Get All Your Money Out of Banks and Other Nutty Ideas!

Yep! This is the way it is; get all your money out of the bank. Put it in a mattress or under the flower planter. Put it anywhere but the bank! 

What's going on in Cyprus is coming to a neighborhood near you. Don't say you weren't warned! Smart folks like me (we'll if we really were smart, we'd be rich) read Zerohedge everyday and knew in 2011 that the criminals and idiots that run our government's had no way out of the current economic mess so they would, eventually, come to steal money in people's bank accounts.

That "eventually" happened about 10 days ago.

I'm hoping that dear reader has kept up on what's really going on in Cyprus and Europe so that I don't have to go too much into detail... But, just in case they are not, here goes:

Cyprus is bankrupt. To pay for the debt, they decided to steal people's money in bank accounts. They figured that the people they could screw the most were Russians who were ex-KGB and mafioso types so that the regular people, Joe-Blow types, wouldn't get too upset. They figured if they made it look like bad guys were getting screwed, and not Joe-Blow, no one would complain too much.

F*ck the rich, right?

Well, the Euro Einsteins in the (as Fred Reed would write) "Gubbmint" figured wrong as it now looks like the ex-KGB and Russian mafioso types have already snuck all their money out of Cyprus while the geniuses weren't looking. Well, hell! Of course they did! That's why they are ex-KGB and mafioso types! Do you think they became a part of the underworld because they were standing around like Joe-Doofus? Er, I mean, "Bending over and holding their ankles like Joe-Doofus?"

No way! This is the real world!

Now it is the average Joe-Blow who will, of course, get F*cked! You didn't really think ex-KGB and mafia people were going to get f*cked did you? I mean, what planet are you living on?

Anyhow, I'm drinking now so I'm on a roll....

This is how it is, folks:

1) Get your money out of the banks*

2) I don't care who your are, you're about to get f*cked (people living in Japan, please take a number!)

3) Get as much gold or silver or real estate as you can (hard to steal that sh*t!)

4) Get weapons, canned food, a damned good home alarm system, a safe and keep money and important sh*t at home.

5) Make a plan with neighbors to watch each other's houses when you, or they, are gone.

*= Get your money out of the banks? Yes, Mike (that's me) says. But! If you have zero in the bank then the feds will be suspicious, so keep a token, but substantial enough, amount in those banks not to draw attention to yourselves. Trust that if you own a million dollar home yet only have $30 dollars in the bank, the tax office will be suspicious.... Point? KEEP A "SACRIFICIAL LAMB" amount of money in the bank to divert attention from yourselves.

Dear Readers! The sh*t is hitting the fan much faster than anyone realizes (I believe). Prepare now!

The people who are running our government and (far too many of) our corporations are completely and totally incompetent! 

Here is an analogy of what is going on. I cannot state specifically the company, or government run airlines doing the following, but this is a real-life example that is going on right now and it should be raising the hair of shareholders in this company!.... This is typical, from what I've seen, how things are going... 

Make no mistake about it, this kind of incompetence and mal-investment is caused by government interference in the economy and easy-credit.

Here's the example:

There's an airlines in Japan. It has a new manager. She is totally over her head and has zero business experience. What she is doing is appalling.

Listen to this and you tell me if you think I am wrong!

On May 1st, this new airlines manager, she has decided to completely change the flight schedules for all routes on the entire airlines.

Is there any reason or scientific data to support this change? No. It is a "feeling."

Then this new manager has cut the working hours on the most popular routes, of her most experienced pilots, from 20% ~ 50%! Of course, all the experienced pilots are unhappy.

I think it is pretty much common knowledge that unhappy employees don't do good work. It gets worse... Read on!

This new manager, to complicate matters, has also completely fired all ground and support staff - who have been there for years - and replaced them all with brand new people! That's right! The entire support teams, from check-in, to luggage, to in-flight dining, to navigation and book-keeping; these have all been changed completely!

So far, so good? 

Well, I don't know... Maybe... 

Maybe these changes do make sense? Maybe these are the ideas of a dedicated and experienced professional. Maybe Richard Branson could pull this off? I'm not sure. But the person in charge has never ran an airlines before. She is guessing.

But the next change is just a jaw-dropper and makes me fear for the future of this airlines:

Not only has the new manager cut all the experienced pilot's schedules by 20% ~ 50%, and fired the complete ground and support crew staff, she has also implemented a completely new check-in, maintenance, navigation and in-flight computer system that doesn't go online until May 1st! This means that no one is able to use the new computer system until it is already online ON THE DAY THE NEW SERVICE IS UNVEILED!

There will be no training and testing of the new system!!!!

Is she completely mad? Actually, no. 

She is just over her head and incompetent. There is no excuse for such actions. She has also surrounded herself with "Yes-men."

You can bet your bottom dollar that there won't be a single flight that takes off or arrives on-time and on schedule with such a scatological management system.

Fact is that even the staff are now complaining. Fact is that even staff of this new boss are now ridiculing her to other people as being "completely incompetent."

No doubt. This is what happens when you surround yourself with "Yes men."

It's simple. You wanna change the flight schedules and experienced pilot's flight times? No problem.

Do that from May 1.

You wanna change the flight schedules, experienced pilot's flight times and complete flight support crew? Well, now you are asking a lot, but it is not impossible; maybe do that too from May 1. Or, perhaps, best to wait for six weeks? Difficult call; that's why management has to make informed and logical (and scientifically based calls).

You wanna change the flight schedules, experienced pilot's flight times and complete flight support crew as well as a totally and completely revamp the computer system (throwing away the old system) - all at the same time?!

Are you nuts?  

Your flights and customer satisfaction are dependent of flights being on time and a comfortable flight. No one cares about the computer system or ground crew you use. Changing so many things at once is just plain foolish and a sure-fire way to screw things up and...

THEN CREATE A BAD REPUTATION FOR YOURSELVES!

Not a good way to start your new service!

..........

....But that's the way it is, folks. 

And that's the kind of "leadership" and "management" we have today. It's the same in many private companies and the government. Why? Because government meddling in the economy causes for mal-investment and a distortion of true market realities and conditions.

This story about the airline is typical, my friends. I am talking about a company that I work with. It is obvious what is going to happen: Things are going to be screwed up and the other companies, whose support is critical, will lose trust.

Losing trust is the death nail; it takes a long time to build trust; it only takes one second to ruin that trust.

And now we come full circle: Japan has closed banks in the past and stolen people's money. It's happened in the USA and now Europe....

What are you going to do? Do you still trust your savings in any bank?  Do you still trust the company management and government.... With these kinds of people in charge?

Your families' health and safety are up to you and only you. You have been warned.

Internet Funnel for Japan

I've come up with new terminology that will help people in Japan to understand why their .com domains are inefficient and not suitable for Japan. That term is "Internet Funnel" (for Japan).

An Internet Funnel is the solution to foreign-base companies that are trying to do business in Japan but using a centrally run web domain such as a .com domain. A .com domain with a sub-folder for Japan is a very poor way to run a business here.

Almost every travel and airlines related URL in Japan is 6 years behind the curve. The biggest problems I have seen are that the URLs are sub-domains run from the overseas head office. Considering that Japan is the second biggest market in the entire world, it is curious that the central offices would think that a centrally-run web page would be sufficient for the needs of the Japanese and for penetration into the Japanese market.

Why? Because Google and Yahoo search engines in Japan are geared to give priority to local domains. Of course. Isn't that obvious?

Google and Yahoo need for their .jp sites to be successful. They are in a competition for market share just like any other company. Not only do they wish to give many  results in a search, but as competition gets tougher, they need to give QUALITY results on a search. This also means that, to do so, they need to support the local businesses in turn. So, a search engine in Japan will give priority to a .jp or a .co.jp site. A .com/japan site will be given a very low priority on a search...

When you realize that this is how it works, you wonder why home office will want to spend huge amounts of money for a site that gives poor results.

There are other problems with a .com domain. For example, consider this; Japanese kanji are two bits. The English alphabet is one bit. So, a search engine that is designed for the west - say, mikerogers.com/japan - even with Japanese kanji inserted in the SEO - will often return "noise" if a Japanese person searches for, say, "travel in Europe" when they write down the search in Japanese kanji... I'll try it for you here： 海外旅行... A computer not configured for Japanese will return this as junk. It might look like Hieroglyphics.

The answer is to create an "Internet Funnel" using a .jp link to lay next to, or on top of, the current .com domain and act as a net or a funnel to bring in the Japanese traffic. The funnel is completely set-up in Japanese with Japanese SEO and key words. It is for Japan only. It's a simple concept that works every time.

So, for example, my USA company URL in Japan may be: www.myUSAcompany.com/japan. This puts my company URL in a sub folder so google.jp searches will not prioritize searches for me.... This hurts my business.

But! If I create a www.myUSAcompany.jp as a funnel, it captures all Japanese traffic for me first, then directs to my .com. This increases my rating; and I don't have to touch my basic .com site at all... The www.myUSAcompany.jp funnels all local traffic to my main domain and then a click of a button delivers my traffic to the home base. Simple and deadly efficient.

If you are running a .com domain with a /japan sub-folder - or a sub-folder set-up like this in any other country of the world - save your job by getting the local areas to set-up a local funnel for your company immediately. If you don't do this quickly, someone else is soon to point this out to your boss and you will be out of a job.

Be smart and set up a localized funnel now. It's dirt cheap and you can get the results and sales you need. The local markets can mirror your main domain and everyone is happy. You get the results you need.

This is so obvious that it is painful. So, why aren't more companies instituting this simple fix? Good question.

More on kick-starting your SEO and blogging next time.

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Keywords:

Internet Funnel, SEO, blogging, airlines, travel, sub-domain, sub-folder, google, Yahoo, search engines

Quality Over Quantity, Especially as You Get Older

I recently went to Guam with the wife and kid to spend Christmas on the island. It was a wonderful one week. I will write about the actual vacation later on probably this week.

Left: No. Right: Yes!

When the vacation ended, on the flight back to Japan, on a US carrier that claims to be "a premium airlines"... I noticed that all the flight attendants were male and, well, unattractive... They were all older men, as a matter of fact. I'd guess our main cabin attendant was at least 55-years-old, had all white hair and a beard and was about 50 pounds overweight. It wasn't pleasant at all and, pardon my sexist tendencies, but I'd prefer to see a charming young lady or even a charming young man as our cabin attendant. (Caveat: I don't think seeing overweight older women attendants is pleasant either - we had those on the flight to Guam.)


I don't want to see a fat old man, especially several of them, servicing our flight. I know that idiotic US labor laws and unionization of the work place have made an environment whereby older people are "protected" but I actually think that, in many ways, this is bad for business. And when it's bad for business, it's bad for all employees, not just one. I wonder how making the user experience less satisfying helps with sales? Follow that train of thought with how decreasing sales can be good for anyone.

Like I said, these kinds of labor laws and unionization have greatly helped to hurt western businesses. Protecting people due to seniority is a very bad idea (Japan used to do this at the office place - bad enough. But when dealing with the public do you hire beautiful people or old and fat people?) When people feel protected by a group, rather than their own good efforts at being their best, then their work quality drops, and they become lazy. Do you need proof of this?  Just go to any US Postal Service office anywhere in America anytime of the day and you can see a prime example of this.


Image is everything in business today. There isn't a person alive who would prefer flying an airline that has old and overweight flight attendants over an airline that has young and beautiful people handing customer service. Because that's what flight attendants are: customer service. When union rules or protecting the rights of the individual take precedence over the total welfare of the company (read: all employees) then there is a definite problem.

This girl is a real stewardess for a China based carrier. 

Her name is Sun Qing.

That's what they're supposed to look like.

That, for example, Asian carriers do not have to deal with this sort of union rules and can hire pretty stewardesses or handsome stewards shows that they understand that image and perceptions are crucially important and that those perceptions of the customer and customer comfort comes first. That's one of the big reasons for the success of these airlines.

Some western airlines still "get it"

But I digress. This is not a post about idiotic labor rules in the west. It is a post about committing yourself to quality over quantity as you get older (that includes looks too if you are a flight attendant, stewardess, waitress, in customer relations at a private firm, on TV, etc. etc.)


I used to ride the very early morning train into Tokyo a few years back. There, everyday, I met an older German gentleman. His name was Karl, he was 65-years-old, and he was the head chef for all the Westin Hotels in all of Asia. He was in Japan at the time to help set up the in-house restaurants and catering for the new Westin Hotel just built near Ebisu station in Tokyo. Even though Karl was 65, he was an extremely friendly and energetic guy. Karl was running up the stairs full speed to catch the connecting train every morning until I showed him an easier way. I'm a nice guy like that!

Karl and I would ride the train together and he had many good stories to tell about his job. I love talking with people and by letting them talk, I get to learn many things. Karl was so enthusiastic about his job. Even though he was head chef, his area of true expertise was in making pastries. He'd often tell me about having to make several hundred pies, tarts or cakes... The part that always surprised me was how he would go into details about costs and time spent per unit of pie. I'd ask about making soups or roasting large birds, and Karl would always say the same thing,


"We have to carefully calculate the costs of gas and electricity for cooking and preparation time in order to judge if it is economical to create the dish for several hundred guests. Everything must be calculated down to the last penny to make sure that we don't run over costs."


Hell, that really surprised me. Whenever I roast a turkey at home, I just open a bottle of wine, start drinking and fire up the oven without a care in the world. Calculating the cost of the gas and electricity in order to roast the bird?! I wouldn't even know where to begin.


Karl had cooking down to a science.

Karl also had great advice for work as he mentioned to me that he was about to retire. He said, 


"Mike, as you get older, you must always be concerned with these costs, but you must mostly be concerned with having your name associated with quality. When we are young, there are many in our same field of work. But as we get older, the field of people doing our job narrows down to just a few..."


I asked him how many people in the world there were like him and he told me that there were only three like him who knew how to go into a country and set up a large hotel and organize the entire kitchen, room, service, restaurants, bars and train the staff and set up the accounting procedures for all food and drink related services. Wow! Think about that! Only three guys in the entire world and, of course, they all know each other...


Karl continued,


"That's is why, Mike, as you get older, you must concentrate on quality and delivering the best. If you decide to concentrate on quantity, you will lose. Because when it comes to a quantity issue, then you start dealing with lower quality... You will not be able to beat a younger competitor... You will not be able to beat a McDonald's."


I've always remembered what Karl told me. That's why I want to do quality work and not half-assed work.


Now, think about that. How does this relate to our 55-year-old flight attendant? Who is happy with that? I'm sure the customers aren't. And if the customers aren't, then I imagine that translates into a lower repeat and customer loyalty and return customer base... Hell, think about that poor guy too. Do you think he is happy being a flight attendant for 30 some years? I don't.


He should have moved up to management of flight attendants long ago. But he didn't... His just so-so service also gave me a hint as to why he didn't climb the ladder long ago. To give an example, I was wearing a headband made from the leaf of a palm tree given to me by a local and I was on a flight from Guam and the guy said to me,


"What's that? Is that headband some sort of religious item?" I smiled and  said, "no!" but thought, 


"Duh! What's it look like? We're on a flight from Guam. You know; Guam. It's a south seas tropical Pacific island. As in palm and banana trees, beaches, sand, sunsets, local people... This isn't rocket science. If we were returning from Hawaii would he ask me what the flowers around my neck were?"

Anyway, the point is clear: As we get older the thing that sets us apart from the rest is our experience gained. If we do not use this experience to better our game all the while doing as energetic a job as a youngster would do, then we are setting ourselves up for a bad situation.


Remember folks, when it comes to your personal branding: Quality beats quantity any day.

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EXTRA: Rory Sutherland: Life lessons from an ad man - Thanks to diego.a

Ha! Another Reason NOT To Fly in the USA! Convicted Felons Working for TSA!

I wrote that we should all boycott all American based airlines and not fly to the USA. Why? Because we shouldn't be treated like animals or slaves.


Now, WBSTV shows us that convicted felon works for the TSA.


This guy is a convicted felon!

TSA Worker Accused Of Assault Had Prior Record

ATLANTA -- Channel 2 Action News has learned a TSA security worker accused of abducting and sexually assaulting a woman had previously been convicted of misdemeanor harassment and stalking.

Randall King remains hospitalized following a suicide attempt. Police said last Wednesday, King agreed to drive a woman home from the airport. Instead, investigators said King took her to a MARTA station parking lot and placed novelty handcuffs on her.

Great! Just great! "Yes maam. Please pull down your underwear so that I can see if you have a bomb in your pants!" Huff! Huff!

Hilarious Video About TSA

This is a quick (and humorous) follow up to my blog about how you should boycott flying to the USA and all USA based carriers until they start thinking about their service and make flying enjoyable again.



Thanks to Lew Rockwell

Here's a funny one for you Japanese speakers too:



Do not misunderstand that last video. Flying in and out of Japan to anywhere except the USA - and not on a US carrier - is a pleasant experience.

Marketing Japan: A Sense of Humor Helps!

By Mike in Tokyo Rogers

Depending on what you are selling, I think a sense of humor can go a long way... OK, maybe it's not so good for a funeral parlor, but, I think in many instances, humor can help you get your name out to the public.

Take this great low-cost South African airline that I stumbled upon. The name's Kulula and they've even put their brand of humor on their planes!

Humor is a super way to get people to remember your name. Just make sure that the product or service is solid and then do everything to make the customer experience the best. Everyone wants to laugh, right?

Not only does Kulula put their humor on the planes, they even use humor to make the inflight experience more fun. Check these entertaining announcements out:

On a Kulula flight, (there is no assigned seating, you just sit where you want) passengers were apparently having a hard time choosing, when a flight attendant announced, “People, people we’re not picking out furniture here, find a seat and get in it!”

On another flight with a very “senior” flight attendant crew, the pilot said, “Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve reached cruising altitude and will be turning down the cabin lights. This is for your comfort and to enhance the appearance of your flight attendants.”

On landing, the stewardess said, “Please be sure to take all of your belongings.. If you’re going to leave anything, please make sure it’s something we’d like to have.”

“There may be 50 ways to leave your lover, but there are only 4 ways out of this airplane.”

I think this is wonderful. But, like I said, make sure that the service or product is solid and then this works. I also think that being able to have a sense of humor makes the experience better for everyone; customers and staff included which point to a better company culture. This will just lead to a better, more profitable company.



Cheers for Kulula Airlines!

Kulula Airlines URL: https://www.kulula.com/
Orignal Article: http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/2010/08/28/an-airline-with-a-sense-of-humor/
More humor: http://www.southafrica.to/transport/Airlines/Kulula-flights/Kulula-humour.php5

Keywords: Humor, airlines, Kulula, South Africa

Does Social Media Need Old Media to be Effective? No! Here's Proof!....

By Mike in Tokyo Rogers

There sure is a lot of boring stuff on Social Media these days. I was just checking out Linkedin where they had a topic of "What are for you the most common mistakes in social media marketing approach?" (sic)

It said:

What are for you most the common mistakes in social media marketing approach?

Either from client's side or agencies' side, what are the obvious reason why social media strategies you have seen were not working?

For me , some are:
- lack of time investment,
- Boring / irrelevant content,
- lack of clear objectives,
- Being inactive,
- Do not react when sollicitate
- ...
What are yours?

(sic)

I didn't correct his post. That's how poorly it was written. I'm assuming that he's missing one of the reasons that his SMM is doing poorly is because his spelling, diction and grammar are wretched... 

Besides that, these good people are mainly talking about pick, Twitter and Facebook (Mixi is only in Japan). Some of the good folks actually did write intelligent comments and I usually don't write comments on these things, but this time I made an exception. I responded:

 I think everyone is missing two huge points that I see all the time and that I do believe will be, say, Twitter's undoing within 3 years (besides 60% of all Twitter users dropping off within the first 30 days).

1) Boring writers make boring content. Get motivated, creative and funny or interesting writers. Quit forcing office clerks to do SMM (I see that all the time). If the writer is not motivated what makes anyone think the readers will enjoy the writing?

2) Quit sending out motivational and sales stuff all the time... I'd say that at least 1/2 of the junk I get on Twitter is the same as Direct Mail. Who needs it?


Another guy (obviously an old hand at advertising and marketing) wrote:


I see the market and clients every day, and the thing I can tell you is that a B to C company investing all its marketing budget and ressources in social media has 99% chances failing. (sic)


This might be true, but rather than trying to convince you or me, I gather he is trying to convince himself... This would also explain why his Social Media Marketing efforts fail. He doesn't "get it." 


He goes on to write:


This for one simple reason, their are rules and processes in marketing and nobody will want to connect and engage with a brand you don't know.
For this reason , I am convinced that SM works ONLY when being integrated inside a marketing plan, together with media placement, PR, promo, direct marketing and CRM. (sic)


Notice that there is not single fact or piece of evidence that he inserts into his claims. What a load of nonsense. What "rules"? What "processes"? 


(I can imagine that his retort to my skepticism would be "Because I know. I've been in this business a long time!" Just as the captain of the Titanic, Edward Smith, was a thirty-two year veteran when they hit that ice-berg!)


I bet this is the kind of crap he tells his clients. What's he doing on a Linkedin Social Media site besides posing as a SMM expert I don't know. Besides that, like I said, I hope this guy doesn't write copy. It's terrible. 


Besides his being wrong and just throwing out opinions. He obviously doesn't know or comprehend how to use Social Media well... I suspect that, from being in a dusty old advertising company desk for so long, that he's so used to taking client money and going out to "do" lunch while on the client's dollar that he thinks he can do things the old way; think for a while (or tell someone else to do the thinking) and order someone else to do the Social Media part (I explained above why that's a bad idea) and sit around like always.


Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. 


I didn't blast the guy (like he deserved), but added this as my last word:


One more thing that I think is missing - and I don't agree that a big bucks mass media plan is necessary - I've done it without one.

Notes: We increased airline passengers to and from Japan for a Chinese airlines by over 270% between October 2009 and April 2010. We also increased tourism to Croatia by 300% in three years (don't forget this was during a seriously down market - airlines lost billions in 2009) all by the internet only - with minimal mass media support (we certainly did not spend one cent on mass media!).

It seems that too many good folks are trying to do the SMM the lazy way... You do SMM to keep costs down, but SMM is, perhaps not labor intensive, but it is certainly effort intensive.

Besides SMM you need to do a Word-press blog for the client that includes SNS (Use Ruby on Rails to build - dirt cheap) and gives away killer content, has contests and prizes, and motivates people to return everyday!

Being lazy and throwing money away at the old media then doing a few Twitters doesn't cut it anymore. (which is actually why I say Twitter is in serious trouble!)

Make a killer blog for the client (perhaps using a persona like Helga of Volkswagen - Look her up on Google). The blogs needs video (suggest U-Stream recorded to YouTube), SNS, chat, free information, excellent and compelling writing, and free giveaways all the time.

That motivates people!

Then your SMM directs people to the blog, not to some boring corporate site that is nothing more than an online company brochure (that is structured like web 1.0) .

This is effective. This s the new way. It is not easy and lazy people who think that throwing money or half-butt efforts at it need not apply.


Like I've said many times before, it seems that a lot of these people who claim to be experts at Social Media actually do not "do" Social Media. If you ever get anyone who claims to be an expert, first off ask for their URL's


Hint: If they do not blog - and do not actively blog at least three times a week - I'd say it's a 99% chance that they are blowing smoke in your face. Don't fall for it. 


Smart Social media marketers will have a rundown of what they do (excepting for invitation members only sites) as the signature of their e-mails. Here's mine:


Mike in Tokyo Rogers
e-mail: mike.rogers@universal-vision.jp 
Blog: http://modernmarketingjapan.blogspot.com/

Lew Rockwell: http://www.lewrockwell.com/rogers/rogers-arch.html
Twitter: http://twitter.com/mikeintokyo2004
Pick: http://naver.jp/mikeintokyorogers
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/mikeintokyo2004

Facebook: www.facebook.com/MikeinTokyoRogers
Linkedin: http://jp.linkedin.com/in/mikeintokyorogers

Look for these kinds of things when investigating a potential company to help you with marketing. Be leery of companies, big or small, who claim to be experts at Social Media. The proof, as they say, is in the pudding.


Some of my readers know I will be on vacation from tomorrow, but nevertheless the BLOG calls! Tomorrow, I will place diagrams and information tomorrow morning for all of you who have mailed about bit differentiations between Japanese Katakana and Japanese Kanji versus English pertaining to my recent blog.


But, just for a teaser. Consider:


Word (translation).......................................Bit count


イギリス (England)...................................8 bits
England.......................................................7 bits
旅行 (Travel)...............................................4 bits
Travel...........................................................6 bits


Data on the Internet consist of bits. It is the way data is stored. This is important to know if you want to run a successful business in Japan.


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Keywords:
blog, Social Media, Mixi, Google, Helga, SMM, Mike Rogers, Social Media Services, China, Croatia, England, Travel, bit, bit count, Japan,  Japanese Kanji, Modern Marketing Japan, social media marketing, promo, Japanese Katakana, PR, Twitter, marketing plan, Facebook, Linkedin, airlines, YouTube, U-Stream, e-mail, Lew Rockwell, Mike in Tokyo Rogers, chat, Marketing Japan, web, web 1.0, Volkswagen, Ruby on Rails, Placement, Word Press, mass media, free information, direct marketing,

Airplane 4! Adventures of .com Domain with .jp Sub-Folder Fools in Japan.....

By Mike in Tokyo Rogers

I am often simply astounded by the foolishness of companies from the west that come to Japan and think that they can control what is going on here from 6,000 miles away.

As is well-known, "Japan is a different animal altogether." What I'm talking about is how many companies have .com domains that they use for Japan and add a /jp subfolder.

I could give you a litany of examples of foolish companies that do so, there's hundreds of them in Japan. Why do they do this? It defies theory, logic, simple math and common sense... (It also completely ignores what other companies are doing and doing so well as is shown by a simple comparison of competitors on a Google search).

I wonder if the supposed "experts" on the Internet running these .com domains back in the States or Europe bother to read what Google has on their blog everyday. It seems that they don't. You'd think that they'd keep up with the latest information, but, alas, I guess not.

I found this mistake in execution the other day on a very famous airlines web site in Japan and pointed it out to their Japanese staff, who, in a flabbergasted fashion, threw their arms in the air, shrugged their shoulders and said, "We know. But HQ won't even discuss changing it."

Well, I see a problem on two sides here. One, is an HQ that is not keeping up on current information and may have a control-freak problem and the second is a Japanese staff who do not have the desire and drive to succeed enough to study up on the problem and the balls to stand up and explain such a vitally important problem to the HQ. (But, to cut the Japanese staff some slack, perhaps this is a problem of company culture). How could anyone, if they understood the problem, not be able to explain to HQ why a .jp or .co.jp site is critical to success in Japan is beyond me. It is so very simple.

I mean, seriously, whatever side you look at it from, what's the point of having boots on the ground in a local area of they do not, or cannot, report faithfully the facts on the ground to HQ?

I've heard this same sort of thing before from other airlines, "Oh, HQ absolutely won't do it...." But when we took the time to explain it to the in-charge here in Japan, and they expressed an intense interest in understanding why, once they understood then they had the guts to demand an audience with HQ...

Guess what? Those companies do have domestic domains now.

Just two of the big names include:

* Virgin Airlines (no surprise there for aggressive and smart marketing)

* Air New Zealand (ditto - painting naked ladies!? See the video that wowed over 5 million people here.)

(Also let me put in a plug here for my favorite European destination, Croatia, too)

* Croatian Government Tourism (www.croatia.jp)

Why have these organizations jumped in front of the pack to setup .co.jp or .jp domains before the rest of the foreign companies and organizations? It's just plain smart business.

How an HQ in 2010 could be so dense and protective of their jobs that they actually damage the company profitability, by being so obstinate, is a crime in my mind. The only explanation can be that they don't understand the problem.

Make no mistake about what we are talking about here. We are not talking about company politics or protecting someone's position; what we are talking about here is the absolute bottom line. We are talking about company profits. How in the world someone could be so obstinate and closed minded that they would not hear out rational argument on a subject (especially a subject that changes and evolves as fast as the Internet) is no less than incompetency or gross dereliction of duty.

Let me put on my corporate hat here and say that employees need to sacrifice and go the extra step for the good of the company. Sitting on their duff and shrugging their shoulders is not getting the job done. The Japanese staff are definitely smart enough and should be aggressively compiling irrefutable data to build their case.

You'd also think that these airlines companies that all lost huge amounts of money last year would be actively seeking out more and better ways to better their service and increase passengers while increasing profit per passenger. Especially since online bookings very profitable for an airlines... These airline's  online booking business in Japan must be hurting from these poor setups.

I wrote the basic theory about this concept about .com versus .jp here. It is written so simply that I suppose even the people at airlines HQ's can understand it.

Now, I will explain mathematically why a .com/jp (or even a www.jp.airline.com site) is not effective. A .com/jp site is not effective because .com/jp is a subdomain. It is not given priority in any search. There is a good reason for it.

This is very simple math, so please pay attention airlines folks. There won't be a test after this article, but it could save your job because if you are here and do not demand this to be fixed (or, if you are in the USA and are dim enough to insist that your .com domain with a sub-folder or sub-domain is sufficient for world-wide use... Get ready for a job change, because someone is going to come along soon and bump you out of a job.) This is not just theory or wishes anymore, this is simple grade-school mathematics.

It's called persistence and striving for excellence.

But back to the problem...Google search engine, for example, uses an algorithm for search. (The new Google algorithm system is coming online in Japan in a few months. Read about the US version here. When that new system comes to Japan, companies operating in Japan had better be ready.)

If a .com is the domain, then on a Google search it gets 100% priority (this is why .co.jp and .jp sites get 100% priority in Japan)... If that very same .com domain has other languages as sub-folders, then that means each sub-folder shares in a percentage of that domain. If the .com domain is setup with japanese as the basic language - and not a sub-folder or sub-domain of English - then the .com domain works fine.

But this is a problem of language and bit space taken by hierogylphics... er, I mean kanji.

Understand? If there are five languages; then the sub-folder will give them each 20% on a search for a certain term. If there are ten languages, each will only get 10% returns... And so on...

In the case of most foreign airlines in Japan, they have dozens of languages in their sub-folder so Japanese gets about a 5% weight (if that much) in a Google search using Japanese language here in Japan. That means that these airlines voluntarily throw away 95% (more actually) of their possible Japanese customers who do random searches, using Japanese language and kanji, on the Internet.

People who search "航空" (Airlines) will get domestic airlines using a Japanese language based search as their #1 result. (Of course, but this doesn't serve the foreign airlines goals well at all.)

Try any foreign carrier and insert their SEO into a Google search (on Google.com or Google.co.jp - it doesn't matter)... The English based .com with /jp sub-folders won't even show up the foreign airlines in the top ten page returns.

Of course, in a search for a very common term such as "航空券"(airline ticket) the top four results of 24,200,000 are:

Japan Airlines: www.jal.co.jp

SkyMark Airlines: www.skymark.co.jp

Kokunaisen (a ticket aggregator): www.kokunaisen.com

All Nippon Airways: www.ana.co.jp

Notice anything special about these top returns? By the way, Kokunaisen, the aggregator site is 100% in Japanese, there is no sub-folder or sub-domain for Japan. Kokunaisen.com is the Japanese site. Like I said, any foreign carrier using a sub domain or sub-folder set-up will not show up in the first ten pages of a search.

Anyone with the most basic understanding of how SEO works (with an understanding of how Japanese language is 2 bits per character and Roman alphabet is 1 bit per character) would know that this situation for foreign carriers in Japan is intolerable. Why this continues in a tough market whereby airlines are losing passengers by the day is inconceivable.

The purpose of this blog is to help you to market Japan. I have shown the gross mistakes of many companies in the past including Pepsi, Universal Studios, Wendy's, Burger King, Carrefour, and many more. I explain the mistakes that these big companies make (and, incredibly, keep repeating over and over) so that you don't have to.

Perhaps someone at the airline's HQ in the USA or Europe will see this and wake up the troops. They should. They are losing money with this set-up...

Hopefully, they'll thank me... Doubtful... 20 years ago Otsuya Seiyaku didn't thank me either when I went on a popular late night radio program and said that their product, "Calorie-Mate" tasted like cardboard (Two years later they released Strawberry and Chocolate flavors - while improving the taste of "cardboard" and their sales of Calorie-Mate quadrupled. You know they paid R&D millions to come up with something I could have told them, and did, for the cost of less than a half-a-sandwich).

Anyhow, foreign carriers, I've pointed out that your tires are leaking air in Japan.... What are you going to do about it? Keep driving around on them? Be my guest.

This coming weekend, I will layout more mathematical evidence from a language based perspective why a .com English based site using sub-folders or sub-domains in Japan is a poor way to run any Internet site.

For a hint: Imagine that your site is in hieroglyphics... How is it possible that an English based site, with sub-folders or sub-domains, could possibly return as high of results as a site built on hieroglyphics? This is what your English based .com with sub-folder is doing... Your priority is low, so your will not show up at the top page....

If you are not in the top 5 on the first page of a search, you are not even in the game.

Japanese kanji are like hieroglyphics.

In the meantime, for proper background information that you need to comprehend this problem, (especially if you are not bilingual Japanese/English or Korean/English) see Wikipedia about Altaic languages of which Japanese is one...  People who do not speak two languages probably will have a hard time grasping this concept. It is important to understanding the problem.

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Keywords:

Google search, airlines, Japan, Yahoo, Burger King, Japan airlines, Skymark airlines, Google, Universal Studios, ANA, All Nippon Airways, Wendy's, Delta, Otsuya Seiyaku, Calorie-Mate, Pepsi, Carrefour, SEO