JIN-308 -- QB House Cuts to the Quick

J@pan Inc Magazine Presents:

T H E J @ P A N I N C N E W S L E T T E R

Commentary on the Week's Business, Technology and Cultural News
==================================================
Issue No. 308
Friday February 11, 2005 TOKYO

Subscribe for FREE:
http://www.japaninc.com/newsletters/index.html?list=jin

CONTENTS

@@ VIEWPOINT: QB House Cuts to the Quick

========================= ICA Event ===============
ICA Feb. 17 Event
Presenter - John Kirch, Regional Director for Asia/Pacific,
Ubiquity Software Corporation
Topic - VoIP & SIP are the Future of Telecommunications
RSVP required. Complete event details at http://www.icajapan.jp/
Date: Thursday, Feb. 17, 2005
Time: 6:30 Doors open, sit down dinner included
Cost: 3,000 yen (members), 5,500 yen (non-members),
Free drink at bar for this event
Open to all - Location is Foreign Correspondents' Club
http://www.fccj.or.jp/static/aboutus/map.php
====================================================
================= AMT Group's Development ==========
Exclusive "Leadership Awareness Seminar" at AMT Group's
Development Den in Yotsuya. 10:00 - 15:00, March 24 and 25
In a small group (maximum 6 participants) you will:
* Learn and apply new leadership tools
* Access over 100 ways to motivate yourself and others
* Enjoy presenting before a group of peers and professional
facilitators
Total investment: JPY97,000.
E-mail seminars@amt-group.com for details and to register.
>
====================================================
====================================================

@@ VIEWPOINT: QB House Cuts to the Quick

For 20 years I descended the hill to the barber shop. I
would glance through the window next to the revolving
barber pole to gauge the wait. I would enter the shop
if no one was waiting; otherwise I would return later.
By the chairs in which waiting patrons sat was a bookcase
stuffed with manga and back numbers of "Playboy." On
top of the case lay fresh copies of the "Yomiuri" and
"Kanagawa" newspapers, and a box full of Mild Seven
cigarettes. The brass ashtray stood nearby.

I didn't go to the barber shop for the amenities; I
went for the sensual experience of fingers squeezing
furrows of hair for the scissors, hands kneading scalp,
hot towel wilting whiskers, razor smoothly scraping
skin pulled drum tight, and vibrator running up the
spine, then massaging the shoulders. The experience
lasted an hour and set me back 3,500 yen.

It's been a couple of years now since I visited the
hill-bottom barbershop. The reason: QB House.

QB House, operated by QB Net Co. with a Tokyo head
office, has in front a red, green and yellow signal
lamp in place of a barber pole. Green means no wait;
yellow, a wait of five to ten minutes; red, a wait of
15 minutes or longer. QB House is for busy souls.
Indeed, its motto is "Unlocking the potential
of time."

It achieves speed through cutting-edge rationalization.
The patron purchases a 1,000-yen coupon from a machine
that accepts only notes and can't make change. When
his (sometimes her) turn comes, he hands the coupon
to the first available barber. Thus barbers handle no
money and can concentrate on cutting hair. Which is
all QB House does. No frills, 10 minutes.

The key is the "system unit." This consists of a chair
on top of a dust box into which the barber sweeps hair;
a closet for the patron's coat and bag; a mirror on
the closet door; and shelves for sterilizer, neck
papers, combs, and "air washer." Several system units
make up a single QB House.

The "system unit," by placing tools at the fingertips,
increases the barber's efficiency. The "air washer"
draws cut hair by light suction. If in spite of this
paean to F. W. Taylor a hair cut takes over 10 minutes,
there is no extra charge.

The first QB House opened in Kanda, Tokyo, in 1996.
Two years later the company was making inroads into
west Japan and Kyushu. In 2000 QB Houses began popping
up in northern Honshu. The 100th shop opened in
2002, in Kanamachi.

People outside of the barbering industry began to take
note. QB House was awarded the New Business Prize and
the Asian Innovation Award for 1998. There are now 15
QB House outlets in Singapore, where they draw an
average of 700 customers per seat every month,
according to a company spokesperson. In December 2003
a QB House outlet sprang up in Malaysia. Today QB Net
Co. is capitalized at over 235 million yen and has
more than 230 outlets.

On the wall of the shop at the bottom of the hill hang
photos of the barber's trip to visit his brother's
grave in Manchuria. His brother had died there during
the war. He told me about his brother one day.
Another day he described how watercraft had
once chugged up and down the nearby canal. And
he once remarked someone from the countryside had
bought a nearby penthouse for more than 100 million
yen. "People with money have money," he commented.
We always talked. I also talked with his wife. Both
chatted with patrons waiting their turns.

In contrast to a cut, shampoo, and shave at
the bottom-of-the-hill barber shop, the QB House
experience is as sensual as a shoeshine,
and about as communal as a ride in an elevator
with strangers.

Yet I won't return to the barber shop at the bottom
of the hill. It charges me three times what I pay at
QB House. For a dude writing a free newsletter for
a living, there is really no choice.

-- Burritt Sabin

=======================================================
=====================< Setting up a Company >==========
Entrepreneur's Handbook Seminar
Terrie Lloyd, founder of over 12 start-up companies in
Japan, will be giving an English-language seminar and Q&A on
starting up a company in Japan. This is an ideal opportunity to
find out what is involved, and to ask specific questions that
are not normally answered in business books. All material is
Japan-focused.
*Date: 5 March Sat 10:30 a.m.
*Location: J@pan Inc offices
*Cost: 15,000 pay in advance ・20,000 yen at the door.
Email seminar@japaninc.com seminar@japaninc.com>
for details and to register.
==================================================
Email Marketing Works
Study after study shows that email marketing ranks among the
most effective, and cost-effective, methods of reaching your
audience. However, constructing an effective email marketing
campaign involves far more than simply stuffing your
customer's inboxes. Follow up mailing, reporting,
personalization, autoresponders and, of course, crafting of
the appropriate message are all essential components of a
successful campaign.

Ashley Associates Ltd. (http://www.ashleyassociates.co.jp)
is a leading provider of email marketing solutions. For
more information, or to request a free white paper please
contact info@ashleyassociates.co.jp.

================= B U R E A U ====================
- Serviced Apartments in Tokyo -
BUREAU serviced apartment complex offers an attractive
exterior design and stylish interior furnishings. A
concierge is available on weekdays to assist our special
guests. A perfect alternative to hotel living, BUREAU
is the choice for demanding executives on short to extended
stays in Tokyo.

MONTHLY & EXECUTIVE serviced apartments for RENT
http://www.bureau.co.jp/en/
================================================

========================= CHIBA TODAY ==========
--Subscribe to Japan's New Biotech Newsletter--
If you're involved in biotechnology or genome research, Chiba
Prefecture wants your business. It is aggressively building its
resume as Japan's leader in these 21st century industries.
Japan is the world's 2nd largestbiotech/genome market. Our
newsletter will bring you information from Chiba Prefecture, as
well as the Japan market at large. Sign up for our
newsletter here:
=================================================
SUBSCRIBERS: 24,414 as of February 11, 2005

EDITOR
Written and edited by Burritt Sabin (editors2@japaninc.com)

CHECK OUT OUR OTHER JAPAN-SPECIFIC NEWSLETTERS:
http://www.japaninc.com/subscribe_news.html

UNSUBSCRIBE
To unsubscribe from this newsletter, click here:
http://www.japaninc.com/unsubscribe_news.html

ADVERTISING INFORMATION
To advertise in this newsletter, contact:
ads@japaninc.com

GET THE MAGAZINE
Subscribe at:
http://www.japaninc.net/mag/subs.html

FEEDBACK AND PROBLEMS
We welcome your viewpoint:
editors@japaninc.com
(NB Please do not reply to this newsletter -- it's outgoing only,
so we won't get it!)

TECHNICAL PROBLEMS:
webmaster@japaninc.com

(C) Copyright 2005 Japan Inc Communications KK. All Rights Reserved.