TrendsCurrent food trends in Japan consist of alcoholic beverages, imported pasta, biscuit wafers, frozen ice (a type of incredibly sweet ice cream), soft-shelled shrimp, tea and coffee.Relationships between Japan and CanadaJapan and Canada share a fairly friendly relationship. Political relations between the two countries began in 1929 when Canada opened a legation in Tokyo. This was followed by the opening of a Japanese embassy in Ottawa in 1950. Currently, Canada has a consulate in Nagoya and an embassy in Tokyo, while Japan has an embassy in Ottawa and a consulate general in Montreal, Calgary, Vancouver and Toronto. Both Canada and Japan are members of APEC, the OECD and the G8. Product Marketing Strategy in Foreign Market Product: To move Pop Tarts to Japan, the box containing the product will now be a cylinder instead of the rectangular prism it was initially. This is because we are changing the shape of the product. Instead of having flat, rectangular pastries filled with some sort of flavoring and covered in icing, the product would not be a long stick filled with the sugary filling and covered all around in icing. The reason for this change is because this form of snack is much more popular and desired in Japan. We would change the flavor and promote a flavor that doesn't currently exist. This new flavor is marshmallow due to the demand and popularity of marshmallows in Japan. The label should be translated into Japanese, along with the flavor change. The color of the packaging will remain the same blue, as this color is very popular in Japan due to its resemblance to leadership and wisdom. Price: In Canada, a box of eight Pop Tarts sells for an average of $4.50 depending on the price. ...... half the paper ...... would be the same as the current countries where Pop Tarts are sold. One end of the target market would be children; they would see this product and be attracted to it by the promise of a sugary treat. At the other end of the spectrum are adults; they would be attracted to it because of the promise of low calories, zero trans fats, high amounts of vitamins and minerals. This would amount to approximately 94 million potential consumers in Japan. This is because the percentage of citizens in Japan aged between 0 and 64 is 76.9% of a population of approximately 128 million. Competition Our direct competition in Japan would be the popular snack Toppo's, which is the same shape as our new Pop Tarts but is filled with chocolate flavoring and not covered with any type of icing. Our indirect competition would be any type of sweet cookie sold in Japan.