I just read the 日経新聞　(Nikkei Shimbun) today — I hadn't gotten a chance to read a Japanese newspaper in quite a while. I came across a number of interesting stories I wanted to mention...

First, non-smoking areas in hotels are continuing to spread, due in part to a "health promotion law" that was passed a while ago. It's also due to families complaining about the smoke. Some hotels have prohibited smoking in their restaurants or lobbies (including the Four Seasons in Tokyo), and some are just prohibiting it on weekends to cater to family travellers. I think this is a great thing. Japan is far too smoky in public places.

Next, I read an interesting article about what they called 「Ｊ感覚」, or "Japanese Feel" goods. In this they were referring to all the cute characters and related products that have come to symbolize Japanese consumer culture to a large extent. The subtitle of the story was 「『カワイイ』を作る」, or "Creating 'Kawaii'", which means 'cute' in Japanese. They mentioned that in places like Taiwan and Thailand now, most younger people understand and use the word 'kawaii' in everyday speech due to the Japanese influence.

The interesting thing was how Sanrio and other companies with a repertoire of such characters have finally begun to develop the Chinese market thanks to recent crackdowns on piracy and counterfeit goods in China. This is a great move for Japan, considering the pressing need for them to move from a manufacturing-based economy to a service- and knowledge-based economy. Japan could really take advantage of their highly developed sense of 'kawaii' in selling it to the world, as long as it's not stolen and copied by the workers on the factory floor.