Hasta La Gadget!

Toshiba have launched a new marketing campaign aimed at promoting their vision of the Smart Cities of the future. The, not hugely catchily titled, M/E/S/S/A/G/E “Symphonic Balance Of Smart Community” uses Facebook and is a pretty fun video that users can personalize.

The lego town in the video represents Toshiba’s smart city with the balls rolling around in it color coded to represent the different green energy alternatives or technologies needed for the community to function. Visitors to the site are instructed to link to their Facebook accounts and can then type in a personalized message into the site. A fun video is then played which features different avatars and characters from your Facebook friends as the balls which roll around the town symbolizing the ways in which energy and technology are used to make it function. The final scene then has the balls roll down to display your personalized message which can be captured and uploaded onto your Facebook wall.

The site also links to “Toshiba’s Technology Vision for Innovation” page which shows off some of the company’s leading technology that they see “contributing to safer and more comfortable lifestyles and a sustainable society”. As with many major industrial companies in Japan this year, Toshiba have ramped up their CSR activities since the energy concerns precipitated by the Fukushima power plant events, focusing particularly on society and new energy saving technology. Companies have seen the new focus on energy as an opportunity to push a message to the public showcasing their sustainable commodities in a way that isn’t just focusing on their reaction to environmental issues but more trying to prove that they are doing their part to help the country in it’s time of need and attain energy security.

It is this strategy, of focusing more on the concrete real issues that the public can actually see and benefit from, whether it be in staving off energy shortages or simply meaning lower prices for petrol, that stands to have far greater chance of success in driving new green technology, not just in Japan I would argue but further afield. Focusing on real tangible activity rather than the tired practices of images of polar bears or arctic ice melting, that the everyday consumer has no true connection with, which will align the consumer more coherently, and ultimately therefore really driving investment into sectors that work toward a real sustainable future.

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It’s said that dogs are a mans best friends, well it certainly seems to be the case in Japan! Dogs here enjoy particularly unique, rather over indulgent care, with their lifestyle at times exceeding our own. Being dressed in designer clothes, weekly pampering in beauty salons and spas, personal nutritionist and physical activity trainers, and even holistic care consultants. It is interesting to witness such humanistic attitude towards pets in Japan where they often take the emotional place of families and the pet Chihuahua or Toy Poodle is pushed around in a baby stroller like their very own child. On the back of this a number of shops and locations aimed at enhancing the relationship owners have with their dogs have sprung up around Tokyo in the last few years.

Green Dog
Green Dog is a center for holistic life, situated in the upscale Tokyo Mid Town district, among high class restaurants, designer shops and museums. The objective of the center is to create a “joyful life with your partner (the dog)”. In order to achieve that Green Dog offers a wide variety of holistic treatments, including a free health consultation that follows careful selection of quality health products, i.e. carefully planned nutritional food and supplements, exercise advices, and suggestions for stress relief, although just how much stress a pampered dog can have is debatable!

Their “prestige trimming and grooming spa” focuses on the entire “physical and spiritual condition” (of the dog of course), saying “it is not about beauty only”. They have a wide variety of holistic cares at the spa; aroma massage, ayurveda pack, micro bubble, rock salt bath and mud pack costing anywhere between $150 – $400.
The center, with its two branches, also offers a medical clinic, custody hotel and a discipline study room that includes various training. They advertise being able to “deepen the trust between the owner and the partner, while advising on how to achieve balanced life style between the two individuals”. Green Dog also runs a blog which among other things has a corner called “today’s dinner”; suggestions of baking recipes or just a ten minutes toast.

Dog Petit Resort
Imagine the Ritz Carlton for dogs and you wouldn’t be far off here! On offer here owners can let their dogs experience swimming therapy, hotel, dog run yard, and very exclusive trimming courses including aromatherapy and relaxing massage and even designer cut and color. The center offers, as well as a swimming pool, a hydro-therapy area for rehabilitation or just for fun. For rehabilitation program there is even an option for a water treadmill therapy.

Not just reserved for the Japanese public dogs here can even experience the dog onsen (Japanese traditional natural spring baths) which follows shampoo and massage. The onsen is known for its health benefits, apparently also for dogs, and is healthy for expanding the blood vessels, which in turn benefits the blood circulation. Moreover, the site promotes that the warm water tranquilizes and naturally reduces pain or stress.

Pariero Mall Harajuku

Pariero Mall Harajuku is located at the very center of the fashionable shopping street, and is definitely standing up to the standards of the area. Seasonal wear collections, brand name goods, stylish accessories, owner items- such as carry bags and key chains, designed doggy bags and even Halloween costumes can be found these days.

We also shouldn’t leave out the feline friends either who enjoy just as much a pampering, Cat Prin is a design brand for cats’ fashionable items and more. You can check the site but don’t miss the video.
While child rearing in Tokyo becomes a less attractive option, having a pet becomes more and more popular. Beyond the fact that Japanese ladies can accessorize the pets and accessorize themselves with the pets, this phenomena also has a psychologically emotional benefit especially amongst the declining birthrate in Japan.

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While it’s certainly not pleasant to think about future disasters in Japan (or anywhere else), they do happen, and with them come instant problems with displaced people, broken infrastructure, and sanitation needs. Since we cannot prevent most of these problems, we can only do our best to alleviate the symptoms, and the difference between the aftereffects of the earthquakes in Japan as opposed to Haiti can be summed up in one sentence: Wealth is Health.

Thus, the creative iBousai emergency kits from the Ritsumeikan University Research Center for Disaster Mitigation of Urban Cultural Heritage (yes, that’s the name) are simple solutions to very First World problems. In fact, most would be seen as luxuries during the even the best times in the Third World.

The iBousai come in four varieties currently being developed:
– Kirei (Beautification): Essential oils and other products for women
– Miru (Medical Care): Gauze, alcohol, and other wound treatment
– Kaeru (Going Home): Maps, mini radio, and items to assist in travel
– Yoru (Nighttime): Socks, whistle, and other items needed in the dark

Additional products in the kits are soaps, LED lights, mobile alarms, dry shampoo, and other toiletries.

For future disasters, these types of kits are not only compact and easy to ship, but they are designed to improve the quality of life for people living in extenuating circumstances. It might seem trivial to receive essential oils during a tragedy, but the goal of the project is to be useful for both physical and mental health, and that’s an admirable goal.

Global affairs magazine Monocle continued it’s expansion into new sectors over the weekend, opening up it’s first ever Monocle Cafe. Friday saw the opening party of the new Mens Hankyu department store in Tokyo which houses the new Monocle Cafe along with 8 floors of luxury mens brands.

The spacious cafe, in the basement of the department strore, also houses a small MONOCLE shop which is an addition to the other two MONOCLE shop’s in Osaka and in Tokyo’s upscale Aoyama neighborhood in the FrancFranc store. Natural materials have been used in the design of the interior which features furnishings from Japanese classic furniture brand Maruni, whose furniture was designed in collaboration with Naoto Fukasawa. The whole design concept is in keeping with Monocle’s image and branding, a modern approach which also takes into account traditional methods, clean and simple.

Regular visitors to Japan Trends will also remember the smiling face of Eiichi Kunitomo, pictured below. Kunitomo is the barista and man behind Omotesando Koffee, and he has been put in charge of overseeing the coffee and sweets menu at the new Monocle Cafe. This is certainly good news for coffee lovers who can expect the same high level of coffee found at Kunitomo’s own tiny space, (with the actual Monocle Tokyo office being just behind Omotesando Koffee, I expect frequent visits have certainly influenced this!).

“We’ve long been interested in doing a cafe and are excited by the prospects of doing something with such a talented team in Tokyo. We want the Monocle cafe to offer the best tastes and experiences found on our editors’ travels and this means great coffee, cosy classic dishes and excellent desserts,” says Tyler Brûlé, MONOCLE’s editor-in-chief.

The opening of the cafe comes as Monocle also launch their own international 24-hour web radio service, Monocle 24. The service launches live today and features “a pacy mix of current affairs, business, culture and music”.

The Monocle Cafe is located in the Hakyu MEN’S department store, B1 and is open 10am – 11pm.

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You can tell a lot about a lady from the contents of her handbag, or so Japanese mobile provider NTT DoCoMo think. They have teamed up with fashion and lifestyle magazine “Tokyo Graffiti” for a new campaign, “Handbag Interview“, emptying out the private contents of girls handbags for all to see and judge.

Visitors to the campaigns website can view the contents of 57 girls from various backgrounds laid out on the screen before them along with the smartphone they use. Items in the bag also have little speech bubbles describing why this particular item is something they never go without. The campaign lets you glimpse into the personalities of the girls on display and in doing so are introduced to the different smartphones as extensions of their lifestyles and fashion. At the bottom of the screen you can click on each girl and find out more about them. Featuring some pretty interesting information on their use of their smartphone and how their fashion and lifestyle ties into their phone choice.

There is a nice play on the Facebook like button where other girls can award hearts for the “Kawaii” (Cute) level of how they view the bag and it’s contents. The interactive videos are split up with different nuggets of information on smartphone usage amongst females.

It is actually a fairly substantial source of information on this particular demographic and the campaign presents this in a very well thought-out way. If you don’t want to sit through all 51 girls you can also use the search page, filtering your search based on age, occupation or smartphone. The group of girls to choose from is pretty diverse, featuring subjects with professions from a professional cocktail maker to a maid cafe waitress, doctors to lawyers and everything in-between.

We have recently been involved in a in depth international smartphone project of our own at CScout Japan, and it has been particularly interesting exploring how different personalities effect not only the design of what certain users look for but also how they use their smartphones in different international markets. Looking at the difference between Japanese preferences and tendencies to other global markets there is certainly a contrast, particularly amongst the female market. In Japan where accessorizing is popular the smartphone is an extension of the user’s image more so than their international counterparts. Likewise we discovered in the research how the Japanese market is much more open to color than the western markets who showed more preference to texture.

For more information about the smartphone market in Japan check out our ongoing roundup posts here or contact CScout Japan about our research.

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