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New “Cool Japan” Logo: JAPAN NEXT

The Japanese government has unveiled a new logo to be used by businesses and government agencies that fit with the theme of “Cool Japan” (anime, fashion, etc):

From a shortlist selected from among 99 logos submitted for a competition held between late July and mid-August, a logo incorporating the English words ”JAPAN NEXT,” created by prominent designer Kashiwa Sato, has been chosen by Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, a government office for intellectual properties said.

Sato says he designed the logo with the image in mind of a Japan that overcomes the March 11 earthquake and tsunami disaster and is reborn as a stronger, more creative and confident nation — the ”next Japan.”

Kashiwa Sato designed the famous logo used by the Uniqlo clothing chain.

You can read more about the concept of “Cool Japan” in this January 2011 post and this Wikipedia entry.

{democracy:497}

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28 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - September 14, 2011 at 4:26 pm

Categories: General Japan Tags:

Bruce Smith

Is that the best they can do ?
http://thedreamerskingdom.org/photoblog TK

First thought that came to mind…

DODGEBALL!!!
Anon

Hey, why not. I think it looks cool. Even though I seem to be pretty much alone with the though.
There are worse problems, like the financial system and corrupt politicans that seem more important to me.
Ryu

Hadoo-ken
Anonymous

Wasn’t this the logo of some really old computer company.. or even apple’s few first designs?
CS

It looks like a red sun eclipsing the ATT logo.
http://twitter.com/lmshea lmshea

The last thing you will see before the asteroid hits.
flowby

Mr Sato it seems, hasn’t fully construed the nuances of Japan Next and that of his explanation – the Next Japan.

To me Japan Next has a certain feel of “somethings going to happen and it may or may not be good”.

The Next Japan simply conveys the feeling of a New Japan – as he indicated with the notion of rebirth.

And a cartoonish sun mimicking movement – well leave that to the school kids.

Definitely need something with more oomph, more slash, more character , like BOLD JAPAN over a very large Red Sun.

But WTF would I know – eh?
common sense

WARNING! Fire ball Ahead..
Robin

Anime is not cool.

Hraesvelgr

It does seem to bring in foreign tourism, though. Akihabara always seems to have the largest concentration of non-Japanese. So, it might not be cool to a “normal” Japanese person, but so long as they think it promotes tourism and foreign interest, they will promote it as something “cool”.
http://www.facebook.com/rallegretti Rob Allegretti

Some anime is cool…but much is unfortunately not.

The Chrysanthemum Sniffer

“Look at us. We can’t speak English properly.”

I think they should just go with the tourism logo: “Japan – Endless Discovery.” It is tasteful and accurate. And why does the prime minister, a man of the postwar generation, get to choose? It was almost inevitable that he would see something that belongs in a 1980s video game as progressive and futuristic.
Tony D

My first thought was “Japan’s next what? Prime Minister?” sounds like an interesting reality tv show…

Anonymous

“There are three old men stood before me, and only two photos in my hands. Which man will go on to become Japan’s next prime minister?!!!”

nagoriyuki

As a Japanese, it looks to me like DPJ putting aside this country, saying “China and Korea first, JAPAN NEXT.”
http://www.facebook.com/rallegretti Rob Allegretti

I can’t really decide if it’s good or not, but there is this strange nagging feeling that it isn’t good enough.
http://twitter.com/ThyGoddess Michelle

How to make something cool: Put speedlines on it. Apparently.

RMilner

Red wunz go fasta.

Piglet

Is the name of the campaign “Cool Japan” or “Japan Next”? This is a bit confusing and the logo and design (fonts, capital letters) would be more suitable for an industrial brand than something related to entertainment or culture.

Piglet

As suggested below, the tourism logo (Japan – Endless discovery) would be perfect: one logo, one brand to promote Japan.

thaKingRocka

I dig the 80s vibe.

http://www.billowykimono.com Senor Science

Same, it reminds me of the 80′s Pepsi logo and that’s a good thing.

Akimbo54321

I propose we add punctuation. A la:
“Japan? Next!”
“Japan: Next”
http://twitter.com/IsolaValentine Natalie ‘DSQ’ B.

So they are not using the Cool Japan anymore? Hm. I thought Cool Japan was short and to the point. Make Japan cool so people want to buy products simple because they are japanese.

It is kust like what the UK did, when you can’t export stuff competivley any more, you export your culture. I would say that South Korea has had much more sucess at that than Japan it seems…

But I must admit there is alot more anime for kids on TV these days. Next step is making sure it is localised so that children know their fav show are from Japan rather than from america like what I thought when I first saw pokemon.
Wathoman

Looks like a student designed it. And that student failed and is now flipping burgers someplace.
AJ

It is extremely embarrassing to have a government-sponsored logo with incorrect English. This seems to me a reflection of the local tendency to avoid consulting native English speakers in areas where they could have some valuable input (cf: Yokoso Japan). I know of no other country that advertises itself abroad with slogans the target audience may be unable to understand. So silly, and so easily avoidable.
Tom

Absolutely horrendous. Awful, awful, awful. Another in a long line of bureaucrat bungles in the branding of Japan overseas. The problem is that people making the decisions are out of touch with reality (outside of Japan) and no position to be making decisions on what’s cool, or what might attract overseas interest in Japan. I worked on the project and there were dozens of ideas immensely better than this piece of crap with a slogan that doesn’t mean anything.

New “Cool Japan” Logo: JAPAN NEXT

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