Michelin just added to his list of three-star restaurants in Tokyo. More ideas can be picked up at the other end of the food scene in Japan, the bento.
Rather than go the route of class last week, I met with Makiko Itoh, the popular blogger with more than 360,000 daily readers worldwide. His new "Just Bento cookbook" is aimed at the home fans full of common foods in Japan. His version fits an explosion of interest in Japanese culture and alludes to a recipe underestimated to end deflation.
Itoh book is the latest wave of "Cool Japan", which economists are realizing business may have hit more than previously believed. Japan has few growth industries, and manufacturing giants such as Toyota Motor Corp. are being pressured by global competition. Why not do more to create jobs, wealth and tax revenues around the unique qualities of Japan?
"We're finding increasingly that there are great opportunities, great here that will help the economy," said Akihiko Tamura, a Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry official who works to strengthen ties with the nations of Asia and the Pacific.
The concept of Cool Japan is not new. However, earlier this year, Japan established an office in the creative industries, to speed things up. The data show rapidly growing interest in Japanese food, fashion, animation, comics, movies and music. There is also a growing determination to make the image of Japan on more than Hello Kitty and Pokemon - and make lots of money in the process.
Japan model
Well, this may sound like a reach. Sony Corp. out with the next player or the deployment of affordable car manufacturers of electric cars that it makes more sense given Japan's economic model. And efforts to promote Japan abroad there have been difficult times.
In April 2009, the government of then prime minister, Taro Aso, that the way it was sending three mini-skirt to teens around the world. A dress like a Japanese schoolgirl, a doll-like in style "Gothic Lolita" and a sample of the cowardly "Harajuku style." The campaign had written scary everywhere.
"There is much Japan can do to market itself abroad, and food can be a perfect way," said Itoh, 47.
Sushi, after all, has transcended jokes bait fish and is now served, including U.S. sports events.
Itoh book is also time for a world recession. The big news in Japan last week was appointed four new Michelin three-star restaurants, taking into account the nation to 26, the same number as France.
Economic recipes
Itoh approach is in the opposite direction: economic recipes. It is suitable not only for Japan but the United States, where high unemployment has cut consumers. Bento lunch is emerging rapidly around the world, as evidenced by the proliferation of newspaper articles and blogs.
And it is as good an example as any of the business opportunities that slowly but surely coming to light. The government hopes to increase revenue-Japan Cool to 57 trillion yen (678 billion) by 2020 from 49 trillion yen in 2007. That's more than the annual gross domestic product of Turkey.
Is a conservative estimate. Do not you realize how government policies could encourage a wave of entrepreneurship. fiscal adjustment aimed at stimulating the creation, marketing and export of cultural industries can go a long way toward building ground-up energy so lacking here.
Stock Market
the names of South Korea, including Samsung Electronics Co. and Hyundai Motor Co. are taking over Japan's participation in the market. labor costs through the roof are also undermining their competitiveness in the era of China. Wait for the Communist Party in Beijing loosened and moved to support startup companies. That would put more pressure on Japan Inc.
Even after a dozen years of deflation, Japan is still an expensive property in a neighborhood relatively inexpensive. Low cost in China is now Asia's dominant trading power and India not far behind. The only way Japan can compete is innovation and the cultivation of new industries. Green technologies have obvious potential. The same goes for cultural exports.
J-culture is hip, and dissemination. The trick is to excite a new generation of innovators to come aboard this high speed train profit potential. Time is something casual, too, given the difficulty of young Japanese are having on the work front. Times are tough, and more and more 20 - leaving aside some things are 9 to 5, monotone gray suit their parents' generation.
J-Hip Culture
Japan lists of best-sellers in Japan showing interest is growing. Take Itoh's editor, Kodansha International Ltd. His most recent are "The Otaku Encyclopedia: A Guide for Executives of the subculture of Cool Japan," Japanese Schoolgirl Confidential: How Teenage Girls, did a fresh nation, "and" Arcade Mania: The Turbo-charged World of Japan game centers. "
All things Japanese in the news will also come December 11 when a film based on the best-selling 1987 Haruki Murakami's novel "Norwegian Wood" hits theaters.
Cool Japan is not the answer to all problems in Tokyo. Alone will not pay a debt that is twice the size of the economy, compared to demographic challenges or see interest rates were zero. However, in a nation devoid of growth industries or clear prescriptions to end deflation, the phenomenon is more than just food for thought. It offers a glimmer of hope.
0 comments:
Post a Comment