In 2014, Japan topped FutureBrand’s Country Brand Index (CBI) ranking for the first time in the report’s 10-year history and became the first Asian country to do so. The report reveals that not only people’s perception about Japan has strengthened (Japan entered the top ten in the 2007 edition and consistently improved in following years) but when adding the Made In dimension (country of origin) as a measure, Japan’s reputation is high. More specifically, more than 65% of our respondents would consider visiting Japan in the next five years and 90% would recommend it to family and friends. Nearly nine out of ten of people surveyed think Japan is a good country to do business with and 63% would rather buy Japanese products and services than the ‘countries’ average – 20%.
What’s special about Made in Japan?
1. Building a strong country reputation
In the second part of the 20th century, Japan built a reputation for its cutting edge technology and the quality of its consumer electronics. Brands/ambassadors like Sony played a significant role in promoting brand Japan internationally and improved the perception of what a “Made in Japan” product should be (i.e. quality of manufacture and technology). Once established as a technology oriented country brand, Japan broadened its scope including other assets that helped build its soft power. Culinary hits like sushi, fashion brands like Kenzo and Issey Miyake, video game companies like Nintendo and Manga comics raised awareness on the Japanese modern culture abroad.
The country also managed to build an image of an attractive and open touristic destination offering a great variety of landscapes and attractions as well as a modern and vibrant nightlife. In this year’s CBI report, Japan ranked #2 in the Tourism dimension; according to JNTO in 2014, the total number of inbound travelers from January to October rose to 11,009,000 (+27.1%), a record setting number.
Japan also stands out in the economic history. After two decades of economic stagnation, the financial measures taken by Prime Minister Abe (known as Abenomics) have shaken the local economy and helped reinforce the competitiveness of Japanese exports. While some plans still need to be implemented and the effectiveness of the current policies quantified, the economic sentiment about Japan has significantly improved and this has helped position the country at the top of the Business Potential dimension, # 3 “Good for Business”, #1 “Advanced Technology” and #1 “Good Infrastructure”.
All these efforts have contributed to popularize Japan internationally. What makes Japan so special is that, although the country has copied and used certain western models in order to reach an international audience, it has managed to keep a truly unique identity in any manifestations of brand Japan and stay authentic. This long-term consistent effort deployed in building a country brand has paid-off for Japan.
The East-facing world phenomenon we know today is partially influenced by Japan’s success story – being the only Asian rival to the Western world for decades. Eastern and South Eastern Asian countries have managed to build strong images and compete with Western countries in global markets. These countries are extremely popular and particularly appealing to the Western young generation. Who would have thought twenty years ago that Korean and Taiwanese mobile phone companies would one day threaten their American counterparts? Who would have imagined a Japanese company like Uniqlo to be the 4th largest clothing retailer in the world?
2. The Japanese brands: from consumer electronics to automotive and fashion
Sony’s launch by Masary Ibuka and Akio Morita back in 1946 proved to be critical for Japan’s reputation as a country of origin for brands. Inventions like the pocket transistor were game changers for the Consumer Electronics industry. Eventually, more and more Japanese brands like Panasonic, Hitachi and Toshiba earned their place in the market and Japan managed to overpower the United States in this category. By 1991, 46.7% of color televisions and 87.3% of videocassette recorders produced in Japan were exported.
Even today, while competition from other Eastern & Southeast Asian countries has certainly increased (mainly from South Korea and Taiwan), Japanese brands have managed to maintain their reputation. It seems that their Country of Origin has played an important role in this. In the 2014-15 edition of our CBI report, Japan remains the country brand with the strongest expertise in the Consumer Electronics category (at least 10% higher than competitor countries). Aside from consumer electronics, Japan has also managed to create a very strong offer in other categories such as fashion and automotive. Japan takes the 2nd position in the CBI’s automotive ranking, just behind Germany. This can be explained by the fact that Germany has a slightly better reputation than Japan in this field (77% against 59%) but Japanese car brands are great sellers – Toyota being the no1 selling brand in 2014.
The country has also expanded in categories where Japan traditionally had no specific heritage or expertise, such as the Japanese whiskey. Jim Murray, critic, awarded a single malt whiskey from the Yamazaki distillery the best in the world (source: Wall StreetJournal). As highlighted in our 2014 ‘Made In’ report, a Country of Origin’s reputation is stronger when it excels in multiple categories. Japan’s continuous efforts to excel in different industries have helped the country progress a lot.
3. Culture Made In Japan
On September 7, 2013 during the 125th International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session taking place in Buenos Aires, Tokyo was announced host city of the 2020 Summer Olympics. Amongst the other candidate cities: Madrid (3rd time candidate) and Istanbul (5th time candidate); Tokyo triumphed from the first bidding round and was finally selected with a massive 24 votes difference against Istanbul. Tokyo thus becomes the fifth city to host the games for the second time.
Tokyo seemed to be the safest choice for the IOC, with Istanbul failing to convince about its political stability (anti-government protests) and safety, while Madrid was still suffering by the European financial crisis (26% unemployment rate in Spain). Like Brazil, Japan will undertake the responsibility of delivering two mega events – The Olympic Games in 2020 and the Rugby World Cup in 2019. But unlike Brazil, the global press does not seem to doubt Japan’s success.
Mega events highlight the culture and civilization of a country as well as its influence and contribution to the world. Therefore, those events are intrinsically connected to a nation’s image and reputation. Landing the Olympics rewards countries that succeeded in managing their reputation, image, promoted their brand actively and achieved international recognition in a few key sectors. Japan’s global cultural influence as well as the Japanese’ increased interest and power in sports is about to shine in the two upcoming events and will perhaps make Japan’s brand even stronger. Koji Tokumasu, the general manager of the Japan 2019 Rugby World Cup Organising Committee declared “These two events coming together means the Japanese citizens’ interest in sport has already gone up, and should increase rapidly nearer the events”.
