In Focus: Japanese CEOs

In the United States – and other countries, actually – financial troubles began partly due to the fact that corporate bigwigs received fat bonuses. The so called fat cat bonuses have long been part of their corporate culture. In Japan, the opposite is true.

Perhaps this is the reason that the country has been so successful in keeping their companies and the whole economy afloat. It is definitely the reason behind everyone’s positive outlook. In Japan, CEOs know how it is to sacrifice so that their companies can weather tough economic storms.

Let’s talk specifics. Haruka Nishimatsu. He is the president of Japan Airlines. You would think he had the money to take a car to work; even have someone drive for him. He probably does have that money BUT he chose to commute using the public transportation. He would take the bus just like the average person. Compare that to Wall Street businessmen who still want to buy their own private jets! More than that, though, Haruka Nishimatsu chooses to line up at the company cafeteria just like other employees!

Then there is Yukio Sakamoto. He is the president of Elpida Memory, a computer chip maker. In order to keep his company afloat, he went without pay for two months- all voluntary!

They are not the only ones taking this route. Toyota Motors, a renowned leader in the automobile industry, has scrapped bonuses for the year. Other companies – big or small – are doing the same thing.

Perhaps the rest of the world can learn a thing or two from them.

Baseball: Japan Ready For The US

Tonight is going to be a long one for the Japanese nation and those who are big baseball fans, for tomorrow night, the Japanese baseball team will be facing the American baseball team. The two teams will be playing at the seminfinals of the World Baseball Classic at Dodger Stadium at 8:00 pm EST.

Prior to this match, the Japanese team snatched the semifinals berth from Cuba, winning 5-0. More than advancing to the next level of the tournament, the Cuban team was deprived of the chance to play in the finals, which has been their legacy for the past 22 years. This mere fact brings the upcoming game to a whole new level.

The last time that Japan and the US met on the baseball field, the sentiments were a bit different. The Japanese team “looked up to” their competitors. Ichiro Suzuki, the Seattle Mariners’ outfielder, is quoted as saying:

The feeling is just different this time. Last time Japan came to the United States, we were looking up at them, but not this time. I don’t know why, but that’s how this team is feeling.

Perhaps the team has gained more confidence over time? Come to think of it, in the past 13 times that the two teams have met, Japan has won six times. While that means the US has won more games, the ratio is almost even. Given that, everyone knows that both teams are going to give their best. It should be a great match.

Photo courtesy http://share.triangle.com/

Tasmanian Wasabi: One Of The Best

For those who are into Japanese food, wasabi is something that is always appreciated with the rest of the meal. Wasabi is a plant that belongs to the Brassicaceae family, the same plant family that includes cabbages, mustard, and horseradish. You can buy wasabi in its original form – as a root – or as a paste, which can be consumed as is. These days, you can even buy wasabi in powdered form, which is even more convenient. If you have ever tasted the real thing, however, you would know the difference between that and the powdered stuff, which is quite nasty. Some people would only touch the real thing – the connoisseurs.

There is this kind of wasabi, however, that even the most discerning of people have given it a thumbs up. There is a group of farmers from northern Tasmania in Australia who grow a special kind of wasabi. Instead of the traditional way of growing the plant, they grow their wasabi hydroponically. The Tasmanian wasabi was actually featured in a festival in Japan.

The festival was called the Taste of Tokyo and it featured the produce of Steven Welsh and his partners. So why do they grow their wasabi hydroponically? Welsh says that the method increases the quality of the wasabi as well as increase the output. It seems that the quality is indeed very good as it impressed Sydney chef Tetsuya Wakuda. He was so impressed that he brought the wasabi to the festival in Tokyo.

Xbox360 Best Seller In Japan

This is NOT good news for PlayStation fanboys in Japan and the rest of the world. According to sales figures, the Xbox 360 is has outsold the PlayStation 3 and the Wii. This is according to Media Create, an analytics company.

According to Games Industry, the latest results in terms of hardware and software are:

The Square Enix title for the Xbox 360 displaced last week’s top seller, Mario & Luigi RPG 3 for the DS, pushing it into second place.

PlayStation Portable title Idolmaster Sp took three consecutive places with its iterations Perfect Sun, Missing Moon and Wandering Star at third, fourth and fifth place respectively.

Shining Force Feather on the DS also debuted during the week, taking sixth place, followed by Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (PSP the Best) at number seven and, another debut title, Sacred Blaze on the PSP at eight.

Meanwhile, Street Fighter IV for the PS3 slipped from second place to ninth, and Demon’s Souls, also for the PS3, came in tenth.

The region saw the Nintendo DS platform dominates sales at 51,814 units, breaking down into 41,839 DSi sales and 9,975 DS Lite sales, while Sony’s PSP followed behind at 29,552 units.

Microsoft’s Xbox 360 led the home console sales with 25,334 units, beating out the Wii at 16,973 units and PS3 at 16,149 units, as well as the PlayStation 2 which lagged behind at 5029 units.

This is quite surprising, given the fact that the PlayStation and Wii consoles are both Japanese-made. There could be a variety of reasons why this has happened but that is quite beside the point right now. If Sony wants to make a comeback, they have to do something – and quick.

Free iPhones In Japan

While the rest of the world has been clamoring to get their hands on the iPhone, the Japanese seem to think otherwise. This is another classic case of cultural differences – differences in tastes and preferences. According to Forbes.com, Japanese who sign up for a 2-year contract with Softbank Mobile can avail of a free 8GB iPhone unit. And if you happen to want the higher version of the iPhone, say the 16GB unit, you only have to pay $118 with the 2-year contract. Even with the payment necessary, the price is less than half of what the iPhone is currently going for in other countries!

This is probably quite incomprehensible for one who lives in a nation such as the United States, or even the United Kingdom, where people of all ages seem to be doing most anything within their power to find a way to afford the iPhone. So why is this happening? How can a technologically advanced country not fall in love with the iPhone?

Any serious techie will give you a shake of his head as an answer. It is simple – the iPhone has not appealed to the Japanese people in general because it is not quite the technologically advanced phone that we think it is. It is true, the iPhone is cool. There is no arguing with that. But in Japan, where people change their mobile phones twice a year (this might be an exaggeration but you get the point), something like the iPhone is not that great.