by James Norton | May 7, 2026 | Ageing and Generations, Category Insights
In March 2026, Suntory launched Guilty Carbonated NOPE, its first major new soft drink brand in 14 years. The product arrived with unusually loud visual language, unapologetically sweet flavor, and a concept built around “guilty consumption.” At face value, NOPE...
by James Norton | May 7, 2026 | Category Insights
At Carter, we love a good Japanese series, and with Vivant and Shogun in production for their second series, we ask- what makes a great series in Japan? Over the past twenty-five years working alongside broadcasters, studios and streaming platforms in Japan, we have...
by James Norton | Apr 27, 2026 | Category Insights, Japan Market Entry, Market Research Methodology
In Japan, a clean home is rarely just a clean home. It is an expression of identity, a demonstration of care, and a deeply cultural act woven into the fabric of daily life. For those trying to understand the Japanese consumer (and the household cleaning category in...
by James Norton | Apr 27, 2026 | Category Insights, Japan Market Entry, Market Research Methodology
Every international brand that enters Japan’s quick service restaurant (QSR) market arrives with assumptions. Some of those assumptions will be right. Most will require significant revision. And a handful of unknowns will matter most of all: the ones you cannot...
by James Norton | Apr 27, 2026 | Category Insights, Japan Market Entry, Marketing Trends and Insights
Working closely with Japanese skincare consumers, one thing becomes clear quite quickly, they use a level of precision in describing their skin that doesn’t translate easily into English. These are not vague expressions, but specific terms, e.g., that capture the...
