MONTH

2021年5月

May 28, 2021
August 23, 2022

Do You Know Why Expensive Goods Look Expensive?

Are we just hypnotized? Why do expensive goods look expensive, and vice versa in most cases? Do high price tags or brand names just hypnotize us into believing so? As writing here sometimes, I’m not interested in buying and owning material things but in investment. My main battlefield is the stock market, but once I researched “watch investment.” At that time, I was so surprised at the price of super expensive watches. Such as Patek Philippe, Richard Mille, etc. Most of them are more than several million dollars. Of course, I immediately understood I was out of place, though. Today, I didn’t mean to raise the question whether the price of such super luxury things is appropriate or not. My interest developed at that time was discovering the factors that make things look the part. Necessity for a lot of time and effort to produce Even before making the research […]

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May 25, 2021
August 23, 2022

Manifesto of Eco-friendliness

The simpler the better? Did you know that many brands changed their logos lately? Such as BMW, VW, and Nissan in the automotive industry, for example. It is the mainstream to make it simpler. Speaking of simplification, the most famous example would be Starbucks. When the brand was launched, the scales of the mermaid were depicted one by one. Now, the scales were abstracted into wavy lines, and even the brand name was removed. One of the reasons for the simplification trend is said to be a reaction against the old days when companies tried to dress them up with ornate and decorative logos. Now, the simpler the better? A focused intention or not Another reason for the simplification trend, which is considered as the biggest one, is good visibility in digital devices. This sounds also reasonable because most people access information mainly from their digital devices, but simplification doesn’t […]

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May 21, 2021
August 23, 2022

No Reason to Like It

Do we need reasons? Do you think you always have a rational reason or clear preference when choosing your actions? I’m in charge of sales, and so, always expected to explain the reasons why we recommend our furniture. In the explanation, I have to convince people with the benefits our furniture can bring to them, such as comfortability, design, etc. This blog is a good example. I struggle night and day (a little exaggerating though) with creating new content. Besides, it’s always a headache to lead all the stories to the conclusion of our brand promotion. Asking to myself again and again “Why our brand?” in order to squeeze out subjects, I’ve finally arrived at this ultimate question: Do we need reasons or preferences to decide our actions in the first place? We don’t know the reasons for our actions This time, a genius who helped me is Petter Johansson, […]

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May 17, 2021
September 14, 2022

Because We Are Emotional Creatures

What is the difference between success and failure of business? What do you think is the difference between success and failure of business? What do you say if asked to analyze a case of a restaurant doing great in the place where many other restaurants closed down successively in the past? I would imagine some improvements in pricing, targeting, etc., and check the hard data of the area, such as the number and type of household population, traffic volume by time of day, etc. Surprisingly, Rory Sutherland disagrees, in his book: Alchemy, with such a judgment made through logical thinking and observations. In the example described in the book, he proclaims it is nice tables and chairs in front of the restaurant that lead the restaurant to success. Small psychological factors decide the outcome Such nice tables and chairs (like our products) are too good to leave outside, and put […]

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May 14, 2021
August 23, 2022

Why Mirrors Reverse Left and Right

Mystery of a mirror image This question is too difficult to solve in this article. It still remains a mystery unsolved for more than 2000 years. Maybe, some secrets like this should stay secret to keep the world fun. Anyway, if I remember correctly, It’s a scene in the film “Dead Poets Society.” The students of the boarding school tried to eat with their non-dominant hands. They said “It’s for being out of the box.” I, at an easily influenced age, soon imitated it. Using chop sticks with a left hand (I’m right-handed) was difficult, but there was another thing that I found much more difficult. It’s brushing teeth. Brushing teeth with a non-dominant hand It was surprising because brushing teeth seemed to be easier than eating and writing. Making matters worse is a mirror. Why don’t you give it a try? I’m sure you’ll be also confused in the […]

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May 10, 2021
August 23, 2022

Time for Real Work

We may work just to kill time The US Lower House passed the bill of public spending of more than 1,900 billion dollars. Accordingly, the US economy (the Dow-Jones average, at least) is coming back like crazy, even though many people have not yet been back to business as usual. In Japan, it has been reported that many people at remote work are complaining “So bored to death,” even though they were complaining about non-decreasing overtime before the COVID. Most of us simply believe our work contributes to society or someone else, and also that that’s the reason why money is paid. After seeing the above facts, I come to doubt it. In fact, we may have just wasted time for things no one wants, and may no longer even work for money. Free from work only for money Some of you may say “You talk nonsense! Who will provide […]

May 6, 2021
September 14, 2022

The Shoulders of Giants

Things going down to posterity Hokkaido, this northernmost island of Japan, is getting deserted. In rural areas (Hokkaido itself can be said a rural area in Japan, though), you can see abandoned and collapsing houses everywhere. Houses with a roof and walls deformed by the weight of snow, like ones in Tim Burton’s movies. Rusty bicycles, snow shovels, etc. are partly seen in the grass around such house. They are returning to the earth. Generally, such sceneries may just look sad, but (as writing before) I personally like to see them. They remind me of the fact that we are also a part of nature. At the same time, I’ve been interested in the difference between such things returning to the earth and the other things passed down to the next generation. Too dificult decision: What should be passed to the next generation I once attributed the differences to the […]

Knowledge bragging

May 3, 2021
August 24, 2022

It’s Better than Chanel No.5

Degeneration of smelling ability One day at a restaurant with my wife, I was finishing off lunch with crème brulee, a kind of custard pudding. Hokkaido is the biggest milk production area in Japan, and best in the quality of dairy products. Soon after taking a bite, sweet and sour taste spread in my mouth. Nodding knowingly, I said “Lemon is doing its magic.” My wife suspiciously said “What?! There’s no way that lemon is used in crème brulee!” She twitched and smelled it, and her judge was “Are you OK? It’s just gone bad.” I don’t mean to make an excuse, but our smelling sense has been most degrading among human five senses. Once human beings had more than 800 olfactory receptors, but now, the number is only less than 400. In exchange for that, we’ve got eyesight much better than other animals, though. Smelling sense acts on emotions […]