Abstract
Through an international study program I have been studying for 6 months in California, Irvine. After few weeks studying out there, I realized that high percentage of my friends was Japanese but also the friend's reliable in case of problem. I decided then to spend my entire free time hanging out with out and board in this small community. I did know a little bite about Japanese culture but only main principle that my father could though me through his experience and some cultural international management class in my first year.
At the end of my program abroad I decided to visit a friend out there in Tokyo for 1 month. It had been for the young boy that I was the most unique travel of my life. I felt as I was discovering either a new land or even more a new world. I decided after few days that really should do an internship in Japan and I did it, the year after I could do an internship for a French company Lafuma as marketing assistant.
I wanted to work on a Japanese on beverage company as I have been living in Japan for almost 7 months in Tokyo and I could realized how the soft beverage was an important business and competitive market in Japan. The competition seemed to me ten times harder than in the US or Europe and I have been also really surprised by the marketing competition.
This high competition and wide offer is supported by incredible number of convince stores as 7eleven, am/pm open 24/24h 7 days the week, but also some vending machines located at each corner of the street always by 3 or more vending machine.
Beverage is important in Japan especially during the summer because of an intense hotness. While my stay I figured out that the entire international beverage as Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Lipton and their local market competitor too, but some other soft beverage catch up my attention : - "ocha" = tea in some pet bottle a very attractive with a colorful packaging and unique taste. It was also interesting to notice the high number of different kind of Ocha bottle, with some blending leaf, strange color, or high caffeine power and so on...
I was sure about what kind of soft beverage I wanted to study I just had to pick up one of the 2 main Japanese beverage companies either Kirin or Suntory, I rather choose Suntory for the hilarious movie of Sophia Coppola: "Lost in translation".
As you may now the French are even more each year attracted by the Japanese culture and doing profitable business with, the number of sushi shop, the cars, and now even the fashion with Uniqlo, so why not so unique trendy Japanese beverage as the Ocha pet bottle beverage.
Suntory Limited (サントリー株式会社= Santorī Kabushiki-gaisha) is then is one typical Japanese Company founded in 1899, with a patriarchal founder: Torii Shinjirō who was running an imported wine booth in Osaka Port. In 1921 the booth has been extended to company structure named Kotobukiya and 3 years later Kotobukiya opened (what will make the company later on worldwide famous) a distillery plant (called Yamazaki) and in 1929 the first malted Japanese whisky. In 1963 thanks to the success of their whisky Suntory the company changed its name to become Suntory Limited.
