Biz

Find out how Japan and Australia, and Japanese and Australians, do business.
日本とオーストラリア、そして日本人とオーストラリア人がどのようにビジネスを進めるのかを探ってみよう

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    Nissan’s Fine Fragrance From Perfumed Kangaroos

    Automaker Nissan Motor Co. has long used kangaroos in its advertising, particularly in the early 2010s and notably when enlisting the aid of technopop girl group Perfume, which was then at the peak of its popularity. Nissan stylized Perfume’s three members–Kashiyuka, A-chan and Nocchi–as pink kangaroos to promote its Serena, Note and Cube models. Perfume used the opportunity for a cross-promotion of their then-newly released single, Voice, which would go on to reach No. 2 on the Oricon national charts. The campaign aimed to get the attention of a young, pop-loving audience who enjoyed animated characters and prompt them into visiting a Nissan dealership. The ad ran from July 14,…

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    Japan’s Mobs Of Macropod Motifs Missing Marsupials In Masterpieces

    Something strikes me about kangaroos in Japan, where companies like Seino and Nikko Kanko have made the marsupials highly visible. Kangaroos are possibly even higher profile than their native Australia, where Qantas uses the national symbol in its logo, but the macropod is a somewhat uncommon sight elsewhere in the corporate sector. I wouldn’t go so far as to say kangaroos are a ubiquitous presence in the Japanese retail or corporate sector, but it would be no exaggeration to claim they are a daily presence. Far more so, actually, than they are in Australia. That got me to thinking about the presence of kangaroos in the Japanese art world, which…

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    Cheap As Chips Akiya For Aussies: One-Stop Bogan Basement Buys

    Cheap Houses in Japan for Aussies Japan’s market for akiya, literally “empty homes,” continues to offer astonishing bargains — from ¥0 giveaways to charming kominka under ¥1 million. And with the yen being weaker against the Aussie dollar than it has been for decades, there’s no better time for those Down Under to get on top of the akiya trend. Market Snapshot Japan’s depopulation continues to accelerate, especially in rural prefectures. Municipalities are increasingly motivated to offload vacant homes, and several regions have expanded subsidies for renovation, relocation, or child‑raising. With the yen at an historically low level, even renovated homes are now comparatively affordable. Top Akiya Listing Sites (With…

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    Canny Kate Raises Tokyo Comedy Bar

    Acerbic Aussie comedian Kate Hanley Corley‘s razor sharp wit got a cosmopolitan crowd (including superfans who traveled to Japan just to see her) at the Tokyo Comedy Club guffawing loudly. The comedian on a whirlwind tour of Japan put on a rapid-fire display of comedy focused on love, marriage, life and motherhood, using flawless delivery to tap into French, German and Swedish influences at times and touch a nerve with a multicultural crowd including Neddie* from Norwich, Chie* from Chofu, Patty* from Paris and Dorothy* from Kansas, enrupturing all comers. And commas**. She really had her finger on the pulse–and more–with an unbelievably clever and catch tune about an intimate…

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    Why Does Australia’s National Food Cost Less In Japan Than It Does At Home?　豪産でも誤算じゃないの？豪国民食は日本で買った方が安いのはおかしくない？

    Meat pies, Australia’s national dish, are cheaper in Japan (even though they’re made in Bairnsdale) than they are in Australia.　オーストラリアの国民食であるミートパイが豪産にも関わらず日本で買っても安い。 Tim Tams, too, up with Aussie Beef as a symbolic food from Down Under, sell in Tokyo for a fraction of the price that Aussie consumers pay for the bikkies.　お馴染みのオージービーフと並べてオーストラリアの代表的な食品であるティムタムも日本で買った方が安い。 I haven’t looked up the price of Australian beef, but I’d reckon there’s a good chance Japanese consumers have a world away are getting it cheaper than their Australian counterparts.　オージービーフの値段を調べていないが、上記の傾向によって恐らく原産国が地球の半分ぐらい離れている日本の消費者がまたオーストラリアの消費者ほど払わないで食べられているかと推測しています。 This is happening because there is a duopoly controlling Australian supermarkets, according to The Australia Institute, a public policy think tank. The Institute argues that Coles and Woolworths (Colesworth!), the…

  • 豪州ブランド車ホールデンが廃止へ

    　オーストラリアの最も有名な車ブランドであったホールデンが2020年いっぱいで廃止となることは親会社であるジェネラルモーターズ社の17日発表で分かった。 　1908年に始まったオーストラリア国内製造が2017年に終わったが以降シボレー車が輸入されてホールデンブランドで販売された。 　しかし、販売数が伸び悩み、結局GMがホールデンブランドを廃止することを断行した。 　一時、オーストラリア製造業の象徴であったホールデン車が事実上存在しなくなる。 　販売終了後、約10年間メンテナンスのために200人程度を雇用する予定はしている、とGMがいう。

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    Beauty, Athleticism Driving Boom in Sales of Kangaroo Meat in Japanese Convenience Stores

    Kangaroo meat is selling like hotcakes in Japanese convenience stores. Sales of protein-related products are skyrocketing against a backdrop of growing fascination for weight training. All protein-related products grew 40% year on year at Natural Lawson convenience stores from fiscal 2018 to fiscal 2019. And September 2019 sales increased 70% YoY, with kangaroo meat being a prime driver at the chain’s 143 stores in the Tokyo metropolitan area. Tokyo-based Vasel Inc. sells kangaroo meat under the RooMeat and Paroo brands throughout Japan, including the roo jerky selling strongly at convenience stores. “Kangaroo meat is the pinnacle of red meats. Its saturated fats are 20 times better for you than beef…

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    ‘You’re Not Taking the Kingswood’…But Japan Did for a Little While

    On this day 70 years ago, Australia launched a domestic automaking industry at Fishermen’s Bend in Melbourne to produce Holden cars. Not many outside Australia that the Great Southern Land once produced cars, and perhaps even fewer still are aware that Oz exported some models to Japan. These weren’t cars assembled in Australia and shipped to the world’s then second-largest car market (as would happen in the late 1980s and 1990s, notably with the Subaru Outback). They were cars made with the intent of attracting Japanese consumers. Ironically, one of the cars marketed was the Mazda Roadpacer, a car slightly adapted from an iconic Australian car, the Holden Kingswood. Holden…

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    …ah, so* have a Winfield: The Tiny Tale Of Aussie Durries In Japan

    A long, long time ago, in a Straya far, far away, Australia briefly exported cigarettes to Japan.It wasn’t that long ago, actually.But for several months in 1994, Winfield cigarettes, one of Australia’s most famous brands (it marketed itself as “Australia’s No. 1 brand” in Japan, but it was actually only the second-biggest seller Down Under, behind Peter Jackson), was an unlikely competitor of mostly British and American Big Tobacco companies to tap into what was still then a thriving Japanese smokers’ market largely unregulated at the time.Winfield was on a downturn at the time in its home country.Cigarette advertising had been banned from TV and print media decades earlier, but…