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My first week in Asia - Tokyo, Japan

Well, I have been in Tokyo for a week now and am having an amazing experience. I have been trying to live each day to the fullest, and so far I think it is safe to say I have done a pretty good job. I came over here for an Advertising in Asia study abroad offered through Michigan State University. We have had some amazing oppurtunities to meet with top Advertising agencies in Japan, such as Dentsu and Hakuhodo. I am trying to make my mind like a sponge and soak up as much information as I possibly can. Everything is so interesting!

I feel like I need to comment on the technology here. Before this trip, I had always heard that Japan was more technologically advanced than the US, but I had no idea how much. First off, mobile phones. Everyone, and I mean everyone, has a mobile phone and uses practically every feature on it. Phones here can connect to the internet, accept QR code, play games, be used as credit cards, receive coupons from stores and restaurants, have personal GPS systems, be used as a mini television, and much, much more. Meeting with the students at Waseda University yesterday and watching them zip around on their phones made my head spin. It seems silly that most Americans primarily use their phones to talk or text message when there is a whole marketing strategy simply targeted at mobile phones here. At Hakuhodo, during their market research they learned that Japanese girls between the ages of 12-20 use their phones an average of 160 minutes a day. The professor at Waseda University informed us that more people are connecting to the internet via mobile phone rather than with a PC!

At the DTT Docomo Reasearch and Development center there was even a phone that was developed for when you are in a noisy area - such as a subway. It didn't look like a phone at all, long and slender with a rounded tip. You touch the end of the phone to your forehead and the phone vibrates, sending sound waves directly to your brain by travelling through your bones. I tried it out, and it was amazing...I could hear what was being said in the phone but I wasn't using my ears! I know they said it was developed for use in crowded areas, but I immediately thought of the possibilites for the deaf and hard of hearing. I asked their representative and he said that people who were deaf because of bone damage, a blown eardrum, or basically anything that does not have to do with neurons and such, can use this phone. I can't even imagine what it would be like to suddenly be able to hear a phone conversation after being deaf for many years.

Another thing they are using here with great success if QR code. QR code is a double bar code that is printed on anything and everything, from flyers, magazine ads, business cards or television. When you take a picture of the QR code with a mobile phone, a message or website will pop up on your phone. It is such a neat way to market things! Dentsu did a campaign where they used thousands of tiny different colored QR codes and created the famous anime cartoon Manga figures and wrapped them around poles in the subways. People could take a picture of any of the codes and be taken to Manga's website, see a clip of a cartoon, and so on. I think it would be so neat to have a little QR code on a business card that could take recipients to you or your company's website. QR code cannot be read by US phones, which is a shame. I am sure it is in our near future.

The cultural experience I'm having is almost as wonderful as the educational one. We have seen many things in Japan, but my favorites have been attending Sumo wrestling and visiting Mt. Fuji. I have eaten some interesting things, and have enjoyed most of them. Eels sushi is my favorite, but I have also tried Octopus sashimi, chicken gizzard kabob's, roe/seaweed goop, dried squid, shark fin soup and many different kinds of raw fish. Never before has eating been such a cultural experience! I am surprisingly good at chop sticks and our sushi chef in the Tokyo fish market actually complemented me and how well I can use them. I will miss Japanese cuisine, and all the delicious tea.

We have been to the Harajuku, Shibuya, Roppongi, Ginza, Sunjishi and Shinjuku districts of Tokyo so far. Harajuku has many girls with a disctinct sort of fashion - they are mentioned and featured in several of Gwen Stefani's songs and music videos. In Tokyo, we have visited Dentsu and Hakuhodo advertising agencies (the two biggest in Japan and ranked in the top ten in the world), visited the DTT Docomo Research and Development Center to learn about the new technologies on our horizon, gone to a Meji Shrine, seen Sumo Wrestling, eaten at several traditional Japanese restaraunts, gone half way up Mt. Fuji, taken a cruise on one of the Fuji Five lakes, seen a monkey show, visited Waseda University for a lecture about mobile advertising (Waseda is comparable to Princeton in the United States), attended an MSU Alumni in Asia party and spent many hours wandering aruond taking in the lights. Our hotel is lovely, located in an upscale neighborhood in Roppongi. We each have our own tiny bedroom and are provided with a little tea maker, slippers and a traditinoal Japanese robe and belt.

I was REALLY upset this morning because my alarm clock didn't go off and I slept in, missing the bus that was taking a group of students to Kamakura. I am trying not to sulk or dwell on the fact that I missed it...but I really was looking forward to going. Sigh. In a way, it was kind of nice to have some quiet reflection time to organize my thoughts, formulate some questions for the project we are doing, and truly appreciate all the amazing things I have done and seen.

We will be leaving tomorrow evening for Beijing, and we have quite the schedule while we are there. We get to meet with several Olympic sponsors such as Johnson and Johnson and GE. I can't wait to ask them all about what is involved with marketing an event as large and world renound as the Olympics! Sometimes I feel bad when we go to the agencies and I keep shooting my hand up...but I am just so interested in learning these things! I probably ask about 70% of the questions at each visit haha. We also will be on a television show asking questions about Advertising...but I am not quite sure of the details yet. We obviously will be seeing the Great Wall and Forbidden City, but I don't know what cultural little surprises Dr. Li has in store for us. This is such a wonderful adventure :)