Jan 5th - Respect for the customer is everything – even when they can’t see you

Posted: 04 Jan 2013 01:05 AM PST

Respect for the customer is everything – even when they can’t see you

By Sue Kinoshita, Director, UKTI Japan

One of the frustrating things about living in a house on the Embassy compound, apart from seeing my office every time I come out of the front door, is not receiving mail deliveries when the Embassy is closed. Not usually a problem, except at this time of year: the Japanese tradition is to deliver all New Year’s greeting cards on the morning of 1 January, all neatly tied up in bundles. But because the Embassy is shut on 1 January, and the Post Office for several days thereafter for its own holidays it was 4 January before we got ours.

Fortunately our Christmas presents got through, as the courier companies that are such a feature of life are much more flexible. These delivery vans, usually with whimsical animal logos (black cats, pelicans, bears) are ubiquitous.  Going on a skiing holiday? Send your gear on in advance so that you don’t need to lug it on the train. Student at university? Send a weekly bag of washing back to Mum to wash and return to you (cheaper than going to the laundrette). Glut of apples on the tree? Send boxes of windfalls out to all your friends. With collections and deliveries from any private address or any convenience store, same day delivery and eminently reasonable prices it’s convenience in a box.

The other great thing about the service is the delivery staff, who are always prompt, polite, cheerful and beautifully turned-out. The man who delivered some potatoes from a friend’s allotment to us just after Christmas told me with great pride of the ways in which he seeks to provide the best possible service to his customers: he always tucks in his shirt, polishes his shoes, rings ahead if he is going to be more than 5 minutes later than scheduled. In the summer the heat and the running up and down stairs mean that he gets very sweaty, so he makes a point of changing his shirt every two hours – he owes it to his clients, he says. And all that heaving of boxes takes its toll on your hands, so he always carries hand cream in his van so that his hands are soft and smooth when handing over the paperwork for signature. Now I may be doing our wonderful postmen in the UK a disservice, but I bet there aren’t many of them who carry a tube of Nivea in their pocket.

It’s all part of the service, the customer-centred way in which Japanese companies do business, the attention to quality and detail that are so important in every aspect of life here. It shows that you take pride in your job and your company, and that you care. The speed with which you respond to e-mails, the dent-free packaging in which your products must arrive, the reverence you show for your client’s business card: every little thing you do is sending a message about you, your company, your respect for your customer and your seriousness of intent.

It’s as though that man taking your toll on the expressway with such good cheer, politeness and economy of movement was put on earth to do precisely that job. Or the guide who showed me around the Toyota factory and was contrite that she’d “only” come up with 23 ways of doing her job better so far this year was giving every fibre of her being to ensuring that she was giving the best service she possibly could. Fortunately the Japanese do make allowances for uncouth, “that’ll be good enough” foreigners like me. But they love it when foreign companies are sensitive to their cultural love of quality, precision and respect. So when you’re on your next business trip to Japan, along with your samples and sales literature don’t forget to pack your Vaseline Aloe Vera handcream (other brands are available).

See original article on UKTI blog

Jan 2nd - Japan Smart Meter business open to global companies

Smart meter to open the global and Japanese markets 

The global market for social infrastructure for smart meter is expanding rapidly. Focus has been on the US, Europe and emerging economies but Japan is part of the global competition for smart-meter business. 

The GoJ plans to roll-out smart meters to 80% of nationwide electricity consumption over the next 10 years, with demand for smart meter expected to reach around 70 million units, a Japanese domestic market value of more than 700 billion yen (£5.2bn). TEPCO and the GoJ-backed Nuclear Damage Liability Facilitation Fund plan to install 27 million smart meters from 2014 to 2023. 

To reduce the cost of the project TEPCO will adopt international standards for smart meter specifications. This decision has created opportunities for foreign firms to enter the Japanese smart meter market. In November, TEPCO invited domestic and foreign firms to submit open bids to supply smart meter communication systems, worth tens of billions of yen (NB: the public offering for these bids was closed on 27 November). 

Up until now, only four domestic companies have sold power meters to TEPCO, but new entrants could change this picture. Itron Inc, a major U.S. firm recently announced a strategic partnership with Panasonic, aiming to submit joint bids.  Other foreign companies like General Electric and Enel SpA (a top Italian energy firm) also showed interest. 

Manufacturers will team up with other companies to meet project requirements which cover a wide range of technology fields. Foreign players still need to compete with domestic manufacturers who have local experience and advantage and advanced technology and know-how. Partnerships with local companies will be therefore be key to their success.

Jan 2nd - Japan Green Policy Guidelines draft published

The National Policy Unit have published a draft set of  ‘Green Policy Guidelines’ with five priority areas to reduce Japan's energy consumption to 20% below 2010 levels by 2030. 

The five areas are: 1) maximising deployment of renewable energy (solar, wind, hydro, biomass and marine energy); 2) accelerating energy efficiency; 3) progressing electricity supply/demand management through smart communities; 4) promoting storage battery development, and; 5) industrial growth of green materials. The general framework mirrors the green growth strategy announced in July. It does not elucidate fresh or radical details but includes some targets. The GoJ aims to: commercially launch floating offshore wind (currently being tested in Fukushima) by FY2015; build grids in areas suitable for wind power such as Hokkaido and Tohoku to start service by FY2018, and; install Home Energy Management System (HEMS) to all households by 2030. 

By publishing the draft guidelines before the election, the DPJ aims to show that its zero nuclear strategy by the 2030’s is realisable. Decisions on implementation and budgeting will be left to the new post December 16 government. The new government may adjust the guidelines, but promoting renewables and energy efficiency will likely remain key pillars of future energy policy. 

Jan 2nd - A New Technology for Semiconductor Film Production on Highly Liquid-repellent Surfaces

A research group from  the Flexible Electronics Research Center  and the Electronics and Photonics
Research Institute of AIST have developed a manufacturing technology for highly uniform thin films of organic polymer semiconductors without material losses by applying the semiconductor solution on a highly hydrophobic surface that strongly repels the solution.

The technology allows simple production of high performance thin-film transistors (TFTs) that are useful building blocks for information terminal devices such as electronic papers.  The details of this study will be published online in Nature Communications.

(AIST press release, 31 October 2012)

Jan 2nd - Japan's largest solar and wind power project breaks ground

Seven Japanese companies have been celebrating the ground breaking of their solar and wind power project at a ceremony held today at the project site in Midorigahama, Tahara City, Aichi Prefecture in Japan.  With a PV capacity of 50MW and a wind capacity of 6MW, the companies claim that the project represents Japan's largest solar and wind power project to date.  The project is being built on 800,000 square metres of land on a site which has been selected due to its "top level" daylight hours and wind velocity. Total annual output has been estimated at approximately 67,500MWh which is said to be enough to power 19,000 homes or 90% of Tahara City's households.
(pv-tech.org, 8 November 2012)