go everywhere, find interesting places, people, lifes, way of thinking. I guess I also want to know more about myself at the same time... 



I fear I will not find what I am looking for, I fear I will end up one day living the kind of boring life that I just don’t want, trapped by my surrounding. I fear I will have to face someone telling me «You see, I told you, you were young and optimistic at that time, but that’s life». But now, I am full of energy and I don’t care. I just fear cockroach...


I am a super duper really lazy person that likes to sleep or stare in space for most of my time. It's not that I hate to interact with people, it's just that I need a lot of time being by myself and having time to think much as I want without any distraction.



I need something that will REALLY REALLY make me interested. Right now I don't have something that I'm really into and therefore don't have a great way of maybe spending my life....
Therefore, I need to find something that will really hook me up and forget that time is passing by.
I want to be able to teleport. The reason is simple if I can telelport, I can go anywhere anytime and not have to worry about the process and time it takes to get to the location. Train is not too bad, but sometimes is iritating with so much people and so much noise.
I fear the future of Japan. Japan has become a great country, but it still faces many problems. Limited resource, meandering economy, unstable politics, and so on. It's true that many other countries face these problems as well, but the problem with Japan is that it doesn't look like the problem is going to get solved by anychance. It's just getting worse and worse. Am I going to be able to get a job?



A BORED INTRODUCTION







I am a Norwegian 22-year old who comes from the western part of Norway where the deep fjords and the wild, intense and powerful mountains constantly reminds us on how small we are compared to nature. Nevertheless my new surroundings are quite the opposite; subways, heated toilet-seats, men in black(suits) and “便利”-machines around every corner; It´s Tokyo.



I need these three extreme passions to nurture my personality:


1. Sports and the joy of competition and play(Judo,soccer and every other game),

2. Family&friendship(People I respect and love)

3. My constant curiousness for new things and interesting prospects(A company like Apple, a poem or some new knowledge acquired from life experience or from reading).


This has sculpted an intense, vibrant and enthusiastic man that sometimes can be too demanding,sometimes too dreamy and always is too busy and talks way too much.. As Kanye West has put it: “Giving up ,is for me, way harder than trying!” . That goes for me too. I always try to be the best I can, doing the things I love, with people I respect. Now it sounds like I am always competing, but actually I am just living,trying to exist the best way I can. It is like Kevin Costner in the 90`s movie “Bodyguard” said: “You can be who ever you choose to be, it takes an act of discipline, but it can be done.”.


I want to aspire to being a good resource for myself and those social circles I consider myself a part of. I daily look myself in the mirror and let my inner voice decide if I am successful and every time I realize that my potential is far from fulfilled.


I fear that when I am grey and old will regret not taking the opportunities that my heart wanted me to do. Sometimes I daydream about the perfect girl, a girl that has all the qualities I look for,feel for and live for ,but still has the cutest little imperfections that makes her complete. The thing is that I don`t know what the perfect girl is like, I fear that I will give up finding love.......



I am


I am a guy who really love football. Last night I woke up late to watch the football match. Barcelona is my favorite team and I believed Barcelona beat Chelsea, one of my hatest team. However, the score was 0-0. I felt really bad through out the day.



I need

I need to have more passion to study. Always, I am really enthusiastic at the first few weeks of semester. However, it gradually drop all the time. Does any know how to keep it? If yes, please tell me!!


I want

I want to travel more. I really love to travel all around the world. This picture was taken by me when I went to Barcelona, when I was 18. I was still a high school student at that time. That travel changed me a lot. It was a first time that I went somewhere just by myself. I really felt lonely but it was a wonderful experience. I am planning to visit some Europian countries, so if you guys have any recommend, let me know.


I fear

I fear of snake. I hate snake!When I was in Singapore, I had a experience chased by snake. Can you believe it? Iwas age 3 or 4, and that was really shocking to me. From that time, I really hate and fear snake!


I am a girl who loves to eat, and eat as much as boys do. I especially like sweets such as pumpkin pies, cheese cakes, milk pudding, and etc. I am not a good cooker (actually, I'm now trying to be), but I can make those sweets. My happiest time is when I am eating. In the summer time, I do a shaved ice party almost everyday. Last year, I often did this party alone, because I am living alone, so please come to my house to join shaved ice party this summer!


I need someone to live with me. Because I am living alone in Tokyo, I feel lonely almost every day except for the day someone come to sleepover. A year has passed since I started my life here, I still can’t get accustomed to living alone. I want someone to talk with me during dinner. Eating dinner alone is not interesting, and food doesn’t taste good. I need someone to wake me up. Sometimes, I can’t get up in the morning even though I set up three alarms with a big noise. I also have a difficult time doing all of housework. However, Iwill think of living alone is good practice for me to be a great mother in the future!


I want to visit my hometown, Hiroshima. Last year, I went back there for three times and each trip was about a week. I thought it was not enough time. Spending time with my family and old friends are precious time for me and makes me feel comfortable. It gives me a lot of energy and makes me feel happy. So, I would like to spend more time there this year and have a rest.


I fear the day when I become a member of society. I'm not ready at all so far, but I have to be ready within three years. Of course, it is important to study hard to be a member of a society, but I think it is more important to have a lot of different experiences such as going abroad, making eternal friend, and talk with as many people as I can.