Yoshiu Hoon
Outside the 36th floor of the Hotel Groove Shinjuku in Tokyo, where I was staying, is the Toho Cinema, a giant Godzilla model that looks like it's about to devour Harrison Ford in the heart of the Kabukicho entertainment district.
A sign advertising the latest installment in the film series, “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” reads: “Onward to the final challenge that will change our destiny.”
In addition to thinking about how apt that statement is given the pandemic-related difficulties facing Japanese tourism, I also want to point out that as a media franchise, “Godzilla” is much older than “Indiana Jones.”
The fictional monster first appeared in a 1954 Ishiro Honda film as a prehistoric creature powered by nuclear radiation, while Indiana Jones made his first appearance in 1981's Indiana Jones and the Lost Ark. (Though Indy has had to rely on AI and CGI to make him look younger in more recent films, Godzilla appears to have aged nothing at all!)
A Godzilla replica ready to take a bite of Indiana Jones appears at Tokyo's Toho Cinema. Photo courtesy of Yeoh Siew Hoon
Godzilla is just one of many Japanese media franchises that have captured the imagination of the world. In fact, Japan owns 10 of the 25 highest-grossing media franchises of all time, the top two being “Pokemon” and “Hello Kitty,” according to Tokyo-based economist Jesper Koll, speaking at Web in Travel’s WiT Japan & North Asia conference in July.
Cole said Asian children are more familiar with Pokémon and Hello Kitty than with Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck.
In fact, if you ask Singapore Airlines’ budget carrier Scoot how popular Pokémon is, they’ll tell you that the Pikachu-themed jets it launched to celebrate its 10th anniversary in 2022 have made the airline a favorite among Asia’s Gen Z and millennials. According to the airline, these aircraft, which have seen a huge recovery in inbound traffic to Japan, are always the first to fill.
Speaking about Japan’s soft power, Cole said that while the common perception portrays Japan as an aging and declining power, that is not the case in reality. In fact, he said the new Japan that has emerged after the pandemic is “a first-class power with wealthy corporations, wealthy consumers, a new middle class, a lifestyle superpower, and a bastion of policy stability.”
He shared the following numbers from the Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report 2020:
Unlike many Western countries, it is not a “winner takes all” situation in Japan when it comes to household wealth. Of the total wealth of $26.9 trillion, 49.5% is held by the top 10% and 18.2% by the top 1%. Compare this to the US, where the total wealth is $1,263 trillion. In the US, 75.6% of the wealth is held by the top 10% and 35.3% by the top 1%. In Japan, the salaryman outperforms the superstar CEO.
The call said that for the first time in 20 years, a new middle class was emerging in Japan amid an aging and declining population, growing from 32.8 million in June 2014 to 36.6 million this April.
What's unusual about Japan, he said, is that on the corporate side, “there are no superstars.”
Unlike the United States, where a few top companies monopolize sales, Japan is a “red ocean with many companies,” making it difficult for foreign companies to enter and penetrate the market.
His story was enlightening in that it gave me a new perspective on Japan and a greater appreciation of the subtleties and nuances that make it such a fascinating destination for travelers. Perhaps the time away from one of my favorite places on earth gave me a new perspective on a familiar place.
A billboard in Kabukicho. Photo courtesy of Yeoh Siew Hoon.
Change is coming
On the surface, it was my first visit to Tokyo since 2019, and it seemed like nothing had changed. I landed at Haneda Airport on a Sunday evening, and by the time I reached Kabukicho, it was well past midnight, but the city’s most famous entertainment district was buzzing with energy. Being back in the center of it, amid the crowds, noise, convenience stores, and neon lights, felt like a full-scale assault on the senses.
The plaza was filled with Japanese kids, listening to music, dancing, skateboarding, and doing whatever it took to get into the groove, with a few security guards watching faithfully. Kabukicho is as bright as Times Square, except with a different image. Here, you’re more likely to see highly photoshopped images of big-eyed little girls and cute boys with dimple-like smiles than news and stock prices.
But even in this part of Tokyo, changes are happening.
Hotel Groove Shinjuku and Bellstar Tokyo are housed in the new Tokyu Kabukicho Tower, designed by renowned architect Yuko Nagayama and a new landmark in the city. More importantly, the development is part of a larger strategy to change the image of the Kabukicho area from a red-light district to a more stylish, artistic and colorful area.
Nick Nishikawa, general manager of both hotels, says the goal is to slowly change the area's image so that corporate guests feel as comfortable as leisure guests.
Hotel Groove Shinjuku, a Parkroyal Hotel, has an artistic vibe. Themed rooms double as art installations, and most of the guests are young and Asian. The upscale Bellustar Tokyo, a Pan Pacific Hotel, targets corporate travelers and the conference market.
The staff who helped me check in at Hotel Groove were Chinese, which was one of the notable differences from my visit to Tokyo. I don’t know if it’s related to the pandemic, but this time I met more foreign service workers, including Chinese Uber drivers who decided to stay after finishing their studies. One from Shanghai said he was so happy to be in Tokyo “because I can get away from my parents.” Children are the same everywhere. I also met older Japanese taxi drivers who were happy to speak English with me.
Japan has always struggled with diversity at all levels. Not just gender, but nationality as well. Japan has always been seen as a very monoculture, and it is not easy for foreign talent to enter and remain in the workplace. It has also struggled with tourism spreading beyond the major cities of Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto. Pre-pandemic overtourism was a major lament in Kyoto.
Changes are also taking place in this regard.
WiT Japan & North Asia hears from Pasona Group, a leading Japanese executive recruiting firm, which took the bold step of relocating core functions from its Tokyo headquarters to Awaji Island in Hyōgo Prefecture, near Kobe, during the pandemic, relocating about 1,200 employees.
President Riho Kato says this has forced diversity in the workforce and brought more people to rural areas. “We have 100 employees from 30 to 40 countries. People from young to old, people with disabilities, people from different cultures and backgrounds, artists, athletes.”
Asked whether he had difficulty recruiting people from Awaji, Kato said, “Japan is Japan. It doesn't matter if it's rural. In fact, they sometimes prefer rural areas. We want to attract diverse talent. There are many professionals who have a lot to contribute after retirement and can bring a different perspective to hospitality.”
New ideas in tourism
When I asked Japanese travel agency CEO Eijiro Yamakita if he would consider moving his company’s headquarters to the countryside, he said it wasn’t out of the question — a clear sign that the pandemic is forcing a new way of thinking for everyone, including the 111-year-old company.
Airbnb, which aims to contribute to the decentralization of tourism, has also donated 150 million yen (about 1 million USD) to the Japan Kominka Association, which deals with the preservation of traditional Japanese architecture and the revitalization of local economies through the renovation of old Japanese houses. The association plans to provide up to 5 million yen (about 36,000 USD) to each renovation of 30 houses across the country, which will eventually be listed as Historical Homes on the Airbnb platform.
There’s MGM Resorts, which has finally been waiting for approval for nearly a decade to build a $10 billion integrated resort in Osaka. Jiro Kawakami, MGM’s chief executive officer for Japan, shared the plans for the resort with WiT Japan & North Asia, and MGM expects it to be at its most profitable when it opens in 2029.
“Most people think Las Vegas is a big gaming market, but it’s only $8 billion a year in gaming revenue,” Kawakami said. “Macau was $35 billion (pre-COVID). Japan is a huge market. It’s a strong destination with 18 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. There’s so much to do outside of an integrated resort. It’s incredible to see what Marina Bay Sands Singapore has achieved in such a small market and with only one UNESCO World Heritage Site.”
So in addition to the 2,500 guestrooms in the two hotel towers, approximately 140,000 square feet of meeting space and 215,000 square feet of exhibition space, one of the resort’s key features will be a unique facility that will act as an extensive tourism concierge promoting travel to other parts of Japan, including Kyoto, Nara and the Kansai region.
Asked to imagine what the facilities/concierges sending these tourists might look like, Kawakami said, “I’d like to see customers using AI to create personalized, customized tours that don’t require a lot of human interaction. I’d like to see a lot of terminals where people can say, ‘I want to eat eel in Nara. I need a counter seat.’ In that sense, I think it’s good to focus more on AI-generated content.”
To help Kawakami visualize the facility, we used his word prompts to create images with the Mid-Journey AI program. We’ll probably have to check back in six years to see if the AI did it right.
Meanwhile, I don't mind AI or CGI ageing me down. Godzilla, I don't.
