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The Cool Japan Fund, a public-private fund established to promote Japanese soft power globally, now stands at a major crossroads. As of 2026, the fund’s cumulative deficit is projected to reach 54 billion yen, prompting the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to begin evaluating a drastic overhaul, including potential consolidation or abolition.
This staggering deficit is far more than a mere case of failed investments. In the world of business and marketing, it vividly exposes a deep disconnect between “what a country or company wants to sell” and “what the global market actually demands.”

 

The Limits of a Product-Out Approach: Symbolized by the “10,000 Yen Grapes”

One of the most defining examples of the fund’s failure is “The Japan Store,” which opened in Malaysia. At this retail location, grapes from Yamanashi Prefecture were sold at an exorbitant price of 10,000 yen per bunch. Despite local market dynamics in which perfectly fine grapes were readily available at affordable prices, the store set prices that completely ignored local purchasing power and the environment. As a result, the store was virtually deserted and was forced to withdraw after just two years.
At the heart of this failure lies an extreme “product-out” (vendor-driven) mindset, where the Japanese side unilaterally decided “this is what makes Japan wonderful” and imposed it from the top down. It suffered from a fatal lack of a “market-in” (customer-driven) perspective—failing to consider what local consumers actually wanted and valued in their everyday lives.
When delivering value to overseas clients or even internal users within our own organizations, are we unconsciously trying to force-feed them these “10,000 yen grapes”?

 

💡 The “Authentic Japan” That Captivates Global Celebrities

While state-led, luxury-oriented cultural exports struggle to find their footing, world-renowned celebrities are being drawn to Japan’s charm through an entirely different approach. What they voluntarily love and broadcast to the world is not manufactured luxury, but the “craftsmanship” and “spirituality” embedded in Japan’s everyday life.

 

Keanu Reeves: Craftsmanship in Everyday Dining

Famous for his love of ramen, Keanu visited a ramen shop in Ginza in 2023, where he completely finished a casual, down-to-earth bowl of ramen priced at 1,350 yen, custom-ordering his favorite toppings. What he loves is the extraordinary quality and craftsmanship packed into an affordable, everyday meal, along with the raw, living daily scenery that regular people enjoy.

 

Tom Cruise: Absolute Trust in Infrastructure

During his visit to Japan in 2011 to promote a movie, Tom Cruise chartered a Shinkansen “Nozomi” train to interact with fans right inside the carriages. The backdrop that made this service possible was his trust in Japan’s highly advanced infrastructure, which runs smoothly, down to the second, and ensures a safe, immaculate space.

 

Lady Gaga: Resonance with Mental Resilience

Following the Great East Japan Earthquake, Lady Gaga was among the first to provide donations and express her deep respect for the “strength and kindness” of the Japanese people as they supported one another through the crisis. She is deeply drawn not to Japan’s physical products, but to its intangible cultural virtues and the civic ethics displayed in extreme circumstances.

The common thread across all these stories is that value was never forced upon them by a sender; rather, these recipients discovered “authentic value” on their own within Japan’s daily routines and systems.

 

Are Your Internal Systems Becoming “10,000 Yen Grapes”?

This mismatch in self-awareness applies perfectly to corporate marketing and internal system deployment initiatives.
For instance, consider deploying a “highly functional but overly complex and difficult-to-use system” to improve operational efficiency, while completely ignoring the actual workflow of frontline employees. This is the exact equivalent of forcing “10,000 yen grapes” onto your workplace, a textbook mistake that inevitably leads to low user adoption and a system that exists only in name.
What customers and organizational teams truly love and voluntarily adopt is never the high functionality or premium feel that the vendor brags about. It is a system that aligns with their daily routines—something simple yet exceptionally refined, built entirely around practical usability.

 

Conclusion: Constructing Market-In Operational Frameworks with Access Lab

Moving forward, leaders must cast aside the creator’s ego and humbly observe where their target users experience friction and inconvenience.
Access Lab conducts thorough consultations regarding your current management workflows (such as fragmented Excel sheets and legacy systems). We specialize in building operational platforms powered by monday.com, ensuring your frontline team can navigate them intuitively and voluntarily.
While maintaining robust, enterprise-grade governance, monday.com offers a no-code platform that flexibly customizes interfaces to match real-world workflows. We don’t just “force a system” onto your company; we walk alongside your team natively in Japanese until a platform that fosters genuine operational efficiency becomes second nature.

 

Are you ready to restructure your business processes from a customer-centric, frontline-first perspective to unlock genuine productivity? Contact us today to experience a monday.com demo or to consult on visualizing your workflows. 👇

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