Q7 How is "Made in Japan" perceived?

How does the world currently perceive Japan? How is the "Japan brand" – encompassing tourism, land, food, and products – evaluated overseas?

This article presents findings from the "Japan Brand Survey 2016," conducted in April 2016 across 20 countries and regions worldwide. This installment focuses on the "Image of Made in Japan."

A7 The image of "Made in Japan" is "high-tech," "high-performance," and "reliable." Technology and quality receive high praise.

 

Continuing from last year, Japan's technological capabilities and quality received high praise, with impressions like "high-tech," "high-performance," "reliable," and "seems carefully made" appearing firmly established. Compared to neighboring South Korean and Chinese products, the point difference in these categories is significant, clearly showing Japanese products receive particularly high evaluations.

On the other hand, looking at items where Japanese products scored only slightly lower or where other countries scored higher (excluding "Other" and "No particular image"), Korean products scored higher on "Popular" and "Stylish," while Chinese products scored higher on "Simple" and "Popular."

Incidentally, last year Korean products scored higher on "stylish," but this year Japan narrowly overturned that. Perhaps appreciation for the sensibility of "Made in Japan" is gradually increasing.

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<Japan Brand Survey 2016 Overview>
● Purpose: To understand overseas consumers' perceptions and actual behavior regarding the overall "Japan Brand" encompassing Japanese food, tourism, products, etc., and to support corporate marketing activities.
●Target Areas: 20 countries/regions
China (Beijing, Shanghai), Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, India, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippines, Australia, USA, Canada, Brazil, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Russia
●Survey Method: Online survey
●Respondent Criteria: Men and women aged 20-59 from middle-income households and above
●Sample Size: 200 respondents per region, total 4,000 respondents
●Survey Period: April 25 to May 18, 2016

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Dentsu Inc. Team Cool Japan
A company-wide cross-functional project team established to promote 'Cool Japan-related initiatives'—expanding products and services leveraging Japanese culture and strengths into overseas markets. Dentsu Inc. also invests in the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's Cool Japan Organization (fund). The team brings together client company representatives handling overseas expansion, media and content specialists, overseas subsidiary network managers, producers, and planners to work on initiatives promoting Japan's appeal globally.

DENTSU SOKEN INC. "Japanology" Project
DENTSU SOKEN INC. is advancing initiatives focused on culture as a management challenge for 2020 and beyond. We provide workshops and training on cross-cultural management and organizational culture diagnostics for Japanese companies advancing globalization and foreign companies aiming to penetrate the Japanese market.