Free day Friday

We did not have class today. I had the chance to sleep in and I slept really good, besides the few times I randomly woke up. I woke up at 11:30 pm feeling great. I didn't have nothing planned to do today, so I went walking around Auskusa. There was so much time on my hand I didn't know what to do. Days like this makes me feel home sick. I had lunch at a local restaurant, which was good but a little pricey. Since I've been here I went out to eat everyday. When I get home that is going to change. A lot of money has been spent just going out for food. Antonio and I left Ferrell today to go to Akihaba, because he was taking to long to come back from getting food. So me and Antonio went to Akihaba to go check out Japanese anime.

Exculsive Access: Sony Productions

May 22:I was soo excited this morning because I was granted the opportunity to visit Sony headquarters. Walking off the train terminal I could see Sony headquarters in front of me. As we walked into the building two representatives escorted us to the showroom. We watched a short film about the company on four 200 inch movie screens. Once the film was over the class was split into two groups to view the rest of the showroom. The tour guide showed us top of the line filming cameras, 4K TV (picture quality better than HD), watches that not only tell time but can make phone calls, and 3D broadcasting equipment. Lets just say I had advance technology overload. The visit ended with a marketing research presentation discussing the company business and marketing strategies. The Sony visit is definitely on the TOP of the list of cool experiences I had on my study abroad trip.

Day Six ~ Day of Rest

    Today I decided not to go out at all and just rest. I got a huge allergy attack and needed to catch up on some work so I decided to do that. This morning I woke up still sneezing and sniffling so just had some tea and breakfast to take my Japanese medication. Surprisingly the Japanese congestion medicine is working pretty good.

    After eating, I started finishing some of my school work and started washing some cloths.The washing machine was occupied on the second floor so went to the third floor to wash my cloths. The second  thing that I did was go back down stairs to finish my work. I was not the only one that thought this should be a stay at home and catch up day. One of my roommates decided to stay in too and get some much needed work done. Resting really did me some good with all the allergy issues I was having. I am glad I decided to stay in so now I will be more rested and better for the upcoming week.

Sony "Great Memory Noooo Pictures"

When we walked in the show room I was amazed by the things they had in the show room. They didn't let us take pictures. We saw new 3-D TV's, 4k televisions (clearer than HD TV's), and top of the line filming cameras. I wanted to take pictures of these things so bad. Also we saw the actual Spider-Man outfit worn in the movies and other characters costumes. They let us play around with the PS4. The tour guide lady showed us some cool features on the PS4 that I didn't know you could do on it. Many of my friends back at home, they would have loved to be apart this tour of the headquarters of Sony. I'm glad that Dr. V set up this experience for us today.

Swan Co. + Ben & Jerry Ice Cream

May 21st: This morning was raining cats and dogs and all I could think about was sleeping in for the rest of the day. Instead, I had to get ready for a company visit with Swan Bakery chain. Prior to the company visit we had class to discuss Japaneses' companies pricing methods and customer service given by employees of different companies. Dr. V also briefed us about the company and to be open to Swan's method of conducting business. The company visit was very informative. I learned about the speciality bread the bakery makes for the elderly,disabled, and people with allergies. I was also informed about the collaboration Swan company has with Ben & Jerry. Ben & Jerry ice cream is made with Swan bakery's cookies. This deal alone makes Swan Company millions of dollars a year in profit. Ben & Jerry has a speciality ice cream flavor only sold in Japan called Coffee Blast. We ended the visit with sampling some of the Ben & Jerry ice cream. Thank you Swan company for allowing us to visit your company.

Its Going to be a Good Match

May 20th: Today the marketing class was taught at Uneno Park by  Dr. Kudzys. The class being outside was a good change of scenery from the classroom setting at Chuo University. Dr. Kudzy was Dr. V former professor and now he is a businessman and international ambassador. The topic of discussion was market entry and the challenges of selling a product in Japan. This lecture gave me great insight to the way Japanese companies conduct business (emphasis on market share) which is the opposite of American companies (emphasis on overall profit). Later that day, my class went to a professional summo wrestling tournament. I saw around 18 matches total. The closet thing to wrestling I have ever seen was Wrestle Mania on TV. Although, the summo wrestlers were massive they were extremely strong. The summo wrestlers showed off their strength by a ritual they perform before each match. The ritual resembled a balancing act.  After watching the summo wrestling tournament I wanted to change my major and become a professional wrestler. LOL

May 20, 2014 - Ueno Park

Ueno Park

Today, we went to Ueno Park to hear a guest lecture from Dr. Kudzys. We sort of found some shade outside Starbucks'. He talked to us about the difficulties of doing business in Japan. Before his lecture actually began, Dr. Kudzys gave a pretest covering doing business in Japan. As he spoke, Japanese natives stopped to take pictures of the group. I tried as best as possible not to be obvious when posing for their cameras. Most of Dr. Kudzys' lecture, reminded me of the lectures I received in China about doing business in China. The Japanese and Chinese customs are very similar. 

One point that he made concerning the Japanese is that he stated that they have not invented many of the things that we revere them for. They have only been the instruments of improving and perfecting the works of others. Their language, the automobile, the camera, and the television have all been creations from other societies. 

                                                       

Great free ice cream with SWAN

Swan company is a bakery shop who has many locations around Japan. They also collaborated with Ben and Jerry's to put put some of there cookies in Ben and Jerry's ice-cream. It was great to actually here from these business men talk about some of the concepts we have been reading about in our Japanese Marketing book. In the presentation the head guy couldn't speak English so somebody was translating the whole time. They were nice enough to give us ice cream at the end of their presentation and we took a tour around one of the bakery shops.

Sumo Wrestling

This morning I was so tired. I stayed up late washing my clothes. I was mad because the dryer didn't dry my clothes all the way. When I woke up this morning I had to quickly dry my clothes with a hair dryer. We started off the day buying tickets for the sumo wrestling tournament. I was happy that Dr. V purchased our tickets for us to go. After we purchased the tickets we went to Uneo Park. We had class today at this park taught by Dr. Algis. He was a very interesting guy. He was Dr. V's (my professor) professor back when he was in college.

Sore throat in Ginza

This morning I woke up not feeling to good. My throat was hurting and I was stuffed up. We had to be up early to go to class. We ended up having class at the hostel.  I was happy we did this because I didn't feel like traveling to the university. Before we started class at 9 a.m., I went down the street to get me some doughnuts. In class today we talked out the 4P's of marketing and also the distribution process that goes on in Japan. There are a lot of rules to start a business and have a store in Tokyo. Our assignment today was to go around Ginza to find 5 examples of business's that represented the 4 P's, price, promotion, product, and place. Doing this assignment gave me a different mind set of how I look at businesses now.

4 P's of Marketing in Ginza

4 P's of marketing: price, product, promotion, and place.

Sanpel Store is a food retailor with emphasis on place and pricing of their products.

As stated on the store window this is a speciality store tailored to children clothing. This store represents product and promotion of their clothing.

FamilyMart is considered a convenient stores. This store sells food, magazines, and small household goods.  Price and Place are emphasized at this store. 

This is a multilevel discount retailor store. Each floor sells a different company's clothing brands. These stores represent price and place.

This is a luxury store that sells top of the line shoes. Price and product is most recognized at this store.