In early July, the Huazhi International Japanese consumer entrepreneur inspection team ended their seven day and six night trip.

In just one week, everyone almost filled their schedule. During the day, they meet the former Prime Minister, visit businesses, factories, and shops. At night, they review and communicate, hold private board meetings, and many people return to their hotels almost late at night. Someone smiled and said that this trip was not like an overseas study tour, but more like participating in a high-intensity business training camp.

What truly leaves everyone wanting more is not the itinerary itself, but the constantly emerging problems along the way.

Why can Japan still have the world's largest number of century old enterprises after experiencing the "lost thirty years"? Why can a group of retail enterprises continue to grow for decades while the population continues to decrease and the consumer market tends to be saturated? What do those seemingly unremarkable Japanese brands rely on repeatedly crossing cycles?

Seven days, 15 companies, over ten courses. There is no standard answer to these questions, but they have pieced together increasingly complete contours across different companies.

01. The limit of efficiency

When subtraction becomes a moat

On the first stop of the course, Salia posed a question that made all restaurant owners nervous: Why do you get tired the more you do, and it gets easier the more you do?

In the fiscal year 2025, Salia's global sales reached 256.7 billion yen, a year-on-year increase of 14.3%, with a net profit of 11.164 billion yen, a year-on-year increase of 37%, maintaining double-digit growth for the third consecutive year. There are a total of 1682 stores worldwide. And its core product, Milan style baked rice, is priced at only 300 yen, and one store can sell nearly a hundred servings in a day.

Mr. Horino, the former chairman, did not attribute the reason to "insisting on low prices". In his view, low prices have never been a strategy, what really matters is whether a company has the ability to turn low prices into a long-term business.

Sally did something counterintuitive: keep subtracting. Reducing homework is more difficult and effective than increasing homework.

The pizza base is pre baked in the factory, and the store is only responsible for adding ingredients and re baking; Pasta is cooked and packaged in a central factory, and heated directly in store; The tomatoes in the salad will be replaced with European compact varieties, which will be diced at the factory and distributed uniformly. A dish has been compressed from around ten steps to three or four steps, and the skills required by the store have been downgraded from "professional chefs" to "following procedures". On average, a store only needs 1.5 regular employees, while the rest of the positions are taken on by hourly workers, and it can still operate stably.

Many companies always want to increase their services, SKUs, and processes, hoping to make their products more diverse. Sally went the opposite way, putting a lot of store operations in the factory, leaving complexity to herself and simplicity to the front line. Others reduce profits, while they reduce costs, these are two completely different things.

If Salia showcases the efficiency of subtraction, then 7-Eleven showcases a more refined ability: how to use continuous iteration to combat consumer boredom.

In 2025, the daily average sales of 7-Eleven's Japanese stores exceeded 700000 yen (approximately 36000 yuan) for the first time, setting a new historical high. Supported by this number is a sophisticated commodity development system.

For convenience stores, the most loyal consumers are often the ones who are most easily bored. If the same product is sold for a long time, the repurchase rate of even the best products will decrease. So, continuous updates are not for chasing hot topics, but to maintain freshness.

7-Eleven develops approximately 5200 new products annually, with an average of 200 new releases per week. The team responsible for the development of the Seven Premium brand has only about 200 people. The secret is the "team MD" model they implement. After a new product is approved, the procurement department does not push it alone, but rather brings together raw material suppliers, equipment manufacturers, packaging companies, and design teams into the same project, and collaborates from the research and development stage.

The core of this system is not inspiration, but discipline. Each product takes 20 weeks to go from concept to launch, and each week is a small hypothesis testing experiment. Keep the ones that sell well, eliminate those that don't, and keep the total SKU constant. The previous one, the next one, the shelves are always reserved for bestsellers.

Salia and 7-Eleven offer two different efficiency paths. One uses subtraction to move complexity to a place where consumers cannot see it; Using high-frequency iteration to keep consumers fresh at all times. The paths are different, but the underlying logic is consistent: what truly determines efficiency is not how many things are done, but how many unnecessary things are cut off.

02. Compound interest on IP

Business wisdom of not drawing a mouth

Halfway through the course, the topic shifted from 'how to sell' to 'why it can keep selling'.

At Nintendo, former head of Nintendo's legal department, Mr. Araki, shared a set of data: as of March 31, 2026, the cumulative global sales of Switch have reached 155.92 million units, surpassing DS to become the best-selling console in Nintendo's history. But what really shocked the on-site entrepreneurs was not sales, but Nintendo's attitude towards people.

In 2013, the company's profits were under pressure, and some shareholders suggested layoffs to reduce costs. Former president Satoshi Iwata publicly declined, saying, "If employees are worried about losing their jobs every day, I don't believe they can still create works that move the world." More than a decade later, this statement still influences Nintendo. In 2023, the basic salary of all employees will be increased by 10%, and there will be another salary increase in April 2026. Many core producers have worked at Nintendo for over 35 years.

Nintendo does not conduct market research. Research can only tell businesses what consumers like, but it is difficult to tell businesses what consumers will fall in love with. If all innovation is based on known user needs, the final product is likely to be an upgraded version of an existing product. Nintendo's alternative solution is "self challenge" - first ensure that the creator finds it interesting, and then pass on this fun to the world.

Mario is the best example. It was originally designed as a tool character to adapt to arcade hardware, without a grand worldview or commercial plan. What truly turned it into a global super IP is the continuous excellent works of over forty years. IP is not designed to make money, but gradually grows through one successful experience after another.

If Nintendo showcased the cultivation logic of "content driven" IP, then the sharing between Tokyo Disneyland and Sanrio in the afternoon revealed another operating philosophy of "emotion driven" IP.

Mr. Saito, former COO of Tokyo Disneyland, revealed a surprising strategy: Disney deliberately does not allow Mickey Mouse to occupy the top spot in popularity for a long time, and the popular characters rotate every year. Any IP that stands in the spotlight for a long time will experience aesthetic fatigue. Instead of constantly overdrawing a celebrity character, it is better to keep the entire IP matrix vibrant.

There is another detail worth noting about Tokyo Disneyland. Many people think that the core consumer group of the amusement park is children, but the most important customer group of Tokyo Disneyland in Japan is women in their forties and fifties with purchasing power. Around this group of people, they have developed a large number of household items, daily necessities, and collectibles. Enterprises serve not the imagined consumers, but the people who are truly willing to pay.

Sanrio gave a more 'counter common sense' answer. Hello Kitty has no story, no complete worldview, and not even a mouth. But precisely because there is no mouth, everyone can project their emotions onto her - she smiles when happy, and accompanies you when sad. Leaving blank space actually gives this IP a longer lifespan.

In the fiscal year 2025 (ending in March 2025), Sanrio's revenue reached 194.1 billion yen, a year-on-year increase of 33.9%, and its operating profit was 77.8 billion yen, a year-on-year increase of 50.3%. Its core operating indicators have all reached historical highs. A company that started off by not drawing its mouth has proven the value of emotions over 50 years.

The three companies have different paths, but they are also talking about the same thing. The IP that can truly cross the cycle relies not on a single explosion, but on decades of emotional accumulation.

03. Healthy Daily Living

When drugs become snacks, pharmacies become living halls

In the last two days of the course, I entered a different field of study - big health.

In China, the big health industry is often understood as hospitals, drugs, and health products. But in Japan, a group of companies are transforming "health" from low-frequency professional consumption to high-frequency daily consumption.

Longjiaosan is one of the most typical cases. This throat pharmaceutical company, which has been in operation for over 200 years, was facing a business crisis when its eighth president, Takata Fujii, took over. Fujii Takata made a key decision: to focus all his energy on the core competitive area of Longjiaosan - the throat. No matter how the product iterates, the original intention of guarding the throat remains unchanged.

On this basis, Longjiaosan has completed the transformation from a drug to a fast-moving snack. Products such as throat lozenges and throat care candies have opened up the general public, especially young consumers and overseas markets. A brand that was originally only thought of when the throat was uncomfortable has become a companion that can be consumed anytime in daily life. Low frequency medical scenarios have been reconstructed into high-frequency consumption scenarios.

If Longjiao Powder displays "fast digestion of drugs", then Medicine Japan Hall displays "pharmacy lifestyle".

Founded in 1969, YaoNihon Pharmacy is the largest chain of Chinese herbal pharmacies in Japan. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that the store is not like a traditional pharmacy - it is more like a complex space where you can drink tea, consult, and learn Chinese herbal knowledge. There is a "Hundred Medicine Gallery" in the store to display Chinese raw materials, and there is also a Tonic Diet restaurant and coffee area upstairs. In recent years, there has been an increasing number of female customers aged 20 to 40 seeking advice on beauty issues such as skincare and weight loss.

The philosophy of YaoNihon Hall is "one is health preservation, the other is Chinese prescription" - the first is health preservation, and the second is Chinese prescription. Transform obscure Chinese concepts into healthy consumer goods that young people are willing to continue purchasing, and transform low-frequency professional consultations into high-frequency lifestyle proposals. There are 16 stores nationwide, receiving approximately 100000 health consultations annually.

Both Longjiaosan and Yaojitang point to the same thing: they have not changed "what to do", but have redefined "for whom to do" and "how to do it". Lowering the professional threshold, expanding the usage scenarios, and turning low-frequency consumption into daily habits - this is the real growth space of the big health industry.

04. Dialectics of Inheritance

Defend the roots and grow new branches

There is also a type of enterprise that does not have radical business stories or eye-catching new concepts during the visit. But the further you listen, the more you can experience another kind of power.

Many successes that seem natural today were laid out over a decade or several decades ago.

Xiwei Co., Ltd., founded in 1688, is a 338 year old Nishijin weaving enterprise. The eleventh generation descendant, Shinichi Hosokabe, shared a personal experience. When he was a child, he thought that Xizhen Weaving was just ordinary, and he didn't feel anything special when he saw it from a young age. What truly changed him was going to Italy to study later. When he stood outside and re examined his family business, he realized for the first time that the fabrics he had become accustomed to every day were so unique on a global scale.

The most crucial transformation is the 150 centimeter wide western weaving technology. In the past, Xizhen Weaving could only weave traditional fabrics of about 40 centimeters, making it difficult to enter larger application scenarios such as modern home and architectural decoration. The project was initiated in 1995 and suffered losses for five consecutive years. It took another two and a half years for research and development, totaling seven and a half years, to break through. Today, this technology remains an exclusive capability in the industry.

Mr. Xiwei said, "When a company is making money, it should invest more in research and development for the next ten or twenty years." Without continuous investment during good times in the market, it will be too late to catch up with industry changes. Nowadays, Xiwei has become a partner of international luxury brands such as LV, Chanel, Hermes, Dior, etc., with interior material sales accounting for about 40% of its sales.

On the same day, Suntory's Honorary Chief Blender reviewed the century long history of Japanese whisky.

Around 1983, Japanese whisky consumption reached a historical high, but over the next two decades, the market continued to decline, with its size shrinking to one-fifth of its peak period. Many companies have withdrawn, and some have started to reduce their investment. Suntory has done another thing, restoring traditional wooden fermentation tanks, insisting on direct fire distillation, constantly adjusting the structure of the distiller, and using longer time to polish product quality.

At that time, there was almost no return on these investments. Until 2003, Yamazaki won the gold medal in the International Spirits Challenge for 12 years, marking the first time that Japanese whisky truly stood on the world stage. Many people see awards, but it is the persistence of the past decade or so that truly determines the outcome.

Here we want to say that true inheritance is not about keeping a craft still, but about preserving the core craft while using new ways to make it survive and go global.

At the end of the seven day trip, we have many companies that we would like to join you with. Due to space limitations, we will leave a suspense here, and we will introduce them one by one for you to learn a lot of practical experience without leaving your home.

For the entrepreneurs participating in this inspection, the greatest value of their trip to Japan may not be finding a set of business methods that can be immediately copied. It is more like a mirror - through these enterprises, one can re-examine their own company, rethink which abilities are worth continuing to adhere to, and which things should be viewed on a longer time scale.

The wind will pass, and the hot spots will change. What can truly accompany a company to go further are the basic skills that seem the most ordinary but are the most difficult to persist in.

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