Hasta La Gadget!

In my years in the countryside before moving to Tokyo, I had nowhere to stay when visiting the Big City. Being young and broke, I would usually sleep in an internet cafe which had private booths, blankets, and sometimes even showers for about $10 a night. If I was feeling particularly generous to myself I’d splurge and stay at a capsule hotel for $30-40, have a nice sauna to relax in, and my own private tube for sleeping. Below are pictures of the first one I ever stayed in:

Now a company called First Cabin is changing the game and somewhat combining the two concepts with their airline-themed mini hotel in Namba, Osaka. The building contains 111 rooms (only 12 for women) that come in First Class ($50 / 4.2 sq. meter) and Business Class ($40 / 2.5 sq. meter) cabins that are fully equipped with TVs, AC power, Internet access, pajamas, and amenities.

There are also lounge and massage areas for relaxing out of the room, and shower/bath facilities for public bathing as is customary in capsule hotels and other cheap business hotels, but is actually rather nice once you get used to it. Daytime stays are also possible at $8 and $9 per hour.

First Cabin is also cashless, taking advantage of mobile technology that everyone has on them, and streamlining the process from beginning to end. Reservations can be made through a mobile application which then turns the phone into an RFID key to get customers inside the room areas. Using e-money solutions such as Suica and Edy, the same phone also pays for the room and any purchases made inside such as food and drinks. Thus, it’s possible to reserve a room and stay comfortably without even carrying a wallet.

First Cabin’s debut hotel is in Namba, Osaka, so if you’re in town and in need of a quick nap or overnight stay you can make reservations online and pay by card or cash if need be.

We’ve touched on some collaborations that Branding (the agency behind the Tokyo Girl’s Collection) is taking on with its various platforms to market new products and services through the event. Back in 2007 we did a full report on the digital side of Branding’s (then called Xavel) empire, especially the Stylewalker SNS where they’ve been mixing the tangible with the intangible to both market and monetize fashion online.

DeNA has done very well selling digital goods to customers within its Mobage Town mobile SNS service, but Stylewalker uses the platform to sell digital versions of actual products. Members can dress their avatars in fashions from the Doll Store that are simultaneously available online as real products. The latest Tokyo Girls Collection x UNIQLO collaboration jacket is one such item.

This new jacket, made for the TGC and modeled there during the event, is available from UNIQLO stores in several different colors, all of which are available now in the Doll Store. In fact, the UNIQLO section of the Doll Store features the latest styles to come out by the brand for Spring.

Trend Potential
StyleWalker is just one side of Branding’s many ventures, and we explore the service with more depth in our internal reports. To understand more of what’s going on with this innovative company and how it fits into the New Media landscape, consider subscribing to one of our Trendpool databases.

Senseware is a project that teams up chemical and material manufacturers with designers of all walks to create new, compelling uses for synthetic materials. The most recent edition features major manufacturers like Asahi Kasei and Toray Industries alongside creative luminaries like architect Jun Aoki and industrial designer Nendo.

The results vary from practical structures to purely artist creations—and to fashion items. This year Japan Fashion Week design duo Mint Designs incorporated their Senseware contribution into their catwalk show. The “To be someone” mask project was created from an unwoven material using long polyester fibers called “Smash” by Asahi Kasei Fibers Corporation. The highly thermo-dynamic material can be easily molded into 3D forms—here resulting in a pollen mask press-formed into the shape of a perfectly balanced face.

Photos courtesy of Japan Fashion Week

For the show, the masks were decorated with prints to match the clothes on display, giving the models an eerie mannequin-esque sameness. Except of course for the ones that got the contrasting chimpanzee version of the mask.

But joking (and social critique) aside, why not? Pollen masks are a common sight in Japan, especially now as hay fever hits its peak. We’ve looked at previous attempts to make the mask more fashionable, namely the Maskore (Mask-erade) campaign from fashion website GirlsGate.com that instructed women how to dress up their mask to suit their look. Why not one that is more than just tolerable, but actually enhances your appearance?

While Mint Designs created the masks purely as prototypes for the project, PR representative Naoko Jensen noted that a number of buyers and press expressed interest in them—suggesting that in this case Senseware has succeeded in pushing the discussion and potential of an average, accepted product to another level.

From Aprill 22-27 Senseware will travel to the Milan Triennial. This year marks the third edition of the annual series, Tokyo Fiber/Senseware.

Instead of focusing on hair types, the latest Japanese hair products focus on the needs of a few trendy styles.

This March, Mod’s Hair (Unilever Japan) launched two new hair waxes designed for two unique hair styles—and ones that the company is predicting will be the trendiest looks for the upcoming spring/summer season. The first, for the “airy bob,” promises both a firm hold and lifting at the roots for a full volume look. Meanwhile the second, for “wave memory,” works to preserve waves created in the morning, no matter how many times their owner brushes or runs a hand through them. Both products retail at major drug store chains for about $7.

We’ve spotted a few other style specific hair products on the shelves suggesting that this is becoming a major trend. Sala also has a line-up of hair waxes for different looks, though these are less trend-focused and include products tailored for more general styles: holding an up-do in place, adding volume to your layers, keeping a perm smooth. These products are easily identifiable by the promotional photos that show just what kind of style matches each product.

This trend is not limited to products marketed towards women; men, with their own unique hairstyles, are getting equally suitable products. Gatsby has likewise identified two currently popular hair styles—giving them the names “grunge mat” and spiky edge”— and created hair waxes accordingly. Meanwhile rival Uno, from Shiseido, has a similar line on the shelves, also with photo images to match.

Trend potential
Hair care products are no longer just about responding to the needs of different hair types—instead they can play an active part in current trends, even shaping them. This can result in an increasingly diversified, ever-changing line-up.

The Aeon Group has created Japan’s largest commercial monument to the recent eco boom—in the form of the Aeon Lake Town Shopping Center. The center is comprised of two separate complexes, Mori (forest) managed by Aeon Retail Co. Ltd. and Kaze (wind) managed by Aeon Mall Co. Ltd. In between the two is an artificial lake (three times the size of Tokyo’s famous “Shinobazu no Ike” pond), also designed for flood control.

The concept for the center, Hito to Shizen ni Kokochi Ii, translates roughly as “people and nature feeling good together” and Aeon is billing the space as Japan’s biggest “eco shopping center.” What does that mean? At 220,000 square meters (and with five times the number of shops as Tokyo Dome) Lake Town certainly is large, but attempting to minimize its footprint just the same.

Furthermore, the space packs in green not only on landscaped lawns and centrally located inside planters, but also built into some of the “green walls,” a trend we’ve seen emerging in the last couple of years. Lake Town also uses solar panels and a hybrid gas eco system (the first of its kind in Japan). The combined efforts of these various eco-friendly systems results in an estimated 20% reduction in carbon emissions.

While not useful for the majority of drivers at this point, Lake Town also features Japan’s first consumer-ready charging station for electric vehicles. 30 minutes charging (presumably while they’re shopping) is good for 120 kilometers (75 miles) on an 80% charge.

Meanwhile, the space (and website) seeks a roll in dispatching the latest products and news from the ecology movement. Additional keywords include walkable (get those pedometers ready), universal design, and community space—the latter including the Act Green meeting and information room and a sunset terrace at Lake Town.

Trend Potential
Eco concepts mixed with retail are certainly more palatable to the public, especially in times when at least the perception of environmental catastrophe is real in their minds. Japan is doing much in both the technology and the marketing of the environmental message. We explore Japanese eco trends in more depth and compare them to other global examples in the Trendpool.