NEGI 2010 BUSiNESS OUTLOOK SPECIAL

Wendy’s Japan, 1980-2009

The mood was somber at the site of the former Wendy’s restaurant in Ginza, where mourners came in droves to express their grief, lay flowers, and light chili-cheese scented candles. A very different scene took place the previous evening, when customers mobbed Wendy’s shops in an attempt to stockpile burgers, fries and Frosties ahead of the chain’s withdrawal from the Japanese market at midnight. But with the cold chill of dawn, Tokyoites awoke with a sense of despair, and there were reports of spontaneous memorials springing up across the city. Choking through sobs, one middle-aged Japanese man in Shinjuku held up a sign that read, “Where is the square-shaped beef?” A volunteer at the Tokyo English Lifeline support center told The Negi that he has been inundated with calls from foreigners despondent at the thought of facing another year in Japan without triple-decker burgers and self-serve ketchup tins. Fresh graffiti on a Wendy’s storefront in Ikebukuro spoke volumes for the fast-food chain’s legions of fans: “Wendy, I loved you, you bitch!”

Nova Corp., once the leading chain of English conversation schools in Japan, hit rock bottom in late 2008 following a series of financial scandals. Yet in a recently concluded study, Nova marketers were delighted to discover that the eikaiwa’s iconic pink bunny mascot still has a remarkably positive image among patients who have just awakened from long-term comas or are suffering from memory issues associated with Alzheimer’s. The study showed that over 90 percent of such respondents expressed either a “positive” or “somewhat positive” reaction to the Nova brand, though it was also noted that “a statistically insignificant minority” suffered panic attacks when shown pictures of the pink bunny. In a further effort to rebrand itself, Nova has dropped the slogan “Eki Mae Ryugaku” in favor of “No… no, That Was a Different Nova”

Since opening its first Tokyo store last month, Abercrombie & Fitch has suffered a backlash from globe-trotting Japanese who want it to be known that they regularly travel abroad to do their shirt shopping. “My Aba-Kuro sweatshirt was like wearing a huge sign on my chest that said, ‘I’m international. I’ve been to Hawaii,’ one customer told The Negi. “But now I’ll have to pepper my Japanese with more unnecessary English so people nearby will know that I have a passport.”