Japan high school girls have best scoop on m4/3 future

It is a source of amusement for me and others who live in Japan watching as people try to figure out and predict what will happen in the Japanese camera industry.

After I took this photo of these high school girls I showed it to them. They liked it and me so much that they let me in on the latest scoop about m4/3. Everyone here in Japan knows that the best, most reliable info about what is going on in the Japanese camera industry comes from high school girls. Outside Japan people are always trying to read the tea leaves from financial reports and vague corporate statements. Naturally they feel frustrated with their inability to figure anything out.  Note though that high school girls don't share their secrets with just anybody.

Click on original photos to see a better, sharper image. The photos in a dpreview thread are highly compressed and soft.

High school girls

The high school girls have all the best dope about m4/3, but the elementary school girls in Japan are your go-to source for FF info.

Elementary school girls

Elementary school girls

Yes, I know what everyone is thinking. What about the junior high school girls? What camera secrets are they in on? APS-C? 1"? Well, it is easy to understand why you might think that, but, hey, this is Japan, so, you are wrong. The junior high school girls are the ones to get the best, hot insider news about what is going on in the heavy road construction equipment industry. Bet, you didn't see that one coming, did you? Among foreigners here in Japan we have a saying that I first heard many years ago:

The only people who think they are experts on Japan are ones who have been here less than 30 days or more than 30 years.

I am not as surprised daily as I was years ago about Japan, but the junior high school girls thing did catch me off guard. Check your assumptions at the door!

Click on original to see a better, sharper image. The photos in a dpreview thread are highly compressed and soft.

Brian Wadie wrote:

As for understanding Japanese business strategy from the comments about it here, I find it tells me more about those commentating than the subject under debate

This is mostly true for any subject being debated in public by non-experts.

Yes, Japan and the people are mostly great.  Glad you had a good experience.

Henry Richardson wrote:

Yes, Japan and the people are mostly great. Glad you had a good experience.

Japan, the people and this set. Glad you shared a good experience.

Robert

The kid picking her nose in photo #3 gave me a huge laugh this morning

thank you for that !

Ken

Brian Wadie wrote:

"The only people who think they are experts on Japan are ones who have been here less than 30 days or more than 30 years."

so very true, I worked in Japan over a 4 year period in the late 70s and shared offices with Japanese co-workers back in the UK (colleague and mentoring trainees) for another 5+ after this

Whilst I love the country and many of its features and had some very good friends amongst my Japanese colleagues neither culture really understood the other (even though we did eventually develop a shared sense of humour )

As to Japanese female school pupils, I remember being surrounded by an inquisitive group in a park in Yokohama, wanting to practise their English. Fascinated by the fact I had a full bear (not usual in the 70's) what was I doing there etc. My attempts to converse with them in Japanese resulted in a severe attack of the giggles

Its a country I will never forget

As for understanding Japanese business strategy from the comments about it here, I find it tells me more about those commentating than the subject under debate

Glad you had a good experience in Japan.  I replied last night, but somehow it doesn't show as a reply to your post.

Kenboydart 09 wrote:

The kid picking her nose in photo #3 gave me a huge laugh this morning

thank you for that !

I had not even noticed that!  Gave me a chuckle now that I see it.   Don't know how I missed it.

I admit to being one of the less than 30 days experts, or am I?  Need to think about it.... actually so far in 3 trips already up to 49 days, and add our planned trip next May to take it to 70 days. So really I've blown the initial expert status.

Anyway to get to the secondary subject, the Japanese schoolkids of all ages are so much fun. Every time there we have been "interviewed" a few times by students who usually have some project in English class of creating a list of questions then interviewing random tourists for their answers. Always fun to talk with them as they stumble through their English, sometimes bad but other times great, especially when we met a schoolboy who had just spend a year as an exchange student in USA. We end up asking them more questions than they ask us.

Here's a sample of the interviewers, a sweet trio plus their teacher was hovering in the background somewhere just to make sure that they were taking it seriously I guess.

My wife's shot on her Casio compact. At Kamakura.

Regards..... Guy

Mickey67 wrote:

i am uncomfortable posting pictures of my young daughter on the net. Maybe the person who took the photo has good intentions but others do not.

this is the general feeling of parents in my part of tokyo also. We are not allowed to take photos on mobile phones in case it gets onto the internet at school events - this is a school rule.

other than that a foreigner taking photos of school girls may well end up in front of the police - we had an warning the other week of a man with a camera stalking schoolgirls.

this might be right or wrong and an unfortunate reality of out times but at least respect the culture of the country you are in.

When we travel (or even at home) if there is a situation with kids we ask the appropriate responsible person if OK to do so.

Usually though it's just the kids and us in foreign places, then 90% of the time I leave it to my wife to shoot with her non-threatening compact camera. Sometimes I also use my M4/3 gear, which by using screen only and an E-P5 body certainly does not look too threatening or professional.

No sneaky shots, they either see us and engage with us, or they walk away (rare).

Never found a problem in Japan as they are basically a camera crazy country from way back, so are very used to using cameras or being in front of them.

But of course I do understand that attitudes change, so we always act on the side of caution and rarely show any of our shots anyway. They are not splattered all over Flickr or whatever, they stay at home.

England would be the most ridiculous place re photographing children. People have had police knock on their door because a photo lab reported them as taking child photos, even though harmless ones.

In this modern paranoid world, everyone is assumed to be a criminal.

Regards.... Guy

Mickey67 wrote:

Actually young women is a key market for olympus in Japan - so they may know something

Yup, see this page and guess what gender they show as users of the E-PL10 https://www.olympus-imaging.jp/product/dslr/epl10/index.html

Likewise in Australia for the E-PL9 https://www.olympus-imaging.jp/product/dslr/em5mk3/index.html

As opposed to E-M5 Mk3 in Japan https://www.olympus-imaging.jp/product/dslr/em5mk3/index.html

And in Australia https://www.olympus.com.au/Products/Interchangeable-Lens-Cameras/Olympus-OM-D/E-M5-Mark-III/Overview copied directly from Japan.

Definitely evidence of target male/female audiences and true that in Japan I have seen many young women with Pen products in visits there, particularly in 2011 and 2014.

Regards.... Guy

High school boys in Japan have great insider info too! It is well known that if you want to know what future plans are in the konbini (convenience store) industry then check with high school boys. There is cuthroat competition between Lawson's, Family Mart, 7-11, and Sunkus. Years ago (say 20-30 years ago) Lawson's had the edge, but these days it seems that Lawson's and Family Mart are about equal. Constantly changing promotions and campaigns. Find out before others by checking with high school boys.  The good thing is that high school boys generally hand out info easily, sometimes without even asking.  So different than the girls.

Click on original to see a better, sharper image. The photos in a dpreview thread are highly compressed and soft.

Minolta X-700 + Vivitar 35-105mm f3.2-4 on Kodachrome 64

Minolta X-700 + Vivitar 35-105mm f3.2-4 on Kodachrome 64