When the staff become the stars: AKB’s new marketing strategy
September 19, 2013
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Mina
With the recent release of their 32nd single, "Koi suru Fortune Cookie," AKB48 has once again proven their monopoly in Japan's music industry. After hitting the physical and digital shelves on August ...
A colleague recently brought back the customary omiyage souvenir from their Obon summer vacation to Miyagi prefecture and I was pleasantly surprised to see that the traditional mochi sweets packaging ...
You can argue with me on this, but in Japan, there are two days a year when the idea of being alone might affect you emotionally -- these are Valentine's Day and Christmas (or Christmas Eve, to be ...
As Japan’s population continues to decline, we see more and more non-human characters pop out and come to life on a daily basis. The yuru-kyara boom which started less than a decade ago is now ...
The Japan National Tourist Organization reported late last month that estimated numbers of visitors to Japan for November 2012 were 648,600, a 17.6% increase from the same month in 2011 and even up ...
Following its rather naff "Cool Japan" campaign of recent years where it tried to harness the overseas popularity of manga and anime and, er, Arashi (yes, quite) to attract international otaku (just ...