Field Theory by Hadyn Green

Loved this writeup.. as an ex-pat Kiwi about to travel from Melbourne to Japan for three weeks, it's nice to get some impressions.

Also, if you can, try Little Creatures Pale Ale or (especially) the Bright Ale... seriously one of the most delicious beers in existence.

A excellent piece to read, after a good meal at the Shinjuku restaurant (to celebrate my daughter's Excellence in NCEA Japanese), and feeling slightly pissed after a bottle of saki.

So envious. I've always wanted to go to Tokyo, but never found an excuse. The epitome of modernity dropped square in the middle of a very ancient culture strikes me as post...well...post-everything.

Sounds like leftover scenes from a William Gibson novel - especially the homeless sararimen.

& Geoff, now I'll have to go back to Shinjuku, and not just because the owners live next door to me...

I did enjoy this post, but while reading about beer and Japan, I got to wondering a little about it, mainly because of my cousin's Japanese wife, and her hilarious description of her father's fruitless efforts to practise drinking so he could "have a beer" with his son-in-law-to-be (after half a glass, he had to go and lie down). But then, I guess it's not all Japanese who can't take alcohol, or there wouldn't be sake, would there?

@ Jeremy. We should meet up some day soon, for a cuppa and a chat (as fellow Hamiltronians)

But then, I guess it's not all Japanese who can't take alcohol, or there wouldn't be sake, would there?

In my 14 months there I met few people who couldn't outlast me, although you wouldn't try to drink anyone under the table, as many of them have gas heaters built into them.

Kotatsu!

Bless you.

Sounds like a good plan for one of these lunchtimes. Any other Ham-Towners want to get in on the action? A wee PA get-together perhaps. I'll add my email details to my profile, drop me a line.

I spent most of my adolescence in Tokyo, and loved it. I attribute my ongoing love of hellishly crowded futuristic megalopoli to this. As a tech-mad 15-year old, spending the weekends wandering around Akihabara was awesome fun. I still get a great frisson in weather like we're currently having in Wellington, where you can have that experience of stepping out of a cool, air-conditioned building into a hot, muggy day - very evocative of summers in Japan.

Personally, I fucking hated "Lost in Translation", because I thought it clung to cliches of the Japanese as the Mysterious Inscrutable Other.

Sounds like leftover scenes from a William Gibson novel – especially the homeless sararimen.

I was actually introduced to William Gibson by a couple of other gaijin on the train. Me and a mate were on the Yamanote line, and a couple of yanks recommended we read Neuromancer. In retrospect, it's probably the most appropriate way introduction I could have had.

I visited tokyo about three and a half years ago for a couple of weeks. We were blown away by how amazing it was and had a fantastic time.
One day, while out and about, we wandered into a small 'Swatch' watch shop that was located just inside an inside mall. It was smallish and had clear glass walls that were covered in watches. We stood there for a few minutes looking at the watches expecting a shop assistant to pop back in any second when a gentleman came in, pushed some buttons we had not noticed. The doors closed and the whole 'shop' started moving downwards. When the doors opened we were in the real shop and felt very much like country mice in the big city.
I bought a watch though!

I would note that it is already possible to get some NZ beers (Monteiths, Tui) at the New Zealand Travel Cafe in Roppongi – which seems to be trying to be the sort of NZ-specialist outlet you discuss a need for in your interview (& is clearly DB-affiliated).

More generally, there are import chains such as Yamaya (which stock manuka honey blends); Vegemite and higher grades of manuka honey can be tracked down at import boutique stores.

The occasional NZ wine has been making it onto the shelves of my local supermarkets, though usually at prices that ensure there are cheaper, better alternatives available. Marlborough sav blancs are the most obvious specialist area that NZ could compete in, and the following are currently available in my small city [*]: Cloudy Bay at Belc for around JPY3500 [~NZD60]; Te Matua at Ito Yokado for JPY2300 [~NZD40]; Overstone at Seiyu for JPY1100 [~NZD20]; Monkey Bay at Yamaya for JPY980; and a rather grassy Satellite at Seiyu for JPY880 [~NZD15]. These marketing avenues are really only open to big players (because of the number of outlets and the area covered, large volumes need to be supplied) – and in most cases the quality doesn’t justify the price premium. (You can pretty much always get a fairly decent bottle of wine here for under JPY800.) Of the wines just listed, I’d judge only the Overstone as being actually good enough to compete on quality alone at that price point. (All respect to Cloudy Bay, their product is the best of these, but not enough to justify $60/bottle; OTOH they do have brand recognition on their side here, and I hope they are selling well to the intended [Japanese, connoisseur] market.)

[*] I should clarify: I’m writing this in Tokyo (that’s where my office is); but I live (and more importantly, shop) about an hour by train out of central Tokyo.

The doors closed and the whole ‘shop’ started moving downwards.

So it was a lift, masquerading as a wee shop? Fantastic.

Entranced...

So it was a lift, masquerading as a wee shop? Fantastic.

very Timelord-like marketing behaviour
or perhaps the Clock Shops of Isher...

unless, of course, it's a wind-up...
;- )

Entranced…

Reminds me of the story, which I can't find, about the lifts in the Kansai Airport.

It only dawned on the (probably male) designers the obvious flaws in having a glass bottom lift raising above waiting passengers when they opened it. They skirted the problem by putting cardboard on the floor while they found more aesthetic solutions.

Seems strange the story is so hard to find, and I'm starting to wonder if I dreamt it, which would be a slight concern.

Seems strange the story is so hard to find, and I’m starting to wonder if I dreamt it

Or just sat musing, saying to yourself, "But...but...if it had a glass bottom, wouldn't people be able to.....????

Quick note about the beer... there is more to come. And sneakers. And rock and roll.

@linger I generally prefer to avoid Roppongi as it seems to be the place that caters solely to foreigners so they don't have to experience anything Japanese.

@Joff yes, Little Creatures is really good.

@recordari even the elevators with glass sides allow are pretty bad (as I noticed with embarrassment at a mall in Osaka. Same goes for glass walkways

*nods* I avoid Roppongi for other reasons (too far out of my way, and too crowded: I found out about the NZ Travel Cafe on my last excursion out there for the NZ Trade Expo, over 3 years ago) - but you're right. If you want to market more directly to locals you'd probably be better off starting somewhere else - though if starting with only one outlet, probably somewhere on the Yamanote line to maximise traffic: perhaps Ikebukuro (not quite as expensive to set up shop as in Shinjuku).

On the other hand, there is a sizeable foreign market potential in some parts of central Tokyo such as Roppongi: possibly large enough to allow a test store to be profitable while simultaneously allowing importers enough evidence from local purchase data to refine the mix of product offerings for local tastes.

The interview was interesting in that it highlights the importance of introductions for building business in Japan. While that may hold true, I know of one NZ distributor who cold-called a Japanese manufacturer and secured a contract to distribute products in NZ. While I'm sure the interview was focused on exports, it's best to consider all angles and I'm not convinced that the govt-sponsored trade organizations are necessarily the best vehicles to open doors.

I'd also like to point out that the traditional approach to doing business in Japan is changing. The interview offers the traditional approach to dealing with large institutional partners. For example, you're more likely to find smaller food distributors sourcing their own products from abroad as opposed to being "sold" by foreigners into the local market. Secondly, the interview fails to address the internet as a marketplace and this is where the real growth has occurred. Japan is very price sensitive now because of deflation so the idea of selling at a premium means that you need to have a solid retail strategy.

I know we were in Tokyo at the same time, and we’ve talked about this and stuff, but what made me fucking bawl like a bullied little 12 year old when I watched Lost in Translation was the fucking smell of Tokyo that came from the TV. It was unbelievably visceral and kind of extreme.

@hadyngreen, @linger clearly neither of you have been 14 year old girls living in Tokyo with a badass best friend, or both of you would spend all your weekend time at the Roppongi bars...

d

I was a 16 year old boy in Tokyo and did spend a lot of time in Roppongi bars (and riding bikes in Osaka suburbs). But now I've been to better ones, and loved it more. Though I wish I had a badass best friend to show me around the big city.

Didn’t arrive until I was 22. Was fortunate to travel back several times for work in my 30s with a ‘badass best friend’ to show me around. ’twas indeed a different place.

Mind you, same badass friend was there at 22, and the trouble we got into then was much more life altering, and life threatening, than anything we did later. The fact we were both married by then, and far from badass, might have had something to do with it.

We avoided Roppongi most of the time. Ebisu, Omotasando, and other areas that can’t remember, were more our scene.