Business in Japan
- Japanese SNS Activities by Market Sector
About 3 years ago, I found myself doing some SNS based PR work for my friends, and one project lead to another. It has been exciting and fun to be involved within this new ground, and like everything else before in my life, work came in not as result of formal education, but learning by […]
...- 02 Feb, 2012 | Comments Off
- Research conducted in Tokyo now
Product/service development, design research related people like ethnographers, interview moderators, recruiters, coordinators, interpreters, etc. have been keeping busy in Tokyo since latter part of last year, as overseas companies are again very interested in researching Japanese market. After the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake in March 11, 2011, it has of course been an interesting study […]
...- 28 Jan, 2012 | Comments Off
- Recent Ethnography Research, Particularly of Recruitment Challanges in Japan
Over the past three years, I have become more and more concerned with the difficulty in creating highly exciting learning session for foreign inspiration/innovation seeking customers of both design companies and end user companies. It has a lot to do with recruiting process for people to research. I see following problems in recruiting, some of […]
...- 22 Jan, 2012 | Comments Off
- Good way to see the Japanese culture, design and values
One good way to see the Japanese culture, design and values would be to visit TOTO showroom in Tokyo. It’s a totally Japanese language, Japanese place, but that makes it even more interesting to observe. TOTO is a kitchen, bathroom ceramic goods manufacturer, and they are doing quite well. In this tough economic time, the […]
...- 28 Nov, 2010 | No comments yet
- The way Japanese executives think about company responsibility
I don’t know what percentage of Japanese executives feel this way, but last week, I’ve heard it directly from the director of major Japanese companies, like I did from many Japanese executives before. We are responsible for providing livelihood for the citizens. We have to think of ways to offer meaningful jobs for as many […]
...- 22 Mar, 2009 | 2 comments
- Toyota dealership visit in suburban Tokyo
http://www.flickr.com/photos/projectkobo/sets/72157612706079650/ Buying an automobile has never been an option to me since I moved from the US to Tokyo. Why would I want a car? Trains and buses are so cheap, they are everywhere, runs on time, clean, safe. Taxis aren’t so expensive. If I needed to drive somewhere for some reason, I would rent […]
...- 18 Jan, 2009 | No comments yet
- Review of the year 2008
Thank you for making my 2008 a wonderful year! It was great working together with my friends, colleagues and clients. Had this enjoyable year end meeting. A typical one we had at many cafes and diners at various places in the world.
...- 31 Dec, 2008 | No comments yet
- Project Kobo Offices
Office is where people work together. I noticed when our team worked, 4 times out of 5, it was not at Project Kobo Kagurazaka Studio. It was far from my home, 1.5 hours one way. We LOVED Kagurazaka Studio. But it just didn’t make sense anymore So I gave up the studio. physically, me and […]
...- 27 Dec, 2008 | No comments yet
- Sustainability effort: moving small office
I did it again.…. I let a few months slip by without writing anything. August, September were really busy, then came mid October and nothing. So this is what it’s like to be, affected by the economic situation of the time. Being a small operation, it was an easy decision to close my studio, especially the […]
...- 11 Dec, 2008 | No comments yet
- Project Kobo Corporation
My Australian friend once mentioned to me during his first visit to Japan that he noticed that eating is interacting in Japan. At many sushi place, you grinde your own wasabi. We mix chopped nori, ground ginger to our taste at the table when we eat cold soba noodle
...- 18 Sep, 2006 | No comments yet
