Insights

Setsubun – Bringing Good Fortune In The New Year

27 March 20233 May 2023

By Alexander Brown

Setsubun ehoumaki sitting next to a red oni mask and roasted soybeans.

The Japanese national festival of setsubun is a day of massive cultural significance to Japan, long serving to drive demons out and usher in good fortune in the new Lunar Year. From the start of January to the start of February, it’s impossible to forget the season, with seasonal sales drives and traditional celebrations taking place at every turn. In this article, we cover the history of setsubun, popular methods of celebration, and how Japanese retailers use it as an opportunity for seasonal marketing.

Insights

White Day in Japan – Japan’s Strong Culture of Giving

14 March 202327 March 2023

By Kana Kono

Today, March 14th, marks White Day. White Day happens every year on March 14th – exactly a month after Valentine’s Day. Functioning as a continuation of Japanese Valentine’s Day festivities, the holiday encourages people (often men) who received gifts on Valentine’s Day return the favour, giving back small gestures such as sweets, fashion goods, and most popularly chocolate, to express their gratitude.

In this article, we cover the history of Japan’s White Day, and look into the commercial and cultural drivers that started it, and how these link into Japan’s culture of giving.

Insights

Seijin no hi – Japan’s Coming of Age Day

31 January 202328 March 2023

By Alexander Brown

A group of young Japanese adults celebrating seijin no hi in haori and hakama. — Source: Toyo Keizai

Seijin no hi (Coming of Age Day) is a Japanese public holiday that takes place yearly on the second Monday of January, celebrating those who’ve reached the legal age of adulthood between April 2nd of the prior year, and April 1st of the current. While this has traditionally been a ceremony reserved for people turning 20 years old, this was lowered to 18 in April of 2022. In this Tokyoesque Insights article, we delve into the Japanese tradition of seijinshiki – Japan’s Coming of Age Ceremonies, covering their history, cultural significance and what makes them so unique in the year 2023.

Industries

Vegetarianism and Veganism in Japan – Why Vegan Products Should Be in Japan Now

13 July 202213 July 2022

By Giulia Ferraro

Photo of "kaiseki" small plate vegan food in Japan. — Source: Chie Takamoto

There is a longstanding history of vegetarianism and veganism in Japan, stemming from Buddhist traditions that began to take root in the 6th Century AD. Among a recent wave of change, including vows by high-profile politicians to remove the “shackles” on the vegan food industry by establishing clear labelling guidelines, we look at the current landscape of vegetarian and vegan cuisine in Japan, and how a weak yen and a huge gap in the market means that foreign vegan products should be in Japan now.

Consumer Insights

Growing Trends of Personalised Beauty in Japan 2022

5 July 202228 March 2023

By Giulia Ferraro

Source: Medulla

Kindled by the power of the internet and social media, the beauty industry has grown exponentially on a global level, driving trends like that of “personalised beauty” in Japan. Nowadays, it is easy for anyone to view and purchase beauty products from abroad. Japanese cosmetics companies are often considered some of the top beauty manufacturers, popular amongst both domestic and international consumers.

Industries

Anime in Japanese Advertising – 4 Impactful Examples

29 June 202230 June 2022

By Kana Kono

Miley Cyrus holds a bottle of Gucci Flora while standing next to a Japanese anime version of herself in this piece of Japanese advertising. — Source: Tokyoesque

Japanese animation, or anime, is loved worldwide. With Ghibli films, and anime series such as Naruto, Attack on Titan and many others making international headlines, Japan is renowned for its animation industry. As anime increases in popularity worldwide, it continues to lead the way for Japan to export its culture to the world, and continues to bear a large presence in Japanese advertising.

As more and more people continue to watch and enjoy anime, many companies have realised the commercial opportunities that anime characters hold for them. With this revelation, there are increasing numbers of commercials featuring anime characters in Japan today. However, it is not only in Japanese advertising that we see anime-based commercials – foreign companies are beginning to catch on as well.

Last year, internationally renowned Italian fashion brand Gucci came out with an advertisement for its “Flora” perfume, starring an animated version of Miley Cyrus in a style similar to that of Japanese anime. Japanese animator Terumi Nishii (the chief animation director and character designer for ‘JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable’) designed this anime-version of Miley Cyrus, and it gained a lot of traction and admiration for its cuteness and novelty, proving a highly effective marketing strategy. Gucci has even collaborated with Doraemon – a popular Japanese children’s anime character – to feature on their products. Anime has clearly proven its place as an important marketing tool in Japanese advertising, and international companies are picking up on this.

Culture

Japan’s Gender Gap Index Shows High Inequality

21 June 202222 June 2022

By Honoka Karikomi

A man with his hands under a set of scales. One side of the scales shows a man symbol, and the other side shows a woman symbol. This symbolises the tense imbalance of Japan's gender gap. — Source: Huffington Post Japan

Through the Tokyo Olympics in 1964 and a period of rapid economic growth, Japan has grown to become the third largest economy in the world by GDP. Thanks to its thunderous automobile and electronics industries and bold economic reforms of the 1960s, its global position has risen considerably since the immediate post-war period.

However, there is an area which Japan still lags behind in compared to the Western world: the Gender Gap. According to the World Economic Forum, in 2021 Japan’s Gender Gap Index (GGI), which measures the levels of equality between men and women in a country, ranked 120th out of 156 countries. In this article, we will delve into the current situation of gender inequality in Japan, and how this is affecting Japanese businesses.

Agritech

Innovative Sustainability: How 5 Japanese Companies are Implementing SDGs

25 May 202214 June 2022

By Kana Kono

Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) for sustainability. — Source: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/

The 14th of May was World Fair Trade Day. World Fair Trade Day, organised by the World Fair Trade Organisation (WFTO), is a day dedicated to thinking about and raising awareness of “alternative solutions to the planet’s economic and ecological challenges”.
Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs, are an increasingly important set of goals for our planet to achieve sustainability, peace and prosperity. In the United Nations’ 2030 agenda, the following 17 SDGs were put forth, with aims to achieve them 2030.

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Category: Insights

Setsubun – Bringing Good Fortune In The New Year

By Alexander Brown

White Day in Japan – Japan’s Strong Culture of Giving

By Kana Kono

Seijin no hi – Japan’s Coming of Age Day

By Alexander Brown

Vegetarianism and Veganism in Japan – Why Vegan Products Should Be in Japan Now

By Giulia Ferraro

Growing Trends of Personalised Beauty in Japan 2022

By Giulia Ferraro

Anime in Japanese Advertising – 4 Impactful Examples

By Kana Kono

Japan’s Gender Gap Index Shows High Inequality

By Honoka Karikomi

Innovative Sustainability: How 5 Japanese Companies are Implementing SDGs

By Kana Kono

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