The PLEO lifeform by Ugobe has very different meanings in Italy and Japan. During my sabbatical in Japan in 2008, I was exposed to a gazzilion video-advertising in the subway and, specially in the JR Yamanote Line, a recurrent one was promoting the PLEO dinosaur.

The curious thing is that in the video, this “intelligent” life form (or robot for a more banal description) was showcased interacting with an adult woman. It apparently reacted to the woman’s loneliness by coming near to her and asking for a caress, just like a little dog would do. In all three scenes of the advertising, PLEO’s interaction with the human resembled that of a pet and its owner. At the time I remember thinking that it was pretty weird and sad at the same time that a toy should replace a living creature and it reminded me of the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Ship by Philip K. Dick, where normal people (read “not rich”) cannot afford to buy live pets so they use robots instead so as to save their social status.

What could be the advantages of replacing a dog, cat or hamster with PLEO? Well, you don’t have to feed, clean, or take out for a walk the electronic dinosaur. It is always in a good mood and if you have to travel, you can just keep it in the closet instead of having to take it to your sister’s place.

I was surprised when I came back to Milan that the same object was sold to a very different target: In many shops PLEO was being sold in the toys department and the obvious destination of it was a kids room, not that of his parents. PLEO is clearly being marketed as a toy for kids, just like any other (if maybe more basic) robot or remote-controlled car. Products like Lego Mindstorms are in the ambiguous sector destined  to children and adults at the same time, but PLEO was not even near of this category in Italy.

This is an interesting article on PLEO by Michael Singer full of details.

Japanese Kombinis, from the english “convenience store”, are small everything-you-might-ever-ever-need shops spread all around Japan (more than 40.000 according to Japan Guide) and usually open 24hs. There are many of them, 7 eleven, AM/PM, Sunkus, Family Mart, Heart-in, Lawson (my fav) and often you find several in the same block. I read somewhere (can’t find the source, sorry) that they are a very important player in Japanese retailing with a strong negotiation power against producers.

Inside you’ll find any kind of things that you might need (and I mean it), from food to hygiene products, from emergency clothes to toys. An example of the things you can buy there:

• tooth brush and toothpaste
• disposable underwear (made of paper cloth)
• drinks of any kind (cold & hot)
• potato chips, sweets, chocolates
• soups, sushi, sandwiches and other food (healthy too)
• copier and fax machine
• ATM
• ice creams
• pencils, ball pens and stationary
• insecticides
• washing soap and detergent
• car parts
• magazines and newspapers

As any good retailer knows, unless you’re selling online like Amazon where Long Tail dynamics tend to apply, shelf space is very important. If two competing products have the same category of space available (considering also the product accessibility, visibility, etc) then the battle switches to other fronts like the price or brand. If these are even, then you go to the “attraction” power of packaging. And here is where the real war is taking place in Japan. Packaging is striking: flashy, dynamic, exuberant, or just plain crazy. Even international brands adapt to match its shelf competitors. Products must shout “look at me, grab me, it’s me that you want!”.

So the story goes that this morning I went to a Kombini to buy something for breakfast (iced coffee, chocolate cookies…) and while moving to the cashier my sight was caught… actually captured, judged and imprisoned, by this pack of… err… at the time I only new it was near to the potato chips.

If you’re a psychologist you must be thinking I have a weird personality for taking it. I was curious to see what kind of product could have such a disturbing image: a naked baby cyclops with a typical Japanese cook headband.

How healthy can this be?

Well, more than 12 hours have passed and I’m still alive. They seemed to be some kind of corn balls or “chizitos” (argentinians will understand).

These are other products I bought once I needed something sweet.

More info on Japan’s Kombinis. Kombini Life shows pictures and stories about food found in this places.

It has been long since I last had a good airport experience, apart from the shiatsu massage (I paid for) in JFK last January.

Airports in western countries have become hostile territory for travelers. I can understand strict rules and thorough controls due to a tense international situation (although I think they wouldn’t be too useful in preventing an “intelligent” terrorist attack) but impoliteness, lack of courtesy and even some abuses are not justified by this!

My worst experiences have been in several US airports…

Japan has been telling me a different story so far: Arrive to Narita International Airport and you’ll be received with a smile and a warm “welcome!”. What about Haneda, Tokyo’s main international airport until Narita opened in 1978 and now dedicated mostly to domestic flights, charters and routes to China, handling about 60 million passengers per year?

I had bought my ticket online (actually the transaction was concluded on the phone as I couldn’t fully understand the payment instructions… in Japanese!) from Tokyo Haneda to Sapporo’s New Chitose Airport (JAL 533). I had a numeric code that had to be used on the automatic check-in machines and well… these had only Lapanese language menus (which is strange here). After randomly playing with the touchscreen for a while, I asked for help to a JAL (Japan Air Lines) employee that was passing by (the word “sumimasen“, meaning “excuse me” can work miracles in Japan). She smiled and I inquired in my rudimentary Japanese if the machine had an English language option. The answer was negative and she got interested about my needs (always in Japanese). I said: “I have a reception number” while showing her the code on my phone. She graciously dialed on the screen and my boarding pass and receipt were printed in a few seconds. I then asked what should I do with my luggage and was sent to counter number 72, which I missed by taking the wrong way. A security guy gently indicated me the right place, always with a smile.

Check-in was fast, no dangerous substances packed. Then came security, where they invited me to the control area and, always with extreme courtesy, made me take my laptop out of the backpack and deposit it on the x-ray belt. Zooooom through the metal detector and my stuff was given back… actually I was thanked by the security officer for having controlled my things.

6 people were involved in all my check-in/security experience. They spoke almost no English, nor did the machine. All of them smiled at me and treated me like a human being and thanked me for being at their service… It seems to be it was quite the opposite!!

No English, a lot of smiles and courtesy. Fast, good, by humans to humans. Oh, btw I was flying economic class.

When was the last time you were treated like this in an airport?

Another lovely shocking experience? I was waiting to embark in my flight while another one landed. All passengers came out and then did the captain and his crew. At least 7 kids with their parents were waiting for him to take some photos. He posed with each of them, even offered his hat to the kids, and after the pic he have them a card, I guess it was his business card or something like it. I would also call this “from humans to humans” and a great fidelity marketing campaign!

Don’t expect some serious philosophical or sociological analysis here! This is just a brief report of the first impressions I have after being for a bit more than two weeks in Tokyo and a similar time spent in Shanghai some years ago. I know that chinese and japanese cultures and societies are very different. I just wanted to post some interesting points of contact and difference between both cities. For short, in the text I will use T for Tokyo and S for Shanghai.

Points of contact:

• Both are the most international cities of the country, home of the strongest stock exchange and usual business destination.
• The international airports (Narita for T and Pudong for S) look the same, with good signage in english and clean broad spaces.
• Starbucks coffee shops are present all over the city and products & quality are mostly the same you find everywhere. It’s always a point of reference if you’re a bit disoriented. Actually, during my last trip to NY I confirmed that the quality of Starbucks in the US is falling rapidly while in other places I’ve visited (Madrid, Berlin, Edimburgh, Lausanne, Shanghai, Tokyo, etc) quality of products and service is definitely higher.
• You see very few westerners and they are concentrated in particular neighborhoods or venues (Roppongi area in T, the Bund in S).
• You can lunch and dine for little money (if you want). Eating is not necessarily expensive (of course you have very high class and money sucker places in both).
• Either in T or S english is not widely (and well) spoken, except for touristic places and some hotels… and even in this cases the kind of english they use is not what you’d call “received pronunciation“.
• Both cities are huge and full of people!

But the real motivation to this post were the main differences I’ve experienced between T and S.

Shanghai, Nanjing Lu area

Differences:

• Well, first of all Tokyo is Japan’s capital city while Shanghai is not China’s.
• Shibuya area (T) vs Nanjing lu area (S): both are very touristic. Shibuya is chaotic and crowded but at the same time ordered. Cars do not honk endlessly and there’s no “selling harassment” to tourists/westerners. In S there were hordes (er.. ok, let’s say many) street-vendors that jumped on you to sell fake stuff (I remember they starting with “shoes, watches, dvd” and after some time “…massage? ah… sexy massage!” while they grabbed my arm and tried to pull me into some place of dubious aspect). In T they don’t care, ignore or just aren’t aware of your presence. Nobody notices you until you ask for directions or something. In this situation japanese citizens are very polite and try to help by indicating the way or even walking you somewhere near your destination. In S people talked to me very often, asking in english “Hello, where are you from?”. In many occassions they just wanted to practice their english. In others it was just the begining of a selling scam: first we talk and then you offer me a drink or buy some of my *fake* artwork.
• In T cars don’t try to kill pedestrians as they cross the street. Bicycles are not so present as in S and they behave “well”. In S the first threat while crossing the street were cars and buses. After that, bikes!
• In T women take a lot of care of their image. Clothes, style, makeup, shoes and the combination of them all are very important. This is probably the reflection of a strong middle class and many years of consumistic/capitalist lifestyle. Japanese women are very pretty and probably this is enhanced by how they dress up. I didn’t have such a positive image in S (except in places full of expats).
• Shanghai’s metro is ok, seemed efficient and was easy to navigate. Tokyo’s metro is spectacular with more than 15 lines and a highly efficient, clean and ordered service. The only con is that the service ends shortly after midnight, making this a “cinderella” city… at midnight you have to rush to catch the last train or pay for an (expensive) taxi. The other alternative is to party until 5am so as to then catch the first train back home.
• In T almost everybody has an iPod! In the subway they are all kind of alienated, listening to their music players (many with HUGE headphones), playing with a Sony PSP or Nintendo DS and messaging on the mobile phone. Each person is immersed in his own universe, eons away from the other passengers.

Tokyo, Shibuya area