KBSC, KWHY, KIKU, and the 1970s C/FO

[davemerrill]

took me a minute to realize the abbreviation "dba" means "doing business as."

Trying to build that interface between Japan and American business practices... well, it ain't easy. In fact one might say they're still trying. Heck, it doesn't even really work between Canada and the US a lot of the time.

Also keep in mind Japan has weird levys on media recording devices and "blank data carriers" to compensate copyright holders on the reproduction of copyrighted materials; there's a whole layer of fiddling economic management that America, for all the bitching its citizens do about 'red tape', should thank their lucky stars they aren't dealing with...

[mbanu]

Great stuff, Steve! (^_^) I guess I was being sloppy there... I wish I could find more info about the dates. The old Marukai website doesn't mention 1987 at all, just the opening of the California store in 1982, so I'm not quite sure if the Hawaiian store was put in the article for local interest or if 1987 is really when things shifted for them.

[SteveH]

Great stuff, Steve! (^_^) I guess I was being sloppy there... I wish I could find more info about the dates. The old Marukai website doesn't mention 1987 at all, just the opening of the California store in 1982, so I'm not quite sure if the Hawaiian store was put in the article for local interest or if 1987 is really when things shifted for them.

I would guess the move to Hawaii was just looking for a larger market. There's a good number of Japanese in Hawaii, and a LOT of Japanese visit there. Heck, rumor has it that Yoshinobu Nishizaki was on vacation in Hawaii in '77 when he saw Star Wars and that charged him up for Arrivevderci, Yamato. (the story may have been about his making the 'cut down' Space Cruiser feature, I worry I can't quite remember now).

Hawaii folk are used to stuff costing more so the then-inflated prices of Japanese toys/books/whatever would not seem out of line.

[DKop]

It's interesting Steve that of all the examples you used for retailer prices, you mentioned CD's. CD's (or anything disk really) is expensive as hell compared to the US market. I got my brother a Perfume and an old The Pillows CD's from a record shop near my hotel in Kanazawa for 60 bucks combined, unopened. In the US, that would be maybe at least 35 for any other CD. It's all that extra fluff in the middle of those prices that what you pay for more people have to get a cut of that cash in a nutshell. It's no wonder when I go to cons and see CD's on sale, they are either high or lower than the Japanese MSRP, but that means you're likely getting a Chinese knockoff from Ever Anime or whatever. Believe me, I have made that mistake before, and I still have them in my CD box .