51吃瓜网

Back in 1971, a newly launched newspaper covering retailing and distribution, named the 日経流通新聞 (Nikkei Ryūtsū Shimbun, subsequently named Nikkei Marketing Journal), was looking for a promotional idea. It came up with a real winner by mimicking a 相撲番付 (sumō banzuke, a stylized hierarchical ranking list of sumo wrestlers) to announce the year’s most successful products and services.

The most recent list appeared in the paper’s Dec. 7 issue. As in previous years, it was headed by east and west 横綱 (yokozuna, grand champions) in large, calligraphy-styled characters at the top, and proceeded down the ranks with 大関 (ōzeki, champion), 関脇 (sekiwake, junior champion), and so on.

The two highest winners and the newspaper’s comments in Japanese were as follows: For the east yokozuna, ポケモンんGO (“Pokemon Go“): 位置情報を活用し街中でポケモンを捕まえるスマホゲーム (ichi jōhō katsuyō shi machinaka de Pokemon o tsukamaeru sumaho gēmu, a smart phone game for capturing Pokemon on city streets utilizing location information) and for the west yokozuna, the animated film 君の名は。 (“Kimi no Na Wa.,” “Your Name.“): 興行収入200億円で邦画歴代2位となったアニメ映画 (kōgyō shūnyū nihyaku oku en de, hōga rekida ni-i to natta anime eiga, an animated film that obtained box office revenues of ?20 billion, making it the second-largest domestic film earner in entertainment industry history). NMJ found that youth culture was a definite driving force behind a product’s success.