COVER STORY
Short Back and Sides, Worldwide
A
A stylist vacuums up stray hair
clippings using an air washer
at QB House in Tokyo’s
Shibuya Ward.
Japanese Companies
Bringing Brilliance to Asia
The service sector accounts for about 70 percent of Japan’s gross domestic product (GDP), but
companies in that sector have not moved their operations offshore as aggressively as auto, electric
appliance and other companies in the manufacturing sector. In recent years, however, companies in
various services-related industries have done so in search of new markets offshore as the decline in
the number of young people in Japan has caused their domestic markets to shrink. Moreover, the
highly specialized services which have developed in Japan are increasingly valued in other countries.
In this month’s Cover Story we profile three Japanese companies expanding their service businesses
mainly in Asia.
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The Japan Journal JULY 2014
AIZAWA TADASHI
The Science of
Service
bout six millimeters long,
please.”
So saying, a salaryman
with a close-cropped head
slides into a barber chair at QB House
located in the underground shop arcade
beneath a building in Tokyo’s Shibuya
Ward. A female barber, known at QB
House as a “stylist,” immediately begins
cutting the man’s hair with clippers that
can trim hair an even two millimeters.
After cutting his hair, she uses a vacuu m-l i ke dev ice k now n a s a “ ha i r
washer” to remove any remaining hair
clippings, and the job is done. Time
elapsed: about ten minutes.
“You can get a very attentive haircut
here in a really short time,” says the customer. “My office is close by, so I can
come when I get a break from my work. I
get my hair cut about once a fortnight, so
the 1,000 yen price makes it doubly nice.”
Japanese barber shops normally
charge about 3,000 to 5,000 yen, a price
that includes not just a cut but other services such as a shampoo, a shave and a
massage. It also takes from thirty minutes to about an hour.
QB House can provide almost any
type of haircut. They’ve also cut the pretax
price to 1,000 yen and the time to ten minutes, so it’s no overstatement to say that
they’ve redefined the traditional image of
barber shops. QB House is operated by QB
Net, Co., founded in 1995. The company
opened its first shop in 1996 and each
year since then has increased the number
of its shops all over Japan. It presently
operates some 479 shops serving over 16
million customers annually.
QB House’s short cutting time and
low prices have resulted from a sustained
effort to maximize efficiency. Although
conventional barbershops shampoo hair
using water, QB House stylists use air
washers, which not only shorten cutting
time but also make it possible to reduce
water bills and economize on space within the shop. The air washer, the scissors
and clippers used for cutting hair, mirrors
and the other tools needed in haircutting
are stored in a “system unit,” a cabinet
situated just in front of each barber chair.
This enables the stylist to work without
moving around needlessly.
The company also collects extensive
data relating to its services. Before getting their haircuts, customers buy a ticket
from a machine at the entrance. This
frees the stylist from having to collect
payment but also provides information
on the time at which customers show up.
Before starting the haircut, the stylist enters various data on the customer, including gender, age and regularity of patronage into a touch panel on the system unit.
At the same time, a timer begins recording the duration of the haircut. It stops
and records the cutting time when the
hair washer is switched off. This makes it
possible to determine the time required
to cut each patron’s hair.
All this data is sent to the head office
in real time and used to improve services,
including maintaining the ten-minute
maximum hair cutting time and shortening customer waiting periods. The company has already patented these systems.
By leveraging its know-how, QB
House has been increasing the number
of its shops overseas. The company
opened its first QB House overseas shop
in Singapore in 2002 and now operates
thirty-two shops in Singapore, forty-four
in Hong Kong and eight in Taiwan.
“Our business model of providing
low-priced haircuts in ten minutes is very
easy to understand,” says QB Net director Matsumoto Osamu. “We believed
such an easily understood business model
can work anywhere in the world, so we’re
moving to expand our chain overseas.”
The cost of a QB House haircut is 12
Singapore dollars (about 800 yen) in
Singapore, 50 Hong Kong dollars (about
660 yen) in Hong Kong, and 300 new
Taiwan dollars (about 1,000 yen) in
Taiwan. These rates are lower than typical haircuts in these countries but are not
so very low by local standards as they are
in Japan. For this reason, QB House
competes less by lower prices as by the
quality of its services. Thus, customers
walking in the door are greeted with the
word irasshaimase, the Japanese word
for welcome, and a sign in front saying
“Tokyo” tells them that QB House is a
Japanese barber shop where stylists strive
to achieve the highest quality standards
in shop sanitation and styling.
The training of local staff is very
important in achieving that quality. In
Japan, aspiring barbers must attend vocational school for two years and obtain
government qualifications as a barber.
But there are many countries and territories outside of Japan where such qualifications aren’t necessary, including
Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan. For
this reason, the level of skill among
barbers is patchy. The company therefore dispatches trainers from Japan to
give extensive training to local staff in
Japanese techniques and service, thus ensuring that customers can expect the
same high quality at all QB House shops.
“We start from the very basics,
such as greeting the customers with a
smile,” says Matsumoto. “We put a lot
of time and money into training our
staff. You might say ours is an educationoriented business.”
Thanks to such personnel training,
QB House has steadily increased the
number of local employees with advanced styling skills. Veteran employees
also have ample opportunity to advise
new employees. Non-Japanese staff
are also getting more involved in openi ng up n ew st o r e s. Fo r ex a m ple,
Singaporean employees made the preparations needed to open a QB House shop
in Taiwan in 2012. Local staff also serve
in top positions, including area manager
in Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
A large number of barber shops appeared seeking to copy the QB House
model in countries and territories where
QB House has opened shops. But since
they failed to adequately train their staff,
the quality of their haircuts and services
fell short, and most disappeared.
The company plans to further increase the number of QB House shops
overseas. Singapore, where there are
many foreign businessmen, is becoming
something of a QB House showcase.
Many of the foreign patrons of Singapore
QB House shops have voiced hopes that
QB House shops will be opened in their
own countries as well.
“We think our shops have a good
chance of gaining popularity in cities
like New York, where people put a high
premium on the value of time,” says
Matsumoto. “We still feel that we’ve just
reached the threshold of the world. Our
aim is to grow into a barber shop chain
used by large numbers of patrons all
over the world.”
The Japan Journal JULY 2014
7
COVER STORY
To Love and to Cherish
D
u r i ng ma ny Japa nese
marriage ceremonies, the
couple at some point pledge
their lifelong devotion to
each other. Although fewer than 1 percent of Japanese are actually Christian,
many Japanese like to have a Christian
wedding ceremony conducted at a chapel. According to the Zexy Marriage
Trend Survey of 2013, 56 percent of
couples opted for Christian-style marriages, 17 percent for Shinto marriages
(conducted at shrines) and 23 percent
for civil ceremonies in which the couple
pledge their marriage before witnesses
who also attend.
Following the marriage ceremony,
guests generally remove to a hotel or
restaurant where a reception is held.
Attendees at the ceremony generally include only family and close friends, but
a wider range of guests are invited to the
reception, including the nuptial pair’s
senior colleagues and acquaintances.
Many wedding receptions feature
ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF WATABE WEDDING
A wedding photograph of a
Chinese bride and groom
who held their wedding at
the Watabe Wedding nuptial
facility in Okinawa
8
The Japan Journal JULY 2014
cake cutting by the newlyweds, a congratulatory address by their senior colleagues, and entertainment by friends to
liven up the party. Lighting, images,
music and the like are controlled, and
the reception closes with a speech by the
groom and a message of thanks from his
father to the guests.
Bridal companies, which conduct
these ceremonies and receptions, also
offer honeymoon trips and provide
support for a variety of preparations
relating to marriage. One such bridal
compa ny, t he la rgest i n Japa n, is
Watabe Wedding, which handles about
25,000 wedding ceremonies every year.
Watabe Wedding was founded in Kyoto
in 1953 as a wardrobe leasing business.
The company launched an operation in
Honolulu in 1973 to provide support for
Japanese couples tying the knot in
Hawaii. The result was a sharp increase
in the number of Japanese holding their
ceremonies there. While expanding its
network in Japan, the company has
since expanded its business to North
America, Europe and Australia and in
the 1990s began manufacturing wedding gowns in China.
In recent years, Watabe has been leveraging its experience in wedding services for Japanese in the development of
its operations in East Asia.
“It’s going to be very important for
the further development of our business
to move into markets overseas, particularly in East Asia, where economic
growth has been strong,” says Naito
Takashi, director of the company’s Asia
Business Division. “While respecting
the wedding culture of the different
countries, we’re developing our business
in hopes that our customers in East Asia
will learn to appreciate the quality of
Japanese hospitality.”
One line of business that Watabe
Wedding is pursuing is marriage services for local couples holding their weddings in their own communities. In
2011, Watabe Wedding began operating
Chijmes Hall in Singapore as a wedding
facility for local couples. In 2013, the
Chijmes Hall in
Singapore, which
Watabe Wedding
operates as a wedding
facility for local couples
company also opened a wedding facility
in the Northeast China city of Harbin.
Watabe Wedding conducts weddings at its facilities according to the
Japanese style, which has proved very
popular. The actual ceremony is an exa mple. Except for Ch r ist ia ns a nd
Muslims, it is not generally customary
in East Asian countries and territories,
and in particular in urban areas, to hold
ceremonies in which the bride and
groom pledge their lifelong devotion.
Even the wedding generally consists
only of a reception held at a hotel or restaurant, and the program generally focuses mainly on organizing the meal.
Watabe Wedding, however, adds a new
element by erecting a stage separate
from the reception hall as a venue where
the couple pledge their lifelong devotion
to each other in front of their families
and intimate friends. This kind of ceremony serves to make the wedding ceremony itself all the more impressive.
Nuptial ceremonies at the Harbin
wedding facility are conducted in a gay
atmosphere featuring abundant visual
and musical entertainment
as well as Japanese and
other appetizing fare in
a style which has proven
very popular among couple s a n d t h e i r g u e st s.
Visual enter tainment
might feature a show of
photos of the bride and
groom from childhood on
or thei r expressions of
gratitude to their parents,
the effect being to heighten
the sentiments of the couple and their guests.
“I constantly stress to
local employees that our
highest priority is ensuring that our customers are
happy with our services,”
says Naito. “We train our
employees to serve our
customers while adopting
the correct bearing, attire, greetings, all
with a genuine spirit of hospitality.”
One line of business which Watabe
Wedding is pursuing in East Asia is that
of wedding ceremonies conducted
abroad. The company provides couples
in Hong Kong, Taiwan and on the
Chinese mainland with services which
c ombi n e we d d i ng c e r emon ie s on
Okinawa or Guam with sightseeing.
Until now, very few couples ever held
their weddings abroad. With the advent of Watabe Wedding’s services,
however, holding weddings abroad like
the Japanese is gaining popularity as a
new style of wedding.
One major difference from the
Japanese practice, however, is that most
Chinese couples prefer to take some
photos in the style of a film scene.
Moreover, they spend a lot of time doing
so in or around the wedding venue, or at
a studio. In order to meet this demand,
Watabe Wedding has strengthened its
services by hiring Chinese employees
and training wedding photographers in
Ok inawa, a n increasingly popula r
venue for resort-based ceremonies.
“My belief is that Japanese-style
weddings are becoming more popular
due to economic growth in East Asia,”
says Naito. “In the future, we mean to
leverage our forty-some years of experience in conducting overseas weddings in
order to provide customers on the Chinese
mainland with wedding services at resorts
located in places such as Hawaii.”
A wedding ceremony at
the Watabe Wedding
marriage facility in
Harbin, China. A Chinese
bride and groom pledge
their devotion before
guests on a wedding
stage.
The Japan Journal JULY 2014
9
COVER STORY
Nurturing Budding Scientists
H
Classrooms. At the time of its founding
in 1946, Gakken’s name was Gakushu
Kenkyusha. The company is now called
Gakken Holdings. Its business includes
publishing of a wide variety of materials, including textbooks, educational
magazines, reference books for learning
and dictionaries. It also operates study
classrooms, residences for the elderly,
nursery schools and other facilities.
Particularly well known are Gakken’s
science education magazines, and the
monthly science magazine for elementa-
ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF GAKKEN HOLDINGS
ow would you blow up this
bag in ten seconds?”
Holding a narrow, oblong plastic bag 3.5 meters
long and about 20 centimeters wide,
Kotsuta Yoko of Gakken Educational’s
Science Division poses this question to
the author. One end of the plastic bag is
tied and the other is open. The simplest
way might be placing one’s mouth over
the open end and blowing it up, but such
a feat seems hopeless in just ten seconds.
Upon testing this strategy, the author
Elementary school pupils in Thailand conduct an experiment on the freezing
point of liquids.
finds that, sure enough, the bag is only
half filled with air. How can one possibly do it?
“Okay then, please watch carefully.”
So saying, Kotsuta places the open
end of the bag 20 to 30 centimeters
away and in one puff blows into it. In a
flash, the plastic bag is full of air.
“Air actually has viscosity, so the
f low of air coming out of my lungs
drags the surrounding air with it and
carries it into the bag,” she explains.
“But the underlying theory shouldn’t be
revealed to children beforehand. It’s important to let them experiment on their
own and think about why it happens.”
The present experiment is only one
of the experiments being conducted in
t h e G a k k e n S c ie n c e E x p e r i m e n t
10
The Japan Journal JULY 2014
ry school children published from 1957
through 2010 included a very popular
science experiment kit in each edition.
Gakken began offering science lab
classes for elementary school children
in 2002 based on its long years of experience in science education. The classes
are now conducted in about 600 classrooms throughout Japan once or twice a
month on weekdays after school or on
weekends. Classes accommodate up to
about fifteen pupils who are not separated into different grades. Each ninety
minute class is made up of three periods. About an hour is first allocated for
the students to engage directly in experiments under the guidance of the teacher.
After that, pupils are given a science
experiment kit relating to that day’s
experiments and use this kit to conduct
experiments. The children put together a
kit themselves and can take it home.
Finally, pupils write up the findings of
their experiments for the day in a report.
Ga k ken Science Exper iment
Classrooms are divided into thirty-six
themes, including air, magnetism and
electricity, with ten to twelve experiments being conducted on each theme.
In the great majority of these experiments, students use everyday materials,
learning about surface tension using
soap bubbles, the weight of air using
balloons, or sound using a straw whistle.
The curriculum for the experiments
does not follow the Japanese government’s official teaching syllabus but
instead is of one Gakken’s original
design, prepared for the purpose of
stimulating curiosity about science.
Pupils in the science lab classes say
that the classes have enabled them to
look at things in a logical way, or that
they’ve gained an interest in a variety of
things, or that they now find experiments fun. Some say the classes made
them decide to enter the engineering or
medical departments in college.
“The classes aren’t aimed at helping
pupils to get higher scores on school
tests,” says Nakamura Hiroyuki, head of
Gakken Educational’s Science Division.
“The goal is strictly to stimulate their
curiosity about science in a way that is
fun. It’s an important experience for the
children to conduct experiments on their
own, even if they fail.”
Gakken is endeavoring to popularize its science lab classes overseas. The
company has about 320,000 students in
its classes at 450 private elementary
schools in India, where it began offering
classes in 2011. It also has about 80,000
students at 227 private elementary
schools in Thailand, where classes also
began in 2011. Students learn according
to methods which are basically the same
as those used in Japan. One exception,
however, is that in these countries science lab classes are incorporated into
the school curriculum. In Japan, students go to the classes after school or on
weekends, but outside of Japan problems
associated with transportation facilities
and public safety make it difficult to
hold classes which students can commute to on a regular basis.
In the case of India, many
private elementary schools use
an electronic blackboard known
as a smart board. Popularizing a
science lab class which uses “analog” methods and isn’t directly
related to improving grades is
not easy in an environment
where such digital education
methods are used. Since the cost
of the science lab classes adds to
the cost of school, moreover, it is
important to gain the understanding of school authorities
and parents. Given this situation,
Gakken joined with local companies to offer seminars giving a
series of experiment demonstrations in various locations for
school principals, teachers and
others involved in education.
“A lot of teachers tell us that
the science lab classes were just
A teacher at a primary school in India uses a syringe to teach pupils about air pressure.
what they’d been looking for.
They understand that the science
lab classes aren’t rote learning but consti- advanced. The fact that our teaching the science lab classes to compete for
tute a form of education which teaches methods are used in a country like Japan first place nationwide. The third round,
which was held this year, drew about
the principles of things and gives students is one of the reasons for their interest.”
Gakken since 2012 has held an an- 9,000 contestants from all over India.
the ability to solve problems on their
own,” says Funami Hiromitsu of the nual science contest in India under the The final selection was made in January
Inter national Business Division of banner, “Are You a Budding Scientist.” at a five-star hotel in Mumbai, with
Gakken Holdings. “Indians see Japanese In it, contestants nationwide use research presentations being given by about fifty
science and technology as being very techniques which they have learned in pupils who had won local competitions
around the country. In addition to giving the children self-confidence, the
contests enhance the reputation of their
schools and provide parents with the opportunity to fully appreciate the benefits
of the science lab classes.
In addition to India and Thailand,
Gakken is also holding science lab classes in Indonesia. It also launched classes
at ten elementary schools in Vietnam last
June and plans are also in place to begin
offering them in Singapore and China.
Gakken also plans to launch arithmetic
classes in Myanmar.
“We believe that improving children’s ability to think for themselves can
help improve the technological capacity of any country,” says Funami. “In
that sense, you could say we’re exporting educational ‘infrastructure.’ We
hope through our education business to
make a lasting contribution in the field
of education everywhere in the world.”
Thai elementary school pupils experience the characteristics of air pressure
using a rubber balloon.
SAWAJI Osamu, The Japan Journal
The Japan Journal JULY 2014
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