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Tag: Japan

  • Yohji Yamamoto receives Asia’s Lifetime Achievement Award

    Yohji Yamamoto receives Asia’s Lifetime Achievement Award

    Japanese fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto is this year’s recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award, awarded last Friday at the Design for Asia gala dinner in Hong Kong.

    The 74-year-old design giant — known for his avant-garde tailoring featuring Japanese design aesthetics featuring over-sized silhouettes and a restricted, dark palette — was celebrated for his contribution to luxury fashion. Today, his two main lines Yohji Yamamoto and Y’s are stocked in high-end department stores around the world.

    Moreover, the designer has been hailed for his pioneering of the fusion between athletic wear and luxury fashion. He began hid collaboration with Adidas in 2003, forming the now very popular athleisure brand, Y-3.

    “Let me say, I think I’m a good dressmaker, but I am not a very good talker,” said Yohji Yamomoto, when he received the award.

    “In my long career, in design, architecture, [I’ve been to] so many parties, this is the very first time that I have such a warm feeling, I really appreciate this. Please let me become your family,” said the designer, who spends most his time between Tokyo and Paris. The latter is where he shows his seasonal collections each year.

    The designer has stores in Japan, France and the UK.

    Yamamoto has received several other accolades in previous years, including the Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters back in 2011 — the highest honour in arts and culture in France.

    The Design for Asia gala dinner also paid homage to hotelier Adrian Zecha, founder of the Aman resorts, and a new affordable luxury hotel concept, called Azerai, for design leadership.

    During the same night, organisers also awarded scholarships to 17 young designers of up to 500,000 Hong Kong dollars (US$640,000).

  • Don Quijote eyes more Asia stores

    Don Quijote eyes more Asia stores

    After opening its first outlet in Singapore (called Don Don Donki) this month, Japanese discount retailer Don Quijote plans to expand with even more outlets in Asia.

    Founding chairman Takao Yasuda sas the group is looking to open stores in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Taiwan and Thailand.

    When moving to Singapore to retire two years ago, Yasuda was surprised at the price of food ingredients and other products imported from Japan. “I realised my new mission was to lower the prices to affordable levels.”

    He says the Singapore store has been so popular it has had to limit customer numbers at weekends. “We’ll increase to around 10 stores in Singapore in two to three years so customers can enjoy shopping at leisure.”

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  • ItalianCreationGroup Plans Expansion Drive Along The Silk Road

    ItalianCreationGroup Plans Expansion Drive Along The Silk Road

    Milan-based ItalianCreationGroup, which owns Italian luxury furniture brands, plans to open 12 stores along the Silk Road over the next year.

    Co-founder/CEO Stefano Core says the aim of the company’s new retail strategy is to expand its global presence, especially in Asia.

    “We are opening stores from China to Iran, following the paths of the ancient Silk Road trading routes.”

    ItalianCreationGroup has just opened stores in Hong Kong and Mumbai, with Tokyo scheduled this week. Next years stores will open in Shanghai, Foshan and Shenzen in Mainland China, Ho Chi Minh City, Manila, Jakarta and Ahmedabad in India.

    “We believe in a new Italian renaissance,” says Core, whose company has over the past few years acquired Italian furniture brands including legendary Driade and FontanaArte, as well as boutique bathroom design firm Toscoquattro and luxury kitchen maker Valcucine (pictured).

    He says that bringing together design firms under one roof for the first time will allow ItalianCreationGroup to offer a range of Italian high-end products to the world.

    Already the company has opened flagship stores in London and New York.

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  • Japan firm says it will pay part of salaries in Bitcoin

    Japan firm says it will pay part of salaries in Bitcoin

    A Japanese company will start paying part of its employees’ salaries in Bitcoin, as it aims to get better understanding of the virtual currency, a spokeswoman said on Friday.

    GMO Internet, which operates a range of web-related businesses including finance, online advertising and internet infrastructure, will start paying up to 100,000 yen ($890) monthly by Bitcoin to its employees in Japan from February next year.

    “Employees can receive salaries by Bitcoin if they want to,” company spokeswoman Harumi Ishii said.

    “We hope to improve our own literacy of virtual currency by actually using it,” she said.

    The offer will be open to around 4,000 employees of the GMO group in Japan, she said.

    The company started a Bitcoin trading and exchange business in May.

    And next month, it will join the so-called “Bitcoin mining” business — gaining the right to receive new Bitcoins as a reward for helping keep the network secure by approving transactions.

    World Bitcoin prices have surged globally this year, soaring from less than $1,000 in January to $17,000 this week.

  • Rakuten Opens “Rakuten SPORTS ZONE” with NBA Merchandise

    Rakuten Opens “Rakuten SPORTS ZONE” with NBA Merchandise

    Rakuten, Inc., a global marketing partner of the National Basketball Association (NBA), today opened its pro sports merchandise store Rakuten SPORTS ZONE to further build excitement around the NBA in Japan. The store is launching with sales of limited-edition items including autographed items from NBA Legends.

    In October 2017, Rakuten launched a multiyear partnership with the NBA, making it a global marketing partner of the organization. With this partnership, Rakuten is now operating the “NBA ZONE” in its internet shopping mall Rakuten Ichiba as a special page gathering NBA merchandise from Rakuten Ichiba stores. With the opening of the new Rakuten SPORTS ZONE, offering products that can rarely be obtained in Japan such as premium goods of former NBA stars, we will be able to further expand the product lineup offered in the NBA ZONE.

    Offerings include limited-edition autographed memorabilia (with serial number) offered by the Upper Deck Company, and reproductions of the jerseys of 80s and 90s NBA stars offered by the American sports apparel-maker Mitchell & Ness Nostalgia Co. New products will be added going forward.

    Rakuten will leverage its diverse range of services to further promote the NBA and basketball in Japan, and contribute to the further development of sports and culture.

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  • McDonald’s Japan to bring some French home

    McDonald’s Japan to bring some French home

    For a short time only, McDonald’s Japan has added limited-edition French macarons to its menu.

    Imported from France, the macarons are in four flavours and have special takeout boxes.

    Available at McCafe by Barista outlets, the new treats come in lemon, raspberry, vanilla and chocolate variants. The takeout “box set” contains the customer’s choice of three macarons and is available only in limited quantities.

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  • Blue Bottle Cafe opens latest Tokyo flagship store

    Blue Bottle Cafe opens latest Tokyo flagship store

    Blue Bottle Coffee has opened its latest flagship café in Tokyo, the sixth one to open in the Japanese capital, as the American coffee outfit expands its retail footprint in Japan.

    Located in Sangenjaya, the San Francisco-based café is situated in a 50-year old low-rise building, which stands at the end of a no-through road between two buildings; located just a 3-minute walking distance from Sangenjaya station.

    Blue Bottle Café enlisted Schemata Architects once again to design the complete space layout. Working with the building’s current fittings, Schemata – the firm behind stores for 3.1 Phillip Lim and Loewe – took inspiration from the designs used with the previous space ownership, resulting in industrial concrete texture mixed with Japanese cedar wood.

    However, the 100-square-metre space does reflect Blue Bottle’s bright and open feel, an aesthetic witnessed in the other five Tokyo outlets. There is specific area for workshops and barista training, along with a “soulful public space” for the local community, in a bid to give the company a strong connection to its most recent Japanese locale.

    Offering more than just coffee and related products, customers can go to the register at the far end of the dead-end road, or stop by the drip-bar and walk around the seating area, before venturing outside to the garden in the backyard area. Walking along the building guest will find an entrance to a gallery also.

    “This building is designed in such a way that customers will experience the continuation of this deep spatial sequence,” said Schemata Architects’ Jo Nagasaka, who is the architect in charge of the store.

    James Freeman founded Blue Bottle Coffee Company in San Francisco in 2002. Still headquartered in Oakland, California, consumer goods giant Nestle acquired a majority stake in the new wave coffee firm earlier this year.

    In 2017, Nestlé acquired a 68 percent stake in the company for some $500 million. The firm has plans to have 55 locations by the end of the year. Blue Bottle stores are located in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, New York City, Washington, DC, and Tokyo.

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  • South Korea’s Hyundai says faces headwinds from weaker yen next year

    South Korea’s Hyundai says faces headwinds from weaker yen next year

    South Korean automakers face a major headwind from a weakening Japanese yen, which will boost rivals like Toyota Motor Corp. next year, a Hyundai Motor think tank said.

    The fall in the yen will intensify competition in major markets, such as China and the United States, where overall demand is expected to shrink in 2018, the think tank said.

    It projected that the Korean won would fetch 978 per 100 yen next year, compared with 1,018 this year.

    The re-election in November of Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who favors massive monetary and fiscal stimulus policies, should point to further yen weakness, the think tank said.

    Toyota Motor in November raised its forecast for full-year operating profit, in part due to expectations of a weaker yen, which can make goods exported from Japan cheaper and can boost the value of overseas profits when they are repatriated.

    “The currency environment is expected to deteriorate next year,” Lee Bo-sung, a director of the think tank, the Global Business Intelligence Center, said at a press briefing on Friday. The contents of the briefing were embargoed until 9 am Sunday Seoul time.

    “The weaker yen is expected to be the biggest challenge for South Korean automakers next year, as they are competing against Japanese,” Lee said.

    He said the price gap between Korean and Japanese cars had already narrowed due to the yen’s decline. For example, Hyundai’s Sonata sedan was 10 percent cheaper than Honda’s Accord in the United States in 2011 and the gap is only 2 percent this year, he said.

    A weaker yen and higher profit have also allowed Japanese carmakers to boost investment and gain market share in China and other emerging markets, Hyundai’s stronghold, he said.

    Hyundai Motor has seen its net profit tumble by nearly one-third so far this year, and is on track to miss its annual vehicle sales target by a large margin, having failed to position for a consumer swing to sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and a diplomatic row with Beijing that hit Korean-made products.

    Hyundai Motor said on Friday it plans to roll out three SUVs next year in the United States – the redesigned Santa Fe, the Kona, and the tweaked Tucson, to revive its sales momentum. In China next year, Hyundai and Kia plan to release three China-targeted small SUVs next year.

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  • Line Friends to open Pop-Up stores in Seoul City

    Line Friends to open Pop-Up stores in Seoul City

    A Line Friends pop-up will open at luxury speciality store BoonTheShop in Seoul on Saturday.

    Running until January 14, the Korean character brand’s outlet will introduce its latest merchandise, BT21. The range includes dolls, cushions, fashion items, limited-edition postcards, posters and bag charms – all based on a set of characters created by K-pop boyband BTS and the Line Friends team.

    LINE FRIENDS

    The same line will also start selling at Line Friends’ New York flagship on the same day via a “BT21 Zone”, and at other stores in Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan and Thailand, as well as online early next year.

    BT21 was initially launched as stickers on Line App with more than 17 million downloads and 200 million Twitter exposures. The first Line Friends’ collaboration with artists, the BT21 range joins signature characters such as Brown, Choco and Cony.

    LINE FRIENDS Unveils BT21 Merchandise at Its Flagship Store in New York (PRNewsfoto/LINE FRIENDS)

    Line Friends has 91 stores in 11 international markets.

  • Shiru Cafe will be launched in the US

    Shiru Cafe will be launched in the US

    Japan’s Shiru Cafe concept is about to launch in the US, on a university campus in Providence.

    It is being introduced by Enrission America, a cafe company that specialises in free coffee for university students.

    Following the opening on the Brown campus, other branches will be launched at Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University and Amherst College.

    Especially for university students, Shiru Cafes are financed primarily through the sponsorship of companies that aim to improve student life. Students and staff members all receive free coffee, tea and juice while being provided with sponsors’ promotional materials. The cafes provide study spaces equipped with electrical outlets and free Wi-Fi internet access.

    Sponsorship allows companies to advertise on paper coffee cups, on digital displays in the cafes and on the cafe’s website. Company representatives can also meet and interact with students in the cafes, as well as run recruitment activities.

    Enrission America has opened more than 20 Shiru Cafes around the world. “It is an essential part of our vision,” says CEO Yusuke Kakimoto.

    Enrission, based in Kyoto, was founded in 2013 and is firmly established in India and Japan with support from 130 companies including Microsoft JP and PWC JP.

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  • PTT earmarks P500 million for coffee-fuel expansion mix

    PTT earmarks P500 million for coffee-fuel expansion mix

    PTT Philippines expects to spend PHP500 million (US$9.9 million) on beefing up its retail network, including a foray into the Japanese market.

    President/CEO Sukanya Seriyothin says that while the bulk of the expansion for the Thai oil and gas giant PTT subsidiary will be gasoline stations, it includes about 12 Cafe Amazon outlets, mainly in Luzon.

    Following its diversification into the coffee business, PTT has started investing in the Philippines to complement its more than 1850 stores in Thailand and other parts of Asia, including one in Japan, says the company.

    With a “notable landscape change” in its investment plan, the company aims to open 100 cafes in the near term, with six to be up and running by year end.

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  • Japanese making $62m with an instant-second hand website

    Japanese making $62m with an instant-second hand website

    What if you paid people instantly for their used goods over the internet, with no guarantee that they would hand them over?

    The 36 year-old e-commerce entrepreneur, Yusuke Mitsumoto, launched an app in June 2017 to test the idea. It worked better than he imagined; after 16 hours, he was stunned to discover he was on the hook for 3.6 billion yen (£23m) and shut the service down.

    A day later, truckloads of clothes and electronics gadgets started to arrive, with his startup’s employees forming a bucket line to move packages into his company’s tiny office in Tokyo.

    All told, less than 1 in 10 second-hand-goods sellers didn’t deliver as promised. That was good enough for Mitsumoto, who relaunched the service, called Cash, in August 2017 as a new way to gather inventory for an online flea market.

    Total daily purchases are capped at 10 million yen, and are limited to smartphones, luxury handbags, watches, clothing and other specific items from a list of several thousand. Customers take a photo and are given a non-negotiable offer. Prices are set automatically based on data gleaned from other second-hand marketplaces and Cash makes money by reselling the goods.

    “It was a social experiment,” said Mitsumoto, who started selling goods on the web in 1996. He later launched Stores.jp, Japan’s version of Shopify, which he sold and then bought back. “Of course, I believed that good people would outnumber the bad, but the question was by how much. That’s not something you can find out without trying.”

    Second-hand sales are a big business in Japan and a market worth 1.6 trillion yen, according to the Reuse Business Journal. Bookoff has hundreds of stores that buy and sell everything from used books to video games and electronics. Yahoo Japan operates the country’s biggest online auction site. Mercari became Japan’s first startup to be valued at more than $1bn with a smartphone app that made it easy for people to sell unwanted things to each other.

    What Mitsumoto discovered was a way to remove the last bit of friction for sellers to get rid of stuff, unlocking value wasting away in people’s closets. He tapped into a market of people who lacked either the time or the patience to take nice pictures, write product descriptions and haggle with buyers.

    He also knew that it was only a matter of time before bigger rivals followed with similar offerings. So when Mitsumoto got a Facebook message on 4 October 2017 at 1:58 am, “Hi! This is Kameyama~! Sell Cash to me~! No?” he saw a way to stay ahead of the competition.

    Keishi Kameyama is one of Japan’s richest people and the founder of DMM.com, a media and technology empire with $1.6bn in revenue. Kameyama started with pornography but has grown his company into a vast collection of enterprises that spans a currency trading platform, video games, an online English school and solar farms. Mitsumoto agreed to sell Cash to DMM for 7 billion yen and continue running the business.

    “For people doing internet businesses in Japan, DMM is a scary presence,” Mitsumoto said. “You never know when they may launch their own business and become a tough rival. I figured it’s best to at least meet.”

    Indeed, a week after the deal was announced, Mercari launched an identical offering.

    Kameyama said his team recognized the potential of the market uncovered by Mitsumoto, but admits that the eye-popping valuation for a company of six people that’s not even one year old was also partly an “acquihire” —an acquisition based on hiring.

    “Doing business on the internet is not all capital and equipment, you need a certain intuition, a design sense and ability to get a service going,” Kameyama, 56, said in an interview. “I can also appreciate a bold play. There aren’t that many audacious people in this world.”

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  • Indonesian Pizza Hut Operator Plans $150 Million IPO

    Indonesian Pizza Hut Operator Plans $150 Million IPO

    The company that runs Pizza Hut Indonesia plans an IPO that could raise as much as US$150 million.

    Sriboga Raturaya has taken on advisers for a listing of its foodservice and restaurant franchising unit, which also runs the Japanese noodle chain Marugame Udon.

    Shares could go on sale in Jakarta in the first half of next year, insiders say.

    Indonesia’s pizza market is forecast to expand to IDR8.81 trillion ($650 million) by 2021, up from IDR5.76 trillion last year, according to Euromonitor International. Pizza Hut had more than 70 per cent of the market last year, followed by Domino’s with 6.1 per cent.

    First-time stock sales in Southeast Asia’s largest economy raised $683 million this year, down from $1.03 billion for the same period last year, according to Bloomberg.

    Sriboga Raturaya, which started as a producer of wheat flour in 1995, also has interests in education, logistics and making food ingredients.

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  • Mulberry Group first store to launch in Hong Kong

    Mulberry Group first store to launch in Hong Kong

    UK-headquartered luxury fashion retailer Mulberry Group plans to launch in Hong Kong.

    Announcing its first half-year results, the brand revealed plans – but no details – to expand in both Hong Kong and Mainland China through an omnichannel strategy. Other, unidentified global markets are on its radar as well.

    The news follows the success of its recent expansion into Japan which helped strengthen the international performance in the six months to September 30.

    In Japan, Mulberry Group signed a 50-50 joint venture agreement in July with licensing partner Onward Global Fashion (OGF). An initial presence of four stores in key locations, including Ginza, has already been expanded with a fifth store opening.

    Total first-half revenue for the company was virtually flat at £74.6 million (US$99.8 million) compared to £74.5 million a year ago. Sales through its retail channel were up 2 per cent to £56.6 million, but comparable sales eased 1 per cent. Gross margin increased 248 points (up £1.9 million).

    While UK sales were flat, international sales grew 8 per cent to £11.3 million. Global digital sales rose 3 per cent to £10.7 million, accounting for 14 per cent of group revenue.

    “We are delivering on our strategy to grow Mulberry as a global luxury brand,” says CEO Thierry Andretta.

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  • Japan’s Q3 growth twice as fast as first estimated, outlook brightens

    Japan’s Q3 growth twice as fast as first estimated, outlook brightens

    Japan’s economy grew twice as fast as originally estimated in the third quarter thanks to big gains in capital expenditure, revised data showed on Friday, with expansion seen to continue thanks to buoyant exports.

    The capital expenditure component of gross domestic product was revised to a rise of 1.1 percent from the previous quarter, well over the forecast 0.4 percent growth, and soaring above the preliminary 0.2 percent reading.

    The economy grew an annualized 2.5 percent in July-September, more than the median estimate for 1.5 percent annualised growth and more than the preliminary reading of a 1.4 percent annualised expansion.

    Real wages rose in October for the first time in almost a year, offering some hope that consumer spending will pick up, separate data showed.

    The revised figures showed that Japan is in its longest uninterrupted period of growth since comparable data became available in 1994.

    This is a boon to the government as it is expected to agree later on Friday a spending package to subsidise education and encourage more corporate investment.

    “The economy is doing well, but annualised growth above 2 percent seems a little too quick,” said Norio Miyagawa, senior economist at Mizuho Securities.

    “I expect that exports and capital expenditure will lead growth next year, but the pace will moderate to around 1 percent.”

    The figure translates into quarter-on-quarter growth of 0.6 percent, versus a preliminary reading of 0.3 percent growth and the median estimate for 0.4 percent growth.

    Steady economic expansion also offers hope to the Bank of Japan that inflationary pressure will build up next year and nudge consumer prices closer to its 2 percent inflation target.

    Capital expenditure was revised up because wholesale companies and retailers are increasing investment to deal with increased inbound tourism, a Cabinet Office official told reporters.

    Inventories contributed 0.4 percentage point in the third quarter, which was revised up from a preliminary 0.2 percentage point contribution, due to a build up of chemicals and plastics used in manufacturing, the official said.

    Net exports contributed 0.5 percentage point in the third quarter, unchanged from the preliminary reading.

    Private consumption fell 0.5 percent in July-September, also unchanged from the preliminary reading.

    Real wages rose 0.2 percent in October marking their first rise since December 2016 in a sign a tight job market may finally be leading to higher salaries.

    Japan’s economy has expanded for seven consecutive quarters, and many economists expect growth to continue as consumer spending gains strength and export growth is seen on track to continue.