Shiotsu Autotrade Japan – President’s Blog

Kinokawa is a small town in Wakayama prefecture of western Japan. There is nothing special about this town, but a cat named Tama has made the town very famous in Japan.

Tama, a 9 year old calico cat is appointed as stationmaster of Kishi Station in Kinokawa. She has been officially working for last two years. Two other cats were named deputy stationmasters at the same Kishi Station. Stationmaster Tama, wearing a formal railway uniform cap, and two other cats often welcome passengers at the unmanned Kishi Station. The railway company feeds her in lieu of salary.

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In Japan, you will often see small sculptures of lucky cat called Maneki Neko. These cats are supposed to bring luck.  Tama is also bringing luck to Kinokawa town. The station went unmanned in April 2006 as the railway line was losing money. But since Tama was appointed as the stationmaster, number of passengers using the line increased dramatically. The Wakayama railway company  expressed its appreciation of the cat’s role in boosting business by promoting her to super stationmaster and also by giving her a spacious stationmaster’s office equipped with a ventilation fan and a toilet.

The operator of the grocery shop at the station has been keeping the three cats. Tama became a national star when she appeared in books and documentaries.  She is also set to appear in a French documentary film about wonder cats around the world.

Technorati Tags: Kinokawa, Japan, Tama, cat, Station, stationmasters, Maneki Neko

Golden week is over now and people are getting back to busy work life once again in Japan. To those who may not know what is ‘Golden Week’, it is a group of national holidays in Japan, beginning with April 29 and ending with May 6. It is not only one of the longest holidays in Japan, but also one of the most popular holidays. Many businesses close for about a week to 10 days depending on the calender. So, if you are going to Japan on business, you should never go during the Golden Week. However, if you are looking for a lovely time of the year and get a first hand experience of Japanese culture, by all means, you should visit during this period.

Many Japanese take this holiday as an opportunity to travel overseas as well as inside Japan. So, many sightseeing and amusement places are very crowded at this time.  Also, airports and train stations in Japan are overflowing with people. It is extremely hard to get reservations for accommodations and transportation around this time.

Apparently the origin of Golden Week comes from the movie industry. They thought it would be a “golden opportunity” for people to have the time to go to the movies. Major holidays in the Golden week are birthday of the former emperor Shouwa, Constitutional memorial day, and Children’s day.

Technorati Tags: Golden week, Japan, Japanese, culture, holiday

Japanese Mini-Trucks also known as Kei-trucks are normally used as work trucks in Japan. But these days some Drift enthusiasts are modifying these truks for Drifting. So do not be surprised if you see a Japanese Minitruck competing with Nissan Skyline sports car in a Drift Event.

Well, there is always some excitement for those who want to try something different. And if you watch this video, you will definitely agree that it is indeed fun to watch these trucks doing challenging course at top speed in drifting events.

Though we do not deal with modified mini-trucks for Drifting, we can definitely supply new or used mini-trucks for other purposes.

Technorati Tags: Japanese, Mini-Trucks, Kei-trucks, Japan, Drift, Drifting, Nissan, Skyline

In my earlier post about Nissan’s Diversity Drive for its female workforce, I had mentioned about the limited role women in Japanese Car Industry and how Nissan is planning to change its corporate culture to include more women.

I recently came across the book Why Women Mean Business which gave a similar message looking at the global corporate culture. This book suggests that gender equality in the labour force could increase GDP by as much as 9 per cent in the US, 13 per cent in Europe and 16 per cent in Japan.

I agree with this view. Women have become probably the greatest neglected resource in business, both in their productive potential as employees and their market potential as buyers.

Carlos Ghosn, chief executive of  Nissan, recently mentioned that women directly made or influenced two-thirds of car purchases in Japan. So women definitely play a big role as buyer in Japan. As per Nissan’s surveys, 80 per cent of women buyers and half of men would prefer to see women sales executives in car showrooms. Yet only one out of ten salespeople in the Japanese car industry are women.

Companies are learning that they need to change how they market to women. And to start with, I have included my wife and one more female staff member to give more attention to our women buyers.

Technorati Tags: women, Japanese, Car, Nissan, Japan

Last weekend it snowed in Osaka for the first time in 11 years! And it actually snowed a lot for Osaka. Sure it is nothing compared to the snow we get in Hokkaido or Japan Alps area, but for the local residents, it was a beautiful and refreshing experience.

But by the next morning, all the snow had melted away, and the roads were icy and slippery. Of course, it is dangerous to drive or even walk in such slippery roads. I saw many people walking with special shoes or even ski boots. Nevertheless, I enjoyed walking in the snow with my family.

When I went to India the week before, it was also surprisingly cold there. These days we hear a lot about global warming. What scientists have to say about this cold wave seen virtually all over the world ?

Technorati Tags: Osaka, Hokkaido, Japan, snow, ski, India, global warming

The Honda Puyo concept car was presented at this years Tokyo motor show.  Puyo is a Japanese Onomatopoeia that is a meant to convey a warm, friendly impression,the sensation of touching the vehicle`s softbody.  Sounds kinky but puyo’ s ‘gel’ body is actually soft . Honda claims the soft body increases safety.

During the dark puyo`s body can glow, emitting light. Therefore in the night it is very easy to notice when in the streets. Puyo is a green vehicle,powered by a fuel cell. Its design is that of a corner less box. The small tyres are at the extreme corners of the vehicle.  It has been designed in away that it can turn in 360 degrees. The puyo has got what is called the scissor doors!

The interesting part of the puyo is that instead of the steering wheel its got a joystick. Describing the puyo, most probably the suitable words are Quirky and impractical, this is what is expected of concept cars. The inside is designed to have a silky feel, providing a refreshing and people friendly space.

Technorati Tags: Honda, Puyo, concept, Onomatopoeia, green vehicle, joystick

Last week, one of our customers from England visited our company in osaka.  He was curious to know about the butler cafes in Japan. I told him that though the butler cafes and bars are the latest social hot spots,  they are meant for young females only, but I offered to accompany him to a maid cafe which is a place for young and old men to relax and be pampered with service from cute Japanese girls dressed as French maids.

The maid cafes are springing up everywhere in Japan and the main target is the lonely,young Japanese males who are technological nerds and do not have any social skills to deal with women.
The girls in the maid cafes are very friendly with such customer like a prince and are literally at their service.

The butler bars, on the other hand is a place for women to unwind- and where the only men around are in uniform and at their service. They also use old fashioned polite language like ‘good day, princess’ or ‘mademoiselle, your coach awaits’ .  The Japanese male staff at these cafes wear formal outfits of English manservant down to tails and gloves.

There is alot of pressure on Japanese young working women in big cities like Tokyo and Osaka. They also are under pressure to conform and marry-which often means surrendering much of their freedom. Thus the butler cafe offers such women a place to unwind from the pressures of the outside world and get a chance to act out their fantasies-say to be a princess with a footman for tea time.

Technorati Tags: butler cafes, maid cafes, Japan, Japanese

Japan is the land of raw  fish eaters and Japanese sushi and Sashimi is getting popular in many countries  like the United States, South Korea, China, Taiwan and Russia.

In this country which is crazy for seafood,tuna is the king.  In Japan,we have many different names from maguro to otoro for different varieties of tuna and all its edible parts.  However the shortage of tuna has recently sparked sushi panic in Japan, and many Japanese sushi chefs are considering extreme alternatives like red colored smoked deer meat or raw horse meat to replace tuna.

Global fishing bodies recently began restricting tuna catches in The Eastern Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea,and this has helped to push up the prices of bluefin tuna which is considered the best tuna to eat raw.

Tuna is disappearing from supermarket shleves and revolving sushi chain restaurants. Many sushi restaurant owners believe that sushi has to evolve to keep up with the times, and so they are experimenting with substitutes like smoked duck with mayonnaise and sea urchin with crushed daikon.

However, I feel that sushi without tuna just won’t be sushi!

Technorati Tags: Japan, Japanese, sushi, Sashimi, tuna

In Japanese language , the word “ beer” and ” building” are usually confusing to foreigners.

These two words have almost the same pronunciation in Japanese language,  many foreigners usually make a mistake.

let say foreigners go to a bar, they usually order for”biru” instead of ” bi-ru”.

“biru” is the Japanese word for building and ” bi-ru” is the wordfor beer. “bi-ru” is pronounced with a long tone, beer lovers memorize this when you come to japan.

When  foreigners just arrive in Japan,  some may think there are very many companiesin Japan which make beer, this is because many buildings have the word “biru” on them.very interesting, not so?!

In Japan,  it is a culture for workmates to go out for a drink together after work in the evening, they find it very good for socialization.  There are very many brands of beer inJapan.

Japanese language is very interesting, many people say it is three languages in one, Romaji-the usual alphabet, katakana and kanji.

Technorati Tags: Japanese , japan, katakana, kanji

Over the last few years mini cars are increasingly becoming popular in Japan.  Mini cars or Kei cars are small sized cars with engine upto 650 cc.  Popular mini car makers in Japan are Suzuki, Mitsubishi,  Daihatsu,  Subaru.  In year 2006, mini cars comprised of about 36% of the total cars manufactured in Japan.

So, why Japanese people are going for mini-cars?

There are many reasons.  Japanese people mostly use cars for city drive.  As Japanese families are small,  a small car suits the purpose best.

Mini cars are also easy to maneuver in the narrow roads common in most Japanese cities.  Japanese people prefer traveling by high speed bullet trains than driving in a car for going to distant places, to save time and money.
People who enjoy long drives can rent bigger cars easily anywhere in Japan.

Overall cost of maintenance is another reason to go for a mini car.  Mini cars are considerably cheaper than bigger passenger cars, so the initial investment is low.  They consume much less fuel too.

In Japan, one can not buy a car unless he has a proof of his own/rented parking space; in cities like Tokyo, it costs about Y.40,000 JP yen(US$350) to Y.50,000 JP yen (US$420) per month for renting parking space.
However, this requirement of parking space is not applicable for mini-cars;  the savings in rent for parking space makes mini-cars attractive to Japanese people.

I feel that Japanese mini-cars are well suited for crowded cities in Asia and Africa.
If you feel interested in buying a new or used mini-car,  please feel free to contact me.

Technorati Tags: mini cars, Japan, cars, Japanese, Tokyo