Andrea Nandrea.nastase@gmail.com

CONVINCE CONSUMERS IN

JAPAN THAT UNPACKAGED GOODS ARE

BETTER THAN PACKAGED GOODS

The problem with Japanese consumers - waste

•773,500 tonnes of plasticlunchbox cases a year•27 billion sets of disposablechopsticks in 2007•30.5 billion plastic shoppingbags a year

•Unsustainable, unnecessary•In the attempt to make everythingeasy and practical they’veoverlooked the consequences

“The giving of a gift is presenting one'sfeelings to the recipient. Even in dailycircumstances, when offering a small item wefeel as though we mustn't pass on to therecipient anything negative”

“A gift is perceived as a statement from thegiver to the recipient - a communication.

The wrapping is considered a part of the giftitself. It should reflect the content but onceremoved, the gift must stand on its own.”

“Despite rapid growth and social change, the Japanese never ignore their traditions “

“Cleanliness is Godliness.”

“Japanese shoppers will not purchase amagazine if there is a fold in the cover or anyinner page. They do not want to buysomething that has undoubtedly been touchedor handled already.”

“It is fascinating for foreigners to watch theJapanese eat fast food such as hamburgers.They almost always use paper wraps that aredesigned to keep the servers' and the users'fingers completely off of the food.”

“Many companies simply give up on trying toexport packaged products to the Japanesemarket .”

• japanese people take a hot bath everynight, some do not have showers installedin their bathrooms.

• mcdonalds employees will run outsideto give you your drive-thru order.

• it is impolite to tear the wrapping paperoff of a gift.

• most vending machines in the world.

• it is not uncommon to pay $2 for asingle apple.

• “who cares, it’s japan! anything goes.”

1. They’re trying to be green (organic stores etc.) but they’re still doing it wrong

while they obviously think it’s right

2. Every wrapping has to be attractive to differentiate itself;

3. It’s unlikely that their habits will change over night - taking away all packaging

will cause distress;

4. Disrupting them would cause a disharmony in one of the most important life-

philosophy elements, the ‘wa’;

5. Design really has to be smart, let alone packaging;

6. They wrap everything so it’s clean and untouched by human hands;

7. Everything has to be convenient and time-efficient except at home;

Most waste comes from snacks andsnack packaging – it would then makesense to bring back the popularity ofhome-prepared bento as opposed tothe one you can buy. It’s a massivetime and space saver to have a ready-made bento at lunch time instead ofhaving to go through the trouble ofbuying one and it challenges craftinessand originality as well as producers tomake reusable boxes and interestingdesigns

Even though it’ssupposed to stand out on its own,there are still many uses for thecloth bento wrapping – it servesas both a napkin and ‘bridge’between any dirty medium andthe bento box and mostimportantly can be reused.It’s not (yet) seen as a cool thing.

The same cloth used forpackaging could be used in many ways –Japanese are huge fans of labels and thefeeling of ‘belonging’. If stores suppliedreusable cloth packaging instead of plasticbags for shopping it would reduce a lot ofthe waste generated by these.

If they don’t wantanyone touching their stuff, itwould be useful and exciting to letthem get it themselves. A lot of‘western’ habits have someelement of ‘cleanliness’ to themso instead of causing distress byforcing no packaging, the ideashould be part of theenvironment, work for them andnot have them work for it – theconcept of waiting or slownesscan’t be tolerated but it can bereduced by introducing differentkinds of ‘self-service’ stores.

In the race toinnovate, most companies forgotwhat people really need – utility.

Similar to thebobbing for apples idea, knowingthat the product you picked up isfresh and hasn’t been touched byhuman hands is vital to Japaneseconsumers – going into asupermarket and picking up yourown fresh fruit or vegetables canreduce a lot of the alreadyexisting packaging . Not only is itclean but you only use the actualamount of packaging you need.

Some forms of packaging areludicrous, i.e. double wrappingpeelable objects in order toprotect them from weather (likehumid summers) or just to makethem look good;

Most consumers can’t think ofproducts without packaging –leave a crate of bananas lyingaround on seats in a train stationand someone, somewhere isbound to pick one up and eat it,making the packaging look a bitredundant.

“invention is to create something new. innovation is to create something new that

makes money”•Convincing Japanese consumers to use less packagingwould take a lot of time and effort as it’s hard to talkthem out of a stubbornly-held conviction thateverything has to be clean; in an insular country whereeven the basic products come from the sea, they’re allregarded as ‘fresh’ and anything else will be quicklydisposed of.

•There is no real ‘recipe for success’ but consideringcenturies ago no one ate rice as it was considered sacredgives everything else hope; the change came from aneed as well as the need to package gifts in an intricateway.

•Japan is known for a lot of concept stores – shops thatonly sell trendy items, pink items, items popular in ‘thewest’ and so and so on. They’re not familiar with theconcept of reusing or refilling drinks but buying newones; having places where you pay a given price for aglass and can then refill it as many times as you like,returning it at the end and getting your money back orkeeping it (similar to beer festivals in the UK) can teachconsumers a lot about reusing.

• It would be impossible to say the change is going tohappen over night or that just one brand or productwill change a whole lifestyle or preconceived idea;

• There is no short-term solution that will just ‘work’– children are taught early in school to observelabels and packaging carefully so it has a lot to dowith education, school and society ; thegovernment would play a huge part in educatingpeople as well.

• Nothing will convince people in an instant – theyhave to try and see things for themselves, byborrowing habits from their tourists and blendingthem with their own traditions.

• The brand obsession is an important aspect as wellas things being aesthetically pleasing to the eye –shopping bags and carriers, compartments andspacing are a good place to start. Individualpackaging comes from the need to have ‘a bit ofeverything’ whereas a bit of everything can easilybe packaged and sold as a ready-made mix andmatch product.

• Other society factors might play a part too, a bit ofaggressiveness always shapes things in differentways.

• We’re not trying to say packaging is evil and shouldbe killed with fire but to show them you can livewithout most of it, working towards removing itcompletely when it comes to groceries and snacks.

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