pokejapan@kyoto

A presentation at DBS Marketing Forum (No.15) in English

I gave a presentation at “DBS marketing Forum” on the 22nd of February at Doshisha Business School. As it was the first time that this forum had presentations in English, I was very happy to participate in this event. I was the second speaker after Mr. Andrew Till, Co-founder and Vice President of Japan Market Intelligence K.K. He introduced some new marketing methods using new technologies, such as CVG (Consumer Vision Goggle). I was very interested in his presentation. 

After him, I talked about Internet Marketing, the theme of my talk was “Attractive website for the niche market using cutting edge technologies web2.0 “. This subject was quite similar to the presentation that I had done for the MBA of Xi’an JiaoTong University in China in November last year. That was about 40 minutes long including Q&A, but this time was much longer, around two hours for only my presentation. When I heard about that, I became nervous because it was the first time for me to give such a long presentation in English. Mainly, I talked about the case of the website of “Kakushin Juku” and its analytics. As I had plenty of time to speak, I introduced the website strategy of Global MBA and analysis as well, and also talked a little bit about my online shop at Rakuten shopping mall which is the largest online shopping mall in Japan. 

Our online shop called “K-net” is now celebrating its 11th anniversary on this shopping mall as it been in 1998. Though the total number of shops in the Rakuten mall, called “Rakuten Ichiba” is now more than 25,000 shops, only 39 shops including “K-net” are the oldest shops on the Rakuten Ichiba. Fortunately, the sales of our shop are gradually expanding, but the competition between online shops is becoming more and more difficult. 

Following that, I wanted to talk about the current situation of Internet marketing, looking at examples such as the website for craftsmen in Kyoto, those of the university and current online shopping, I had quite a few questions and much feedbacks from the audience and I really enjoyed discussion at this forum.

Seminar for Students from Chinese University in 2009

Around 80 students from universities across China visited Doshisha Business School (DBS). This is the forth time for students to visit from universities in China and we hope they had good time in our Business School getting to know about the education curriculum and the atmosphere of our university.　In the morning, the Dean, Prof. Harukiyo Hasegawa of DBS provided the welcome speech, and the next speech, “Introduction to Kyoto, Doshisha University” was provided by Associate Prof. Ou Qian, Associate Dean for International Affairs, Doshisha University. After the introduction of Doshisha Business School (DBS), a trial MBA class, “Marketing Seminar”, was provided by Prof. Hiroshige Hayashi from DBS. To present the students' perspectives, “What one international student thinks about DBS” was introduced by Mr. Sheng Wang a foreign student at DBS. Finally, a “Lunch Party” was held for the visitors with Doshisha students who have experience visiting and learning at Fudan University.

 

Video interview of two faculties from foreign Universities 5

We could have about 5 to 10 minutes of video interviews with Professor Naoki Kameda from Faculty of Commerce of Doshisha University, Professor Hans Marutschke from Doshisha Law School, Professor Keiko Toya from Doshisha Business School , Professor Takao Makido from Doshisha Business School, Professor Reiko Tomisawa from Doshisha University, Professor Peter Neff from Okayama University and Professor Asli Colpan from Business School of Kyoto University at the library on the 3rd floor of DBS. They talked a little bit about themselves and about their class which they are going to teach. All videos should be very interesting for you even though they are short, and they are coming soon on the Global MBA website. Now please refer to the "Our Faculty" page. 

Setsubun: Bean-Throwing Festival

I had an experience to go to Nakayama Temple in Takarazuka city where I am living and attended the ceremony called “Setsubun”, bean-scattering ceremony celebrating the coming of spring on February 3rd with my fellow Rotary club members. It is the first time for me to attend this traditional festival at a temple to through soybeans from the special stage to the people who come to the ceremony. I was wearing “Kamishimo” which is traditional clothing from ancient times. While chanting a Buddhist sutra, the performance started. In the performance, evil demons acted violently but then they changed their mind and behaved better thanks to the song by singers from the Takarazuka Review. Then the “Fukuotoko”,a happy man, including me came out and threw soybeans to the people. 

The following quote is taken from Wikipedia: 

In Japan, Setsubun (節分) is the day before the beginning of each season. The name literally means "seasonal division", but usually the term refers to the spring Setsubun, properly called Risshun (立春) celebrated yearly on February 3 as part of the Spring Festival (春祭 haru matsuri?). In its association with the Lunar New Year, Spring Setsubun can be thought of (and was previously thought of) as a sort of New Year's Eve, and so was accompanied by a special ritual to cleanse away all the evil of the former year and drive away disease-bringing evil spirits for the year to come. This special ritual is called mamemaki (豆撒き, lit. bean scattering). Mamemaki is usually performed by the toshiotoko (年男) of the household (i.e. the male who was born on the corresponding animal year on the Chinese zodiac), or else the male head of the household. Roasted soybeans (called irimame 炒り豆) are thrown either out the door or at a member of the family wearing an Oni (demon or ogre) mask, while the throwers chant "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" (鬼は外! 福は内!). The literal meaning of the words is something like "Demons out! Luck in!" The beans are thought to symbolically purify the home by driving away the evil spirits that bring misfortune and bad health with them. Then, as part of bringing luck in, it is customary to eat soybeans, one for each year of one's life, and in some areas, one for each year of one's life, plus one more for bringing good luck for the year to come. 

Giving a presentation to junior high school students

I was invited to the Sasayama Rotary Club, which is a rotary club located in the middle of Hyogo prefecture in Japan and in the same direct as the rotary club which I belong to now, to give a speech about my internet business. The audience were 1st and 2nd year local junior high school students who are 13 to 14 year-old boys and girls. This symposium was held by Sasayama Rotary club to invite professionals of 10 different occupations including a professional baseball player, hospital management, entertainment business worker from the Takarazuka Review, a designer, internet business worker, kindergarten manager, beauty salon manager, etc., for students to think about their future occupation. After the opening ceremony about 200 students and several professionals and staff were divided into 10 groups. I gave a lecture about online shopping and the web consulting business including website of university. About 20 students came to hear what I had to say and they answered my questions correctly. For instance, they gave me better answers about what is the difference between an online shop and a real shop than I expected, after I explained about the system of the online shopping business. I hope that this opportunity could be helpful for them to think about their future occupations.