Raw Japan

Newly old

The character “shin”, or “new”, is on display at Kyoto’s Kiyomizu temple, selected by Japan’s kanji association as the word of 2009, with the chief priest’s calligraphy perched above the former capital, known more for its history than the au courant.

The word’s stock rose with phrases like “new Cabinet”, “new influenza”, new model Prius and new jury system. But looking at its dry, black ink on a recent trip, I wondered if the choice was also a comment on its ubiquity, or non-newness, in a marketing-saturated nation where the adjective is often pasted without any real commitment to the fresh or innovative. Two years ago the kanji for “fake” had been selected as word of the year.

Certainly, commercial hollowness is not new nor limited to Japan, while the world’s No.2 economy is undeniably home to fashion leaders, cutting-edge technology firms, and Nobel Prize and Oscar winners. But in the last two decades, Japan has seen a host of ”Shinseito”, “Shinshinto” and other “new” political parties, usually ending in tears, while its ”shinjinrui” — a new “breed” supposed to lead the country with a different drummer – are now barely distinguishable from the band they replaced.

The nation has experienced its share of “new eras”, “New Towns”, “new halfs”,  even annual “beaujolais nouveau” booms, and thus “it’s deja vu all over again” when new is news. Moreover, a recurring theme about the new here is how quickly, if not already, that novelty is past tense. Perhaps, then, it is because of this penchant for making the new old, or the old new, that Japanese have applied some cultural fail-safes, at least for the major holiday of the season.

Wishing someone a “Happy New Year” before Jan. 1 is bad form, while the “nengajo” – a year-end postal equivalent of the Western Christmas card — is never delivered before the new calendar year begins, although it can be sent or received days afterwards without social stigma, with some waiting to check inbound mail before any “new” labour is undertaken.

Mercedes? No thanks, I’ll take a hybrid

“I hope the next three months will be better for you than the last three,” Czech ambassador Jaromir Novotny told a gathering of Japanese car importers last month.

The way things are going, he’ll be hoping against hope.

In April, Japan introduced an “eco-car” tax incentive that has left all foreign car brands such as Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and BMW, neatly outside the fence of eligibility.

It’s the last thing they need in a market that’s already full of quirks that make life difficult for non-Japanese car brands: the existence of a huge and unique 660cc microcar segment, convoluted recycling laws and stringent regulations against what type of materials can be used in fuel tanks, to name just a few.

No one is complaining about incentivising low-emission cars. But what rankles outsiders is that the perks are based on an outdated fuel economy testing method that critics say is a poor reflection of real-life driving.

Toyota Prius: Will it live up to its name?

When Honda‘s new Insight hybrid debuted in Japan last month, many journalists referred to it as the “Prius fighter”. Less than two months later, we’re talking about Toyota’s battle to come up with the “Insight fighter”. What gives?

In a word, it’s because Toyota has suddenly begun behaving like a follower — not a leader –in the hybrid field that it has owned for the last 12 years.

Toyota is reportedly planning to knock about $3,000 off the price of the next Prius, a name that means “to go before” in Latin, to 2.05 million yen in Japan to bring it closer to the Insight’s price range.

Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe declined to confirm that at a news conference today, although his roundabout response about having lowered costs and the fierce competition it faces from the Insight seemed like a tacit acknowledgement that the reports were true.

What he did confirm beyond doubt was that Toyota would keep selling the current, 6-year-old Prius in Japan even after the new version comes out. Media reports say that one would be priced right smack in line with the Insight’s 1.89 million yen.

Selling two versions of the same car is rare. When I asked executives in the United States and Europe a few months back, they said they had considered doing it but decided against it because it would be too confusing for the consumer. Watanabe wouldn’t comment on Toyota’s intention outside Japan.

In any case, the reported pricing strategy, if true, would signify a complete reversal of Toyota’s initial plans. High-ranking executives had told me over the months preceding the Insight’s early-February launch that the next Prius would cost more, not less, than the current variant.

Honda’s Insight takes on Prius

It took almost 10 years, but Honda may finally have a hybrid hit on its hands this time.

The five-seater Insight went on sale this month in Japan ahead of other markets and orders have already climbed to 15,000, triple the number Honda hoped to sell on average in a month here.

That’s already just 2,000 shy of the total sales for Honda’s first hybrid car, also called Insight, in its seven years on the market from late 1999.  (The two cars share little more than a name.)

First-month orders are always an anomaly in Japan, where the shelf life for “newness” is punishingly brief. But if the Insight’s response is anything like what the second-generation Prius did for Toyota, Honda is in for a big boost to its already-green image.

So what’s Honda doing differently this time?

In a word, it’s affordability. While past hybrid cars have carried a price premium of roughly $5,000 and upwards over a similar gasoline-engine car, the new Insight starts at just 1.89 million yen ($19,700) in Japan.