• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.34 no.8
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• pp.1303-1318
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• 2010

This study is to understand the characteristics of Korean and Japanese consumers by analyzing the relation among consumer attitudes, concepts, and knowledge about luxury brands. In addition, the present study is to help to establish more effective marketing strategies for luxury companies by providing new data based on consumer knowledge. The author conducted a survey on a total of 816 male/female Korean and Japanese subjects ranging in age from 20 to 50s. The results of this study are as follows: First, Korean consumers have more positive attitudes toward luxury brands than Japanese consumers. Second, regarding the concepts about luxury brands, Korean consumers have concepts of luxury such as "involvement" "symbol of status" "scarcity" and "hedonism"and Japanese consumers have concepts such as "involvement" "ostentation" "high value"and "ornamentation" Third, Korean consumers are more confident in their knowledge and experiences about luxury brand consumption than Japanese consumers. The subjective knowledge has positive impacts on consumer attitudes toward luxury brands and becomes one of the reasons for the friendlier attitudes of Korean consumers toward luxury brands, compared to Japanese consumers. Fourth, the level of objective knowledge of Korean and Japanese consumers is high; but there is no statistically significant difference in the two countries.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.296-302
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• 2010

A survey on the quality improvement and preference for green onion kimchi by Chinese and Japanese consumers was conducted by 30 Korean specialists in order to develop an improved green onion kimchi product. The long green onion shape, kimchi juice, seasonings, off-odor of fermented sea food, and stimulatory flavor of green onion were the main issues considered for the improvement of green onion product. Usage of the favorite ingredients of the Chinese and Japanese consumers was also suggested. The percentages of Chinese and Japanese who already knew green onion kimchi were 54.1% and 30.3%, respectively, whereas 46.8% of Chinese and 28.1% of Japanese have actually tried green onion kimchi in Korea. There was no significant difference in the preference for green onion kimchi between Chinese (3.25/5.0) and Japanese (3.17/5.0) consumers. For recommendations for improving the quality of green onion, Chinese consumers thought off-flavor, fibrous texture, and fermentation level were more significant while the Japanese considered red color, various taste, MSG content, and length of green onion. Seasoned tofu with green onion and rice were suggested as complementary foods to green onion kimchi by the Chinese and Japanese, respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.62 no.2
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• pp.87-102
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to identify conceptual constructs of well-being consciousness and appearance management behaviors, and to examine the effects of these two variables on attitudes toward Korean herbal cosmetics for Korean and Japanese consumers. A survey was carried out among female consumers between the ages of 20 and 50, and a total of 500 responses were analyzed by descriptive analysis, reliability test, t-test, and confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling and multi group analysis. The results of this study were as follows: 1) The result of CFA and the reliability test on well-being consciousness and appearance management of Korean and Japanese respondents clearly showed factorial structures on each of the variant assessments. 2) In regards to the well-being consciousness, Korean and Japanese respondents highly tended to perceive well-being as a benefit to the physical health and an eco-friendly lifestyle respectively. In the area of appearance management, Korean and Japanese respondents had similar patterns that showed high scores of skin care and weight control. Both Korean and Japanese consumers showed favorable attitudes toward Korean herbal cosmetic products. 3) The consumers' well-being consciousness revealed to have positive influences on appearance management behavior. Both well-being consciousness and appearance management positively influenced attitudes toward Korean herbal cosmetics. 4) As a result of MGA, the well-being consciousness had more positive impacts on Korean respondents' attitudes toward Korean herbal cosmetics than the appearance management variable when compared to the Japanese respondents. On the other hand, appearance management had more positive impacts on Japanese respondents' attitudes to-ward Korean herbal cosmetics than well-being consciousness when compared to the Korean respondents. These results suggest that differentiated marketing strategies for Korean herbal cosmetics are crucial when targeting Korean and Japanese consumers.

• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.20-34
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• 2010

The purpose of this study is to clarify the relationship between consumption behavior and fashion orientation for luxury brands in Japanese and Korean consumers. For this study, the author carried out a questionnaire survey with objects of 816 Koreans and Japanese, and analyzed the relations among consumer attitude, purchase behavior, lifestyle and fashion orientation. First, in Korea, all fashion orientations gave positive effects on attitude toward luxury brands, and especially it has a significant relation with factors affecting luxury brand consumption, so when luxury enterprises establish a marketing strategy for Koreans, they need to refer to fashion orientation intensively. Second, as a result of analyzing the relation between fashion orientation and purchasing behavior, it was found that fashion interest is an important factor affecting luxury brand purchasing behaviors, in both Japan and Korea. Third, Japanese luxury brand enterprises need to focus on consumers who prefer standard goods. while Korean enterprises need to focus on consumers who prefer specific brands. Lastly, in case of Japanese consumers, the more they pursue self-esteem and reasonable consumption, the higher they prefer standard goods, while the more Korean consumers pursue conspicuous consumption, hedonic consumption and self-esteem, the higher Koreans prefer specific brands.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.135-148
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• 2010

Arab boycotts of Danish products, Australian boycotts of French products and Chinese consumer aversion toward Japanese products are all examples of how adverse actions at the country level might impact consumers' behavior. The animosity literature has examined how consumers react to the adverse actions of other countries, and how such animosity impacts consumers' attitudes and preferences for products from the transgressing country. For example, Chinese consumers are less likely to buy Japanese products because of Japanese atrocities during World War II and the unjust economic dealings of the Japanese (Klein, Ettenson and Morris 1998). The marketing literature, however, has not examined how consumers react to adverse actions committed by their own country against other countries, and whether such actions affect their attitudes towards purchasing products that originated from the adversely affected country. The social psychology literature argues that consumers will experience a feeling called collective guilt, in response to such adverse actions. Collective guilt stems from the distress experienced by group members when they accept that their group is responsible for actions that have harmed another group (Branscombe, Slugoski, and Kappenn 2004). Examples include Americans feeling guilty about the atrocities committed by the U.S. military at Abu Ghraib prison (Iyer, Schamder and Lickel 2007), and the Dutch about their occupation of Indonesia in the past (Doosje et al. 1998). The primary aim of this study is to examine consumers' perceptions of adverse actions by members of one's own country against another country and whether such perceptions affected their attitudes towards products originating from the country transgressed against. More specifically, one objective of this study is to examine the perceptual antecedents of collective guilt, an emotional reaction to adverse actions performed by members of one's country against another country. Another objective is to examine the impact of collective guilt on consumers' perceptions of, and preference for, products originating from the country transgressed against by the consumers' own country. If collective guilt emerges as a significant predictor, companies originating from countries that have been transgressed against might be able to capitalize on such unfortunate events. This research utilizes the animosity model introduced by Klein, Ettenson and Morris (1998) and later expanded on by Klein (2002). Klein finds that U.S. consumers harbor animosity toward the Japanese. This animosity is experienced in response to events that occurred during World War II (i.e., the bombing of Pearl Harbor) and more recently the perceived economic threat from Japan. Thus this study argues that the events of Word War II (i.e., bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki) might lead U.S. consumers to experience collective guilt. A series of three hypotheses were introduced. The first hypothesis deals with the antecedents of collective guilt. Previous research argues that collective guilt is experienced when consumers perceive that the harm following a transgression is illegitimate and that the country from which the transgressors originate should be responsible for the adverse actions. (Wohl, Branscombe, and Klar 2006). Therefore the following hypothesis was offered: H1a. Higher levels of perceived illegitimacy for the harm committed will result in higher levels of collective guilt. H1b. Higher levels of responsibility will be positively associated with higher levels of collective guilt. The second and third hypotheses deal with the impact of collective guilt on the preferences for Japanese products. Klein (2002) found that higher levels of animosity toward Japan resulted in a lower preference for a Japanese product relative to a South Korean product but not a lower preference for a Japanese product relative to a U.S. product. These results therefore indicate that the experience of collective guilt will lead to a higher preference for a Japanese product if consumers are contemplating a choice that inv olves a decision to buy Japanese versus South Korean product but not if the choice involves a decision to buy a Japanese versus a U.S. product. H2. Collective guilt will be positively related to the preference for a Japanese product over a South Korean product, but will not be related to the preference for a Japanese product over a U.S. product. H3. Collective guilt will be positively related to the preference for a Japanese product over a South Korean product, holding constant product judgments and animosity. An experiment was conducted to test the hypotheses. The illegitimacy of the harm and responsibility were manipulated by exposing respondents to a description of adverse events occurring during World War II. Data were collected using an online consumer panel in the United States. Subjects were randomly assigned to either the low levels of responsibility and illegitimacy condition (n=259) or the high levels of responsibility and illigitemacy (n=268) condition. Latent Variable Structural Equation Modeling (LVSEM) was used to test the hypothesized relationships. The first hypothesis is supported as both the illegitimacy of the harm and responsibility assigned to the Americans for the harm committed against the Japanese during WWII have a positive impact on collective guilt. The second hypothesis is also supported as collective guilt is positively related to preference for a Japanese product over a South Korean product but is not related to preference for a Japanese product over a U.S. product. Finally there is support for the third hypothesis, since collective guilt is positively related to the preference for a Japanese product over a South Korean product while controlling for the effect of product judgments about Japanese products and animosity. The results of these studies lead to several conclusions. First, the illegitimacy of harm and responsibility can be manipulated and that they are antecedents of collective guilt. Second, collective guilt has an impact on a consumers' decision when they face a choice set that includes a product from the country that was the target of the adverse action and a product from another foreign country. This impact however disappears from a consumers' decision when they face a choice set that includes a product from the country that was the target of the adverse action and a domestic product. This result suggests that collective guilt might be a viable factor for company originating from the country transgressed against if its competitors are foreign but not if they are local.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.614-620
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• 2011

This study attempted to identify differences in Korean food consumption behaviors between groups of Japanese consumers segmented in accordance to their food-related lifestyles. This study was performed to provide Korean food service companies basic information to implement a strategy for the globalization of Korean food. As a result of the empirical analysis, the food-related lifestyles of Japanese consumers were deduced to the following four factors: "health and safetyoriented lifestyle", "palate and safety-oriented lifestyle", "economic efficiency-oriented lifestyle", and "simplicity-oriented lifestyle". Further, as a result of the cluster analysis, food-related lifestyles were classified into the following three groups: "a group highly interested in food-related life", "an economic efficiency-oriented group", and "a simplicity-oriented group". Second, there were significant differences in demographic characteristics and the characteristics of Korean food consumption behaviors between the groups. Third, also in a comparison of satisfaction with and loyalty to Korean restaurants with crucial attributes during the selection of Korean food, there were significant differences between the groups. Therefore, it is necessary to develop various Korean food products that will cater to Japanese consumers in accordance with each segmented group.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.295-309
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• 2020

In 2019, Japan announced trade regulations against Korean products; consequently, the sales of Japanese products in Korea dropped due to a Korean consumers' boycott. This study measured the Korean consumers' political consumption behavior toward Japanese fashion products. Unstructured text data from online media sources and consumer posted sources such as blog and SNS were collected. Text mining techniques and semantic network analysis were used to process unstructured data. This study used text mining techniques and semantic network analysis to process data. The results identified boycotting Japanese fashion products and buycotting alternative products and Korean brands due to consumers' political consumption. Two brand cases were investigated in detail. Online text data before and after the political action were compared and significant changes in consumption as well as emotional expressions were identified. Product related industry sectors were identified in terms of the political consumption of fashion: liquor, automobile and tourism industry sectors were closely linked to the fashion sector in terms of boycotting. More "boycott" and "buycott" fashion brands (reflected in consumer attitudes and feelings) were detected in consumer driven texts than in media driven sources.

• Korean journal of food and cookery science
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.617-624
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• 2013

Korean Food Globalization has been launched as a tool of civil ambassador and the high value-oriented industry. According to department of statistics in 2012, the trend of Korean food globalization from international visitors of Chinese and Japanese has grown. Hence, this study is purposed to identify the level of satisfaction of Chinese and Japanese consumers based on their food-related lifestyle. The survey was conducted by interviewing 403 Chinese and Japanese visitors who have experienced Korean food. The survey questionnaire was composed of 3 parts of demographic information, food-related lifestyle, and satisfaction of Korean restaurant. As factor analysis results, 3 factors were yielded for the food-related lifestyle factors-a eat-out preferred group, a health preferred group, and a taste preferred group, and 3 factors were generated for Korean restaurant satisfaction-hygiene and service, menu, and food quality. For cluster analysis, 3 clusters were identified as follows: high interested in food itself, health interested, and taste interested. Female appears to be significantly different in terms of 3 clusters than male. Nationality shows that Chinese consumers showed a high interest in food itself whereas Japanese consumers were high interested in health. With regard to Korean restaurant satisfaction, service appeared to be important in Chinese consumers while Japanese consumers showed a higher mean value on serving size, price, and nutrition. The findings concluded that by understanding the nature of food-related lifestyle of international visitors, marketing strategies can better meet visitors' expectations and increase their satisfaction with Korean restaurants.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.203-212
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• 2015

This study developed eel teriyaki sauce and suggests conditions for its commercialization. Consumer preference tests were carried out with Korean (n=50) and Japanese (n=50) consumers. Grilled eel samples were made by teriyaki sauce with addition of Bokbunja juice, powder, concentrates. The preference tests were itemized for color, flavor, taste, salty taste, softness and overall-preference of grilled eel. Korean and Japanese consumers preferred flavor and taste, and the degree of overall preference was rated higher at 60% for Bokbunja juice, 20% for Bokbunja powder, and 40% for Bokbunja concentrate. Japanese consumers also preferred its color as well. The items of softness and overall-preference had good ratings.

• Korean journal of food and cookery science
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.109-118
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• 2014

Korean food globalization has been recently launched as a tool of civil ambassador, and the trend of Korean food has grown among international visitors of Chinese and Japanese. The purposes of this study were to identify the awareness level about Bibimbap of Chinese and Japanese consumers and to investigate its marketability. The survey questionnaires were distributed to 403 Chinese and Japanese visitors who have experienced Bibimbap. The results identified 3 factors of quality, sensory characteristics, and nutrition value, and Japanese consumers appeared to have higher perception than Chinese consumers about Bibimbap. A significant difference between Japanese and Chinese consumers existed in nutritional value and marketability of Bibimbap, and Japanese highly evaluated the nutritional value of Bibimbap in particular. The findings of this study provided valuable information for the development of Bibimbap and marketing strategies to globalize Bibimbap.