Seiko
The company was founded in 1881, when Kintarō Hattori opened a watch and jewelry shop called K. Hattori in the Ginza area of Tokyo, Japan. Eleven years later, in 1892, he began to produce clocks under the name Seikosha, according to Seikos official company history, titled A Journey In Time, The Remarkable Story of Seiko, Seiko is a Japanese word meaning exquisite or success. The first watches produced under the Seiko brand appeared in 1924, in 1969, Seiko introduced the Astron, the worlds first production quartz watch, when it was introduced, it cost the same as a medium-sized car. Seiko went on to introduce the first quartz chronograph, in the late 1980s, Seiko produced the first Kinetic watch that combined the self-energizing attributes of an automatic watch with quartz accuracy. The watch is powered by its movement in everyday wear. In 1985, Orient and Seiko established a joint factory, the company was incorporated in 1917 and was renamed Hattori Seiko Co. Ltd. in 1983 and Seiko Corporation in 1990.
After reconstructing and creating its operating subsidiaries, it became a company in 2001 and was renamed Seiko Holdings Corporation as of July 1,2007. Seiko is perhaps best known for its wristwatches, all of which were at one time produced entirely in-house, Seiko watches were originally produced by two different subsidiaries. One was Diani Seikosha Co. and the other was Suwa Seikosha Co, having two companies both producing the same brand of watch enabled Seiko to improve technology through competition and hedge risk. It reduced risk of problems, since one company can increase production in the case of decreased production in the other party. Currently watch movements are made in Shizukuishi, Ninohe, Shiojiri and their subsidiaries in China, the fully integrated in-house production system is still practised for luxury watches in Japan. Seiko produces watches with quartz, kinetic and mechanical watches of varying prices, to separate the customer groups, Seiko has created many different brands in Japan and the international market.
Seiko has several such as the Seiko 5 series, and the luxury Credor, King Seiko. At the time, Suwa Seikosha Co. was in charge of manufacturing mens watch, the first Grand Seiko was released in 1960, it was based on Seikos previous high-end watch, CROWN. This Grand Seiko has a 25-jewel, manual-winding,3180 calibre and this was the first Chronometer grade watch manufactured in Japan, and it was based on Seikos own chronometer standard. The design language of the Grand Seiko was set in 1967, the 44GS set the ground for all future Grand Seiko with nine elements. The 61GS was Japans first automatic 10 beat watch, and it was the most accurate mechanical watch due to the high beat calibers, in 2009, Seiko released the new 10 beat caliber 9S85, which is a completely new designed of the previous high beat caliber. The new caliber met the Grand Seiko Standard, a certification that is more strict than the Chronometer Certificate in Switzerland
Department store
A department store or magazine is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different product categories known as departments. In modern major cities, the department store made a appearance in the middle of the 19th century, and permanently reshaped shopping habits. Similar developments were under way in London, in Paris and in New York, customers check out near the front of the store or, alternatively, at sales counters within each department. Some are part of a chain of many stores, while others may be independent retailers. In the 1970s, they came under pressure from discounters. Since 2010, they have come under even heavier pressure from online stores such as Amazon, big-box stores and discount stores are modern equivalent of historical department stores. Before shopping malls, department stores were standalone, the origins of the department store lay in the growth of the conspicuous consumer society at the turn of the 19th century. As the Industrial Revolution accelerated economy expansion, the affluent middle-class grew in size, urbanized social group, sharing a culture of consumption and changing fashion, was the catalyst for the retail revolution.
One of the first department stores may have been Bennetts in Derby and it still stands to this day, trading in the same building. However, the first reliably dated department store to be established, was Harding, Howell & Co and it is fitted up with great taste, and is divided by glazed partitions into four departments, for the various branches of the extensive business, which is there carried on. Immediately at the entrance is the first department, which is appropriated to the sale of furs. The second contains articles of haberdashery of every description, muslins, gloves, &etc. The fourth is set apart for millinery and dresses, so there is no article of female attire or decoration. This venture is described as having all of the characteristics of the department store. This pioneering shop was closed down in 1820 when the partnership was dissolved. Department stores began large scale establishment in the 1840s and 50s, in France, the UK, all the major British cities had flourishing department stores by the mid-or late nineteenth century.
Increasingly, women became the major shoppers and middle-class households, Kendals in Manchester lays claim to being one of the first department stores and is still known to many of its customers as Kendals, despite its 2005 name change to House of Fraser. The Manchester institution dates back to 1836 but had been trading as Watts Bazaar since 1796, at its zenith the store had buildings on both sides of Deansgate linked by a subterranean passage Kendals Arcade and an art nouveau tiled food hall
Flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the first, fastest, most heavily armed. In common naval use, the flagship is fundamentally a temporary designation. Historically, only larger ships could accommodate such requirements, the term was used by commercial fleets, when the distinction between a nations navy and merchant fleet was not clear. In the age of sailing ships, the flagship was typically a first-rate, non-first rates could serve as flagships, the USS Constitution, a frigate, served as flagship for parts of the United States Navy during the early 19th century. In the 20th century, ships became large enough that the types, cruisers and up, could accommodate a commander. Some larger ships may have a flag bridge for use by the admiral. Because its primary function is to coordinate a fleet, a flagship is not necessarily more heavily armed or armored than other ships, during World War II admirals often preferred a faster ship over the largest one.
Modern flagships are designed primarily for command and control rather than for fighting, as with many other naval terms, flagship has crossed over into general usage, where it means the most important or leading member of a group, as in the flagship station of a broadcast network. Is used as both a noun and adjective describing the most prominent or highly touted product, location, derivations include the flagship brand or flagship product of a manufacturing company, flagship store of a retail chain, or flagship service of a hospitality or transportation concern. The term flagship may have applications, Auto companies may have a flagship in the form of their leading or highest-priced car. Electronics companies may have a series of products considered to be their flagship, for example, the Samsung Galaxy S series consists of several flagship smartphones that are released on a yearly basis. In rail transport, a service is either the fastest or most luxurious. Often it is a train or service. In some cases, special service or a class above first class may be available in the service while it is not offered in normal services.
Flagship services are used to present the company in advertising or abroad. Most states in the United States provide public university education through one or more university systems, the phrase flagship institution or flagship university may be applied to an individual school or campus within each state system. These schools are often land-grant, sea-grant, or space-grant research universities, the use of the term is seen by some as elitist and boastful
Edo period
The Edo period or Tokugawa period is the period between 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when Japanese society was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the countrys 300 regional daimyō. The period was characterized by growth, strict social order, isolationist foreign policies. The shogunate was established in Edo on March 24,1603. The period came to an end with the Meiji Restoration on May 3,1868, instrumental in the rise of the new bakufu was Tokugawa Ieyasu, the main beneficiary of the achievements of Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Already powerful, Ieyasu profited by his transfer to the rich Kantō area, after Hideyoshis death, Ieyasu moved quickly to seize control from the Toyotomi family. Ieyasus victory over the western daimyōs at the Battle of Sekigahara gave him control of all Japan. He rapidly abolished numerous enemy daimyō houses, reduced others, such as that of the Toyotomi, Ieyasu still failed to achieve complete control of the western daimyōs, but his assumption of the title of shogun helped consolidate the alliance system.
After further strengthening his base, Ieyasu installed his son Hidetada as shogun. The Toyotomi were still a significant threat, and Ieyasu devoted the next decade to their eradication, in 1615, the Tokugawa army destroyed the Toyotomi stronghold at Osaka. The Tokugawa period brought 250 years of stability to Japan, the political system evolved into what historians call bakuhan, a combination of the terms bakufu and han to describe the government and society of the period. In the bakuhan, the shogun had national authority and the daimyōs had regional authority and this represented a new unity in the feudal structure, which featured an increasingly large bureaucracy to administer the mixture of centralized and decentralized authorities. The feudal hierarchy was completed by the classes of daimyō. Closest to the Tokugawa house were the shinpan, or related houses and they were twenty-three daimyōs on the borders of Tokugawa lands, all directly related to Ieyasu. The shinpan held mostly honorary titles and advisory posts in the bakufu, the second class of the hierarchy were the fudai, or house daimyōs, rewarded with lands close to the Tokugawa holdings for their faithful service.
By the 18th century,145 fudai controlled such smaller han, members of the fudai class staffed most of the major bakufu offices. Ninety-seven han formed the group, the tozama, former opponents or new allies. The tozama were located mostly on the peripheries of the archipelago, because the tozama were least trusted of the daimyō, they were the most cautiously managed and generously treated, although they were excluded from central government positions. The Tokugawa not only consolidated their control over a reunified Japan, they had unprecedented power over the emperor, the court, all daimyōs and the religious orders
Clock tower
Clock towers are a specific type of building which houses a turret clock and has one or more clock faces on the upper exterior walls. Many clock towers are freestanding structures but they can adjoin or be located on top of another building, Clock towers are a common sight in many parts of the world with some being iconic buildings. One example is the Elizabeth Tower in London, there are many structures which may have clocks or clock faces attached to them and some structures have had clocks added to an existing structure. According to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat a building is defined as a building if at least fifty percent of its height is made up of plates containing habitable floor area. Structures that do not meet this criterion, are defined as towers, not all clocks on buildings therefore make the building into a clock tower. The mechanism inside the tower is known as a turret clock and it often marks the hour by sounding large bells or chimes, sometimes playing simple musical phrases or tunes.
Although clock towers are today mostly admired for their aesthetics, they served an important purpose. Before the middle of the century, most people did not have watches. The first clocks didnt have faces, but were solely striking clocks and they were therefore placed in towers so the bells would be audible for a long distance. Clock towers were placed near the centres of towns and were often the tallest structures there, as clock towers became more common, the designers realized that a dial on the outside of the tower would allow the townspeople to read the time whenever they wanted. The use of clock towers dates back to the antiquity, the earliest clock tower was the Tower of the Winds in Athens which featured eight sundials. In its interior, there was a clock, driven by water coming down from the Acropolis. In Song China, a clock tower was designed by Su Song and erected at Kaifeng in 1088. In England, a clock was put up in a tower, the medieval precursor to Big Ben, at Westminster, in 1288.
Al-Jazari constructed a clock and described it in his Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices in 1206. It was about 3.3 metres high, and had multiple functions alongside timekeeping, line synchronous tower clocks were introduced in the United States in the 1920s. Some clock towers have become famous landmarks, the Allen-Bradley Clock Tower in Milwaukee, Wisconsin has the largest four faced clock in the world, with clock diameter 40 ft 3 1⁄2 in, it is 283 ft tall. The Elizabeth Tower has the largest chiming clock in the world, the tallest freestanding clock tower in the world is the Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Clock Tower at the University of Birmingham in Birmingham, United Kingdom
Mitsukoshi
Mitsukoshi, Ltd. is an international department store chain with headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. It is a subsidiary of Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings, which owns the Isetan department store chain. It was founded in 1673 with the yagō Echigoya, selling kimonos, ten years in 1683, Echigoya took a new approach to marketing. Instead of selling by going door-to-door, they set up a store where buyers could purchase goods on the spot with cash, mitsukoshimae Station on the Tokyo Metro is named after the adjacent Mitsukoshi department store. Mitsukoshi is the root of Mitsui group, in the 1970s, Mitsukoshi bought the Oriental Nakamura department store in Nagoya and re-branded them as Mitsukoshi Nagoya. Genichiro Inokuma designed the wrapping paper in white and red, in August 2007, it was announced that Mitsukoshi would merge into Isetan, a major department store in Japan. Mitsukoshi TYO,2779 was unlisted on March 26,2008, nihonbashi Main Branch 日本橋本店 Ginza Mitsukoshi 銀座三越 Ebisu Mitsukoshi 恵比寿三越 Tama Center Mitsukoshi 多摩センター三越 Chiba Mitsukoshi 千葉三越 Sapporo Store 札幌店 - Sapporo Mitsukoshi Ltd.
Sendai Store 仙台店 - Sendai Mitsukoshi Ltd, Nagoya Sakae Main Branch 名古屋栄本店 - Nagoya Mitsukoshi Ltd. Hoshigaoka Mitsukoshi 星ヶ丘三越 - Nagoya Mitsukoshi Ltd, Niigata Mitsukoshi 新潟三越 - Niigata Isetan Mitsukoshi Ltd. JR Osaka Isetan Mitsukoshi JR大阪三越伊勢丹 Hiroshima Mitsukoshi 広島三越 - Hiroshima Mitsukoshi Ltd, Takamatsu Mitsukoshi 高松三越 - Takamatsu Mitsukoshi Ltd. Matsuyama Mitsukoshi 松山三越 - Matsuyama Mitsukoshi Ltd, fukuoka Mitsukoshi 福岡三越 - Iwataya Mitsukoshi Ltd. The first Shin Kong Mitsukoshi store opened at Nanjing Road in Taipei in 1991, a second store opened in 1988 in the Sun Arcade in Tsim Sha Tsui, but it closed in 1995. Mitsukoshi closed its original Causeway Bay store on 17 September 2006, dalian closed at the end of the Second World War Shanghai In 1930, Mitsukoshi opened their department store in downtown Seoul. After the liberation of Korea and the defeat of Japan in 1945, Samsung took over this store, rome London - The London store opened in 1979 and closed in 2013. It was a shopping destination for Japanese visitors, and incorporated a restaurant.
It was located on Lower Regent Street, alongside the Japan Centre, at the end of June 2013 a large red poster was displayed in the window of Mitsukoshi London department store which read 34年間ありがとうございます Closing Down Sale which means Thank you for 34 Years. The three German stores of Düsseldorf and Munich as well as the Milan shop closed in 2008 and 2009, the Paris shop closed in 2010. In 1991, Mitsukoshi bought that space, as well as 30,000 sq ft of additional adjoining space, and opened a larger outlet
Tsukiji
Tsukiji is a district of Chūō, Japan, the site of the Tsukiji fish market. Literally meaning reclaimed land, it lies near the Sumida River on land reclaimed from Tokyo Bay in the 18th century, there are districts named Tsukiji in Kobe and Amagasaki, cities in Hyōgo Prefecture, although neither is as well known as Tokyos. Tsukiji is built on reclaimed land out of what were once lowland marshes along the Sumida River delta, the Great Fire of Meireki of 1657 destroyed over two-thirds of Edos buildings, including Hongan-ji temple in Asakusa, the enormous Kantō headquarters of the Jōdo Shinshū sect. As a result, the site was relocated to Tsukiji. A number of temples were erected on what is now the outer marketplace. In addition, many residences for samurai and feudal lords were constructed along the southern edge of Tsukiji. In 1869, Tsukiji was designated as a residential area for foreigners. From 1875 to 1890 the United States legation occupied a site in Tsukiji now occupied by the St. Lukes Garden complex, Tsukiji was the location from 1869 of the Imperial Japanese Navy technical training facilities, renamed in 1876 as the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy.
In 1888 the Naval Academy was relocated to from Tsukiji to new, the Tsukiji naval buildings next to the Akibashi bridge became home, until 1923, of the Naval War College, a post-graduate staff college for senior naval officers. The Great Kantō earthquake on September 1,1923, and the resultant fires which raged in its aftermath, a significant portion of the Tsukiji district burned to the ground, and the old Nihonbashi fish market was razed. In the citywide restructuring following the quake, the Nihonbashi fish market was relocated to the Tsukiji district, for many residents and visitors to Tokyo, the Central Wholesale Market, better known as the Tsukiji fish market is synonymous with sushi and seafood products of every kind. Tsukiji is the largest fish market in the world handling more than 2000 tons of 450 types of seafood daily, Tsukiji Hongan-ji, a key temple of the Jōdo Shinshū sect of Buddhism. Inside the temple is a memorial to deceased popular rock star hide. The Sumida River, the Tsukiji riverbank has pedestrian access north of the Kachidoki Bridge, St.
Lukes Garden, one of Tokyos taller buildings containing, offices, a hotel and long-term care accommodation. Part of the St. Lukes International Hospital campus
Kanda, Tokyo
Kanda is a district in Chiyoda, Japan. Kanda was a prior to 1947, when the 35 wards of Tokyo were reorganized into 23. It is home to the Kanda Myojin shrine, devoted to Taira no Masakado, in the Edo period, the shrines festival was one of the three most famous in the city. Kanda is the home of the Tokyo Resurrection Cathedral which was built by Nicholas of Japan and is the main Cathedral of the Japanese Orthodox Church, a popular Japanese television series, Zenigata Heiji, features a fictitious police patrolman whose beat is Kanda. Near the end of show, Heiji fells the dastardly villain by throwing a coin at him
Luxury goods
Luxury goods are often synonymous with superior goods and Veblen goods. Luxury goods are said to have high income elasticity of demand, as people become wealthier and this means, that should there be a decline in income its demand will drop. Income elasticity of demand is not constant with respect to income, although the technical term luxury good is independent of the goods quality, they are generally considered to be goods at the highest end of the market in terms of quality and price. Classic luxury goods include haute couture clothing and luggage, many markets have a luxury segment including, for example, yacht, bottled water, tea, watches, clothes and high fidelity. The hiring of full-time or live-in domestic servants is a luxury reflecting disparities of income, some financial services, especially in some brokerage houses, can be considered luxury services by default because persons in lower-income brackets generally do not use them. The three dominant trends in the luxury goods market are globalization and diversification.
Globalization is a result of the availability of these goods, additional luxury brands. Consolidation involves the growth of big companies and ownership of brands across many segments of luxury products, examples include LVMH, and Kering, which dominate the market in areas ranging from luxury drinks to fashion and cosmetics. Leading global consumer companies, such as Procter & Gamble, are attracted to the industry. The luxury goods market has been on a climb for many years. Apart from the setback caused by the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, the industry has performed well, particularly in 2000. In that year, the luxury goods market – which includes drinks, cosmetics, watches, luggage, handbags – was worth close to $170 billion. The United States has been the largest regional market for goods and is estimated to continue to be the leading personal luxury goods market in 2013. The largest sector in this category was luxury drinks, including premium whisky and this sector was the only one that suffered a decline in value.
In 2012, China surpassed Japan as the worlds largest luxury market, chinas luxury consumption accounts for over 25% of the global market. The Economist Intelligence Unit published a report on the outlook for luxury goods in Asia which explores the trends and forecasts for the luxury goods market across key markets in Asia. In 2014, the sector is expected to grow over the next 10 years because of 440 million consumers spending a total of 880 billion euros. Secular luxury manuscripts were commissioned by the wealthy and differed in the same ways from cheaper books
Ginza Station
Ginza Station is a subway station in Chūō, Japan, operated by the Tokyo subway operator Tokyo Metro. It serves the Ginza commercial district, and is the fourth-busiest Tokyo Metro station after Ikebukuro, Kita-senju, Ginza Station is served by the following three Tokyo Metro lines. Tokyo Metro Ginza Line Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line Each line has a platform serving two tracks. The Ginza and Marunouchi Line platforms are located separately on the 2nd basement level, the song The Love Story of Ginza by Yujiro Ishihara and Junko Makimura is to be used as the departure melody on the Hibiya Line platforms from spring 2016. Ginza Station opened on the Ginza Line on 3 March 1934, the Marunouchi Line began service to Ginza on 15 December 1957, and the Hibiya Line platforms opened on 29 August 1964. In fiscal 2011, the station was used by an average of 241,513 passengers daily, an underground passage connects with the following stations, allowing transfer on foot. Ginza-itchōme Higashi-Ginza Hibiya Yūrakuchō Ginza station information
