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Greetings
 Many of you are surely aware of the population decrease phenomenon in Japan. Statistical studies show that Japanese population shifted to a declining population last year, in 2005 (approximate decrease of 20,000 people compared to 2004, and a total approximate population of 127,760,000) and this is a first time we have seen a population decrease in Japan since World War II. The latest national census result in 2005 also reveals that the 65 years-or-older population captures 21% of the total; on the other hand 15 years-or-younger population captures only 13% in Japan. This population of 65 years or older is the largest ratio and population of 15 years or younger is the smallest ratio in the world, exceeding Italy's ratio. The average baby delivery rate per woman in Japan was 1.25 in 2005, and this is one of the lowest rates in the world, coming next to the Korean rate of 1.07. (The US has 2.08, however.)
This rapidly aging society in Japan has forced a significant paradigm shift in the society and in business. Some elementary schools cannot afford to stay open with so few students, leading to school closures. Instead of a school, buildings becomes welfare centers for senior citizens. Japanese baby boomers (called "Dankai-no-Sedai" in Japanese) will reach their retirement age at 60 years old in 2007 and we call this the "year 2007 problem". (In Japan a company has a mandatory retirement policy, usually at age 60.) In general, Japanese people do not engage in job-hopping and they tend to stay at one company for many years. Many valuable skills and know-how belong to individual employees and are not systematically documented. If a large group of skilled employees face retirement, many valuable skills may not be capitalized on and just go down the drain.
Japanese senior citizens have the longest average life expectancy, so they tend to be a healthier compared with people in the other countries (particularly people in the US.) Many companies are now looking to establish new policies of retirement age extension up to 65, instead of 60, or even up to 70 years old.
As you can see, Japan contains the fastest aging society in the world. Your business outlook and expectations toward Japan could be easily affected based on these rapid changes. The Japanese government and companies are quite aware of the coming ages of this society; however, no clear consensus has been reached yet between the government and private sectors regarding how to cope with this aging society. Probably rest of the world is very curious how they would find their new way to cope.
Ken Sakai
President |
Ken Sakai
President
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"Honyaku Kotohajime" (Beginnings of Translation) - No. 51
"Suggestions for Japanese Website Localization"
In last month's issue of Honyaku Kotohajime I wrote about how many websites translated into Japanese are translated rather simply, and thus are not very well oriented for marketing to their Japanese audience. In this month's issue I would like to try to continue the same discussion, including how website translation can be successfully managed with content that is oriented to the Japanese market, as well as being able to convey an effective message. In doing so, I hope to give a few hints and ideas as to in what way Japanese localization can become, not merely an additional cost to be paid, but an effective investment.
Websites have the ability to playing many roles. Principally, a website is a PR tool. However, it can also be defined as a marketing and sales tool. Therefore, it would be natural for a website, defined in such a way, to be localized in the same way that other PR or marketing and sales tools are localized. In reality, wouldn't it be difficult to say that up until now Japanese sites that are translated literally have culminated in satisfactory results?
In last month's issue I discussed the process of website translation. Presently 99% of Japanese website localization processes are direct translations (although, I don't think that it would be exaggerating to say that the translations are literal). Repeating this process as much as possible, constructing a Japanese website that sufficiently appeals to the Japanese consumer market is certainly an extremely difficult thing to accomplish. My proposal is this: first prepare the English version, and include a message to the foreign market just as if producing a new website from scratch. This should be the first step in creating a Japanese website.
As I recently wrote, a website should have marketing and PR characteristics. Thus the basic central foundation of the marketing should be aimed at extracting the answer to the question, "Who is the target of this marketing?" Naturally an English website is aimed at people who understand English and live in the English-speaking world. However, in regard to overseas business expansion projects, for example, if you are concentrating most of your resources on the Japanese market, thus we can say it makes sense to plan to target Japanese people by constructing a Japanese website in Japanese.
If it has been decided that Japan your marketing target, then the next step is to select an introductory essay or sales message directed to Japanese people. After than you will need to select the product or service that you would like to focus on, as well as decide on the framework of your website. One idea, that I believe is a good one, is to start fresh with a new design for your Japanese website, one that is not directly influenced by the original English site. And, if your website was designed originally in Japanese, then you might as well resign to the use of an American company that is skilled in Japanese website design, where you have the option of designing a Japanese site in America. This way a local company can arrange design, and use of color, as well as the functioning of the site. (In fact, at our company, Pacific Dreams, Inc. we have a superior design staff. So, if you are ever in need of this kind of service we would be happy to discuss a project with you any time.)
You might wonder what the best way to think about the content of the published text on your Japanese site. As I wrote previously, it is good to start by creating separate, original English text as a first step. For the next step it is important to take the original English text and perform Japanese localization. For this I recommend a process called VATE (Value Added Trans-cultural Editing). This is a new concept in the translation industry. Well-known international foreign-culture management and support consultant, Mr. Shintaro Tominaga introduced this system to us. In April of this year, Mr. Tominaga flew in from Tokyo to visit our company. At this time, he gave a live presentation on VATE to our entire company staff. To be honest, at first I did not clearly recognize the difference between regular translation and the VATE process. However, as I wrote earlier in an article concerning website localization, and as the PDI staff and I quickly came to understand how crucial VATE is to the process of website localization.
The "E" in VATE, the Editing process, is especially important in Japanese website localization. Of course, simply translating an English text that is targeted at the Japanese audience is not going to be enough. After the translation has been finished, VATE, or editing, is applied to the Japanese Localization process creating a highly appealing PR site. Unfortunately, there is not enough space here left to further discuss VATE at this time, so I will be introducing the complete process as I continue this discussion in the next month's edition of Honyaku Talk.
Ken Sakai
President
E-mail: KenFSakai@pacificdreams.org
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 The Embedded Corporation
By Sanford M. Jacoby
What is the best way to run a business corporation? What is the
appropriate balance between shareholders, executives and employees? Are
employees best thought of as short-term costs, or long-term assets? What
impact is globalization having on distinctive national approaches to
corporate organization and on the social responsibilities of employers?
These are just a few of the questions Sanford M. Jacoby tries to tackle in
his extensive and thorough research presented in The Embedded
Corporation.
Despite globalization, the expectation that one universal system of
corporate organization would rise to the top and become the standard
hasn't taken place. American corporations tend to follow the lead of the
shareholders, where Japanese corporations tend to look internally, and
follow the lead of employees. In this book Jacoby looks beyond corporate
realities into the culture and history of both the United States and Japan,
finding grounds for certain corporate practices. Unlike some publications
that feign legitimacy with a lot of theory, The Embedded Corporations
conclusions are based in fact. Jacoby's research is clearly tracked and
presented. We can see the how, what and why of corporate governance in
the US and Japan.
Sanford M. Jacoby is the Howard Noble Professor of Management, Policy
Studies, and History at the University of California, Los Angeles. His
books include Modern Manors: Welfare Capitalism since the New Deal
(Princeton) and Employing Bureaucracy: Managers, Unions, and the
Transformation of the Workplace in the 20th Century (Erlbaum).
Table of Contents:
Chapter 1: Management and the Varieties of Capitalism
Chapter 2: Human Resources Departments in Large Japanese Firms:
The Way It Was
Chapter 3: Inside Japanese Companies Today
Chapter 4: The Evolution of Human Resource Management in the United
States
Chapter 5: Inside U.S. Companies Today
Chapter 6: Comparative Survey Data
Chapter 7: Taking Stock and Looking Ahead
 Order Online
Now you can order The Embedded Corporation for $35.00 US, plus shipping and handling. We can ship your order right away. To order, visit our web bookstore or call us at 503-783-1390. You may also e-mail us at bookstore@pacificdreams.org.
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