A Good Business Opportunity
Ah, once again, the stench of commercialism is in the air.
This past week Osaka held the annual IAAF World Athletics Championships. And no one made more profit than the businesses hawking their products or restaurants on the sidelines.
But isn't that how it always is? I'm sure Beijing businesses plan to take every opportunity to boost their sales and image when the Olympics roll around. But when did these sport-based events stop actually being about sports? Normally, some Japanese companies/people/restaurants are a bit foreigner wary (it's true!) due to language or even personal issues. But in light of this event every Osaka company has jumped on the "We love Gaijin! (foreigners)" bandwagon. And with the sudden gaijin fever, came extra funny signs in Japanese-English to try to appear foreigner friendly.
Osaka businesses and government also did their little monkey dance to attract foreigner media in the hopes that they would report only good things about Osaka to boost either their business or the city itself. This dance included free admission and a generous free tour around the city. Did it work? Unfortunately, most of the foriegn journalists interested were in fact Asian themselves from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Korea. Other than little tidbits about sightseeing in Osaka, complaing about the weather, most English-language publications seem to be focused on the heart of the event that in the light of all the commercialism becomes forgotten, the sports.
--For an interesting article, please read this--
posted by Fudocom - Rei @ 11:09 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home