Sony Building Review

Sergei's review

Nice, yet could be better

From Japan: Day 3 in Tokyo, Japan on Feb 07 '06

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To start, this is a nicely appointed Sony Style showcase spread over no less than 11 levels. Yet some of its characteristics made it less appealing for me personally than it could have been.

First of all, significant number of levels is given away to rather unrelated souvenir shops and restaurants. The building itself is situated in Ginza district, which is choke-full of shops and restaurants. One can just walk out of the Sony building and find very similar ones in close proximity. Not sure why those are relevant to Sony.

Nice, yet could be better

Secondly, most of the items on display and for sale are of the small variety – mobile players and the like, which are of course the ones predominantly selling in Japan, yet not as popular in United States, where other brands dominate in this space. The displays and shops are very small and not exceedingly well spatially and color-coordinated. They are made in a kind of bland international style, which one could just as easily encounter in an average shopping mall in an American city.

And thirdly, some of the best high-end Sony products either are not present at all, or are there in principle yet access to them is closed for unknown reason, or they are present and open but not given enough room and high-quality acoustic accessories and acoustic environment to showcase their capabilities fully. For crying out loud, these same Sony models are much better presented in the mass-market Fry’s Electronics stores here in California, leave alone more upscale “Good Guys” stores.

On the bright side, Sony presented several new models of high-definition TV sets I didn’t know existed. These shined despite quite unfavorable lighting conditions. The Sony employees were very helpful and demonstrated to me a sound system similar to what I was considered buying and eventually bought after I returned home.

Still, I had that persistent feeling that Sony is not going out for 100% there. Of course, I don’t know their business priorities and circumstances, yet it would meet my expectations if the unrelated shops and restaurants were asked to vacate and in their place Sony created something similar to what Toyota set up in Odaiba – an exciting all-out showcase with ideal displays and a museum of Sony history and design.