JIN-230 -- This Summer's Fashion Fad: Stockings in a Spray Can

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J@pan Inc Magazine Presents:
T H E J @ P A N I N C N E W S L E T T E R
Commentary on the Week's Business and Technology News
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Issue No. 230
Wednesday, June 11, 2003
Tokyo

CONTENTS

++ Viewpoint: This Summer's Fashion Fad: Stockings in a Spray Can

++ Noteworthy News
- NTT Looks to China for Systems Integration Growth
- Draft of Emperor Showa's Apology for World War II Found
- Mobloggers to Descend on Tokyo for First International Conference

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Speaker: Yoshitaka Fujiwara, President/ M-Stone Inc. Publisher/
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Premiere Conferencing is a global leader in unattended and operator
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Registration: Free to Attend,
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Tel: +81 3 4560 9610,
Contact - Ayumi Gonno, info@premconf.co.jp
http://www.conferencing.com.au/productevent/productevent-japaninc.asp
======================================================================

++ Viewpoint: This Summer's Fashion Fad: Stockings in a Spray Can

Japan is one of the world's great hotspots for sudden fads, and it's
always good to be there at the ground floor when they start. We had
the good fortune last week to spot a craze in the making on a visit to
the Tokyo offices of a tiny company called Nissin Medico. Its product
is the remarkable -- and unique -- Air Stocking: an aerosol that
sprays a pair of tights onto a woman's legs. The spray, which comes in
three different colors, is a mixture of adhesive and silk powder and
gives the wearer the appearance of donning real hosiery. Each can
costs 1,600 yen and contains enough gunk to coat 20 legs. The tights
are waterproof, much cooler than the real thing, and, of course,
impossible to tear.

The cramped Nissin Medico office, populated by the beaming chief
executive and 10 attractive assistants, is a perfect example of what
Japan does best. Yoshiumi Hamada has come up with a really clever idea
and is going through the process of creating a brush fire of
popularity.

The stockings themselves have a serious purpose. Working women
throughout Japan are often in jobs that require them to wear tights or
stockings. It's a rule that takes very little account of the
sweltering heat of the Japanese summer and ends up costing women a
fortune replacing torn tights. But the Air Stocking serves another
purpose. To demonstrate this, Hamada summoned one of his assistants
over to show off her toes. Back when his company was a humble maker of
air conditioner cleaning sprays, he explained, the girls used to moan
that their expensive pedicures got obscured by their tights. This gave
him his brilliant idea.

But having concocted the Air Stocking, Hamada ran up against serious
problems. Every store he took it to told him in no uncertain terms: Go
away. In response, he devised a cunning plan to use Japan's
all-powerful women's magazines to get his product the exposure he felt
it deserved. Once word of these wonderful spray-on tights had hit the
streets of Tokyo, store managers began hammering on Hamada's door to
sell him the stuff. It seemed that the magazines had created a flood
of women demanding that department stores refresh their stock.

Nearly half a million cans later, Hamada thinks big. He plans to sell
the stockings across Asia, and buyers in Europe are already clamoring
for his cans.

-- The editors

Source:
More information on Nissin Medico
http://www.jetalpha.com/e_company.htm

============================= EVENT ==================================
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Venue: Tokyo American Club, Azabudai, Tokyo
Date: 28th - 29th June 2003
Time: Saturday & Sunday 11:00am - 7:00pm
Contact: Towry Law International (Japan) Ltd -
Ivan Doherty 03-5210-5503 or ipd@towrylaw.co.jp

If you're looking for success in investment property in Auckland,
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======================================================================

++ NOTEWORTHY NEWS
(Long URLs may break across two lines, so copy to your browser.)

** NTT Looks to China for Systems Integration Growth

In Brief: Japan's telecom giant, NTT, is targeting China in its
efforts to develop systems integration operations. The monopoly
intends to more than double its local revenues in China by 2007,
anticipating a rapid expansion in that country's information
technologies and communications markets. NTT's new subsidiary in
Guangzhou will manufacture Internet-protocol format networks and will
also target appliance manufacturers in the region.

Commentary: Systems integration is all the rage in Asia, and NTT
appears to be leaping on the bandwagon uncharacteristically early.
Internet protocol version 6 (IPv6) promises a plethora of new online
addresses for formerly "homeless" non-English speakers, and Asia is
leading the way in its development. In addition to revolutionizing Web
sites, IPv6 will connect your home appliances (from toaster to air
conditioners) to the Net. Sound wacky? Check out our forthcoming
feature in the July issue of J@pan Inc. Whatever the fate of IPv6, we
fervently hope NTT overseas is leaner and meaner than it is at home.

Source:
Nihon Keizai Shimbun
http://www.nni.nikkei.co.jp/AC/TNKS/Nni20030610D10JF605.htm

Link:
"Booming IP Telephony Challenges NTT's Telecom Empire," March 2003
http://www.japaninc.net/article.php?articleID=1035

============================= EVENT =================================
The Entrepreneur Association of Tokyo - For our July seminar
Andrew Silberman, President & Chief Enthusiast for the AMT group,
will inject us with a dose of "success serum."
A presentation about "Guerrilla Marketing", Jay Conrad Levinson's
term for improving business results (like sales and profits) through
unconventional means --without spending a lot of money.
Wednesday July 2nd, City Club of Tokyo.
www.ea-tokyo.com E-mail: info@ea-tokyo.com
======================================================================

** Draft of Emperor Showa's Apology for World War II Found

In Brief: The monthly magazine Bungei Shunju reports this week that a
draft of what is believed to be an Imperial message apologizing for
Japan's involvement in World War II was found among documents left by
Emperor Showa's grand steward. The Mainichi Shimbun reports that the
message says in part: "Japan fought against the Great Powers, which
eventually ended in a tragic defeat. When I calmly think about it, I
feel as if my heart was broken. I am deeply ashamed for my
immorality."

Commentary: It's a pity that this message was never read. So much
diplomatic effort has been wasted on Japan's resistance to apologies
for the war. The refusal of most mainstream politicians and the
Imperial family to fess up to their "immorality" during the war only
serves to placate the far-right wing at home and allow more cynical
elements in China and elsewhere to stir up nationalist sentiment in
the guise of anti-Japanese furor.

Source:
The Mainichi Shimbun
http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/20030610p2a00m0dm019001c.html

Links:
"Out of a War-Torn World," the story of Astro Boy (subscribers only)
http://www.japaninc.net/inc/login.html?articleID=1085

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** Mobloggers to Descend on Tokyo for First International Conference

In Brief: Is it the future of journalism, or just a bunch of guys with
cool camera phones? Moblogging, the latest craze to emanate from
Tokyo, is short for "mobile web logging," and it refers to anyone and
everyone who uses a camera phone or other mobile device to publish on
the Web. Some of Tokyo's most prominent mobloggers are staging a
conference on July 5 from 10am to 6pm at Super-Deluxe in Minato Ward
(It costs just 2,000 yen if you register early). The conference
coordinator, Adam Greenfield, hopes to bring together VCs, mobloggers,
manufacturers and anyone else interested in the moblogging phenomenon.
Almost makes us nostalgic for those heady Bit Valley parties.

Source:
Information on the conference
http://www.marginwalker.org/1imc.html

To register
http://www.marginwalker.org/register/

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STAFF
Written and edited by Leo Lewis and Roland Kelts (editors@japaninc.com)

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