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On Feb 5, the Omotenashi Selection 2014 Award Ceremony was held in Tokyo. This event, the first of its kind, was organized by the group Omotenashi Nippon, and awarded 47 different companies for their products that represent the Japanese concept of “omotenashi."
"Omotenashi," which roughly means anticipating a guest's needs and being ready to accommodate those needs before being asked, has been a buzzword in Japan since it was used by Christel Takigawa during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Committee's winning bid in 2013.
The Japanese government and Japanese businesses have been working to strengthen the country's position as a cultural superpower. There have been many different initiatives over the past few years, including “Yokoso Japan”, an initiative that promoted tourism to Japan, and “Cool Japan”, which highlighted different aspects of Japanese culture.
Omotenashi Nippon has taken a slightly different approach to the promotion of Japanese culture. The group, which is made up of five different organizations and was formed in April 2014, seeks to turn "omotenashi" into a brand and a business to promote Japanese culture worldwide. In 2014, the Omotenashi Nippon organization screened 141 companies' products. The screening committee, which was made up of Japanese as well as foreigners, evaluated each product on how “Japanese”, “Modern” and “Global” they were.
Among the 47 companies whose products made it past the screening process were 13 companies that received gold awards, such as Kamebiji’s “Soy Salt”, a product inspired by traditional Japanese “shoyu”, and Kitaichi’s tatami-inspired minimalist rugs, “Sarari Tatami Rug Style”.
Omotenashi Nippon plans to continue collaborating with the 47 award-winning companies in order to establish an “omotenashi” brand that can be marketed overseas. An organization representative stated that they hope to have 500 collaborating companies by 2020.
The 47 winning products will be displayed from March 11 to March 17 in Nihonbashi’s Takashimaya department store, as well as in April at the Japan Trade Center in Dubai.
© Japan Today
8 Comments
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M3M3M3
These are probably nice products, but I think 'Omotenashi' is the ultimate manifestation of a paternalistic society. In a not so subtle way it's saying that if you want something other than these 47 award winning products the experts have carefully anticipated that you will want, there is probably something wrong with YOU.
justbcuzisay
The timing is a bit tasteless IMHO. On the four-year anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake, how about showing some OMOTENASHI to your fellow countrymen who are still displaced?
smithinjapan
Agreed. It's not "anticipating what the guest needs" at all if you're suggesting or forcing certain services/products on them. And I doubt 'omotenashi' is supposed to fall into the realm of reaping profits for this 'uniquely Japanese' trait.
nath
How can a product anticipate your needs? What are these products, smart phones? Also, as many others have noted, when a foreign McDonalds is more likely to accommodate special requests than a ryokan, it is clear than omotenashi really doesn't mean very much at all.
sillygirl
Gee, I can't wait to get inundated with products I could not have anticipated wanting. Nice to know that omotenashi will take care of it for me.
GW
I wonder if we will all make to 2020 without having to spend some time in a rubber room after being pummeled with all this omotnashi!
Yubaru
The whole idea of the Olympics and omotenashi are tasteless, but just another part of the ruling party's desire to have the world forget about Tohoku and create an image that everything in Japan is fine.
Knox Harrington
Have to... Sell. More. Stuff.
Omotenashi is hospitality. Nothing special. Good hospitality comes from within, not from Dentsu HQ.