by carterjmrn | Mar 22, 2024 | Carter Group Viewpoints
Japan’s cultural and media landscape is notoriously complex, but few threads are as colourful and enduring as the influence of celebrities on consumer behaviour and marketing strategies. Among the many to choose from, Tetsuko Kuroyanagi stands out not only for her...
by carterjmrn | Jan 19, 2024 | Carter Group Viewpoints
Japan’s gaming landscape contains a fascinating blend of tradition and innovation, deeply intertwined with the evolving identities of its gamers. This world is full of creators who generate an array of outputs from classic genres to innovative experiences,...
by carterjmrn | May 26, 2023 | Carter Group Viewpoints, Japan Market Entry
Qualitative research methods such as ethnography, in-depth interviews and focus groups are well suited to elicit unexpected insights into a culture other than one’s own. Especially in Japan, where gaining human-centered insights into behaviors and preferences can be...
by carterjmrn | Jan 17, 2020 | Carter Group Viewpoints, Japan Market Entry
Fat, fat, fat. Over three times more adults on this planet have become obese since 1975, meaning they’ve got a body-mass index (BMI) of 30 or over. The figure jumped—or maybe rolled—from...
by carterjmrn | Jul 10, 2018 | Carter Group Viewpoints
Politics is Downstream from Culture Before he passed away in 2012 the controversial American right-wing alternative media figure Andrew Brietbart often repeated the mantra ‘politics is downstream from culture’. Many would agree that American politics and culture have...
by carterjmrn | Jun 4, 2018 | Ageing and Generations
When I was a kid I used to love watching the 80’s American TV show, “Family Ties”. If you’re of the same vintage as me you may well remember the character Alex P. Keaton, the uber-conservative son of the family. Alex famously said, “People who have money don’t...
by carterjmrn | Mar 26, 2016 | Carter Group Viewpoints
One aspect of Japanese leisure culture to which nearly every visitor to Japan is exposed is the ubiquitous practice of karaoke — the practice of singing popular songs with recorded background music — usually involving copious libations and a modicum of...
by carterjmrn | Mar 24, 2016 | Carter Group Viewpoints
She has over 170,000 uploaded YouTube videos, 1,000,000created artworks and 100,000 original songs under her name, some of which have been topkaraoke picks in Japan for several years in a row. She has 2,3mn (and growing!)followers on Facebook — more than any...
by carterjmrn | Feb 14, 2014 | Carter Group Viewpoints
The beginning of 2014 marks the end of my fifteenth year in Japan. That’s more than enough time in one place for any self-respecting expat so, on visits back home, despairing friends and relatives will often ask what on earth I’m still doing here. I just point to my...
