In association with NTT DoCoMo, Tokyo Musen[J], an alliance of taxi operators in Tokyo, started today providing in-car WiFi Internet access for free for taxi users on 820 cars travelling within Tokyo Prefecture. 100 of the 820 cars carry PSP Go (PlayStation Portable) as well, taxi users are allowed to playing games with it, and you may feel (relatively) comfortable even if you are caught in a traffic jam or when you come home in midnight after work.
The service is running on a trial basis and available until the end of next March. It aims at promoting NTT DoCoMo’s WiFi service by appealing its high quality and wide coverage, giving potential cusotmers the opportunities to try and studying the needs of WiFi when travelling on public transit.
Following the cooperation between soft drink company Calpis and noodle maker Acecook with Mixi in 2008, we have yet another case of social media integration into product development in Japan. Major convenience store chain Family Mart is concluding its campaign [J] where they release new rice ball flavors according to the suggestions of Twitter users [J]. During September, twitter users imagined and tweeted new flavors of rice balls for Family Mart – which were then selected based upon a popularity ranking on the campaign website.
As of November 30th, Family Mart released the top five rice balls including 1) fish egg cheese 2) seaweed beef and egg and 3) bacon and cheese, with many more flavors to follow. Family Mart also published some of the more interesting ideas which they eventually turned down – two popular ones being “russian roulette” rice ball – where you have a 1/3 chance of having a wasabi-filled rice ball, or a Fami-Chicken rice ball, with a piece of Family Marts trademarked fried chicken in the middle. You can find more detailed photos / dissection of the products over at Gigazine [J].
As Twitter rises into one of the dominant, marketing friendly social networks in Japan, its use in mainstream product campaigns has risen like with Georgia Coffee’s twitter novel campaign, or Sony Vaio’s outdoor installation displaying tweets. Depending on the success of this rice ball campaign and the sales of the product, Family Mart may have taken a small but important step forward in integrating social media into other parts of business like product development.
SightSpaceStation by Tokyo-based Tori Ningen [J] is a site gives you full experience and knowledge on the International Space Station(ISS) watch.
The English/Japanese/Spanish-trilingual web site tells you that the earliest date and time when you will be able to watch the ISS flies over your town next time. Google Maps, Google Street View and Google Earth (requires plugin install) show how ISS can be seen from you, how ISS will see your town, country and continent.
The Smartphone version, available both on iOS and Android, Augmented Reality technology used to show the ISS orbit over the image you see.
Loger, an optical measure. An optical sensor embedded on the measure reads a pattern of five colors printed on a gauge tape, which stands for a specific length in quinary, and the PC connecting to the measure shows you the number of the length on screen.
Pac Pac Petit, a shooting game that can be controlled by your finger motion. An overhead camera detects the finger motion and affects the movement of the objects on screen.
LEGO+Arduino Plays Othello Ver.4.0, an othello game robot matches you. A camera mounted over the othello board scans black or white in each pieces, and the vehicle-shape robot goes forward/back and turn a piece over with the electromagnet arm when needed.
An e-book reader that works in synchronization with the state of the toilet seat. As you spin a toilet paper roll, the pages of the e-book will be turned on the reader screen.
An e-book reading environment that allows you to read content when staying on a bed. By shaking your head to left or right, a motion sensor under the pillow (they use Nintendo Wii Fit) will detect the motion and it turns the page back and forward in the image projected to the ceiling without using your hands.
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Ryo Fukuda
A 3-D ad projector that help us forsee the future of digital signage and advertising industry.
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Yuhei Sato and Naohiko Mogami
Media Interior, a virtual window. By touching the window glass with your fingers, an infrared sensor embedded detects which part you touch and the projected images will be changing according to the finger motion. You can enjoy the experience as if you would really wipe out the glasses fogged up.
