Cool Japan: Poultry dishes

■Cool Japan: Poultry dishes 

NHK Cool Japan: "Chicken Dishes".

Yakitori and karaage. World-class chicken dishes that the world has yet to discover.

Yakitori and karaage. I think they're both in English dictionaries now!

"Yakitori"

There are several features.

First, the skewers.

If it was shredded meat, I think it would have been just a dish in Japanese cuisine.

They are skewered, grilled one by one, and then eaten as is. It's easy to eat without getting your hands dirty.

The style is its main feature.

And diversity.

Even though it's chicken, there are about 10 different types on display at yakitori restaurants.

Thigh, breast, thigh, heart, liver, skin, head, and cartilage.

They come in both salt and sauce versions. Nice.

Also, there are stores ranging from cheap to super high-end.

The craftsmanship that takes popular culture and turns it into high-class cuisine. Very Japanese.

"Fried chicken"

The area next to the cash register at convenience stores, where oden and steamed buns were once located, is now a battleground for chicken, and chicken is winning.

It's cheap, delicious, and people from all countries love it.

The variety is amazing, with 240 different flavors available.

Miso ramen flavor or cream stew flavor.

Chicken has the ability to absorb any flavor, and the spirit of pursuit and curiosity that goes into continuing to develop it is what makes Japan so fascinating.

Even world-famous fried chicken restaurants add unique Japanese flavours depending on the season.

"Hinaichi Chicken"

Hinai Jidori chicken has strict conditions that state that only chickens raised under certain conditions can be called Hinai Jidori chicken, but I'm sure that other types of chicken in Japan also have strict brand control if they are called jidori chicken, and that they must be delicious.

That's how much Japan cares about its local area.

But the fact that they are so particular about raising a bird just so they can eat kiritanpo nabe shows their greed, or perhaps even their obsession, which is the essence of it.

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President Gachon , Mr.Yutaka Sado

■President Gachon , Mr.Yutaka Sado

He conducted the Berlin Philharmonic and is the principal conductor of the Siena Wind Orchestra and the Vienna Tonkünstler Orchestra. In April 2023, he will become the music director of the New Japan Philharmonic, which is based in Sumida Ward, and he visited iU . I'm not familiar with classical music, but I've always felt a sense of familiarity with him because we're the same age and from Kyoto. I hope you'll join iU in the future.

◆School

I had a lot of fun when I was in elementary school. I have such strong memories of my childhood, and I think that's because I was blessed with great friends and teachers. I was born in the shopping arcade of Uzumasa, Kyoto.

At home, you are judged and treated harshly by your family. Going to school means leaving home. You are judged by the outside world. That is your first society.

When I was in junior high school, I was in my rebellious and adolescent phase. That's when I started to realize something interesting.

◆Message for you guys

Teenagers are extremely important in life. Teenagers are also active in the Olympics. There are courageous young people who are even changing social issues at 15 and 16 years old. They are very pure and have great physical and mental strength at this age. However, we cannot allow these children to run wild. It is something that can only be created by people with wisdom and experience working together.

I want you to enjoy your time here and absorb as many things as you can.

The orchestra can be enjoyed by everyone, from elementary school students to grandparents. It is important that the city and music work together to create the city's culture. I want to talk to people of all generations. I hope that young people will take in the advice of the teacher and the seniors they meet in the city at the most interesting time of their lives.

I started taking walks and getting to know the town of Sumida.

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President Gachon . Mr.Yutaka Sasamoto

■President Gachon . Mr.Yutaka Sasamoto

Former Asia representative of Twitter. Also top in Japan. How to be active in the international digital society? This is the question that iU students want to ask the most. I asked him when he was the representative.

◆Based in Singapore

I'm based in Singapore, and for better or worse, I have to work from early in the morning until late at night, following American time.

◆Differences between Singapore and Tokyo

The market landscape is different. In the Japanese market, business is conducted in Japanese, but in Asia, from Australia in the south to China in the north and Southeast Asia, there is a great deal of diversity in languages, religions and cultures.

◆ Twitter and Japan

It matches Japan. Twitter, which can be expressed in 140 characters, may have been a good match for haiku culture. There are many opportunities to use public transportation. As the number of people using smartphones on trains and buses has increased, the fact that it can be easily sent from a smartphone has made it a good time for Twitter to enter the market. If you take a GPS signal and plot it on a blank map, in Tokyo, it will match up nicely with the Yamanote Line and Chuo Line.

◆ Twitter Issues

Twitter's unique feature is that it allows users to communicate anonymously, but some people use it in different ways. It is a challenge to resolve slanderous comments in accordance with Twitter's policies.

◆Differences between foreign companies and Japanese companies

The sense of speed is different. In Japan, there are a lot of organizational adjustments. In foreign companies, the organization is vertically divided, so decisions are made quickly. Each has its good and bad points, so personally, I think the key is to incorporate the good points into management. There are also advantages to a matrix organization.

◆Recruit

Recruit is unique among Japanese companies. When I joined the company, the company promoted the idea of "everyone being a manager." From the time I joined the company, I was taught how to act when each employee thinks like a manager.

◆School/Learning

I have faced school from two different perspectives. One was during my university days. I learned more from activities outside of school than from studying at school. I worked part-time as an interpreter at the Japanese branch of NBC. This triggered my desire to work in information services and media. As a result, I have lived my life in my work. I learned a lot and used that as fuel during my university days.

The next opportunity was graduate school. When I was 30, I went to a business school in the United States through Recruit's training program. I was able to absorb the tools necessary for business, such as diversity and frameworks. It was because of that that I am able to work in my current position.

If I had studied more when I went to business school, I think my time in graduate school would have been more meaningful. Time is limited in life, so I wish I had gotten things done sooner, but there's no point in saying that, so I want everyone to cherish the time they have now.

◆Message for you guys

One is to be conscious of investment.

Not only financial investment, but also self-investment. How you approach your investment mindset can greatly affect your future life. Self-investment, wishing you had studied a little more at that time. Financial investments, etc. can also be a positive outcome if you are aware of the risks and learn about investments from an early stage. I wasn't very aware of this when I was young, and I learned about it later and now I feel that I should have done it at that time. I want you to think about investment in various ways.

Another approach is to think about the problem from the perspective of the problem itself.

When I do business, I always try to start by posing a problem. If the problem is posed correctly, the business strategy plan and answer will usually be correct. However, if the problem is posed incorrectly, no matter how hard you try, you will only get the wrong answer. I place great importance on coming up with the right problem pose. Furthermore, if I pose the problem to the people around me, absorb various opinions in response, and come across the right problem pose, my future career will be fulfilling.

 

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Cool Japan: Glasses

■ Cool Japan: Glasses

NHK Cool Japan: "Glasses" edition.

There are 60 million people who wear glasses in Japan .

One in two people wears glasses.

In the past, they were seen as being serious, studious, and uncool, but recently they have become a fashionable item and are at the forefront of fashion.

"I like glasses"

In the old days of foreign movies and manga, Japanese people were typically depicted wearing glasses with protruding teeth and a camera in the hands, but these days they wear them as a cool fashion statement.

In the past, there were many manga in which girls were depicted as cute without their glasses, but now the pattern has changed to girls who wear glasses being popular.

I realized that for Japanese people, who tend to have flat faces and shallow features, this is a way to completely change the impression of their face.

In Japan, there are a lot of restrictions like uniforms and black hair, but glasses are a prop that allows you to easily fulfill your desire to transform yourself.

"Quick Glasses Shop"

Cheap and fast is the golden rule of business in Japan.

Chains like this have had a huge impact on eyewear culture.

Not only are they fast, but they are also inexpensive, which is probably why more and more people are having multiple pairs of stylish glasses in different colors or with a bit of adventure, and using them for different purposes.

Glasses used to be expensive, and people would wear the same glasses every day.

It has become cheaper. It has become a consumable item.

This is probably what created today's glasses culture.

"Sabae, Fukui Prefecture"

My glasses are also from Sabae. They are light, durable, and go well with Japanese clothing.

I have three identical pairs of glasses.

Since they are made by craftsmen, I was worried about when they would run out.

Italian glasses are sold based on their design, but Sabae in Japan's strength is technology.

The work is divided into detailed divisions of labor and each worker focuses on one skill.

When such factories and craftsmen gather in one city, it becomes a brand.

This is the same as Nishijin in Kyoto.

While there are many cheap products on the market, brand strategies based on these technologies are still viable.

Vision-correcting devices, something that people would rather not have, have become fashionable and have become something that people don't really need but still want to wear. What an incredible innovation.

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