Electronic From Korea Are Struggling in Japan
南韓電子產品日本不愛
By Eric Pfanner

TOKYO – Brandishing a new Sony Xperia as she left a mobile phone shop in a trendy part of Tokyo, Nisako Hanawa, a 17-yearold student, said that she had chosen that brand “because of its cool design and its good reputation.”
走出東京時髦區一家智慧手機店時，17歲的學生塙美紗子揮舞手中索尼公司新的Xperia手機說，她挑這個品牌，「因為它的外型設計很酷，口碑又好。」

Asked about another leading smartphone maker, Samsung Electronics of South Korea, she and a friend exchanged quizzical looks. “Samsung?” Miss Hanawa asked. “I haven’t heard of it.”
問到是否知道另一家智慧手機知名製造商，南韓三星電子時，塙和友人互換了一個怪異的表情，反問道：「三星嗎？從來沒聽說過。」

Samsung Electronics may be the largest consumer electronics company in the world, selling one out of every three smartphones and one in five televisions. LG, the other giant electronics maker in Korea, has a significant share of TV and washing machine markets in Europe and the United States. But here in trend-obsessed Japan, consumers have not caught on that elsewhere in the world some Korean products are knocking Japanese rivals off the shelves.
三星電子可能是全球最大的消費電子產品公司，智慧手機的銷售量占全球三分之一，電視機銷售量也占了五分之一。南韓另一家電子產品巨擘樂金，在歐洲和美國的電視機與洗衣機市場，都享有可觀的市占率。然而在追求潮流趨勢成癡的日本，消費者卻渾然不知，在世界上的其他地方，南韓某些產品正將日本對手的產品趕下貨架。

Many Japanese claim the quality is inferior. “South Korean products are still affected by a ‘cheap and nasty’ image, which remains prevalent among Japanese above a certain age,” wrote Hidehiko Mukoyama of the Japan Research Institute.
許多日本人認為南韓商品品質較差。日本綜合研究所的向山英彥寫道：「某個年紀以上的日本人對南韓產品還是普遍存有『便宜沒好貨』的印象。」

Yet Korean-made TVs, phones, washers and cars rate higher than many Japanese brands in independent tests.
但在一些獨立的測試中，韓製的電視、手機、洗衣機和汽車的評價高於許多日本品牌。

But this holdout is finally being cracked open. In 2008, LG stopped selling its televisions in Japan, but it reintroduced them two years later.
不過，這種抗拒最終也開始鬆動了。2008年，樂金停止在日本銷售電視，但兩年後捲土重來。

At a branch of Nojima, a retail chain, LG televisions are displayed alongside sets from domestic brands like Sony, Sharp, Panasonic and Toshiba.
在連鎖零售商「野島」的一家分店內，樂金的電視機與日本國內品牌索尼、夏普、 Panasonic（松下）、東芝的電視機並列展示。

Kohei Tomizawa, a sales clerk, said LG sets “tend to be more popular with younger people, and younger people don’t buy as many televisions as older customers, who tend to prefer well-known Japanese brands, like Sony.”
店員富澤耕平說，樂金電視機「往往更受年輕族群喜愛，但是比起老年消費者，年輕人比較不會購買電視，至於老年消費者則偏愛像索尼這些日本知名品牌」。

LG said it sold about $675 million worth of TVs, smartphones and other goods in Japan last year, up 45 percent from 2010.
樂金表示，去年樂金在日本的電視、智慧型手機等產品銷售總額約為6億7500萬美元，較2010年成長45%。

Samsung left Japan in 2007, but it has come back with its smartphones. NTT Docomo, the largest mobile phone carrier in Japan, has turned to Samsung to try to fend off competition from two rival network operators, SoftBank and KDDI. They have been poaching customers from Docomo, which does not offer the iPhone.
三星2007年退出日本市場，現今又以手機重返日本市場。日本最大的手機通信營運商都科摩公司已經轉向三星借力，以抵禦來自另外兩家對手網絡營運商軟銀和KDDI的競爭。由於都科摩不銷售iPhone，兩家公司一直在挖都科摩的客戶。

Docomo has plastered Japanese cities with posters featuring the Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone beside a Sony Xperia A.
在全日本各地城市，都科摩都將三星Galaxy S4智慧手機的海報，貼在索尼Xperia A的旁邊。

Apple dominates the Japanese smartphone business, holding a 40 percent market share in the first quarter, according to the research firm IDC. Sharp, with 15 percent, and Sony, with 13 percent, follow. Samsung has not made it into the top five vendor ranks.
根據市場研究公司IDC的統計，蘋果在日本智慧手機市場仍是一枝獨秀，第一季市占率40%，夏普為15%，其後是索尼，占13%。三星尚未擠進供應商前五名行列。

But some analysts say South Korean companies have a brighter future in Japan.
不過，一些分析師說，南韓公司在日本大有可為。

“No Korean or Western firms were good enough for them, except Apple,” said Sea-Jin Chang, the author of “Sony vs. Samsung: The Inside Story of the Electronics Giants’ Battle for Global Supremacy.” “But you will find more Korean firms accepted in the Japanese mainstream in the future.”
《當索尼遇到三星：電子巨頭全球爭霸戰內幕》一書作者張世真說：「除了蘋果，任何南韓或西方公司對他們來說都不夠好。但未來，人們將發現，日本的主流市場，有更多南韓公司獲得接受。」

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/12/business/global/korean-companies-gain-traction-in-japan.html

紐時中文版翻譯：
http://cn.nytimes.com/business/20130813/c13samsungjapan/zh-hant/

2013-08-27聯合報/G9版/UNITEDDAILYNEWS 王麗娟譯 原文參見紐時週報七版左