Last time I talked about the way a country like Japan can appear quite different to “outsiders” who come here from some other place (like me) compared with Japanese people who grew up here, and in general I’m far more likely to get excited about things like onsen hot springs or images of Mt. Fuji than my Japanese wife, who can’t understand what all the fuss is about. Whenever J-List hires a new Japanese employee, I always take extra time training them so they can understand how foreigners view Japan, to better enable them to find cool products for the site like this replica of an offering box from a Japanese Shinto shrine to save your coins in or this sakura-decorated coffee cup made with the 350-year-old Arita-yaki porcelain glazing method. When I decided to sell dagashi — traditional Japanese candy and snacks from the Showa Period — our snack buyer and modeler of strange hats said, “Who would want buy old Japanese candy from 40 years ago? It’s so boring.” It turns out a lot of people were interested in exploring unique treats like Kompeito and Neri-Ame liquid candy, and they’re now among our most popular products. The same thing happened when I wanted to sell those iconic clear plastic umbrellas which are everywhere in Japan: the Japanese staff was sure no one would want to buy anything as mundane as an umbrella, yet we’ve sold hundreds of them over the years.
Foreigners view Japan through sakura colored lense.
