Sue Kinoshita, Director of UK Trade & Investment Japan, muses over Japanese marital mores, and how they can help identify market opportunities and business etiquette lessons.
Don't you just love surveys? Fascinating to find out whether what you think is boringly/reassuringly mainstream or daringly left-field. And good to get evidence to back up hunches or illustrate points.
My current favourite survey is one conducted for the Nikkei newspaper (Japan's FT equivalent), focussing on husband-wife relationships. Those surveyed were asked what they most wanted from their partner. The answers are illuminating.
For men surveyed the top answer was "please stay youthful" (which I suppose you could at least say is vaguely romantic) with, in second place, "please clear out the refrigerator" (which definitely isn't). The women got their revenge though: the most common request made of husbands was that they take care not to get smelly as they aged, and then that they make an effort to dress well when going out.
Other popular answers ranged from the touching "please keep smiling" and "please take care of your health" to the clearly pent-up frustrations revealed by "don't get so over-wrought", "stop burping so much" and "for goodness sake learn how to make at least a snack for yourself".
The breakdown by age is if anything even more depressing. Women in their 20s want their husbands to buy them more presents, and in their 30s they want them to earn more (which may amount to the same thing I guess). By 40 they've given up on that and just ask them to stop snoring. Meanwhile, men under 40 want their wives to dress trendily even at home, progressing as they age to “please stop nagging”.
I'd love to see what a comparable survey in the UK would come up with. I'm guessing the snoring and nagging would score pretty highly as well, but suspect we might not be quite so hung up on dress sense. Since this blog is supposed to be about how to grow your business in Japan I've been trying to figure out what lessons this survey might hold.
I came up with the following (wholly unscientific) theories:
- Male and female roles are still pretty much entrenched in Japan, far more so than in the UK. So it's still rare to find women in senior positions in companies or Ministries. Yet women are highly-educated and increasingly hungry for careers of their own.
- Because the working culture in many Japanese companies is still one of long hours and presenteeism, women often prefer the flexibility of foreign companies. Looking to the female workforce when hiring staff in Japan could therefore be a good bet. -
- Appearances matter! Being well-dressed and fashionable even if you're just popping out to post a letter is par for the course. Even in the humid, "cool biz" days of summer, be sure to dress smartly for business.
- Japanese kitchens are small and don't have much storage space - hence the overcrowded fridges! Household shopping is done little and often. You need to keep your customers coming back for repeat purchases: sell your products in small sizes and perhaps in many different flavours/fragrances/colours.
- And finally, men (and their wives) are obsessed with keeping body odour in check. Good news if you're in the male grooming or personal hygiene business!
It is incredibly useful when exporting overseas to really get to know your future customers. The benefit is not just in terms of learning consumer habits, but also in understanding and incorporating cultural tendencies into your business efforts.
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1 comment
Comment by Eugene posted on
Great article - I've always been wondering about differences of marriage traditions in EU and Japan. Hopefully we will try expanding to Japan once! And thank for supportng our project <a href="http://www.poptop.uk.com" rel="nofollow">Poptop UK</a> with your Sirius Programme. UKTI Rules:)