XXI. Ad

After a week of brainstorming about ways to increase the value of Hitachi’s internal brand at the strategic branding office, this week I learned all about Hitachi’s outward appearance at its advertisement department. Of course this department is located in Akihabara; what better place for an electronics company to brainstorm about and create its outward appearance? It was a bit unsettling at first to work right across the street from where last Sunday’s terrible stabbing spree took place, but luckily this week’s schedule was too busy to dwell on it for too long.

The week with the branding office had consisted mainly of meetings with various managers, brainstorming and working towards a final presentation. The week with advertisement was spent partly in meetings, but largely outside the office. According to one of my advertisement colleagues, Advertisement is something you learn by visiting expos and looking at ad campaigns, rather than sitting behind your desk reading through instruction materials. And so the advertisement people had created a full programme with lots of trips. On Monday, I received an extensive introduction in Hitachi’s national advertisement campaigns and I was allowed to sit in on a meeting where the advertisement team discussed their progress. Remarkably, this was a meeting for the junior staff, without the General and Senior Manager. The staff discussed a new advertisement campaign, for which the posters had just been designed, and everyone talked about their activities that week. Unfortunately there were no hand-outs and the subject matter was not yet familiar to me, so most of the meeting went over my head. After the meeting, Koike-san, one of my new temporary colleagues, took me on a walk through Akihabara, in search of stores that stock Hitachi products, to see what is on sale and, more importantly, how it is presented. We didn’t find any laptops, as Hitachi doesn’t really produce these for the consumer market, but we did find pretty much everything else, ranging from super-thin Wooo plasma screens and sleek cell phones to huge refrigerators and self-cleaning aircos. Wedged in between Panasonic and Sony, I didn’t notice the Hitachi logo at first- grey and red is stylish, but not really striking, especially in a sensory overwhelming environment like Yodobashi Camera (or Akihabara itself, for that matter).

On Tuesday I spent the morning learning everything about Hitachi’s international ad campaigns, and how they are tailored to various audiences. The American campaign, for example, focuses on the people benefiting from Hitachi’s products, featuring personal stories about a remote village that got high-speed Internet thanks to Hitachi, or a pilot who was able to continue to fly whilst receiving cancer treatment using state of the art Hitachi equipment. The European campaign also focuses on the people-behind-the-product, but it is less sentimental. Hitachi’s Asian campaigns also differ among each other: mainland China gets an environment-oriented campaign, whereas the Hong Kong campaign offers a high-tech vision of the future. All in all it was a very interesting presentation, especially since the European campaign is only visible in France, Germany and the UK, and not in the Netherlands. In the afternoon, I went out with two colleagues on a trip to Hitachi’s Sakado printing factory outside of Tokyo, where the company’s advertisement material is being printed. I had already been on a JPP-outing to Asahi Shimbun’s printing factory, so I already knew the principles of offset printing, but here I was able to come much closer to the machines and really see how they worked. Once more I was struck by the efficiency of Japanese factory workers; it seemed as if they had paid a lot of attention to doing their work as quickly and correctly as possible, making no superfluous movements and keeping in pace with the machines.

Tuesday was a long day, as there was another activity planned for the evening. I had been told that we were going on a kengaku to the TV quiz sponsored by Hitachi, the hugely popular Sekai Fushigi Hakken. I had assumed we would attend a short meeting, take a tour, receive some leaflets, that sort of thing. Imagine my surprise when upon arrival I was ushered into a TV studio on to a set featuring large plasma screens and mildly kitsch Neo-Classissistic decorations. We were invited to sit in the audience, and were instructed on when/how to clap, how to cheer and what to shout (Hitachi!). The quiz contestants were six famous Japanese, and had to answer several questions about the culture and history of Slovakia (each week the quiz features a different country or region). This quiz was typically Japanese in its format: it featured only three questions and more time was spent talking and making jokes than answering the questions. But it was good fun, and as it featured short film clips of Slovakia it was relatively easy to follow. It sure was a terrific surprise and a unique experience which I won’t forget.

On Thursday I spent the morning attending a meeting of the advertisement department and members of the strategic branding office, as they discussed the effectiveness of Hitachi campaigns in Asia and Europe. It was not easy to follow, but thanks to the hand-outs that were largely in English, I did get a good impression of what they were talking about. The meeting room was, however, rather warm and stuffy, and I was glad to go out again in the afternoon, this time all the way to Chiba, to visit the Interop exposition at the Makuhari Messe. This expo focused on IT products and networks, and most of the Japanese IT giants were there. Again, surrounded by loud music, giant screens and girls dressed up in a wide range of (very short) dresses, it was difficult at first to spot Hitachi’s subdued colours. We did find the company’s booth, however, and it turned out to be one of the most interesting to a lay person like myself, as it featured a demonstration of an earthquake safety system developed by Hitachi. When you are at home and a big earthquake occurs, you can just press one button which switches on the TV and the lights, closes the curtains and opens your door, offering a way out and at the same time protecting you from broken glass. Having experienced a 7.0 earthquake in a simulator, I think it is great to have a system take all the safety measures for you when you yourself are too shaken (literally) to think of all these things.

Finally, today has been interesting as well. This morning, a colleague took me on a trip to the technology museum close to the Nippon Budokan. The museum itself is rather dated, with a 1960s interior. But the attractions it offers still greatly appeal to children, as they can experiment and learn about subjects such as DNA, dams, optic illusions and outer space. Hitachi’s offering to the museum is a display called Nature Contact, which aims to teach children about wildlife through the use of touch screens that feature three different habitats (polar, tropics, savannah) and their wildlife. The best bit is that you can download software at home which enables you to raise a pet on your PC (a bit like a Tamagotchi) and then you can print out a barcode, which you can use to display your pet animal on the touch screen and play around with it. During our visit, the museum was full of children: they loved this display. In the afternoon, we went to Dentsu’s much quieter Advertisement Museum, which features advertisements from the Edo period to contemporary Japan. I absolutely loved it; the exhibition was small but well put together and I loved the vintage TV commercials and products. It was a nice ending to a week of exposure to various forms of corporate image building, from brainstorm, strategy and evaluation to the actual advertisement itself: newspaper ads, poster campaigns, TV commercials, sponsorships and direct promotion at expos. I feel I now have a clear image of what Hitachi is trying to do in terms of creating and promoting its corporate image. It has been a very busy week, but it has been lots of fun as well- and I haven’t even mentioned the countless lunches and dinners (including yesterday’s wonderful nomikai). Tonight I will go out with my advertisement colleagues once more, which I am sure will be a nice ending to an exciting week.

XIX. Hakone

Sometimes it is necessary to escape the city with its stress and its deadlines and its throngs of workers. So off we went, Margreet and I, to enjoy the tranquillity of rustic Hakone. Unfortunately, the weather forecast was bad- but we weren’t going to let a little bit of rain stop us. When we arrived in Hakone, the weather was warm and humid- but it was dry, so we decided to go for a hike along the remains of the old Edo-period Tokaido. There’s a fairly large stretch of road that’s still intact, as well as the newly renovated Hakone Barrier. In spite of its historical significance, we decided to forgo the checkpoint as the rain was gradually setting in (a recurring theme during the weekend). Instead, we jumped on a pirate ship that took us across lake Ashi. It was really raining by this time, but of course we went on deck to enjoy the view, which was quite beautiful (what with the mist slowly rising from the mountains that surrounded the lake). Naturally, the Japanese all stayed inside, watching the lake from behind glass.

We stayed at a traditional Minshuku, with onsen-water baths. During the night the rain really set in typhoon-style. We had been hoping to take the ropeway to get a nice view of Fuji, but the fog was so thick we couldn’t see more than a metre ahead of us. Naturally, the ropeway didn’t run in such weather, and when we took the bus up into the mountains we found that the famous sulphuric waters of Owakudani were also closed off to visitors. Luckily we were able to get our hands on some of the famous “black eggs” (boiled over the sulphuric water so their shells turn black) and thus added 7 years per eaten egg to our lifespan. Rather disappointed with the weather, we spent a large part of the afternoon in the wonderful Pola museum of art. Its collection is fine (one painting per impressionist), but it’s the building and the location in the middle of the woods that make it special. On the ground floor, the building has huge glass windows rising up from the floor so that you almost feel like you’re inside the surrounding forest.

Work wise, the last week of May has been a busy one, as I have been finishing my report on Japanese and Western Corporate Social Responsibility as well as preparing for my week with the strategic branding office. The report was well received, and although it needs some editing, I think it will make a good basis for my final report. That's at least one deadline helping the other...

XIII. Local

Even though life in Tokyo is never dull, there can be weeks that are relatively quiet, with nothing much going on. Not so this week. Last Friday one of my bucho’s invited me along to a meeting at UN University. Together with a group of Hitachi employees working in the field of CSR, Supply Chain Management and Human Rights, we had a meeting with prof. Yokota, an expert on UN/CSR-related issues. The entire meeting was of course in Japanese, and the details were often lost on me, but I still managed to get the gist of it. It goes to show that collecting and learning job-related words really improves the kenshuu-experience. I had prepared some questions and was able to ask one, which made a good impression on my colleagues. It was nice to get out of the office for a change (working at Hitachi is fun, but very sedentary) and I got some new ideas for my CSR-research.

On Saturday Margreet and I wanted to escape the city for a day, so we made the two-hour trip to the supposedly sacred island of Enoshima. To get there, you need to take the Enoden line, which runs over tracks so narrow you can almost reach out of the window and touch the houses and garden walls. The weather was pretty good, and although we had intended to lounge on the beach all day, we decided to have a look at some temples instead. Of course we ended up walking all around the small island, working our way through throngs of weekenders shopping for kitsch souvenirs, visiting pleasant but mildly bland temples and walking around on the rocky coast, where young families had pick nicks and children tried to catch tiny sea crabs. Apart from an older woman chanting in an atmospheric, dimly-lit temple, and the bicycle locks with hearts and dates that were chained to fences everywhere, the island wasn’t particularly noteworthy, although I’ve never before seen a beach with signs warning people to watch out for hawks.

It was a good idea to go to the beach on Saturday, as the weather on Sunday was bad: cold and wet. It was perfect museum weather though, so I seized the opportunity to finally visit the Edo-Tokyo museum in Ryogoku. Although the outside of the building is more overwhelming than the inside, it’s still a nice museum. I liked the scale-models of Edo Ryogoku and Meiji Ginza best; they are so detailed. The temporary exhibition of Japanese fashion designer Kansai Yamamoto’s work, especially the costumes he made for David Bowie, were a highlight of my visit. I am also looking forward to the next temporary exhibition, which will be about Matthew Perry, Townsend Harris and the beginning of American-Japanese relations. I will definitely go back to view it and bring my camera with me- the museum allows its visitors to make photographs inside!

As the weekend is never long enough, I’m very happy to have Wednesday afternoons off to experience living in Tokyo too, rather than just working there. Yesterday I ended up exploring Yanaka, an area close to Ueno Park with a very cosy and old-fashioned atmosphere. As the area was mentioned in several Tokyo guides, I had wanted to go there for some time. Walking past traditional shops at Yanaka Ginza, it was difficult to imagine Marunouchi’s skyscrapers were only 15 minutes away by train. The area reminded me of Kyoto, with shrines and old shops and warehouses on every street corner. Walking through Yanaka cemetery, I saw a couple of old men trying out Japanese traditional flutes they had made by hand. They were playing from sheet music, but the notation was very different from what I am used to, using numbers rather than notes to indicate pitch. I talked to them for a while and they explained to me how the flutes are made and showed me how to read their sheet music. It is chance encounters like this that make me realize how great it is to have learned the language before coming here. Even though our grasp of the language is still relatively basic, being able to chat to the locals really adds to the experience of living and working here in Japan.

XII. Ghibli

The blossoms have all but gone now and in the office, last month’s frantic activity has been replaced by calmer planning and introduction meetings. Last week, a group of employees was introduced that came to work with us, having previously worked in another part of the company. This morning, I went to a meeting where all Global Business divisions introduced their plans for the coming financial year. Unfortunately, the presentations were rather difficult to follow. Not because of the speakers’ speed or unclear pronunciation, but because of what my colleague termed “Hitachi-go”: too much company lingo. And finally, this afternoon, our new colleague (a real nyuushain, fresh out of university) joined us. After an extensive briefing about the team’s work, we are going out for his welcome party. Although I have been under the weather since Tuesday (flu-like symptoms), I will of course come along- but no sake tonight.

Apart from these new developments, we’ve also begun working on The Caring Tree, Hitachi’s CSR newsletter. Thanks to my colleague who has devised a system of forms people reporting their CSR activities can fill in, only two topics required much back-and-forth e-mailing to get sufficient data for the article. It’s a nice change from the research to be able to write straightforward pieces again- thanks to all the concise article-writing training I received in Brussels, I was able to write the bulk of the articles in one day.

Of course, I had some free time as well, this week. Last weekend I went to the Studio Ghibli museum in Mitaka. I have seen some of the anime studio’s films before (Spirited Away, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind) but even though I like them, I am not a hardcore fan. Many others are, however, and we had to book our tickets a month in advance. But it was worth it: the museum was built in typical Ghibli-style, with pastel-coloured walls, winding staircases, odd turrets and stained glass windows depicting scenes from some of the studio’s most famous anime films. On the ground floor there was an exhibition of various animation techniques, including a carrousel similar to those used in 18th century Europe. But this one, lit by a stroboscope lamp, showed 3-D animation. This room, as well as the quaint study/library/drawing studio upstairs, with countless Miyazaki sketches tacked to the walls, was my favourite part of the museum. There was a special animated film as well (one that can only be viewed in the museum). The best thing about the film was not the plot, which was a little simple, nor even the animations, but watching it surrounded by Japanese children who really got into the story, holding their breath, laughing uncontrollably and reading aloud all the hiragana that featured in the film. The museum’s motto “Let’s lose our way together” doesn’t really apply to the museum itself, as it is a little small and not quite the Disney-like overwhelming fantasy experience one expects, but I liked it very much. Standing on the roof, taking pictures of (and with) a Laputian robot statue, it struck me once again that Japanese have an imagination and a fairytale-world of their own, less sugary-sweet than Disney, but perhaps even more imaginative.

IX. Museum

Living, working and studying in Tokyo is a typical case of “work hard, play hard.” Work hard: although my working hours are more than decent and the work itself is very interesting, I am genuinely tired each night. At Hitachi, I have been working on my Corporate Social Responsibility research assignment, drawing up a framework and research questions. I’m very enthusiastic about this research project and don’t mind a little 残業 to make a deadline. Apart from this research, I sometimes get additional tasks such as translating or doing some research for projects that the team’s members are working on. The newspaper cuttings and magazines that are read by my colleagues are also passed onto me. I try to read most articles and grasp at least the essence of what is written, but I find my lack of kanji-knowledge renders me virtually illiterate. Especially since when someone reads parts of the article out loud to me, I can understand what is being said. This can be frustrating at times, although I try to give it a positive spin, trying to memorize new kanji as I encounter them in e-mails and the like. When it comes to using the Japanese-language version of Windows I can generally circumvent the problem as I have enough experience to know where I can find commands, even though I can’t read the kanji.

Play hard: whenever I have an afternoon to spare, I try to go and explore a new part of Tokyo. Last week on Wednesday I met up with some other JPP students for a drink at one of our favourite cafes in the Shin-Marunouchi building. An essential part of the Tokyo experience: drinking coffee & tea on the 7th floor terrace with CoolJazz floating out of the speakers and a view of the Marunouchi skyline. That day we also explored Ueno, strolling around the Tokyo University campus and having dinner at a dodgy izakaya crammed with blue-collar workers. This Wednesday was memorable as well. Although I must admit that I don’t know a lot about video games and had expected to hear a bit more about the company during our site visit to Sony ComputerEntertainment, it was nice to see how advanced the latest game computers are. I loved the idea of linking PS3’s worldwide to create a supercomputer capable of the most intricate calculations. It rather reminded me of SETI, a project that uses linked-up PC’s in order to scan the universe for signs of extraterrestrial life forms. It sounds like something out of a science fiction novel, but it is, in fact, a serious research project by the University of California, Berkeley.

Inspired by futuristic ideas, we spent the rest of the afternoon at the Mori Art Museum in Roppongi. It was terrific! We had an amazing view over Tokyo and saw some great pieces of art. The visit reminded me of how much I love modern/contemporary art and so I decided to spend part of my free (but rainy) Thursday at the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, which was equally impressive. This is one of the things I love about living in a metropolis like Tokyo: there is such a large volume and variety of museums to choose from and you can pretty much go and visit one whenever you feel like it as some stay open until late. It is nice to get out of the city once in a while, like I did last weekend when I went for a hike at Mount Mitake, but museums and cultural life in general keep pulling me back to the city. There are more cultural things I still want to experience, such as a tea ceremony or a Kabuki play, so I’ve started to compile a list- I don’t want to miss a thing.