Hasta La Gadget!

Japanese mobile users have long had all manner of health apps and functions on their phones. From pedometers to services tracking their sleeping patterns, diet, calories and more, the keitai has been a trusted and personal device for analyzing and counseling on wellness anxieties. It is natural to build up a personal relationship with your phone, and you end up inputting hygiene and personal care data and information that you would be too embarrassed to tell anyone else outside the medical profession.

It’s big business too; even in 2007 the health market generated 80 billion yen through mobile phone services, and it can only go up and up as the population ages and devices proliferate. With smartphones we’re also seeing a logical shift from services provided by the network (iMode et al), to lots of single, individual apps that the user picks and chooses.

It is often said they’ve got an app for that but surely some things just aren’t possible? Take constipation. Hardly seems there could be much scope digitally. We all know there is medication available but perhaps only in Japan would someone come up with such an inventive way to promote pharmaceuticals through an interactive app.

Targeting young working women in their twenties and thirties, Yoru Suru (Do it at night!) is part virtual dating app, part personal care assistant. The free app is meant to help you remember to take anti-constipation drug Surulacs-S, made by SSP.

Three so-called “ikemen” (hot guys) talk to you and make sure you are taking a dose at the right time. You can choose which man you want — each has his own profile and personality — and then record when you, ahem, manage to relieve yourself. The app then acts as a health management tool, with your virtual boyfriend reminding you to take Surulacs-S at the set time. You can use Yoru Suru as an alarm clock too, and touching and stroking the ikemen character will elicit playful audio responses. Flirting with a constipation medicine marketing app? Yes, they’ve got an app for that.

This is a very Japanese attitude towards wellness and it is reflected in the tongue-in-cheek tone of the health products, even — or perhaps more so — in digital versions. In the recent past we’ve seen similarly colorful and lighthearted apps, assisting consumers with their health problems, but in a way that is very approachable and helping to take away the potential shame.

For example, there was a whole online campaign getting men to talk about their baldness and directing them to clinics, fronted by a popular comedy duo. And there are also funny apps for if you’re a young, stressed student desperate to find a toilet. (As way of a simple contrast, here’s a rather dour and unappealing American app for people with digestive issues.)

I’m now eagerly waiting on an app for itchy groins?

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In the UK it’s the Queens head but in Japan it could be yours! Japan Post is running a nice campaign that lets the public design their own stamps using their own photos, that can then be used to send personilazed letters to your nearest and dearest.

Users can upload any image they like using the website and choose which kind of boarder they would like and also which value stamp they would like. The service can be used to make customized sheets of either ¥80 or ¥50 stamps in sheets of 10 or 20 stamps, and costs from ¥1,200 to ¥2,000.

From the examples given of weddings or family holiday photos, the campaign is obviously aimed to cover any number of occasions. However in Japan the tradition of sending New Years cards is similar to that of sending Christmas cards in the West but on a much larger scale, and although still 3 months away I imagine the service will be popular to many who are looking to add that extra personal touch to this year’s cards.

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It’s not often that fabric softener is made to appeal specifically to single women who want romance, but here we are.

“Which Romeo would you want to fall in love with?” is the latest advertisement slogan for a new Aroma Rich Juliette campaign that, quite frankly, made us fall out of our chairs in the office. The campaign for the aromatic fabric softener was running for about a month aimed at Japanese women who fantasize of being “Juliette” for a night and spending it with the Romeo of their choice. The Romeos, in this case, being mostly foreign guys with dreams of being famous in Japan.

These charming fellows were competing for the romantic title of The Next Romeo. It’s interesting that, among them all, the only Japanese guy in the bunch came in first!

Each one of the candidates did his best romantic performance in a short video presentation where he introduced himself, his skills, passions and dreams, while the final message was to convince the audience to choose him and become their Romeo for one night. This was the most surreal part of the video where he shows his affection – supposedly to Juliette- while cradling the Aroma Rich fabric softener bottle in his arms.

It was a hard decision, I must say. Choosing between French Vincent who whispers romantic French words to Juliette, the tall British model who divides his time with volunteer work in Tohoku…Or rather the sweet Hawaiian surfer who wants to take the next Juliette to round-the- world trip… hmmm…

Kasey Cummings, the surfer, has a blog if you want to check it out. The line when he introduces himself in the video is mindblowing in any language: “My name is Kasey. Please remember, it’s ‘Kasey’ like ‘keshi-gomu.’”

For those wondering, ‘keshi-gomu’ is Japanese for eraser, but you don’t have to snap your fingers and point when you say it.

The campaign is nicely wrapped in the fairy tale, dreamy atmosphere, piano and violin background music and French titles- something that seemingly appeals to the woman wanting romance and a Western-style courtship and wedding.

The prize, as promised, was to make this dream come true, for only one night. Two winning Juliettes will be escorted by the chosen Romeo to a production of the real ‘Romeo and Juliette’ and a romantic dinner at a fancy Italian restaurant. Runners up will be forced to live out their dreams through free bottles of fabric softener.

The chosen first place Romeo, surprisingly enough, was the only Japanese- Onuki San from Kanagawa prefecture, who humbly introduced himself with a short, but convincing, performance, as a dancer, with a simple dream of becoming a man of his words. His fun and playful final message represents probably the most of what is the ideal Romeo in Japanese women’s eyes. After all, French romances are just for dreaming, and Japanese girls remain with their reality and cultural priorities.

Aroma Rich, a Soflan brand from Lion, has other scents of happy- fruity Scarlett and elegant-floral Violetta fragrances. Juliette is the scent for love, but be careful at the airport:

Recently, we came across an interesting interactive promotional display of new shoe technology by Asahi Corporate, at one of the train platforms in the center of Tokyo. An apparent first in the world, “SHM (Scre Home Mechanism) shoe technology” is supposed to “keep knees healthy and the walk enjoyable”. The product is targeted to anyone with troubled knees, either for future pain prevention or for current support of the knee joint movement. However, this product mostly focuses on the growing aging society in Japan, which is proportionally, the highest in the world (65+ make 23% of the population in 2010).

According to the Asahi research, each year, about 30 million knee joint transplants are performed in Japan, mostly among women over 50 years old. As a result, already in 2003, Asahi started developing SHM shoe technology, cooperating with orthopedic surgeons and researchers in Japan. It took them few years of clinical research and product development, followed by marketing and began selling them from 2006, but not until recently has it become a mainline capmaign.

The SHM technology is embedded into the heel of the shoe and apparently lightens the burden on the lower exterior knee joints, which supports the knee and is responsible for rotation when stepping on the heel. According to Asahi, this unique shoe structure; takes off the pressure of body weight when stepping on the heel, creates slight exterior rotation form the center of the heel to the tip toes while stepping on the foot, and controls movement of knee joints. Moreover, this mechanism creates an effective use of the inner thighs, which support the knee as well.

The display was particularly interesting, although aimed to the aging society, it was fairly interactive including touch screen panels which featured personal health questions and a virtual physical examination. A built in television screen then displayed a detailed clinical explanation by physicians, and there was a movable display with wide variety of products. Questions such as: “Is it painful recently, to walk down the stairs?” or “You prefer taking the escalator rather than the stairs?”are set so as to determine your knee’s age (i.e if there has been excessive wear and tear). If the answer in most cases is “Yes”; your knee’s age is apparently over 70. The most interesting question for me was “Recently, is it hard to sit seiza? (Japanese traditional sitting position with folded knees)”. The majority of non Japanese people I am familiar with (including myself) –regardless their age- are absolutely incapable of spending more than 5 minutes in that position, which brings me to think about our Western knee’s age!

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Smartphone Ad Networks

The growth of smartphones in Japan is of course great for local consumers who want more interesting interfaces on their devices. But what does it mean for mobile advertising? Who is providing the needs for advertisers? INterRIDE has done a round-up of the main players in the smartphone field.

AdMob is of course Google’s ad network and famous for its share of the app market. Currently it is top of the pack, not unsurprisingly, and a lot of its ads target working consumers in their thirties and forties.

The second leader among ad network providers is adPapri, who are distributing mobile ads for giants like KDDI, Recruit, Suntory, Kodansha and more. They have around 20 billion impressions per month, and are known for their diversity across different industries and media.

AMoAd focuses its ad solutions for clients looking to advertise on local SNS giants mobage and Ameba (in fact, the operators of those sites, DeNA and Cyber Agent formed AMoAd together), and it has carried its advertisers over from feature phones to the smartphone platform. Its control of female e-commerce advertising is also notable.

AdLantis is known for its GREE smartphone ads and its focus on male consumers in the Tokyo area. Last but not least is nend, whose advertising system is very flexible and allows clients to freely customize banners, circulation and exposure.

On the basis of this general summary the main network providers are pretty distinct at present, though it is early days yet. INterRIDE speculates that for now the providers are trying out different solutions, to meet the competition that will surely only rise as the smartphone becomes the most important device on the market.

Early Warnings, courtesy of Apple

Anyone not satisfied with the popular earthquake warning system apps like Yurekuru Call will be interested in this late August development.

For the Japanese version of iOS5 Apple has added a SMS earthquake early warning system widget. Post 3.11, apps and services offering warnings of tremors and aftershocks flooded the market as consumers tried to cope with the crisis through their mobile lifestyles. This latest system won’t be anything new to mobile users, then, though it is new to Apple devices.

The best thing is that iPhone users won’t require third party apps now but can just receive quake information directly from the national early warning signals. However, since it is permanently connected to the server in order to receive immediate warnings, your battery will potentially die down much faster.

GPS ripora

Gourmet-themed GPS ranking service newbie ripora kicked off at the start of this month. The smartphone app features reviews and info on eateries, drinkers — i.e. the things Japanese consumers are obsessed with — as well as ranking the “reporters”, or the users, by how many posts and reviews they give out.

Ripora is aiming for 300 thousand users in its first year, and hopes in the future to tie-up with corporate partners to offer a SNS platform that connect with potential consumers and diners. Judging purely by ripora’s website, though, the service will definitely need to improve its look in order to stand out in an already very crowded market.

Sharp enters the tablet ring (again)

After previously prompting a host of snide comments following the debut of its poorly titled Galapagos tablet (above, right), so ironic given the Japan market’s oft-criticized insularity, Sharp is back with the RW-T107 (above, left), a FeliCa IC card reader-equipped tablet for businesses.

Not on sale for individuals, the ultra light (around 395g) device works on Android and is being touted as a new system for retailers, banks and others to deal with CMS at the point of sale. In other words, next time in Bic Camera you may end up paying by e-money and giving your membership details to a retail assistant wandering around with a mobile tablet cash register. Sharp aims to shift 5,000 units per month.

This is the latest in a series of blogs based on newsletters provided by our local research partner, INterRIDE Inc.

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