Do you know some Japanese companies ?
I noticed that I can often see Japanese products in Germany more than I expected.
You might not know if the product is Japanese one or not but you might be using Japanese product.
I think there are quite many Japanese products all over the world.
Let me introduce Japanese products / companies that I believe it’s well known by many people.
Japanese Car
1.Toyota
Lexus is also one of Toyota’s brands.
2.Honda
Honda produces mortar bikes as well.
There are more e.g. Suzuki, Mazda, Nissan, Subaru, and Kawasaki.
I believe that Japanese car industry is advanced and global.
Japanese Electricity
1.Canon
Cameras and printers are popular.
2.Panasonic
My parents have a lot of Panasonic products like air conditioner, TV and refrigerator.
My boyfriend has a Panasonic phone at home.
There are more Japanese electricity companies e.g. Mitsubishi, Hitachi, Sharp and so on.
LG, Samsung are Korean products by the way.
Japanese Entertainment
1.Sony
Playstation is one of the most popular products by Sony.
Many friends in Japan have the latest version if Playstation.
2.FUJIFILMI
Sometimes I see photo studio shops that are saying “Fujifilm” in Berlin.
I feel Japanese technology is trusted by people in the world.
Nintendo which is popular for games and Yamaha which produces piano
and mortar bikes are also famous.
Entertainment business and market is big in Japan.
Japanese Mascot
1.Hello Kitty
I like Hello Kitty (ハローキティ) since I was a child.
There are many cute mascots produced by Sanrio
e.g. pom pom Purin, My melody, Cinnamoroll and more.
I believe that those characters are well known because my boyfriend knows Hello Kitty.
But I do not see Hello Kitty so often in Germany than I was expecting.
2.Pokémon
I think Pikachu is adorable.
As a character, game or Anime, Pokémon is worldwide.
Mario from Nintendo is famous as well as Doraemon which is popular especially in Thailand.
Japanese Food
1.Kikkoman soy sauce
Kikkoman is one of big company in Japan.
I can buy soy sauce produced by Kikkoman at supermarkets in Germany.
2.Pocky/Mikado
Japanese company Gulico produces a lot of snacks, sweets and food products.
Mikado is one of the most popular sweets.
It’s stick chocolate. You can see it at supermarkets in Germany.
The original name of Mikado in Japan is Pocky.
When I saw Mikado for my first time at supermarket in Germany,
I thought the other company copied the product Pocky but I realized that the product name is just different than Japan.
By the way, 11st November is Pokey’s day in Japan.
Number “1” looks like a stick like Pocky.
That’s why the company Gulico decided to make the day to promote Pocky more.
The taste of Pocky and Mikado are a bit different in my opinion.
Mikado’s chocolate has more milk taste and sweet than Pocky in my opinion.
In Japan, there are a lot of variations of Pocky products.
Many kind of flavor like match chocolate, dark chocolate etc. and many kind of thickness like thin, thick and normal.
There are also some kind of texture and different product name but they are based on Pocky.
My favorite Pocky is the strawberry one.
Japanese Apparel
1.UNIQLO (ユニクロ)
There are shops UNIQLO in Berlin, Germany.
I was very surprised because I didn’t know that I can buy UNIQLO products easily in Berlin, Germany.
In Japan, it is a little cheaper than Germany.
I bought inner wear which is heattech, AIRism and sleep wear at UNIQLO in Berlin, Germany.
2.MUJI (無印良品)
MUJI is popular and common in Japan.
I saw the shop in Berlin. They sell almost everything like clothes, furniture, stationeries, food etc.
Basically, MUJI product’s quality is good and simple design.
I don’t know many international Japanese companies which are in the IT, E-commerce and apparel industries.
For E-commerce, Rakuten is a common shopping platform in Japan as well as other foreign countries.
Japanese Bank companies Mizuho, Mitsui Sumitomo and Mitsubishi Tokyo UFJ have branches abroad.
For Japanese cosmetics brand, I can buy Shu Uemura and SHISEIDO products in Germany.
That’s it.
I like Japanese products as well as German products because the quality is usually nice.