What do the 2 letter country code on yonex rackets mean? (JP/SP/TW)

[DanGoh]

Just a comment. You can also see this price difference (Japan and non-Japan made) in Action figures.
Japan-made figures also commanded a much higher premium than its International or Non-Japan made figures. To a non-collector, both figures look exactly and feel the same although collectors invariably go for the Japan-made figures because they command a higher/better resale value later on.


I am not too sure if the materials used for both versions are the same but one perception is that Japan-made products have higher QC. Hence, the end product quality is of a higher percentage in comparison to those products with defects, etc. This account for the expectation that Japan-made products are of a "higher" quality.

[demolidor]

Just a comment. You can also see this price difference (Japan and non-Japan made) in Action figures.
Japan-made figures also commanded a much higher premium than its International or Non-Japan made figures. To a non-collector, both figures look exactly and feel the same although collectors invariably go for the Japan-made figures because they command a higher/better resale value later on.


I am not too sure if the materials used for both versions are the same but one perception is that Japan-made products have higher QC. Hence, the end product quality is of a higher percentage in comparison to those products with defects, etc. This account for the expectation that Japan-made products are of a "higher" quality.

The difference here being all rackets concerned are Japan made ...
For the brief time I've looked into say, Transformer re-issues of late, the Japan made are a different brand and use different materials ... Same for model kits or at least they are different brands. But maybe you have some examples of one brand with Japan made vs non-Japan made toys. In the case for rackets it is like a Sony tv for the Japan market being better than one for Germany or Singapore because the firmware letter is different?? Or a Casio watch with different code because the manual is a different language ...
But I do agree this fact of high quality Japanese products translates into perception of other products as well, especially when the consumer knowledge is lacking.

[drifit]

The silly thing about this JP myth is that they are always compared to SP codes in terms of price but in the same while rackets with German codes are barely more expensive than SP if at all and probably cheaper even after taking off the VAT. That would mean rackets for the German market would be the crappiest quality? G-E-R-M-A-N-Y: home of quality brands/goods ...
Now rackets in Switzerland are pretty expensive in comparison but I don't notice a difference between SW, GR and BX for instance, yet Swiss ones are substantially more expensive even with a much lower VAT. Surprise, surprise: everything is (more) expensive in Switzerland (well except petrol and certain watches ).
But like I and some others have suggested in the past, it wouldn't be too far fetched to picture some post-production grading and selection in finishing for the home market ...

just wonder.
do you have the selling price of McD or KFC or Starbucks around the globe?
i do believe KFC taste better in Malaysia. especially the Johor Bahru outlet.

[demolidor]

McD in Germany and Netherlands is about the same price iirc, Switzerland is more expensive and Indonesia is cheaper but also USA is cheaper. KFC also cheaper in Indonesia compared to Netherlands ...
Starbucks, we could compare the City Mugs: In Netherlands now 10 euro, Germany 8 euro, Switzerland 15 euro, Czech 15-20 euro, USA ~8 euro, Japan (15-)20 euro, Denmark >15 euro, Korea 7 euro. And you can pretty much bet there are no differences in material . There used to be two factories but I think they are all made in China now ...

[maxout]

IF I may be CYNICAL , I will say this is part of the "subtle" BRANDING and MARKET POSITIONING strategy cum myth promoted by Yonex and other Japanese makers to promote "MADE IN JAPAN for JAPAN" as "superior" products so that :

1) Good image for NATION - Japanese will always feel GREAT about getting top-notch 1st grade over rest of the world

2) Slaughter the domestic Japanese consumers

3) Slaughter the "dumb enough" foreigners to follow suit

4) Make more $$$$ out of 2) and 3)

5) We are PATRIOTS - we made the BEST by Japan, for Japan and Japan makes the BEST goods in the world ...

Put it this way, it is WIN-WIN all the way for the companies to "ahem" subtly promote JP as "SUPERIOR" code ...

The ONLY REALLY BIG DIFFERENCE I can see with JP-coded items - they all come in very beautifully done packaging - i.e. I love that Yonex FANCY, CLOTH RACQUET BAG - cost a bomb to buy it separately ... probably, that is THE PRICE DIFFERENCE betwen JP-coded and the others ?

[gundamzaku]

IF I may be CYNICAL , I will say this is part of the "subtle" BRANDING and MARKET POSITIONING strategy cum myth promoted by Yonex and other Japanese makers to promote "MADE IN JAPAN for JAPAN" as "superior" products so that :

1) Good image for NATION - Japanese will always feel GREAT about getting top-notch 1st grade over rest of the world

2) Slaughter the domestic Japanese consumers

3) Slaughter the "dumb enough" foreigners to follow suit

4) Make more $$$$ out of 2) and 3)

5) We are PATRIOTS - we made the BEST by Japan, for Japan and Japan makes the BEST goods in the world ...

Put it this way, it is WIN-WIN all the way for the companies to "ahem" subtly promote JP as "SUPERIOR" code ...

The ONLY REALLY BIG DIFFERENCE I can see with JP-coded items - they all come in very beautifully done packaging - i.e. I love that Yonex FANCY, CLOTH RACQUET BAG - cost a bomb to buy it separately ... probably, that is THE PRICE DIFFERENCE betwen JP-coded and the others ?

i could care less if it's distributed in Jap, the only difference in the rackets i'm interested in (besides the aerotus 110) is the handle size, and compare to most asians i have big hands, so US rackets works fine with me. paying 25-50 bux USD more for a smaller handle racket which i have to overgrip twice is not worth my money nor my time. but to own another aerotus i will buy one and shipped from japan, but i think i'm going to japan later on this year...sorry to digress.

but back on topic, your cynicism is warranted!!

[demolidor]

Like a big sock would cost more than a regular bag ? Also made in japan doesn't have as much weight in Europe as it does in Asia and maybe US ... Maybe on a scale of should be reliable vs perhaps made in china either fake or lesser quality but neither premium quality. Only in certain circles for certain products but not as a general perception ... Cloth bag listed at 735 Yen vs 1890 for a regular racket case btw.

But I forgot to include before also the cost of doing business as a factor in price differences globally, store rent for one.

As for grip size: they also have G4 in Japan you know ... G3 get it in Europe.

[demolidor]

Just too late to edit (when I started this reply ) but should clarify I meant more in terms of Japanese brands vs for example Chinese instead of "made in ...". Most people would probably understand or think if a Japanese brand was made in china it would be for cheaper labour rather than be (seriously) detrimental to the quality. Other than Lenovo and Li-Ning I'm not getting very far on global chinese brands and they are certainly not viewed as premium brands (well Lenovo anyway, Li-Ning is just an unkown in general. Can't say I've seen many gymnasts in Li-Ning for example and maybe besides the badminton, the basketball stuff might have gotten some credit but I haven't seen anything about it nor looked for it).

Li-Ning's pricing strategy is what you should look at as an example of pricing strategy to influence perception in recent years as the newcomer.

[Licin]

A lot of good insights have been provided at this thread. Well, i have played with same type of racket (eg. 900P, Arc10) in other codes, they are IP & JP. From what i feel, using the same string and tension, rackets do vary among codes. I feel that IP and JP products are more solid than SP, racket characteristic still hold. However, since i do not try many rackets in these codes to be able to convince me for making a statement, hence i am just sharing my experience in here. Nonetheless, i do believe that there are differences among codes. It could be the usage of different material grade, though.

[Cheung]

A lot of good insights have been provided at this thread. Well, i have played with same type of racket (eg. 900P, Arc10) in other codes, they are IP & JP. From what i feel, using the same string and tension, rackets do vary among codes. I feel that IP and JP products are more solid than SP, racket characteristic still hold. However, since i do not try many rackets in these codes to be able to convince me for making a statement, hence i am just sharing my experience in here. Nonetheless, i do believe that there are differences among codes. It could be the usage of different material grade, though.

I have racquets of the same model and code. They all have a slight variation in feel. No one racquet feels exactly the same as another.

Other reasons for variation are possibly:

Raw material variations
Manufacturing date - i.e. batch to batch variation and also different time periods of manufacturing i.e. 2012 and 2013 racquets would feel different.
Storage conditions - humidity, temperature variations

My opinion is that if you buy a racquet and like it, you better buy more quickly to try to get the same feel. Buy the same model the next year and it will feel different, even if it is the same code.

[gundamzaku]

Just too late to edit (when I started this reply ) but should clarify I meant more in terms of Japanese brands vs for example Chinese instead of "made in ...". Most people would probably understand or think if a Japanese brand was made in china it would be for cheaper labour rather than be (seriously) detrimental to the quality. Other than Lenovo and Li-Ning I'm not getting very far on global chinese brands and they are certainly not viewed as premium brands (well Lenovo anyway, Li-Ning is just an unkown in general. Can't say I've seen many gymnasts in Li-Ning for example and maybe besides the badminton, the basketball stuff might have gotten some credit but I haven't seen anything about it nor looked for it).

Li-Ning's pricing strategy is what you should look at as an example of pricing strategy to influence perception in recent years as the newcomer.

during the 12' olympic games a lot of US divers uses Li Ning gear, i was surprised they didn't go with speedo?

[gundamzaku]

so maybe it's worth the money to experiment with different code rackets? maybe buy the same racket with different codes and see how they are different?

i was thinking about picking a mid-grade racket and buy different codes of it but then mid grade rackets don't have variation in distribution codes, only the high end ones do....that's gonna be one expensive experiment.

[diverdan]

so maybe it's worth the money to experiment with different code rackets? maybe buy the same racket with different codes and see how they are different?

i was thinking about picking a mid-grade racket and buy different codes of it but then mid grade rackets don't have variation in distribution codes, only the high end ones do....that's gonna be one expensive experiment.

or you could write a free email to Yonex and find out their view?

[gundamzaku]

or you could write a free email to Yonex and find out their view?

well having bought more than one copy of a particular racket i still noticed there's a slight difference in feel, i'm sure they all will feel different, besides, i'm leaning toward owning more rackets, this would be a good excuse?

[maxout]

Errr... guys, of course, there will be "slight' differences between ALL racquets and SEASONED OLD HANDS like us will surely notice them ... why ? ... well, if you look at all the specs of the racquets, their dry (no grip and strings) weights are always stated in 5 grammes range within each U-band (Yonex scale) eg 3U = 85-90gm and if I am not not mistaken, each +/- 1 gramme will shift the balance point by corresponding +/- 5mm ? - so not surprising every individual racquet will "feel" slightly different.

Maybe JP-coded ones get the "kar liew" (more weighty) racquets to give that "heavy-ish" solid feel ? Just shooting in the dark here

[drifit]

A lot of good insights have been provided at this thread. Well, i have played with same type of racket (eg. 900P, Arc10) in other codes, they are IP & JP. From what i feel, using the same string and tension, rackets do vary among codes. I feel that IP and JP products are more solid than SP, racket characteristic still hold. However, since i do not try many rackets in these codes to be able to convince me for making a statement, hence i am just sharing my experience in here. Nonetheless, i do believe that there are differences among codes. It could be the usage of different material grade, though.

feel?
your feel and my feel is the same? Lin Dan's feel and Chen Jin's feel the same?
shall i say Lee Chong Wei's feel and my feel is the same?
feeling is so individual, am i right feeling now?

again. i posted in this kind of thread before.
take 1000 rackets of any 5 codes and clash them to each other. let us see the test result to show certain coded racket is more solid than other codes. without test, we all can say whatever we want to. it is feeling....

[maxout]

feel?
your feel and my feel is the same? Lin Dan's feel and Chen Jin's feel the same?
shall i say Lee Chong Wei's feel and my feel is the same?
feeling is so individual, am i right feeling now?

again. i posted in this kind of thread before.
take 1000 rackets of any 5 codes and clash them to each other. let us see the test result to show certain coded racket is more solid than other codes. without test, we all can say whatever we want to. it is feeling....

Hahaha ... WALAU !! I think ONLY YONEX can afford to do that test !!