This Story Posted:
February 8th

 
 

[7:30 AM]
Things Look Good In Japan Part II - Canadian Says Japan Is Better Than Home
An Observer named Craig Hagerman also thinks things are pretty good in Japan right now. He has some concerns about pricing but otherwise sees a good future for Apple and the Mac, all thanks to the iMac. This letter is quoted verbatim.

"Hi,

I wanted to add a bit to the letter you had from Carlos in Japan. I have been living in Japan for about 3 years, the first two in Osaka and now in a more rural area outside Osaka. Carlos talks about stores with only 1 or 2 Macs and only the top ten software. Yes I have seen this too, but I have also seen the opposite. "Den den" town is Osaka's version of Tokyo's (infamous) Akihabara electronics district - a few streets jam packed with electronics and computer stores and huge crowds. And there is a very strong Apple presence in this area. The company has seen a decline in its customer base in Japan but the major electronics districts still seem to be doing great business. I think that I could buy pretty much anything Mac related here - provided it was in Japanese that is. There is an unbelievable selection of software, hardware, peripherals and gadgets. Unbelievable for me because I come from Canada. I have never seen any single store in Canada that comes close to any given one in Osaka's "den den town". I find it more like Carlos's lamentable state of Macs as he sees it in Japan - stores with only a couple computers, (computer) staff who don't know much about Mac and don't really try to sell it, and a seriously limited selection of hardware and software. Maybe I have just been unlucky in the stores I have visited. I do have to agree about the expensive pricing here. I am not sure why that is. I was looking at a new (blue and white) G3 last week - the price was close to $4000 US. (¥440,000). Think I will wait for my next trip overseas for that purchase. The iMac is a lot more reasonable and seems to be stirring up quite a bit of interest. Last weekend I watched a delivery truck stop in front of "MacSoft" (Mac dealer) and begin to unload - an entire truck load of iMac computers. All of the Mac dealers have them on prominent display and there seems to always be a few customers playing with them. My (Japanese) fiance recently told me that she wants to sell her Windoze computer and buy and iMac (that's why I love her!). At the junior high school where I work one teacher is still labouring on an old Mac Classic but wants to get a new computer. He loves Mac but has been leaning towards getting a Windows machine... until the iMac came out. he is now smitten and rethinking his defection. I think that these kind of stories suggest an extremely positive future for Macs (provided they can keep up the momentum).

I didn't know all of that stuff about the Apple retailers and dealers here in Japan so I want to that you and Carlos for enlightening me.

One final thing. You say:"Please keep in mind that English is a second language to this person and we included his letter verbatim." As a Junior high school English teacher I have to question your use of "to". I think that "for" is more appropriate and I would assume that you are all native English speakers right:-) Also "Carlos" isn't a Japanese name so how do you know that English is his second language?

Regards,

Craig Hagerman"

The Mac Observer Spin: Thanks Craig! We appreciate the grammar lesson too, the Grammar Observers agree with your assesment and we have corrected our faux pas!


The Japan Report
A Personal Account Of MacWorld Expo Tokyo - 2/24/99

Things Look Good In Japan Part VI- Sales People Everywhere - 2/8/99

Things Look Good In Japan Part V- Make The P1 In Different Colors Too - 2/8/99

Things Look Good In Japan Part IV- Not Enough English Software/Hello Kitty iMac - 2/8/99

Things Look Good In Japan Part III - iMacs Plentiful, Selling Well - 2/8/99

Things Look Good In Japan Part II - Canadian Says Japan Is Better Than Home - 2/8/99

Things Look Good In Japan Part I - Mac Store "The Place" To Be - 2/8/99

A Japanese Observer Says "You Got It Wrong!" - 2/5/99

The iMac Kicks Butt In Japan Too - 2/4/99

The Japan Report