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TOTAL LICENSING
Japan
Licensing Asia, which took place at interestingly, the Edison Foundation though much of the animation would
the beginning of November, once from New Jersey. not be suitable for child audiences.
again provided a valuable snapshot of Japan is, without doubt, one of the Over and above this, some fascinat-
the Japanese licensing industry as it most fascinating and intriguing mar- ing properties and products have
continues to mature and develop. kets in terms of licensing – particu- achieved significant success in the
larly to those used to doing business Japanese market – properties that
in the West. would be unlikely to achieve the same
Characters that in Europe or the US success in other territories.
would be solely marketed to children, On the JR railway line, which runs
such as Sesame Workshop, Sponge- through Tokyo, each station plays
Bob and others, have very different a different ‘jingle’ when passengers
markets in Japan. are getting on or off a train. These
Over and over again, companies short jingles have apparently become
explained how their key market is so popular that consumers can now
women aged between 18 and 40. ‘Of- download them to use as ringtones
fice ladies’ as they are known in Ja- on their cellphones!
pan are major consumers of licensed In terms of licensed properties, a
products – and not just properties prime example of a property that
such as Hello Kitty which has a broad works in Japan is Henry, the British-
fan base. Many properties that most made vacuum cleaner. Henry is very
would consider to be aimed at chil- successfully licensed in Japan through
Once again, Total Licensing attended
dren, in fact have two distinct markets Banpresto and has over twenty licens-
the show, sponsored by LIMA, which
in Japan – the child market that one es with products including keyrings,
was well attended with 8667 visi-
would expect and the older, more so- T-shirts, stationery and other items.
tors over the three days, according
phisticated market. According to Junji Inomata of Ban-
to Nikkei, the organisers. Exhibitors
The cross-age marketing occurs again
totalled over 100 last year includ-
and again when one meets Japanese
ing television companies, brand and
licensing companies. (As an aside
sports licensing companies, depart-
at this point, I have to say we
ment stores including Matsuzakaya
witnessed this at first hand. At
and even Suginami-Ku, a suburban
the end of the first day of the
town on the outskirts of Tokyo. Of
show, we were travelling on
course, the show majored on the en-
Tokyo’s underground system
tertainment side of the business and,
and ended up standing next
during the event, it emerged that a
to a woman, well into her 40s,
small brand-only event will be held
wearing Sesame Street trou-
in downtown Tokyo next February
sers!)
for licensees and retailers specifically
As a result of the crossover, a
interested in the non-entertainment
significant amount of Japanese
side of the business.
animation is shown at prime-
Whilst the show, predominantly fea-
time or later directly aimed
tured Japanese companies, there were
at adults. It is not unusual for
some exhibitors from outside Japan
animation to be screened at midnight
including US-based artist Lassen and,
on most channels, including NHK al-
88
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