a still from the Japanese film, Sakuran

Sakuran is a anti-Memoirs of a Geisha, a riposte to the Hollywood view of Japan and Japanese women. Based on the Sakuran manga by Anno Moyoko, the plot centres around a young girl sold as a child to an upmarket brothel set in Edo period Japan and her determination to break out and be free. If sounds heavy going it isn’t, the heroine is fierce, wise-cracking and unrelentingly defiant - basically the opposite of the stereotypical Japanese woman. The lead actress is gravelly-voiced model/actress/punk rocker and the director, Mika Ninagawa set out to intentionally challenge the Geisha idea of femininity;

“Of course, women have become stronger in some ways. But our mother’s generation had to fight. Now girls don’t have to. Perhaps they don’t notice that they are trapped. I wanted the movie to push them forward, to say: “Stand on your own feet and walk.” I hope Kiyoha will be a hero for girls.”

The film’s been an unexpected hit with young Japanese women so it does seem that Mika understands her audience. And what does this mean for brands? Perhaps that they should start connecting less to the Geisha mindset and more to their audience’s inner Kiyohas.

You can watch the Japanese language trailer here.

Taiwanese airline EVA’s Hello Kitty jet.

Western and Asian attitudes to cuteness tend to be different. Cute in the west tends to be restricted to children, informal and private environments. Asia has a much more expansive use of cuteness - perfectly ok for office workers’ desks to be knee-deep in soft toys and cute ornaments, perfectly ok for your car to be a mobile toy museum, absolutely fine for a grown woman to have a matching set of non-ironic Hello Kitty luggage. If anything, cute can be upmarket - Japanese Sanrio mechandise is sold at a premium and is virtually a designer brand in China. Most western brands overlook the power of cuteness but they are missing out - Coca-cola’s Qoo drink brand rocked the Asian market thanks to its Japanese designed character.

Qoo

EVA’s Hello Kitty jet was launched in 2005 and is still going strong, complete with its own website (here). Overlooking the appeal of cute means you miss out on taping into one of Asia’s big loves.

Three neologisms concerning women in today’s Japan:
Yubisakibijin (literally ‘fingertip beauty’) - a woman who spends a large portion of her salary on nail care.
Sokosokozuma a woman who settles for a so-so marriage just for the sake of being married.
Henkyoryugaku - Describes young women who in their twenties and thirties rebel, drop out and go travelling abroad pursuing often eccentric activities.
I’m a big fan of these language-specific terms. They can reflect trends, attitudes and cultural nuances that can be both universal and very specific, and they have a great way of pointing out things we may have overlooked.