“Black Butler” was presented among others in Individual Fashion Expo. The “Black Butler” is a manga published serially in Monthly G Phantasy from October, 2006 issue.
The scene behind the story is England in 19th century. The hero is Sebastian Michaelis, or the black butler, who serves to Shell Phantomhive, head of the family Phantomhive.
The Phantomhive family ostensibly enterprises’ big toy maker, but behind the scene they are an evil don performing dirty business for the queen.
The black butler not only have terrible ability as a butler, but also have abnormal ability to fight.
Repulsing an enemy in a terrible battle, he returns to his duty as a butler again as if nothing has happened.
Imaginable activities of a super butler!
It has a unique relish as a gag mannga, behind its estheticistic pictures.
And, of course, this black butler has a secret.
The black butler has been always very popular among otaku girls.
In a coffee shop “Swallowtail” nice looking butlers accept girls saying “Good evening, ladies!”
All seats are for reservation and many guests are on the waiting list. (80 minutes for one time, 2600 yen)
The “black butler” will get along well with Gothic-Lolita, cos-play and visual-kei, as well.
On the background of its popularity the “black butler” will become an animated cartoon.
Business incubation (i.e., company support) professionals exist in Japan as well as in the USA.
Here, I introduce one of them – George Hara, the president of venture capital firm Defta Partners.
Born in 1952, Hara succeeded at the age of 29 in establishing an optical fiber display maker in Silicon Valley. He then sold the company and founded a venture capital enterprise. He was subsequently instrumental in establishing a business involving many venture capital companies, which he grew into a global corporation.
Mr. Hara criticizes the current American style of management in his book "The Wealth of Nations in the 21st Century."
In the U.S.A., managers who have greatly increased corporate value (i.e., aggregate market value) are highly praised, but this tendency bears no relation to the happiness that human beings experience.
A company’s primary purpose of supplying quality products and providing the best service possible becomes lost behind the target of prioritizing efficient profitability, including return on equity (ROE), thus making it spiritually empty.
Many managers who keep an eye on their mid- to long-term results feel uncomfortable about a way of thinking that attaches more importance to aggregate market value than to making good products.
The manufacturing industry should focus on providing quality products rather than improving the appearance of financial indicators. It goes without saying that financial affairs are not major players in management.
However, the U.S.A. today is spoiled by this game, and has lost its former ability to create new key industries.
Despite this, Japan plans to use the U.S.A. as a model in revising accounting standards and globalizing its capital.
In addition, he emphasizes the superiority of the medium and small-sized business in the field of new industry to make "intellectual industry product".
Even if each person in a group has outstanding talent, they cannot perform in group situations to the standards of excellence that artists such as Beethoven and Picasso accomplished.
It can be said that no great historical work of art has ever emerged from a large pyramid-type hierarchy.
It is noteworthy that the tradition of accepting immigrants has had a positive influence in the U.S.A.
It is not possible to create new things simply by bringing talented people together.
In more concrete terms, among homogeneous groups of people with similar cultural backgrounds – as found in large Japanese businesses – it is hard to foster invention, although innovation (i.e., technical improvement) may be possible.
However, American venture capital companies, which are also groups of talented people, are able to show creativity on a variety of levels because they are made up of a range of individuals from different backgrounds. In the world of big enterprise, which gathers lots of talented people only to repeat improvements by extending along previous lines, it has not been possible to make the technical breakthroughs necessary for intellectual industry products.
Rather, this kind of breakthrough comes from individuals who have unique, rich ideas such as artists.
This is a great advantage for medium- and small-sized businesses in the field of intellectual industrial products.
On the subject of Japan, Hara writes as follows:
If Japan can produce superior products not only to make money but also to achieve the worldwide spread of values that match modern times, the nation will be recognized as a country that the world needs in the true sense of the term.
Mr. Hara’s claim may not seem unusual, but there is significance in the fact that a capitalist from Silicon Valley is saying it. The cutting edge of capitalism is changing.
The career of Mr. Hara has been a little different.
What made him go over to the U.S.A. was the attraction of the archeological remains found in Central America. He wanted to study archeology, but due to the costs of excavation, he resolved to be successful in business first and then to self-finance his digs. To achieve this, he entered a business school. His plans must have been influenced by Heinrich Schliemann, a German businessman who used excavation to prove the existence of the legendary city of Troy from Greek myth.
However, I have not yet heard news that Mr. Hara has started excavating; maybe his interest has moved toward creating the future rather than digging up the past.
ウォールストリートジャーナルによると、
「80年代から90年代には、ニューヨークで上手くいかないときは日本があるさ、という雰囲気があった。今は、日本の高級品市場も行き詰まりを見せている。それにもかかわらず、極東のお客さんへ商品を早く届けるために、彼らは香港に商品センターを借り始めた。」
と伝えています。（WALL STREET JOURNAL SEPTEMBER 5, 2008）
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: The Asian show window
The designers of the New York Collection are making genuine effort to open shops overseas.
Wall Street Journal say in its September 5, 2008 issue:
“When things weren't working in New York in the '80s and '90s, people would say, 'well, there's a good business in Japan,' But then the luxury market in Japan stalled. Still, earlier this year Ms. Wang began leasing a warehouse outside Hong Kong to speed shipments to Far East customers.
The prospect of American economy is so bad. For growth strategy it has to target at foreign countries. Its destination is Europe, Middle East, Russia and Japan. It is considered that the economy of Japan, though it is weakening, is yet better than that of the U.S.
In April, 2008, "3.1 Phillip Lim " opened in Aoyama, Tokyo. It is a flagship shop next to the New York Soho shop which opened in July, 2007. The designer Phillip Lim is a Chinese American born in Thailand. He is only one of these Asian American designers, who are remarkable now in their activities in New York collection.
Doo-Ri Chung, who launched Doo.Ri is born in Korea. He went to the U.S when he was 4 years old, and made a debut in the collection in 2003.
Brand "THAKOON" is one of the brands which received the highest evaluation in the autumn/winter collection and its designer Thakoon Panichgul was born in the northern part of Thailand.
Vivienne Tam is from Hong Kong, China, and was born in Guandong.
Peter Som was born in San Francisco as a child of an immigrant from China.
Richard Chai was born in New York as a child of an immigrant from Korea.
Anna Sui was born in Detroit as a child of an immigrant from China.
New York has a function of incubation. It collects young talents from all over Asia and bring it up to entrepreneurs.
I am chagrined that this happens not in Tokyo. In the Japan society with closed community are overwhelming, immigrants may worn out before their talent flowers. We are not so good at incubation.
For instance, playing the role of a show window is Tokyo’s favorite line. The service level is one of the world’s best. It may offer even a better quality service than New York. Therefore Tokyo is often chosen when a designer of New York is going to make a shop in Asia. If New York endorses it, Tokyo will be willing to open its door. It will be willing to help him open a shop even on its main street.
An Asian young talent flowers in New York and makes a shop in Tokyo.
This pattern seems to continue for a while.
Tokyo may become the Asian show window.
I have visited INDIVIDUAL FASHION EXPO 4, an event of the fashions such as Gothic, Lolita and Punk. The EXPO took place in JCB hall, a clean and compact one, newly opened in march, 2008, with 3100 seats.
I looked around and found that 90% of the audience were women, who were in costumes of Lolita and Gothic fashions. Big ribbons and bonnets were outstanding. Please imagine a scene with many Kyoko Fukuda in the film Kamikaze Girls. There were also boy companions in punk or “visual-kei”. There were groups of non-Japanese in Gothic-Lolita.
The show began with BABY, THE STARS SHINE BRIGHT, a Lolita related brand.
How kawaii (pretty)! ... The audience expression showed a fantastic and yeaning emotion.
It was a quiet show.
*ALICE and the PIRATES
*Angelic Pretty
*Metamorphose
*Princess doll
*Victorian maiden
Gothic-Lolita fashion is divided into Lolita related, Punk related and Gothic related brands. And each brand has its own characteristic story.
There are articles such as stuffed toys and bags of animal characters, hats, a mufflers, gloves, boots and parasols...Minor figures and other accessories are pretty and cute.
* Emily Temple cute
* HYPERCORE
* Qutie Frash
* HIDE ROCK
* LISTEN FLAVOR
* SUPER LOVERS
* Sixh．
* Ozz Croce
* PEACE NOW
* BLACK PEACE NOW
* SEXY DYNAMITE LONDON
* ALGONQUINS
There were some live shows between attractions: namely:
* Kanon Wakeshima
This was produced by Mana, the charisma of Gothic-Lolita. He sang it with the guitar. Audience was listening it quietly.
*jealkb
It is a visual rock band belonging to the Yoshimoto Kogyo (a comedy production).
Asked by the emcee the all audience stood stood up to warm up the atmosphere. This live performance put more emphasis on speaking than music.
* Plastic Tree
It is a visual rock band, which made its major debut in 1997.
Ryutaro Arimura is a vocalist who works as a model of "GADGET GROW", a sisters brand of PEACE NOW, and publishes an essay serially in the magazine "KERA" and writes his books, too.
The fans are enthusiastic. Every music seems to have its own fixed choreography.
I was taken aback when I saw a decent young girl, who had been viewing the theater quietly so far, abruptly stood up in a trance with tangled hair.
On the other hand, there were number of people who sat absentminded, as if saying “Such a band name is quite new for us.” Participating in the same event, however, they scarcely are ready to cooperate to warm it up. They seem to be hardly interested in other’s business. They like to be submerge themselves in their own world, and are living single-mindedly on their own value.
It was "a wonder world".
Here, the Gothic, Lolita, and Punk values such as aestheticism, fantasy, mystery, decadence, antisociality ...shows marvelous fusion with the value of “Kawaii”, that symbolizes Japanese fashion, and form what may be called "healthy decadence.
I felt that this delicate tuning is a secret of the Gothic Lolita popularity.
The impression of the adult women who watched it together are:
* It was impactful.
* The price is not so high.
* The body size matters little to wear them.
* They are Japanese original fashions not seen abroad.
Do you know the term the Galapagos model?
The Galapagos Islands form an archipelago in the Pacific about 900 km west of Ecuador, South America.
The islands are home to many creatures that have evolved undisturbed, such as the huge elephant tortoise and the marine iguana. The archipelago is separated from the continent, and the reason for this evolution is thought to be the absence of natural enemies in the form of large mammals.
The Galapagos model is representative of the phenomenon whereby Japanese technology and services tend to be far removed from those in the rest of the world. One example of this is the Japanese mobile phone scene.
Currently, although Japanese cellular phones are based on the world’s highest standards of technology and cannot be imitated by overseas firms, they have made little headway in cornering world market share. This is because the domestic market of more than 100 million consumers tends to follow characteristic business customs, which creates specific market conditions that are quite different from those found overseas.
Many similar examples of removal from global standards are seen, and there is increasing concern over the Galapagos model phenomenon in Japan, where the population is shrinking.
On the other hand, original cultural elements are also born from this Galapagos model society. One example of this is the emoticon characters used when texting from cellular phones.
Cellphone companies provide their own emoticons in large numbers as a measure to keep customers.
As a result, it has become etiquette to use emoticon characters even in short texts. Increasingly, women might feel that something is wrong if they receive a text mail without emoticons. The skilled use of these characters is widespread even among elderly men. (The favorite phrase of a certain company president is "Make good use of your thumb!" referring to the much-used “thumbs up” emoticon.)
It is considered that a lack of emoticons is behind the poor sales of the iPhone in Japan.
It can be said that a culture has become established here whereby meaning and sincerity are expressed by emoticons when texting.
In the future in Japan, the domestic market alone will not be enough to sustain current levels of growth. Naturally, we must aim to meet global standards.
We need to be tough enough to make Galapagos-model culture marketable.
Ours is a culture that is not found anywhere else in the world; this often seems cool to foreigners.
ジョハリの窓 (日本語） (74)
