Analysis of 7-Eleven's Success in Japan

By Yoshida Yuri

I read a book The Success of 7-ELEVEN JAPAN by Akira Ishikawa and Tai Nejo. We often see 7-Eleven. It had 13,306 stores at the end of May 2011. Moreover, the sales per store is the highest in major convenience store chains. That is to say, 7-Eleven is the most popular convenience store in Japan. Why does 7-Eleven succeed?

This company's origin is in 1927 in Dallas, Texas. But Japan has more 7-Elevens than anywhere else in the world. Japan's first 7-Eleven Store opened on May 15^th 1974 in Toyosu, Tokyo. The convenience industry reached over 30,000 stores in 1986. 7-Eleven Japan had made an impact in the retail industry because policy, “quantitative expansion” is different from other categories of business such the supermarkets. However, competition with rival companies was heated due to the new enterprise of many other small and large convenience stores such as Lawson, and Family Mart. 7-Eleven Japan decided a new strategy which aimed to attract customers by differentiation from others. This strategy is “quality improvement” so as to offer attractive merchandise. So 7-Eleven Japan invented many successful products, ”uncooked vegetable salad served in a small plastic container” developed with Q.P. Corp. and "Calpis water” developed with the Calpis Food Industry Co., Ltd.

Parcel post, color copying, served lunch boxes ordered in advance, and printing New Year cards are some of the diverse new services offered by 7-Eleven Japan which has introduced regular intervals of new services since the 1980's. 7-Eleven Japan has been developing these new services to match customer's potential needs. I think the success of 7-Eleven Japan is “response to change”. 7-Eleven Japan is constantly developing to adapt a surrounding situation.. It is very important in business.

My Opinion About Manga

By Naoki Iwadate

         I read One Thousand Years of Manga which was written by Brigitte Koyama-Richard. In this book she says “In the eyes of many Westerners, manga are above all a vehicle for sex, violence, and gore.”(p.161) But, I disagree on this sentence. I think not all manga are a vehicle for sex, violence, and gore. I will show you some reasons.

        First of all, in a narrow definition, manga is trying to make you laugh. For example, when I read manga, I become happy and enjoy it. And so, when I talk with my friends about the pleasant contents in manga, I make them enjoy and laugh too. Thanks to manga, we can share pleasure. Dragon Ball is a very famous manga in Japan and all over the world. Sure, it has many fight scenes. And many Westerners say these scenes bring violence and gore. But, I don’t think these scenes are all that is bringing violence and gore. I think that’s not the whole story. Sure, many fight scenes are very exciting for us. But, it is so important for characters in this manga to finish the fight scene. It is because, thanks to fighting, the characters of this manga get along with each other after fighting. And they grow up after these scenes. So, I don’t think these scenes are all that is bringing violence and gore.

      Secondly, I think sexual scenes in the manga do not always bring such acts. Sure, sexual descriptions in the manga attract the interest of many young people. But, I don’t think these descriptions are all that are bringing sex. It is because I think there are manga which teach us sexual danger and morals through sexual descriptions. So, I think sexual descriptions in the manga do not always bring sex.

      As a result, I think not all manga are a vehicle for sex, violence, and gore.

Sweatshops

By Saika Okawa

Shops like H&M, ZARA, and UNIQLO are called sweatshops. Sweatshops are factories in which the workers are working under low wage. There are factories in China, Malaysia Bangladesh, Mexico and so on (development countries). Sweatshops are a problem in the world because the workers are children and women, and they are worked for long time. It is an infringement of human rights. I read a book Labor in the American Economy by Richard Scheuch. The author says workers should go on strike to protect their own human rights. But workers don’t do that. Why do you think they don’t? One opinion is working at a sweatshop is better than unemployment. My opinion is the low wage is enough money for workers to live. I have an example of Bangladesh. Bangladesh’s currency is Taka. 1 American dollars = 70.57 taka (2010), and workers can get a salary about $1.6 a day from the company. Breads are sold for $0.25 in Bangladesh, so workers can manage on the low wage. That is why I have the opinion.

I don’t think sweatshops are good for workers who working there. Some people insist on sweatshop is infringement of human rights, and we should eliminate the system. Of course I think so, but sweatshops are important. It is not too much to say that they support our society and help a lot of unemployed people. The system of sweatshops is good for economy in advanced nations lately. Do you think sweatshop will get decreasing in the world or not? I think maybe not. 

Why Korean Dramas Heat Up Japanese

            By Yuka Mochizuki

Today a lot of Japanese love Korean dramas. Korean boom is started by Fuyunosonata. I think almost Japanese know this drama. After the drama finished a lot of Korean dramas exported in Japan. So now I’d like to talk about why Korean dramas heat up Japanese? I have many reasons. First, Korean’s market is not so big. So they have to export dramas to other countries. Whenever they make drama they think about “how to hit not only in Korea but also in other Asia countries” Second, Korean drama is really easy for understand. So I think every age can understand and enjoy the drama. It is really important for viewer. Third, Korean actors and actresses are loved by Japanese people. I think Korean actors or actresses are cool and cute. Their features are different from Japanese actors and actresses features. So I think they are really freshness. Finally, some Korean dramas remake Japanese drama. For example “Hanayoridango” “doragonn zakura” “itazuranakiss” and so on. They also use Japanese animation characters in dramas. I think it is really fun and happy for Japanese viewer. These are reason why Korean dramas heat up Japanese. I think Japanese dramas are also really fun but sometimes difficult for me. So I recommend you to watch the Korean dramas. I hope you to enjoy Korean dramas too.

Relation Between Children and Media

By Risa Nakajima

We live in an environment which is filled with many mediums such as TVs, newspapers, computers and cell phones. Especially children’s environment may be changed by increasing media. In fact, a book “Children, Adolescents, And The Media”says that a higher frequency of children are eating meals in front of the TV, and a higher percentage of children have TVs in their bedrooms. But some　parents are concerned about the number of media children use. And parents are trying to limit the amount of time children spend with screen media to 2 hours per day or less. There are several concrete suggestions that might be helpful for families trying to make the most of the media such a monitoring children’s time with all screen media, never putting a television set in a children’s bedroom, eliminating background television and so on.  How do you think about these parents?  I disagree. Of course, we should be concerned about children’s health like them. Watching TV or using computer for long time makes children’s eyes go bad. Also, children do not get exercise if they are absorbed in using mediums. But media has also positive affect. Media educate children. For example, children can develop their skills in typing by using computer. They can also know about circumstances of society such as politics, economy and so on by watching news. Comedy and music programs also make children relax. Cell phone gives people good chance of friendly relations. So children need to use many mediums. I think the idea of limiting the amount of time children spend with screen media to 2 hours per day or less is going too far.

Effects of Manga

By Arisa Otsuka

Does manga give us some bad effects? One Thousand Years of Manga written by Brigitte Koyama Richard says “In the eyes of their many Westerners, manga are above all a vehicle for sex, violence, and gore.”(161)  I think it is true. Some manga are not good at discipline and sometimes bad crimes are connected to manga. In 2007, one girl killed her father by a hatchet and some TV shows told she liked horror manga and heroine in this manga uses it so she killed him. I don’t think it is the reason and it isn’t good to report without any proof. Crimes shouldn’t be connected. Criminals just can’t distinguish between manga, fantasy and reality. Nowadays, the Japanese government is seeing illiteracy as a problem.

But it is also true that some manga give good effects. Some manga are educational. For example, Japan has many historical manga. Kyouiku-manga series are very popular. Their contents are about great people in the world like Helen Keller, Marie Curie and so on. Children can study history or people in this series. The Tale of Genji is also famous. Many people say it is a valuable literary work. It doesn’t change story however book or manga. And manga are easy to read and understand so some schools use them in class for text book recently. I also studied world history by manga at first. I think Westerners and governments must know educational sides.

I think manga give us good effects, too. And we may read them and manga need not regulate.

Culture as Domination

By Reiko Fukushima

In Sociologies of Food and Nutrition by Wm. Alex McIntosh, he says that culture as domination makes people to buy productions. I agree with this insistence. I think we are sometimes controlled by mass media. When we watch TV, we can find many advertisements. In such advertisements, the productions are introduced by famous actors or some popular people. They must exaggerate even if it is not so nice, but we often believe the advertisement. I also believe such advertisements and go shopping for the product soon. Companies make advertisements to make their production better. Of course, I think this is their effort because selling their production is their business. It is recognized enough now, but it is manipulation of consumption. This situation is very serious for consumers. They cannot stop their desire for products. In the advertisements, everything looks nice. It is much more when favorite person produces a product. This book gives us an example (34) NBC’s logo and the names of the stars are appeared on various Kellogg’s cereal boxes. If you like playing basketball, you must go shopping for the product.

My mother likes something about health. When she finds advertisements about health, she orders the product. This advertisement says their product would be effective for the throat. So when I have cold, my mother says I have to drink this. I tried this, but its taste was bad. Since then, I decided not to try anything which my mother recommends. I think she is one of the people controlled by mass media. Not to be a person like her, we must be conscious of advertisements’ domination.

The World Cup of Swimming

By Hiroya Sakaguchi

A few days ago, the world cup of swimming was held in Shanghai. Kosuke Kitajima also took part in this meet in the breast stroke. As you know, he is one of the greatest swimmers in the world, because he got first prize in various games, so we expect he will get first prize again. The media expected the same thing. The media usually regards him as “The King of Swimmers.” Maybe, most of the media does not say “he is bad”. However, the outcome was far away from our (including the media’s) expectation. As for the 100m breast stroke race, he got second prize, and as for the200m race, he got fourth prize. In the former race he was so close to winning, but in the later race I can not say he was so close to winning. This news was surprising. For me, that was pretty shocking.

What is important is that both races have a champion who got first prize. But, the Japanese media provides us the information of Kosuke lost or getting second prize. Why Japanese media does not broadcast about who got first prize? I think that the Japanese media and people have some bias. I can also say that is because of nationalism. We usually have no doubt but we cannot avoid having skewed views. So, I suggest that we have to read some newspaper in some foreign country. If we do so, we can know the difference of culture.

Japanese Television

              By Sachiyo Teruuchi

I chose this theme, particularly about Fuji TV's cruel reports. Fuji TV is a Japanese Television Station broadcasted on channel 8. Why has Fuji TV reported on inhuman activities? There are a lot of bad things in Japan recently. Fuji TV's cruel reports appeared through their news. This year on the 2nd of February, there was a big earthquake in New Zealand which broke Christ Church. 28 Japanese people were injured or dead. A boy, 19 years old, had to cut off his right leg to be rescued. He loved playing soccer, but his leg was cut off. Now he can't play soccer. A lot of TV stations broadcasted about this sad story. Fuji TV also reported the interview. "When you knew your leg was going to be amputated, how did you feel? You will never play soccer again,right?" a reporter said (by Nico Nico news). It was heartless of him to say such a thing to a younger and injured boy. Another case is after the East Japan Earthquake disaster, Fuji TV broadcasted about the family of the deceased. Sometimes its contents were about a crying housewife who lost her husband, a child searching for his mother, a man who lost his job and so on. When Fuji TV's reporters interviewed someone, they often asked cruel questions. People watching Fuji TV criticized their reports. Similar things have often occurred. So some Japanese call Fuji TV "Uji TV." Uji means "maggot" in Japanese.

Probably they wanted to report an interesting story, so they considered little about people. After that report, the boy whose leg was cut wasn't able to say anything. I can't deny mass media wants to present interesting things, but I think they should consider people's feelings more.