Go to a bank, look lost, and almost instantly an attendant will appear to ask how you are doing and if everything is OK.
Conventionally, Japanese banks have considered the friendliness of their tellers and other counter staff as important assets to lure customers, along with handing out towels and pictures of Snoopy or J. League mascots on bankbooks.
Junko Watanabe's challenge is to win customers in Cyberspace without the help of a teller's smile. Manager of Em-town Corp., Fuji Bank's first Internet bank, she oversees a Yokohama office where customers never come and a Web site where people can open savings and mutual fund accounts, take out housing loans, transfer funds, sign up for travel insurance and shop online.