Japan makes inroads into the developing markets

Vietnam is experiencing a rapid economic growth as customers' purchasing abilities have increased that leads to opening up of supermarkets.

The surge in demand has given a boom to processed food industry.

Located in Dong Nai Province in South East Vietnam, a factory that manufactures daily processed food and meat has opened with the latest automation system.

Japanese consular and officials from Dong Nai Province also attended the grand completion ceremony.

This factory is facilitated with a logistics center that can be adjusted to four temperature zones: room temperature, fixed temperature, refrigerating, and freezing.

By storing food till its delivery to the shops, modern cold chain logistic service with consistent temperature control has become available.

As a processed food seller, AEON has collaborated with manufacturing companies and trading firms that are intended to provide delicatessen of Japanese quality.

Teamed up with AEON Vietnam, Ministop and Citimart of AEON Group and discussed the development in the Japanese and Vietnamese style products and have pushed the project forward together.

Hisashi Hasegawa, General Director, AEON Citimart, said, "In Vietnam, there are many families where both parents are working, and the needs for delicatessen are high. It's safe to say that for the consumers of Vietnam, it is the first time to see delicatessen delivered to the store directly and lined up on the shelves in a temperature-controlled condition."

He added, "This was because the factory and logistic process are combined together to make the very first cold chain in Vietnam and products provided with safety and reliability. At AEON, we can achieve the Japanese standards and make useful delicatessen retail spaces with products delivered to customers promptly in a temperature-controlled, safe and secure condition."

He further said, "It has been one of AEON's strengths to provide the right products at the right timing in a safe and secured condition, such as bentos (Japanese lunches), sandwiches, or onigiri (rice balls wrapped in seaweed). Including products development, we look forward to sell the delicatessen to the customers in Vietnam in a form that is more advanced and cannot be copied by others."

Not only food preservation, Japanese companies are making a mark in wrist watch manufacturing.

The G-SHOCK wristwatch was released in 1993 by Japanese company Casio Computer Co., Ltd.

Adding to the new value of toughness that withstands strong impact to the wristwatch as a precision machine, G-SHOCK was born when the developer, Mr. IBE accidentally broke his watch by dropping it on the floor, he decided to make a watch that wouldn't break when dropped.

Kikuo Ibe of the Hamura R and D Center, Casio Computer Co. Ltd., said, "Since a wrist watch is a very precise machine, it has become common knowledge that watches will break when being dropped on the floor. After a one-line proposal of developing a watch that doesn't break after dropping, the company gave a go-ahead and we started the development process. However, when conducting the fundamental experiments, we thought that a metal case wrapped with rubber would be okay, however, it fell apart."

The development process of G-SHOCK was continued with difficulties.

The rubber ball inside which keeps the metal case from breaking eventually became as big as a softball.

G-SHOCK was finally completed by absorbing the shock in five levels, and making the heart portion float inside the tiny area of the wristwatch.

The G-SHOCK's robustness is indicated in their slogan "Triple 10": a drop strength of 10 m, a water resistance of 10 m, and 10 years of battery life, which is supported by many tests.

Atsushi Oyama of the Quality Assurance Department, Timepiece Division, Casio Computer Co. Ltd., said, "For G-SHOCK, there is a total number of 176 different sections of evalution. When it comes to a new machine, the item will be manufactured after passing 100 evaluations. Although various tests exist, I believe we are doing harder tests than other makers, especially, the drop test for G-SHOCK. It's not an ordinary drop test. We drop the watch with strength to have an impact. Also, for the water resistance test, each G-SHOCK was tested before it was shipped out."

It is a natural thing for a product to be used. Casio would like to add surprises and additional value to achieve great quality.

They not only enhance the trust towards the toughness due to the requirement to the quality, but it also elevates the brand power in general.

Ibe said, "My final dream is to have aliens say "Mr. IBE, G-SHOCK is a wonderful watch."

It seems that the space will be the next stage for G-SHOCK.