ABSTRACT
The western marketer who goes to Japan is often guilty of sweeping generalisations concerning the Japanese; so it is essential to appreciate from the outset that the image of the so-called ‘average’ consumer is open to wide interpretation on several levels. When talking about the consumer, one is always tempted to do so in terms of the ‘average’ consumer. Every country has its housewife/husband/family stereotype, but the usefulness of this ‘average’ concept depends on the particular characteristics of the society in question. To ask a Japanese housewife to bake a cake in her rice cooker is like asking an English housewife to make coffee in her tea-pot: cooking rice like making tea is a ritual and any ‘contamination’ of the cooking vessel is instinctively shunned. The emphasis on the Japanese housewife’s role vis-a-vis the western one is that of ‘keeper of the purse,’ while perhaps there is more emphasis towards creative functions in the western role.
