中國遊客推動岡本股價逆市上漲
Okamoto Industries’ headquarters are in a disheveled grey building on a Tokyo backstreet. A poster from a long-forgotten public health campaign hangs in the front window. Display cases show-off a selection of shoes, a fake frozen fish and a roll of clingfilm. A bronze bust of the founder looms near an unstaffed reception desk.
岡本株式會社(Okamoto Industries)總部大樓位於東京一條僻靜街道，灰色的大樓看上去髒兮兮的。總部前窗玻璃上貼着一張很久以前某場公共健康運動的海報。展示櫃裏擺了幾雙鞋子、一條仿真凍魚和一卷保鮮膜。在無人值守的前臺旁，立着創始人的半身銅像。
In short, there is little to suggest Okamoto is the heart of a $1bn company by market capitalisation with world-class materials technology, shares at a 22-year high, a transformational marketing push in the works, and a brand name synonymous throughout Asia with better sex.
總之，上述景象很難讓人想到這裏是一家市值10億美元的公司的總部所在地。岡本的股價已創下22年來新高，該公司擁有世界一流的材料技術，且正在進行一場革命性的營銷活動，而且在整個亞洲，岡本這個名字已成爲“性福生活”的代名詞。
But over the past eight weeks, and in defiance of the ructions on global markets, Okamoto has become one of the hottest names for investors.
過去8周，岡本在全球市場動盪中逆市上揚，成爲最受投資者追捧的名字之一。
Shares in the Tokyo-based company, Japan’s market-dominant producer of condoms, have broken out of a trading band they occupied for more than a decade and risen by more than 120 per cent. Few companies have benefited so spectacularly, it acknowledges, from having ‘Made in Japan’ stamped on products.
總部位於東京的安全套生產商岡本是日本的安全套市場主導者，公司股價已突破了十多年來的交易區間，上漲超過120%。岡本承認很少有公司能像它這樣，從產品上印着的“日本製造”幾個字中獲得如此驚人的益處。
“It was totally unexpected,” says Yoshiyuki Okamoto, president of the company and son of the industrialist commemorated in bronze. “The best I can say is that we are looking at the situation calmly.”
岡本株式會社社長岡本良幸(Yoshiyuki Okamoto)說：“這完全出乎我們意料。我能說的就是我們正從容面對這一局面。”他是那尊銅像所紀念的那位實業家的兒子。
The Okamoto share price spike has been driven by China: specifically the 2.8m Chinese that have visited Japan so far in 2015 and overtaken South Koreans and Taiwanese as the biggest contingent of inbound tourists. Chinese trust in domestic condom brands is low, and foreign brands, of which Okamoto is among the most famous, are faked on an immense scale. Buying the famous Okamoto 0.03 condoms (named for their thickness in millimetres) in Japan, say the Chinese shoppers who throng Tokyo’s drug stores, guarantees they are getting the real thing.
岡本股價上漲背後的推動力來自中國，尤其是中國遊客。截至目前爲止，2015年赴日中國遊客已達280萬人，超過了韓國和臺灣，成爲日本入境遊客最大來源地。中國人對本土避孕套品牌信任度很低，而國外品牌（岡本也是其中知名度極高的一個）假貨橫行。東京的藥妝店裏擠滿了中國消費者，他們表示在日本買到的岡本003極薄安全套（以0.03毫米的厚度命名）肯定是正品。
Chinese spending in Japan has been so lavish that a new term — bakugai or “buying explosion” — has emerged to describe the way Chinese tour groups des挀攀渀攙 on particular retailers and buy in bulk. Many, says Mr Okamoto, are basing their choices on widely circulated online lists of ideal items to buy in Japan, of which Okamoto condoms are at or near the top.
中國人在日本出手之闊綽已經讓日本人創造了一個新名詞“爆買い”(bakugai)，意思是“狂熱購買”，用於形容中國旅遊團涌向特定的零售商大量購買商品。岡本良幸說，許多中國遊客選購商品是根據互聯網上廣泛流傳的日本值得購買的商品清單，岡本安全套在所有清單上均居於或接近榜首。
Until July, Okamoto’s stock was lumped in with hundreds of other Japanese companies battling for sustainability in a shrinking domestic market. In the case of condoms, the headwinds seemed especially fierce. The Japanese population is the fastest ageing in the world and, according to some surveys, among the least sexually active.
就在7月時，岡本的股票還與數百家其他日本企業一樣，在不斷萎縮的國內市場爭取生存空間。就安全套產業來說，形勢尤爲不利。據一些調查顯示，日本人口老齡化速度居全球之首，是性生活最不活躍的國家之一。
Okamoto has spent decades making its name by challenging domestic and global rivals with ever thinner condoms. Now, however, it is contemplating whether a technological wall has been reached and whether the costs of seeking condom perfection at the molecular level are simply too high. Plans outlined by the president to follow the lead of Durex and attempt to “capture the senior market for sex” have yet to materialise as a practical strategy for Okamoto. For a decade, drug stores across Japan have been reducing the shelf-space devoted to condoms at a rate of 5 per cent every year.
幾十年來，岡本不斷推出更薄的安全套，向國內外競爭對手發起挑戰，打響了名聲。但現在岡本正在思考兩個問題：安全套厚度是否已達到技術極限？追求讓安全套在分子水平上達到完美的成本是否太高？岡本社長效仿杜蕾斯(Durex)、試圖“佔領性用品高級市場”的計劃綱要，尚未落實爲切實可行的策略。過去十年，日本全國各地藥店的安全套貨架空間以每年5%的速度在減少。
Effecting any kind of turnround will be tough. Through its single-minded pursuit of technical improvement Okamoto has at various times held the world record for producing the world’s thinnest condom. But social conservatism and strict television broadcasting rules in Japan mean it cannot be remote氀礀 suggestive about any benefits that thinness might confer on the user.
尋找任何形式的轉機都將是困難的。通過一門心思追求技術突破，岡本的產品多次創下世界最薄安全套紀錄。但由於日本社會風氣保守，且電視播放規則嚴格，意味着岡本無法以哪怕最隱晦的方式宣傳“薄”可能會讓用戶感受到的任何好處。
“Marketing has always been very difficult here. The Japanese people are simply not used to sexy campaigns for condoms,” says Mr Okamoto. “That is something we may be able to change as we start to use social media and it could be something that makes a big difference to this market. Online sales are another area that we expect to expand because people are not embarrassed buying over the internet.”
岡本良幸說：“在日本做營銷一向很困難，日本人不習慣性感的安全套廣告宣傳。隨着我們開始使用社交媒體，或許可以在這方面做出改變，這可能會爲安全套市場帶來巨大不同。網上銷售是我們希望擴大的另一領域，因爲人們在互聯網上購買安全套時不會感到尷尬。”
Most see the sales effect of such campaigns as some way off; meanwhile, it seems as though Mr Okamoto almost cannot believe his luck in Chinese visitors putting his brand on their shopping lists.
大多數人認爲，這類廣告宣傳的效果暫時還不會體現到銷售業績上。與此同時，岡本良幸似乎不太敢相信自己會有如此好運——他的品牌居然被中國遊客放到了購物清單裏。
Until now, China has brought him a string of headaches. As well as the huge, brand-damaging fakes market, Okamoto has been engaged for more than a decade in a legal dispute with a Chinese company that registered the Okamoto name in China before the Japanese company could do so: “It’s just a continuous battle. A constant game of cat-and-mouse that has been going on for 10 years and we just cannot seem to win. Other companies in this situation eventually just gave up and agreed to buy the Chinese brand or make the company an affiliate. We have absolutely no plans to do that.”
直到不久以前，中國帶給他的一直是一連串麻煩。中國龐大的假貨市場對岡本品牌造成了傷害。除此以外，岡本與一家中國公司已經打了十多年的官司。岡本的商標在中國被這家公司搶注。“這是一場沒完沒了的訴訟戰，是一場已經持續了10年的貓捉老鼠的固定遊戲，而我們根本看不到取勝的希望。其他公司遇到這種事最終只能認栽，同意購買那個同名中國品牌，或同意該公司變成子公司。我們絕不打算這麼做。”
China has also produced a high-profile challenge to Okamoto’s supremacy as a producer of condoms of “record-breaking thinness”. Last year, it faced a legal challenge from Guang稀梔漀甀 Daming United Rubber Products in a battle over the right to make that claim on packets of condoms sold in China.
中國還高調地對岡本作爲“世界最薄”安全套生產商的霸主地位發起挑戰。去年岡本被廣州大明聯合橡膠製品有限公司起訴，後者稱岡本無權在中國銷售的安全套包裝上印製“世界最薄”字樣。
“The argument started over whose condom was thinner and they said they needed compensation from us. Do you know how much compensation they wanted? One yuan. It’s such a primitive type of battle you can’t even laugh about it. It was just a way of promoting their name. Eventually the matter was dropped,” says Mr Okamoto.
岡本良幸說：“這場爭論的開端是誰的安全套更薄，他們說我們需要賠償他們。你知道他們想要多少賠償嗎？1元。這種競爭手段之原始，讓人甚至無法付之一笑。這不過是他們炒作自己品牌的一種方式。整件事最終不了了之。”
On the strategic front too, China presents Mr Okamoto with challenges. Whatever his ambitions for a revival within Japan, it is clear that growth will come from Asia generally and China in particular. Some 15 years ago, Okamoto bought a Thai condom maker to use as a hub for regional sales. It has now completed a factory in China’s Guangdong province that will start producing Okamoto branded condoms next year.
在戰略方面，中國也讓岡本良幸面臨挑戰。無論岡本良幸對在日本國內復興寄予了多大厚望，顯而易見的是，岡本的增長將主要來自亞洲，特別是中國。大約15年前，岡本收購了一家泰國安全套製造商，用作區域銷售中心。岡本在中國廣東省設立的工廠也已建成，明年就將開始生產岡本牌安全套。
The intention, says Mr Okamoto, is to meet the rising demand from the Chinese market with a high quality product that is competitive on price because it is produced in China. The big, unknowable problem, he says, is whether the “Made in China” stamp on condoms leaving the factory will kill their appeal.
岡本良幸說，此舉是爲了以高質量、價格上又有競爭力（因爲在中國生產）的產品滿足中國市場不斷增長的需求。他說，有一個不可知的大問題，就是這間工廠所產安全套上“中國製造”的字樣是否會抹殺它們的吸引力。
“I am quite worried about that,” says Mr Okamoto. “But I’m also not sure how long this Chinese tourism spending boom is going to last.”
岡本良幸說：“我很擔心這一點。但我也不知道這股中國遊客消費熱潮還能持續多久。”
Succession: A question of continuity
繼承：事關企業存續的問題
In common with hundreds of other second-generation leaders across Japan, Yoshiyuki Okamoto is agonising over whether his successor should come from the founding family.
與全日本其他幾百名家族企業的第二代領導人一樣，岡本良幸也在爲繼承者問題發愁，不知道是否該從家族中挑選繼承人。
The problem is not new, but has become infinitely more complicated since July when Japan adopted its new corporate governance code, a set of guidelines introduced as part of the “third arrow” of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s plan to revitalise the economy.
這一問題並不新鮮，但從今年7月起變得愈發複雜。日本在7月通過了新的公司治理法，出臺了一組指導方針，這是日本首相安倍晉三(Shinzo Abe)振興經濟的“第三支箭”計劃的一部分。
The code imposes huge financial and other pressures on companies such as Okamoto, says its president. In particular, companies that want to install the third or fourth generation at the top will have to fight harder to convince investors in an environment where shareholder activism is no longer a dirty term.
岡本良幸表示，該法對岡本這類公司造成了巨大的財務壓力和其他壓力。特別是那些想要安排第三代或第四代家族成員擔當掌門人的企業，現在股東維權主義已不再揹負污名，這些企業將不得不更加努力地去說服投資者接受這種安排。
“We have to make a choice between the best way of ensuring continuity [of the business] or family succession,” he says. “Of course, continuity must be the priority.”
岡本良幸說：“我們必須作出選擇，是選擇確保（企業）存續的最好方式，還是選擇家族繼承。當然，擺在第一位的肯定是企業的存續。”
Mr Okamoto’s son and daughter do not work for the company but sitting alongside him as he makes these comments is Masaru Okamoto, his nephew and a former lawyer who recently became manager of Okamoto’s business administration department.
岡本良幸的子女不在岡本公司工作，不過在他發表上述評論時，坐在他身邊的是他的侄子Masaru Okamoto。Masaru Okamoto原先是一名律師，最近剛成爲岡本經營管理部門的經理。
