A Knight in Samurai's Clothing
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Consuming “Japan” through Chocolate and Coffee Foreign Multinational companies’ glocalization strategies in the Japanese food industry and visions of modern “Japaneseness” Oranand Sukhasvasti 5618A017-3 January 07, 2020 A master’s thesis submitted to the Graduate School of International Culture and Communication Studies Waseda University in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Oranand Sukhasvasti (5618A017-3) Acknowledgements I would like to express my deepest gratitude towards Professor Graham Law for guiding me throughout the process of writing my thesis. Without his kind and encouraging guidance, I would not have been able to complete my writing and develop my arguments as strongly as I did. With his help and advice, I have been able to see things from new angles and widened my understanding of the topic, and I highly appreciate his kind help always. I would also like to express my gratitude to Japan Student Services Organization (JASSO) for their scholarship during my first year, as well as to Waseda University for the Partial Tuition-Waiver Scholarship during my second year. With these monetary aids, I have been able to focus more on my studies and on completing the thesis with fewer worries put on doing part-time jobs to make up for tuition fees and living costs. Equally important is the support and encouragement from my friends and family. Although I am far from home, my family still supports me and send encouraging words that help me get through rough days. I am also very thankful for my friends who are always sharing ideas and encouraging each other to try our best, enabling us to get through any obstacles together. I am always grateful for all of your help. 1 Oranand Sukhasvasti (5618A017-3) Table of Contents: Acknowledgements ……………………………….......……………………………………………….1 Table of Contents ……………………………………………..……………………………………….2 1. Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………………...4 2. Literature Review & Key Concepts ……………………………………………………..………..8 2.1What Is Glocalization? …………………………………………….…………………….………8 2.2 Social Media’s Impact On Marketing……………………………………………...……....……11 2.3 Understanding Nation Branding ……………………………………………………..……..…15 2.4 Nation Branding: Case Of Japan ……………………………………….…………....…..........17 2.5 Kokugaku, Nihonjinron, And The Claim To Japanese Uniqueness ………...………...………19 3. Research Questions ...…………………………………………………………………………..…24 4. Methodology ………………………………………………………………………………….…...27 4.1 Case Studies’ Background …………………………………………………………….………29 4.1.1 Kitkat Japan ……………………………...……………….………………………………29 4.1.2 Starbucks Coffee Japan ………………..………………………………………..….…...30 5. Data Results …………………………………………………………………….…………………33 5.1 Case Of Kitkat Japan …………………………………………………………………………33 5.1.1 Company visions – interviews & publications …………………………...………… 33 5.1.2 Official Instagram Account……………………………………………..…………… 37 5.1.3 Official Twitter Account ...……………………………..…………………………… 39 5.1.4 Official Facebook Account ……………………………...………………………….. 42 5.1.5 Official website and press releases ………………………………...……………….. 44 5.2 Case Of Starbucks Coffee Japan …………………………………………………….…...51 5.2.1 Main Instagram Account …………………………………………………………….51 5.2.2 Japan Wonder Project Account ……………………………………………………..54 2 Oranand Sukhasvasti (5618A017-3) 5.2.3 Official Twitter Account ....…………………………………………………………..56 5.2.4 Official Facebook Account ...………………………………………………………57 5.2.5 Official website and press releases ...………………………………………………58 6. Analysis .…………………………………………………………………………………………...62 7. Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………………….….71 8. Limitations .………………………………………………………………………………………..81 References …………………………………………………………………………………...……82 Appendix ………………………………………………………………………………………......92 3 Oranand Sukhasvasti (5618A017-3) 1. Introduction When entering stores in Japan, it is not difficult to find products marketed as “exclusively Japanese” or “Japan limited”. Yet on closer inspection, many of such products are actually products manufactured by foreign multinational companies (MNCs) that operate highly successful businesses across the globe. This process of adapting products and goods to suit a local market and preference by big global companies is known as “glocalization”, and glocalized marketing strategies have been a popular as well as a successful marketing strategy in many places in recent years. Glocalization is thus by no means unique to Japan or something remotely brand new, yet what is interesting about glocalization in Japan is what is missing from the usual formula. Glocalization in the food industry is largely driven by the necessity to meet the dietary requirements of certain areas and countries, stemming in most cases from religious beliefs. For instance, McDonald’s in India caters to its large Hindi population that worships cattle as a sacred animal by replacing their regular beef patty with a spiced Chicken patty, branding the new product as “Chicken Maharaja Burger”. The fancy name, ‘Maharaja’ meaning ‘the great king’, also adds another dimension of cultural integration that can boost the value and acceptance of the glocalized product as well. McDonald’s also makes vegetarian burgers in India to cater to the high number of vegetarians in the country, while providing Halal burgers in countries such as Indonesia where a high percentage of the population are Muslims who only consume animal products prepared correctly according to Halal laws. In other cases, if the food from that particular brand does not suit the local pallet, some adaptations may be applied to help it blend in with the local tastes and cuisine. This is especially true in countries like Thailand where major chain restaurants like KFC designed Thailand-specific menus in order to bring the international product of fried chicken closer to the nature of Thai cuisine which revolves highly around rice as the staple carbohydrate source and a spicy taste as the dominant flavour. By bringing the food closer to the nature of the local cuisine, it ensures that the product will be palatable to the local consumers and also guarantees the longevity of the product as a staple rather than as a fleeting marketing gimmick. These are safe and 4 Oranand Sukhasvasti (5618A017-3) necessary marketing strategies that multinational companies implement to ensure the success of their products worldwide. By showing the awareness of the local culture as well as also slowly introducing new tastes and culinary practices into the local pallet, they can create a competitive edge over other MNCs which may not glocalize their products and may even succeed in making the product more appealing to locals than local products themselves due to their innovative nature. However, the case of glocalization in Japan is slightly different. In Japan, not only big multinational brands like KFC and McDonald’s but a large proportion of international food products arriving in Japan are extensively and continuously glocalized. Walking into the confectionary aisle at the supermarket, it is easy to spot green tea flavoured chocolates made by companies originally from Europe. In the drinks aisle, from Pepsi to Coca-Cola, there are themed drinks specially designed for the cherry blossom viewing season. Sitting down at McDonald’s, there are squid ink hamburgers and Gudetama-inspired McFlurry. Unlike most major cases of glocalization, Japan does not have overarching national dietary or religious requirements, nor are the products straightforwardly inspired by a national preference in certain tastes. The inspiration behind the overwhelming extent and speed in which products are being glocalized in Japan seems puzzling and eclectic, and the necessity that drives those productions seems almost non-existent at times. However, these are the exact characteristics which make glocalization in Japan an extremely interesting case study. When looking at the concept of glocalization in the marketing field, it is also relevant to look at the bigger picture of how the introduction of social media in the past decade has affected the way the industry works as a whole. Social media has not only changed the method and the platform in which companies advertise and market their products but it also heavily influences consumer’s exposure to products and their consumption pattern as well. Through the creation of social networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram in the mid to late 2000s going hand in hand with the development of smartphones which allow portable internet access with more ease than any laptop before them, the world has become much more interconnected than ever before, allowing news to travel at lightning speed and data shared with virtually no borders. Such changes have impacted how consumers view products and receive news about what is available in the 5 Oranand Sukhasvasti (5618A017-3) market, making it necessary for companies to change the way they market their products in order to remain competitive and successful as well. Glocalization is a marketing strategy which has existed before the age of easily accessible internet, but it inevitably has also been subjected to reformulation in order to catch up and make the most out of the rapid acceleration in technological affordances in recent years. How the changing platform and the nature of consumer’s access to information brought on by these developments affects glocalization as a marketing strategy will also be explored in this thesis. Lastly, it is not possible to look at glocalization as a marketing strategy without looking at the existing cultural