Made Japan Soft
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Speak Softly and Simply, Foolishness Sells
In 1993 the Hakuhodo Institute of Life and Living conducted a study of young Japanese in their late teens and twenties. An important finding was their extreme distaste for pushy, preachy communication. Their mood was vividly captured by one young man who said that preaching at other people is pointless, “like pissing on a frog.” It was around this time that, while preparing a presentation for another client, I learned about one of the most successful new car launches in my agency’s history. The product was a new Nissan coupe named Lucino that sold five times its monthly target. The campaign’s catch phrase was ii ka mo “Could be OK.”
In the years since, a preference for soft, simple, shizen “natural” communication has been noted repeatedly by advertising creatives and marketing research staff, who constantly find themselves talking about how important this is to clients who respond to shrinking or sluggish markets by demanding hard-hitting promotions that trumpet their products superiority. It is not surprising, then, that the September issues of Sendenkaigi, one of the advertising industry’s most influential trade publications, returned once again to the theme, what makes effective copy.
The September 1 issue features a special section on words with kaiwaryoku “conversation/talk power,” i.e., words that engage in dialogue and strengthen involvement and empathy. The lead story begins with the observation that in 2007 five of the top 10 bestselling novels in Japan started out as cell phone novels, written for serialization in small chunks emailed daily to cell phone users.
Toshiako Ito, whose cell phone novel portal site Magic Library for total sales topping five million, suggests that what cell phones describe is the real world with which teens are familiar. The language they use is everyday, not literary. Writer and reader angles on the world are very close. Ito says that cell phone novels differ from conventional novels, which are written and then published in a form of one-way communication from author to reader. In contrast, cell phone novel sites are equipped with bulletin boards, where readers can communicate with the author while the work is still being written.
Cell phone novels are frequently described as two-way communication, but, in fact, says Ito, most comments simply thank the author for writing the novel. Instead of suggesting changes to the story, these expressions of support encourage the authors to keep writing. Occasionally there are critical comments, but these are rapidly countered by supporters of the work. Ito says, “If an ordinary novel is like a CD, cell phone novels are like live performances, where the performer is stimulated by the audience response.”
Kazuhiko Washio, author of Kyokan Burandingu “Empathy Branding,” argues from another perspective that cell phone novels succeed because they cater to young people used to receiving information in fragmentary forms. He notes the current popularity of short, nonsense gags, in contrast to the protracted banter of traditional Japanese comedy.
Sociologist Tatsuo Imamura points to the popularity of comedian Shinsuke Tanaka, who has transformed the TV quiz show from a game in which contestants strive to show how smart they are into an arena where obaka tarento “celebrity fools” display their ignorance in amusing, childish ways. Tanaka’s great talent, says Imamura, is being able to elicit the foolish answers that build empathy for each of the celebrities distinctive personalities.
A part of me goes, “Ah, hah,” noting how these comments draw on deep, historical roots that celebrate the wisdom of foolish simplicity, a trope that begins in Daoist traditions in China and is later incorporated in Japanese Zen. But, then, I think to myself, the paths that these roots have followed have been twisted. The resurgent popularity of foolish simplicity expressed in simple, unpretentious language, follows an earlier period in which the “burning” generation who rebuilt Japan after WWII were passionate advocates for new products presented as the latest, the greatest, the best. The battle between the creatives and the clients mentioned above is, among other things, a conflict of generations.
About the Author
John McCreery is an anthropologist who has lived and worked in Japan since 1980.In 1984, he and his wife and business partner Ruth McCreery founded The Word Works, a supplier of fine translation, copywriting, research and consulting services to firms doing business in Japan.
You may also find articles by John at the TalentZoo.com website under Ads Without Borders.