Hasta La Gadget!

Japanese marketing has long had the concept of おまけ (”o-ma-ke”), a small extra or incentive for the consumer. Typically this free gift has been a small toy or item that came along with a purchase, common with drinks products. We recently blogged about the free Mario models that came with some Boss canned coffee.

As fashion magazines face falling readerships they are turning to the “omake” as their new weapon to generate sales. No longer is an “omake” just a small extra thing; now consumers get brand items for the price of the magazine. Kitson and Emilio Pucci are just some of the major brands being given away with every issue.

One magazine in particular, Sweet, has seen its circulation soar to 700k and become the biggest selling fashion title mainly due to its successful and aggressive brand “omake” policy. Putting aside the cost of giving away a brand item to every reader every month, what is interesting is how Sweet has acquired new consumers by offering such incentives that they want to buy the magazine just for the brand product. Ultimately, the “omake”, the extra bit, is the magazine itself!

We have previously reported on similar trends with tobacco in Japan and some of the unusual corporate co-branding happening in that industry. Consumers purchase the packet of cigarettes and get not just a free practical item like a lighter, but they sometimes also receive real brand products. The collaborations with Lark and Dress Camp back in 2007 were particularly impressive, and the more recent tie-up with woman’s tobacco Virginia Slims and Gamble Fish worked well.

This partnership between famous brands and major magazines is a logical development of the “omake” trend in the fashion industry, one that is showing no signs of abating. Every Japanese convenience store’s magazine rack is lined with titles wrapped in the distinctive binding that keeps the bag or accessory tightly in place between the pages, upon purchasing ready to be extracted by the content consumer.

What type of product will be next to adopt the brand “omake” weapon?

I’m late on this, so sue me. The pictures are priceless though.

There’s been much hullabaloo around the recent NYT Magazine piece by Lisa Katayama (AKA Tokyomango) that focused on some bizarre sub-subculture of otaku who not only love their pillows (NSFW) printed with cute anime characters, but they LOVE those pillow in a quite literal sense. Well, at least one guy does, and that was where the critics came in alleging that the example given is so extreme that he couldn’t possibly be representative of any pillow-dating trend in Akihabara (much less Japan).

Mutant Frog did a pretty nice breakdown on the piece, and I can see valid points on both sides of the debate. As InvisibleGaijin put it to me at the time (I’m paraphrasing), “YOU get something published in the New York Times, and then we can talk.”.

Just today I was sent a link to Vipper (semi-NSFW) that shows some interesting photos that, without context, mean very little but are GREAT on the web! Did you know that there are now hordes of Japanese men dating realistic love dolls (NSFW) that look like junior high school girls and riding around with them on the trains?

Love pillow orgy! Do you think they ever run the girls through the wash and then randomly pick their new partner out of the hamper in a kinky pillow-swapping swing-fest?

Not that there isn’t a shred of truth in these stories. There’s a big market for anime girl pillow cases, but that doesn’t mean that anyone is dating them or even having creepy late-night pillowtalk with them (haha).

The problem with a lot of these “weird Japan” shock pieces by foreign press is that each topic, on the surface, isn’t all that shocking anywhere. If your average American geek had an Olivia Munn pillow on his bed would he be branded as anything more than a guy who really likes Olivia Munn? Apparently it’s only weird because Japanese guys are buying the pillows, and that fits in quite nicely with all the other weird things that Japanese guys do when they aren’t making out with robots or dating their Nintendos.

The fact is, I know a handful of Japanese guys (successful ones I might add) that simply don’t like real women and claim to prefer their 2D equivalents. These people DO exist! However, they aren’t under the delusion that these characters are returning the love in any way, and they definitely aren’t dragging their love pillows around town with them.

Police in Japan are an interesting bunch. There’s certainly the typical “cop” side that most around the world are familiar with (nosy, aggressive, etc) and it’s always best to be careful around them, especially if you can’t speak Japanese.

On the other hand, they’re also quite good at de-escalating situations. In my experience with American police (the ones in Ohio anyway), they’re more often than not looking to poke and prod you into talking back or doing something stupid, whereupon they get the chance to hit you upside the head and charge you with “disorderly conduct” (contempt of cop). I’ve seen Japanese guys literally push police without getting any kind of citation or arrest, and the police simply calmed him down. Except for this guy.

Japan is somewhere in between the “officer friendly” experience that many baby boomers grew up with in the States, and the modern SWAT team, no-knock warrant, looking for a millionth of a gram of illicit substances movement that seems to be all over.At the local koban police box level, the way Japanese police seek to keep things calm is the way policing was always supposed to be, meaning more about “peacekeeping” than “law enforcement”. Beyond the box, however, it’s a different story. I was stopped in Shibuya with my arms full of shopping bags and asked for I.D. because, according to the police, Shibuya is a “dangerous place”.

I’m not always a fan of Arudou Debito, the formerly American, naturalized Japanese activist who spends a lot of his time drawing attention to himself. I disagree with him in his quest to make sure that onsen and bars can’t choose their customers (even though it’s xenophobic), but he’s definitely someone to listen to when it comes to dealing with police on a daily basis.

Japanese law is such that Japanese citizens do not have to identify themselves to police when stopped, but this doesn’t apply to non-Japanese. Debito, being a white Japanese citizen, is in a great position to get maximum fun out of what would be a relatively simple procedure of handing your foreign registration card over for a routine check. Sorry if you can’t understand Japanese, but I can’t help but laugh imagining what was going through the cop’s head in the video (audio only) below when Debito kept trying to explain to him that he’s Japanese.

This is very relevant because Japan, along with its aging population, is also changing ethnically with immigrants and expats mixing with the population and making it more and more difficult to distinguish “Japanese” on sight. What Debito experienced is going to be an increasing problem as more and more dual-culture/ethnicity Japanese citizens come of age in the next decade.

If you spend a lot of time in Tokyo, especially in the backstreets of busier areas, you may notice police randomly stopping young men for searches on the street. Typically it’s because they are carrying backpacks which may contain (horror of horrors!) drugs or weapons. Of course, whenever we see this happening we’re struck by how normal and passive the guys they stop usually are, so it’s clear they’re just easy targets. Finding non-aggressive otaku in Akihabara is like shooting fish in a barrel.

Granted, in most cases the police begin by being polite and patient, but that doesn’t detract from what they’re doing. Most Japanese, when asked if they can be searched, simply consent, which is a mix of respect for authority and lack of knowledge about their rights.

However, with the advent of technology, these types of searches are being brought out into the public eye, though certainly not into the mass media. We’re starting to see more and more videos pop up on YouTube and NicoNico Douga as searchees use their mobile devices to record their interactions, and they’re getting lots of views in the Japanese corner of the web.

Below is a video of a Japanese (I’m assuming) guy being asked repeatedly by a number of hilariously angry police who just want to see his ID, which he doesn’t have to show. No word as to what prompted this interaction though.

Even in front of Shibuya station, a young man is surrounded by police and searched.

Stopped at night, this guy is patient and firm while refusing to show I.D.

I’m pretty sure this is the same guy as above, so he seems to have a bit of a chip on his shoulder, especially with his KeisatsuKirai (I hate police) channel.

Last but not least, police in Shinjuku spend their day stopping random guys who look suspicious because….well….who knows…

Now the big question is…what’s the law here regarding capturing video of police in Japan? I consulted a lawyer about this, and he said that the “laws are vague”. This isn’t surprising, but I haven’t yet come across an instance of police taking cameras or deleting their contents.

If you find yourself in Japan and being stopped/questioned/imprisoned by the police, this is probably the most useful guide for everyone, regardless of Japanese level.

This season’s Tokyo Girls Collection took place last Saturday at Yoyogi Stadium in Harajuku, attracting around 23,100 followers of fashion. See our Spring 2009 and 2008 coverage to get catch up on the concept of the TGC.

Despite the Tokyo in the name, we discovered by chatting with the girls waiting to get in that many had come from regional areas around Japan. Nor is the word “girls” in the title entirely accurate either; now in its 9th season, the original TGC crowd is growing up, meaning with regulars and newbies together the age demographic is broadening to include kids and full-fledged adults. This year’s theme was “The Hunting,” a recession-friendly message that suggests zeroing in on the object of one’s desire (as opposed to unbridled consumerism or ceasing to shop altogether).

Girls who shop in Shinjuku (left); girls who came in from Osaka (right).

Over the years we’ve watched the TGC move from an event that showcases popular fashion brands to a platform for launching new brands in Japan—both Kitson and Nicky Hilton have given preview shows on the TGC runway. Now the event is becoming a brand in its own right. The most recent edition was as much about promoting new TGC collaboration items as it was about setting new fashion trends for the season. Said collaborations include branded stockings and beverages for Lawson convenience stores, a faux leather jacket for Uniqlo, and new cup noodle flavors for Knorr.

Tokyo Girls Collection collaboration items now on sale at Uniqlo.

When it comes to fashion the TGC has an obvious authority—being a trend-setting event about fashion—and it is now looking to parlay that authority into the ever-blurring industries of health, beauty, food, and beverage. With the Knorr noodle campaign, the TGC is playing up the concept of “bishoku” (beautiful food), which encourages girls to select healthier food and beverage options as a means to enhance inner, and thus outer, beauty. While cup-noodles might not be the healthiest staple food in the world, consumers can expect that the TGC-branded cup noodles will be at least less figure-damaging than other similar products on the market (ditto the coffee drinks). All TGC-branded goods are low calorie, stylishly packaged, and designed to suit the lifestyle of the modern urban girl (who needs coffee and a spare pair of tights to go, naturally).

Innovative cross-industry campaigns have overshadowed the TGC’s original claim to fame—that audience members can buy items off the runway with their mobile phones. Rest-assured there was still plenty of mobile fun to be had: this season featured a number of free samples, contests, and games to be experienced by swiping one’s phone on IC card readers at points around the venue. We particularly liked the promotion for the Tokyo Girls Parade, which we reported on earlier here. Event guests could pull up the site on their mobiles by scanning an IC card reader or a QR code and create their own dolled-up avatars.

Once uploaded, the fashion-forward doppelgangers could hit the runway in proper, larger-than-life TGC style on a large TV screen set up for the promotion.

This is the first in a series of examples of “third spaces” in Japan, locations that act as living/relaxation/work areas that are not usually possible in typical Japanese homes. They are a response to multiple aspects of modern Japan, from small living quarters to a need for privacy from multi-generational family living arrangements. We’ll be looking at a wide variety of third spaces from karaoke rooms to business centers away from work.

At the recommendation of Akibanana We recently brought a client to N STAR AKIBA, a train-themed cafe in Akihabara that rents its tracks out to train-loving customers who simply don’t have such a large space at home. We were there on a weekday afternoon, but the staff told us that the weekends are especially packed.

Customers often bring their own trains, but you can also choose from a wide selection available for decent prices. We picked the high-speed Shinkansen of course, but with multiple lines available you’ll see many different series crisscrossing each other. The idea is to sit, relax, and enjoy operating your personal railway from the comfort of your seat in front of the tracks.