The news in Japan is dominated by headlines of economic malaise and political incompetence. Spending money frivolously is definitely not in fashion. SAVVY SPENDING is in. As such, the other two key elements in The Hunting! concept are “young women empowering themselves” and, less high-minded, “tracking down those must-have items at TGC!”  Must-haves this season will feature masculine images such as armor to promote “strong women”, according to a press release.

The event is organized by mobile fashion site GIRLSWALKER.COM and, as in previous years, the clothes worn by models in the show will be available for purchase immediately via the site. TGC released data from its own research that says Japanese in their late teens and early 20s it surveyed currently spend almost 100 minutes a day using the mobile Internet, 10 minutes more than a year ago. About 65% shopped online using their mobiles over the last year.

New this season is TOKYO GIRLS PARADE, a website where users can pull a fashion slot machine to create Nintendo Mii-like avatars dressed in random fashion looks from Tokyo. (The website is currently avaialable only in Japanese.)

Here’s a clip from last season’s TGC:

Models Momo Eri and Tsubasa Masuwaka at the campaign launch

During the Nihon Bara-Iro Keikaku, or Japan Rose-Color Project, customers who buy a Quarter or Double Quarter Pounder Cheese get a pink badge and scratch-card, with the opportunity to win one of 50 free T-shirts. Early in the campaign, the T-shirts were also on sale at the McDonald’s on Center Gai, the upper floor of which was turned into a store reminiscent of a pink Graniph or UT. Some of the Ts were emblazened with tongue-in-cheek messages, such as “I Have Not Been Trading Stocks.”

In this way, behind the rosey color, the campaign makes a deeper pitch at consumers’ sensitivities. Members of the fan club can submit “Big Mouth” comments about the state of Japan today, including hopes, worries and messages of encouragement, such as from ‘Kenta’ in Oita Prefecture to people looking for jobs: “To change the current Japan, it does not take a person with good education, but with the spirit to challenge everything.” Or from ‘Chibisuke’ in Chiba to people who hate their overcrowded commutes: “Leave it to me! I’ll make the trains bigger. I already finished the designs.”

Singer Amuro Namie was chosen as the campaign model, reflecting the personal struggles she has overcome with the death of her mother, divorce and personal reinvention as an artist. The television commercial shows her fighting with herself in a video game, and tells viewers to “Keep Winning for Yourself” and “Laugh at Everything.”

For women, the only color worse on a man than pink is yellow

What color is it going to be today? More men are making colorful clothes choices at work and at play, but their choices may be misguided, according to the opposite sex.

Black remains the top-selling color for men across all categories, but colors previously seen as feminine, such as pink and violet, have gained popularity since 2004 as color becomes genderless, says the R25 freepaper.

For decades, men’s fashion in Japan changed little beyond some sort of combination of black, white and brown. In the 1960s, a decade characterized by national pride, the Olympics and an economic upturn, the preference was for the bold contrast of black and white. During the unease of the ’70s and the oil shock, a more muted brown was the go-to color. In the Bubbly ’80s, it was back to black and white. It wasn’t until the new millenium that men embraced color.

The color of the moment for men is… pink. A color long loved by women, pink is also the color of choice for guys. An R25 survey found men think women like them to wear pink. However, when women were asked what color they dislike on a man, pink came second, only just beaten out by yellow by the slimest of margins.

Colors men think women like them to wear: 1) pink 31.8%, 2) black 20.2%, 3) blue 18.6%, 4) gray 9.1%, 5) green 7%.

Colors women dislike men to wear: 1) yellow 31.3%, 2) pink 30.3%, 3) red 18.9%, 4) brown 7%, 5) green 6%.

UCC has introduced a limited edition Milk&Coffee collaboration with the latest Evangelion anime film, including six cans featuring six characters from the film.

Evangelion is one of the most popular manga series in Japan, with fans in a wide range of ages. UCC released tie-ups based on Evangelion manga back in 1997 and again in 2007, which were instant hits with fans in their 20s. This is the first collaboration with an Evangelion film.

This time, a new dimension has been added, with a sticker on each can containing a code which fans can enter into a campaign website for the chance to win a rare figurine of a figure from the series.

To find out how Five by Fifty helps its clients innovate in the beverage sector, contact us.

Japanese office workers in their 20s prefer communicating on the sports field.

Mori Building, a Tokyo-based property developer, manages offices occupied by several leading Japanese and international companies such as Rakuten, TV Asahi, Yahoo! Japan and Goldman Sachs. Participants in the survey were readers of Office Life News, a free magazine distributed to people working in Mori offices.

The survey found that 85% workers in their 20s see such “informal communication” as important. By comparison, only 24% of workers over the age of 50 responded that it is “important”, with 47% seeing it as “somewhat important.”

New recruits at an admission ceremony for Toyota. Casual Friday is still a dream for most corporate employees.

Workers in their 20s stated they value communicating with coworkers outside of the office because they can “get new information” (59%), and because it can “improve the work atmosphere in the office” (34%). 70% of workers in their 20s said they would like to increase opportunities to informal communication with coworkers.

Mori Building has begun organizing activities to give workers a chance to meet up outside of the office, such as the “Mori Cup” a soccer tournament for teams of people working in Mori Offices.