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Ice cream is very popular in Japan, and why not? It can get pretty darn hot there depending upon the location and time of year. I remember it being in the upper 90's°F in mid-September when I was in the Kobe/Kyoto/Osaka area a few years ago and ice cream and cold beer helped keep me functioning. Although not mixed in together. Talking about mix-ins, Cold Stone Creamery has been making a move on Japan. They now have eight+ stores and more all the time. They are trying to play catch-up with their competitors like Baskin-Robbins which has over 750 stores and who had 700,000 folks lined up last month when they spent two hours giving away free ice cream for Japans Ice Cream Day.
That's hard to beat, but Cold Stone Creamery has decided to leap right out of their competitor's market profile and seek to be the ice cream purveyor to the hip and cool. They are focusing on marketing to young urbanites; the makers, breakers, and trend-setters for Japans youth. I am sure you have seen or heard about them, especially the young women. They dress wildly creative, listen to cutting edge music, and are full of energy and vitality, constantly remaking themselves in their own concept of cool and hip. Their other target consumers are the uber fashion conscious "office ladies" as the young and single, female professionals are known.
