MARKET IN JAPAN

Evening Post, Volume CXIV, Issue 91, 14 October 1932, Page 11

MARKET IN JAPAN

FOR N.Z. PEODUCTS

MUTTON AND WOOL

MR. J. R, MCKENZIE'S TOUR

A, gradual trend toward the adoption of European clothes and a distinct- desire to import primary products such as those New Zealand excels in was noted by Mr. J. B. McKenzie in a tour of Japan. Mr. MeKenzie returned to Wellington yesterday after spending the winter in Japan and China, and in an interview to-day with a "Post" reporter he stressed the importance of the big markets that are opening up there for many of our products. CHANGING CUSTOMS. "I come back with the impression that is almost a conviction that there is a great market awaiting New Zea-' land .products in Japan and the Par East generally,"' he said. "I was on the look-out for changes, and I must say they were simply marvellous. Thirteen years ago it was but rarely.that the visitor saw a native; in; European clothes, but nowadays fully half the men, i n the cities at all events, wear European clothes, and quite a large percentage of the women have taken to European attire. For example, all the college boys.and girls wear European clothes exclusively, which shows the trend in educated circles. A BIG CUSTOMER. "What does that mean to us?" said Mr. McKenzie. "Well, the steamer in which I travelled to Japan took no fewer than ten thousand bales of wool from Australian ports for Japan, and during last season that country bought, no fewer than 640,000 bales from. Aus. tralia, which makesher the.biggest individual customer .outside England. If they are all going in for good woollen clothing' they must have the wool to meet the fast-changing fashions. But there are other things in addition to WooK The Japanese are rapidly losing their reputation as a rice-eating people. They, imported immense quantities of wheat last year^from .Australia, and are ..finding ready use for flour in'their cooking. '...-., - MUTTON A .LUXURY. "There is a wonderful Opening for our products in Japan, apart from wool and wheat. The Japanese and the European residents cannot get the mutton-they want. Mutton.up there is a luxury. I will illustrate what I mean by telling you of a club in Tokio. which has arranged for a, monthly supply of mutton. That-is to say, the members are able to have mutton once a month by subscribing to the fund, and they all look forward to its arrival as a very special treat. They get beef, of .a kind, and the Japanese raise plenty of poultry. There is some beef •from Australia, but -I! think most of it comes from America, as do the tinned meats, fruit, and condensed milk. They could do with plenty of our butter. Indeed, I am inclined to believe that properly organised there is. a good market for. our mutton and dairy produce, 'besides other lines." . ■ TRADE REPRESENTATIVE -,-. . WANTED. ..... . it was not ;possible, 'said Mr. Me Kenzie, to do business in Japan -with merchants or manufacturers in the ordjnary^way, ivep. with - tte aid ofjan interpreter. With ages of formal cus; toms behind him, the merchant"thought it necessary for the person in ' search of ,business vto know something of him and his people, and there was no rushinto contact. Business and prices. were to be discussed only after the ice had been broken. "What New- Zealand shouW have is a proper resident: representative in the East," continued Mr.,McKenzie; "preferably one' who knows tho country and the people. The initial difficulty would be to provide cold storage'in two or three of the ports so that we could keep supplies/on hand, and draw on them as they are rbquir'ed. This,of course, is a big undertaking, but I firmly believe it woujdpay if the organisation were placed ■in 'the right hands. . ..'♦■. '•' ■■ -- JAPANESE GOODS, "It is true that the Japanese has a reputation for turning out shoddy stuff," said Mr. McKenzie; ABut is it' his> fault? There is. an article which costs sixty sen, but along comes ■ a buyer* who asks manufacturer to turn out a similar article for fifty sen; then the next one wants Jt.'fov forty sen, and.the manufacturer, in order to meet such orders, must necessarily cut down the quality of the article until it is. turned put at such a price that it cannot fail to'be poor in quality. But if one visits Japanese homes and some of the great stores in the cities one will find that Japan can manufacture really good stuff—artistic, beautiful, and intrinsically valuable."