On October 1st, Mike's employer, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., officially changed its name to Panasonic Corporation. This is part of an effort to consolidate its National, Technics, and Panasonic brand, and to cast off the lesser known Matsushita name, into one global identity. So now instead of explaining that "Mike works for Matsushita - you know, they are Panasonic," we can just say "Mike works for Panasonic." Much simpler. (Of course, this is bad news for founder and Japanese business legend Konosuke Matsushita, but apparently even the Matsushita name had to yield for the sake of a unified global brand.)
While the Panasonic brand has been used abroad for most Matsushita products for a long time, the changeover from the National brand in the Japanese market is a big one. National is a huge brand here in Japan, particularly for home appliances, but because of trademark issues, when Matushita expanded abroad, they were unable to use National and instead began using Panasonic.
2 comments:
Can't wait to hear you sing that song Mike! I was surprised there was no video of you signing it.
And now, my real question -- what are they saying in Japan about the upcoming American election? Anything??
As for the song, don't hold your breath! (I don't know it).
As for politics, they are not saying much of anything other than asking who I think will win sometimes. Very little interest. Its a U.S. issue. Sure, its the focus of our media, but they have their own issues and politics to worry about. Of course the economic issues are in the press, because they effect everyone worldwide.
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