おいおい、ここを２ちゃんねるにする気かい。すごい連中が押し寄せてくるぜ。

I hear that Japanese netizens have intense feelings about the Koreans!

Jyuunana cha is pretty funny.

More than a few of my Japanese friends think Lotte is a Japanese company.

The emphasis on 'the chocolate on this this fake kinoko no yama' looks like it's going to fall' was kind of strange.

Emphasizing the ignorance of people wandering around a shopping center in Seoul was kind of strange. As if... 'After the Koreans know that they're getting fake versions of Japanese products they will demand to pay more for the originals!' Yeah right.

Jyuunana cha is pretty funny.

More than a few of my Japanese friends think Lotte is a Japanese company.

The emphasis on 'the chocolate on this this fake kinoko no yama' looks like it's going to fall' was kind of strange.

Emphasizing the ignorance of people wandering around a shopping center in Seoul was kind of strange. As if... 'After the Koreans know that they're getting fake versions of Japanese products they will demand to pay more for the originals!' Yeah right.

"The emphasis on 'the chocolate on this this fake kinoko no yama' looks like it's going to fall' was kind of strange."

It was hard to tell whether they chose a lopsided one to show the shoddiness of the product or whether they all look like that. Yarase?

(By the way, if anyone wants to see some seriously scripted yarase shit, check out the Robert Baldwin clips on Sanma-san’s Karakuri TV.)

Bry wrote: "More than a few of my Japanese friends think Lotte is a Japanese company."

They aren't entirely wrong. Lotte was established first in Japan by South Korean Shin Kyuk-Ho (Takeo Shigemitsu). He was born in Korea but arrived in Japan during the war to study. Under the law at that time, he was a Japanese citizen. He was only able to formally set up in Korea once diplomatic relations were normalized. I don't know about now - I assume he's still alive - but he used to spend alternate months in Japan and Korea.

Mulboyne is 100% right. Lotte IS a Japanese company. It was established in Japan in 1945 and only in South Korea in 1966. Having a Korean founder does not make it a Korean company. Let`s face it, we don`t want to start talking about the ethnic / national origins of company founders in the USA, Canada, etc.

Mulboyne and M-Bone- Thanks! I was under the impression that Lotte was founded in Korea and subsequently broke into the Japanese market. I apologize for my ignorance.

On the other hand... from the perspective of many Japanese a company with a foreign founder is a foreign company. No matter how many of that company's employees are Japanese, where it was founded, how it is run, etcetera.

I want to make it clear that I think think it's absurd to perpetuate the myth of a 'homogeneous' Japan. Of course a company founded in Japan IS a Japanese company... but not everyone is going to see it that way.

NICE bubble skirt!

Bry, that's true, but a lot of that comes down to initial perception: if a Japanese person thinks a company is Japanese, and then you point out that it was established in Japan by a foreigner, they will still continue to think of it as Japanese. If they think a company is foreign, and then you point out that it was established in Japan by a foreigner, they will continue to think of it as foreign.

That is, a company being established by a foreigner in Japan is just middle enough that it won't sway a person from their initial impression. Conversely, being established by a foreigner in a foreign country, or a Japanese in Japan, is enough to sway people from their initial impression.

Take, for example, Sega, which is seen as a Japanese company, even by gaming geeks who have since found out it was established by an American.

I drunk １７茶 last month.It was alright.There is a growing awareness in copyrights in Korea too.

Lotte:
While what M-Bone and Mulboyne had said is accurate.Lotte Korea is pretty much a different company in corporate governance,only the CEO is the same.I don't think there are any personal intersection between the two company,because selling chewing gum is tiny business for Lotte Korea,which is now the 6th largest chaebol(conglomerate),they are now in the middle of fuss with the entire Korean tourist industry for the planning of joint budget tour company with JTB(destined to be the biggest in the Korean industry)and Mr.Shigemitsu is still the honorable citizen of the Republic of Korea.

Pot,meet Kettle.

From 2ch's favourite Korean daily The Chosen Ilbo
http://www.chosunonline.com/article/20070701000012

Ha.

"I drunk １７茶 last month."

Was it one better than Japan?

"Of course a company founded in Japan IS a Japanese company..."

Is Johnny's Jimusho a "Japanese company" if founded by an American? Or wait, is Johnny REALLY American or did he make all that up?

I liked the ads.
http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=69VJrVxniO4
The taste...16茶 plus one more added flavor.

Crystal seems like such a nice young lady

The nationality of a company isn't such a clear-cut issue. It really depends on what you are trying to measure. If I establish a wholly-owned company in Japan then it is a Japanese legal entity but I'm British. At a later date, I could reincorporate in Britain. As Aceface points out with Lotte, things can get complicated. Lotte in Korea is a Korean company - a major chaebol - while Lotte Japan is Japanese. The Japan operation came first but Lotte Korea wasn't set up as a subsidiary of the Japan operation.

Brands complicate the issue too. I doubt many Americans thought Burger King was anything other than a US company even when British food giant Grand Met owned it. Jinro is a Korean company and drink but Kirin now owns the Japan operations just as Japanese companies own Tower Records, Tully's and Mister Donuts in Japan.

"Jinro is a Korean company and drink but Kirin now owns the Japan operations just as Japanese companies own Tower Records"

JINRO had sued rival soju maker,Doosan last month over "negative"marketing.Doosan salesmen were spreading rumours that JINRO will be sold to Japan's Asahi brewer and drinking Jinro product is equal to letting Japan exploiting Koreans.JINRO took this as threat to their corporate image in spite of JINRO JAPAN is owned by Kirin Beer.
http://www.chosunonline.com/article/20070621000023
Meanwhile as we are talking this now at neomarxisme,in Seoul,Renault-Samusung CEO(Frenchman)is negotiating their labor union that company is forced to make decision of importing more auto parts from another Renault corporate entoutage,Nissan.
CEO is threatening militant union to compromise in wages or they will worsen Korea's trade deficit with Japan and let the public opinion call union member,traitors.

So this company nationality thing is potentially flammable between J-K(K-J?)economic relation.

Tying a company with a nationality is stupid.

It would be better for the world if people stopped treating a company better or worse because they perceive it to be some nationality or another.

i have a somewhat-related question, but i think i've asked it here before:

what's the deal with all beverages not originating in japan (eg. pepsi, volvic, sunkist) having to be explicitly distributed by one of the japan beverage big guns (kirin, asahi, itoen, etc.), to the extent that even the packaging bears the marks of the distributor? i don't remember cans of sapporo being marked with coca-cola back in nyc, so what gives?

about the shrimp chips - i grew up eating several versions of the same chip, made by a slew of manufacturers spanning east asia. so to me, the accusation of copying the shrimp chip is akin to frito-lay pointing at calbee and saying they stole the potato chip.

"so to me, the accusation of copying the shrimp chip is akin to frito-lay pointing at calbee and saying they stole the potato chip."
Yeah,you are right about that.But at least Calbee uses different design of packages(and different patatoe character)apart from Frito-lay...And some of the asian company buy patent from Calbee for Shrimp chips,but not Korean.

Beverage:
I think to infiltrate into Japanese market in large scale,you have to put your product in vending machine for disturibution and that is holded by the exsitsting local firms.Naturally it is more profittable for foreign firm to sell the patent to local beverage firm.I imagine Sapporo in NY are not exactly selling like a Toyota in six packs,so they are all probably being imported to serve the marginal needs.
In China,they sell Asahi Super Dry with local joint venture logo in the can.

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