I uploaded some pictures of Kobe Airport that recently opened on Feb 16th on the artificial island in the sea near the heart of Kobe. The airport is very convenient to visit Kobe from many cities in Japan including Tokyo. Click here!
When I went to popular Roppongi Hills Building (picture) 
in Tokyo last week, I found the Cold Stone Creamery shop on the north tower. It seemed to be closed on the day.
According to their website (in Japanese) and a news article, however, it is today on November 3rd that the Scottsdale, Arizona-based premium ice cream company opens its first shop in Japan at the Roppongi Hills.
Although I cannot visit to the shop soon because I have already come back to Kobe, this is a great news for ice cream lovers in Japan like me as well as many American companies who are seeking market entry opportunities into Japan. The Roppongi Hills is one of the best place in Tokyo to open new shop targeting high-end consumers thanks to the building's upscale image. In fact, I saw a great crush on the building's shopping area. I'm very positive of the unique ice cream shop's success there.
Many American food and beverage companies, I believe, have great business potential in Japan, if they have unique products and if --- this is more important --- they understand Japanese people's taste for food. The best example would be Starbucks in Japan, not to mention McDonald's as a traditional case.
Hey, Krispy Kreme, when will you guys come to Japan?
The Herald Tribune/Asahi reported "Japan Post cold-parcel plan heats up rivalry".
One thing I had never heard when I lived in Los Angles was this cold and frozen parcel services, which are quite popular in Japan. The article says "In fiscal 2003, about 50 million frozen parcels were delivered, compared with the total door-to-door delivery of 2.8 billion parcels." Imagine your mom can fedex her homemade frozen apple pie to you. Sounds nice, huh? 
The good part of the service is it can be used for not just B2B and B2C, but even C2C. That is, anyone can send cold or frozen stuff to anyone and the courier service companies like Yamato or Nittsu take care of the rest with their trucks on each of which a refrigerator and a freezer are installed.
So, if you have an warehouse, logistic partner or factory in Japan, you can sell your cold or frozen products to Japanese customers without investing in your own trucks with freezers. Isn't it cool? Not hot, obviously.
(If I am wrong, that is, if there are such services in the US, please let me know.)
TiVo will make an entry into Japanese market, according to this article on the Nikkei (in Japanese). Looks like MarketWatch.com reported this article based on the Nikkei’s report.
TiVo’s CEO, Mike Ramsay told Nikkei they would start their business in 2006 in Japan and they expect alliances with "strong service providers", suggesting tie-up with cable TV operators or internet providers.
This is a quite interesting move. Japanese people could finally enjoy TiVo that turned a synonym for DVR (Digital Video Recorder) in the US. Japanese market should have great potential for TiVo because of the large number of gadget lovers who are willing to pay good for quality products rather than cheap and low quality ones.
I assume, though, TiVo will need to solve several issues.
1. Brand: No Japanese consumer knows TiVo’s name that every American knows.
2. Competition: Panasonic (with the DIGA brand), Sony (with the Sugoroku and other brands) and other big names have already dominated the DVR market. Do they want TiVo provide them TiVo’s software and service?
3. Compatibility: There are established TV programming standards in Japan like Sony’s iEPG (Internet Electronic Program Guide), ADAMS-EPG and G-guide. Will TiVo support them or compete against them?
If TiVo will succeed in Japan, that would be another good example of how a US high-tech company enter the lucrative but different market. We will see.
