Thanks Jeff!

Jeff Immelt gave a great talk today at the American Chamber of Commerce-
The key takeaways were:

• The financial services industry is going to be more regulated so we have to learn to deal with that.
• The government has moved in next door. There is going to be more interaction and interface with the government, so we had better get good at it.
• Now is the time to go where the business is-not to sit back and gird waiting for the recession to end. Make sure you cover all your price points in all your areas.
• The recession will end. If you take some risks now to go out and build some solid foundations for growth, your business will take off when the recession ends.
• Green and Eco are good businesses-GE has profited from ecoimagination initiatives-and Walmart has taken a lead in reducing carbon. If Walmart does it, that means it can be done inexpensively and efficiently.
• Don't get constipated-enjoy the ride-keep upbeat
  

Steel takes Wigs

Well the shareholders have spoken-they have approved the board candidates fielded by Steel Partners, which in effect cancels the TOB from Unison Capital. Since we know that Steel and another US mutual fund have 38% + of the shares, plenty of other shareholders were clearly underwhelmed by the weak tender offer from Unison.
Shareholder activism at its best?

We'll see how the new Steel appointed board helps reinvigorate the company and share price-only time can tell.

Fight over the wig maker?

OK, there has to be more to Aderans the wig maker than their healthy balance sheet for Steel Partners and Unison Capital to fight over it. Sure isn't the cooperative management team. Do the funds see market potential for wigs and male pattern baldness that eludes the rest of us? I am guessing that there is something else of value in that balance sheet.

Interestingly, Steel Partners has a real concern that echoes the true spirit of shareholder value preservation-the tender offer from Unison is arrogantly low-
how will shareholders vote? Stay tuned till tomorrow!!

Donut Burger?

In the neverending race for profits and new market niches, the master of incongruous mix 'n match, Mos Burger, has come out with a ... Donut Burger! Here is a good picture in another blog (although blog entry incorrectly says Mr. Donut) Why not? As some will fondly remember, White Castle burgers were square with a few holes... I think we used to call them "sliders" in college.

Fun and danger at the giro d'italie

If you cycle regularly in a metropolis like I do, the dangers that the riders in the giro d'italie are talking about are way too real-so why do car, truck and bus drivers think that a human being on a carbon or aluminum 5kg frame with precarious balance and thin wheels is a threat on roads that are made for several vehicles? Are we talking too much testosterone driven bravado?
Read Here all about the Giro

The image of a co-worker's husband with metal pins in his leg because some truck driver was in a hurry haunt me...

We are all working together out there on the road-take a breath, give an inch, you won't be late!

Smart Phones and the Tipping Point

Although I have been a "loyal" user of DoCoMo phones for years, i just had to get the iPhone for work, along with a couple other execs. While it doesn't really do much for me in terms of voice calls, I have to say that the schedule/mail sync with exchange at work is seriously handy. Add the Bloomberg/WSJ/NY Times apps with SNS apps and it really is a tiny laptop.

Japan has the steepest (read: fast) upward slope on the innovation adoption curve between early adopters and early majority. This group is populated by a large percentage of young women, and as such I am seeing more and more young women with iPhones, playing music or getting onto SNS services. Sure, the percentage is still small compared to young women on pink phones looking at the mobile version of Mixi, but as with all trends in Japan, the tipping point can come along VERY fast.

How long did it take to go from 1% penetration to 10% for Crocs?
The speed is unbelievable-both creation and destruction-when it comes to trends.

So can DoCoMo, Softbank and KDDI come up with viable alternatives? DoCoMo sells the Blackberry, but only the clunky one-that thing is too ugly to be anything but company issue-

Watch this space...

Been Way Too Long-Sorry for my absence. First the economy and my work took off northward, then the economy in Japan started south-You could say that the bad loan crisis in Japan helped pave the way for more stable (read risk averse) financial institutions. You could say that, and lots of folks do.

But two years ago everybody and their dog was secretly laughing at Japanese banks for "not getting it" during those heady days of multi-tranche, multi-split collateralized debt obligations.

I am pretty sure that there needed to be less greedy, but still profit driven, approach to the capital markets. Who are the survivors (winners?)

I have been twitting recently-follow me!
http://twitter.com/timothyconnor

Just Great Music!

Get it Here

Lookin' Good at 100!

My Grandma Clara came to the US when she was 3 yers old-she married a butcher, had two kids, a few more grand-kids, and has just celebrated her 100th birthday! What a thing that is! Think about it-100 years of life...hard to fathom, yet, there she was, my grandma, and she was REALLY 100!!!

Too cool.

Japanese Blogmocracy

Joi Ito has published Karel von Wolferen's article in the Asahi. When genius writes, it can get dense, but go through it slowly, Karel is a really insighful guy.

Thanks to Joi and Karel for that!!

Free up that pile of cash in the postal system

I know this can be a sensitive topic, or let's say "politically sensitive." But while privatizing the Japan Post system sends shivers up some backs, the final outcome will benefit all of us.

All that cash invested in the system, and the Japan Post pays next to nothing in interest. What do they do with all that cheap money? Make no mistake, the primary source of funds for the massive budget deficit-i.e. buyers of Japan Government Bonds, is the Post Office.

When all the other banks can enter the Post Office's space, you can bet on some real competition, especially in terms of services offered. The Post Office will get leaner, Government will get leaner, private firms like Yamato and UPS can start offering more mail-like services at much lower prices, and the JPO will have to do a whole lot better at managing the funds of its depositors/investors!

What's to lose? Nothing, friends.

Advertising is changing

But is it changing for the better?
I have been working with the revolutionary SurecliX.com to develop a workable model.
As an internet user, if you could acquire premium content-music clips, articles, etc.-by paying 100 yen OR by viewing an advertisement, which would you choose?

It seems wonderful to be able to send streaming brand oriented ads over the internet, but these take time and money. Will you even look at them? Would you look at them (the ads) if you could get some underlying "credit" or "premium content" or "value item"?

Now, would you change your mind if you knew that the ads would be about things you are interested in-such as low rider cars, thrash dancing, kitchen utensils, etc.?

Send in any comment at all!!

Thanks Gang!

Community sites are it!

If you are over 30, you may never have heard of this, but MySpace has 27 million users who focus on self expression with a heavy trend toward music and undiscovered bands. (like I am under 30;-)
Billy Corgan released new tracks here first-that is good enough for me.
Go to My Space
Yeah, it is not really Japan Insider stuff. at first glance, but I want to push the community/social networking thang here to get as big as this!

Open a site, and let us know right here!

yoroshiku!

Podcasting-

The newest thing on the net is podcasting, and I can see it as a natural extension of the general trend toward stronger individualism. You don't have to have a gazillion bucks and live in Hollywood to get a national audience; check out Dawn and Drew:

They are lovin' it and setting the corporate world on fire.

Am I a derelict in posting or what?

I need to get with it here and post more often; there is so much going on out there online that I feel like I am taking a bath in warm sunshine.

Send in comments, rants, Qs, whatever-show me you are alive!

Pull yourself together

You've got to pull yourself together, man.
You've got get back on your feet again.
How can I ever make you understand,
You've got the world right in your hands
"Close Range"
New Order, from "Get Ready" album: Buy it!
Gets me going every time

Evisu Genes

Yep, that is what I said: Evisu Genes.
These individually decorated works of art go for a cool 30,000 a pair in Shibuya (model 1) and are apparently all the thang in Paris among fashionistas. Check them out here

Originally a play on (L)evis, they have morphed into Evisu Genes and incorporate a whole line of quirky clothes that I think are really inventive. But, should I spend 300 dollars on a pair of jeans?
Should you? Let me know--

Make-Inu

The expression "Mahke-Inu" or "Loser Dog" has been part of the Japan media and pop vernacular for some time now, an expression that was originally popularized by actress Kaoru Sugita as referring to unmarried Japanese women in their 30s and 40s.

I guess it is ironic that Sugita was talking up this less than flattering concept while she herself was turning 40 and unmarried. (One could say she "championed" women in this demographic) You could look at it as someone making fun of themselves, as well, I suppose. But then earlier this year she got married and now it seems the former "loser dog" is not a "winner dog" but a "horny dog" since she likes to tell folks that the best part of her marriage is the sex.

Key point here is that that whole "Loser Dog" thang is pretty much a tv and gossip magazine entity-you just don't find people on the street talking about women in that context-and so garners it's unfair share of publicity.

Pop up retail spots

Temporary retail outlets have long been a highlight of the Tokyo shopping scene. The trend can be traced back to the bubble economy days, when "cool" meant "extravagant." The six month disco in Kyoto, one year club in Shinbashi, all could be re-framed as "Pop up retail" spots. There is a resurgence of Pop up retail all over the US and Europe from one day shops to a one year boutique by Comme des Garcons. Read more about it here. Interesting brand alliances are making these pop up retail spots more and more creative.

Long Time No Blog

I wish I could say that I have been on a well deserved holiday in Bali, or pulling 16 hour days on a build up to an IPO...But I have just been kind of lazy.

Granted, drumming up new business has been time consuming, and I do spend a fair amount of time following livedoor's Horie Shacho romp through corporate Japan-who hasn't?

I enjoy the way this young guy has polarized parts of the media and business circles; there is a vague resemblance to a certain Shigeta san, president of a once high flying company called Hikari Tsushin in the way he was a darling while his company was "growing" and then went down in flames in a precursor to the Tech bubble.

People trying to get a meeting with Horie san tell me that his "handlers" are keeping him on a pretty tight leash, so hopefully things will go forward without a crash and burn. Everyday brings some new semi true comment from the tabloids; I wonder how many people inside livedoor are employed to keep up with it all?

It was not surprising to see William Pesek opining on Bloomberg that the former "punk M. Son" was now playing in the same sandbox as old corporate Japan-the corporate Japan that he "once took on." (In those days, Shigeta san was a "bad boy" as well) But corporate Japan 2005 is a far cry from corporate Japan 1996, and the financial architect of the growth from 1996 is a product of corporate Japan, Kitao CEO. We just don't see that Horie Shacho is being advised by investment bankers, too.

Ah, April brings us warm days and loads of fun at Roppongi Hills from livedoor!