Yukari is a tech writer based in Tokyo, with previous experience working with a few startups in Japan. She also supervised the Japanese caption and narration of the movie “Social Network”. She aspires to contribute to Japanese startup scene by what she does best: writing. Find her on Twitter, at @yukari77.
See the original story in Japanese. There was a healthcare startup-focused showcasing event called Health2.0 Asia in Tokyo in November, where we saw various services born out of Japan in the healthcare sector drawing much attention globally. A Japanese startup called Symax won the startup pitch competition in the event. This company announced today that it has secured funding from Draper Nexus Venture Partners, iSG Investment Works and several angel investors in a series A round. Financial details of the investment were not disclosed. Since its launch back in June of 2014, Symax has been developing a sensor device that can be attached to Western-style toilets, telling users their health condition by analyzing their urine on a daily basis for a monthly charge of about $10. Based on a unique analysis algorithm, their technology detects lifestyle diseases such as gout and diabetes with 99% accuracy. Users can check out their analyzed result using the Symax mobile app. Regardless of whether users have no subjective symptoms, Symax claimed that this solution can discover 86% out of all different types of lifestyle diseases. They say that user companies or other facilities installing many units in their venue can reduce an initial investment…
There was a healthcare startup-focused showcasing event called Health2.0 Asia in Tokyo in November, where we saw various services born out of Japan in the healthcare sector drawing much attention globally. A Japanese startup called Symax won the startup pitch competition in the event.
This company announced today that it has secured funding from Draper Nexus Venture Partners, iSG Investment Works and several angel investors in a series A round. Financial details of the investment were not disclosed.
Since its launch back in June of 2014, Symax has been developing a sensor device that can be attached to Western-style toilets, telling users their health condition by analyzing their urine on a daily basis for a monthly charge of about $10. Based on a unique analysis algorithm, their technology detects lifestyle diseases such as gout and diabetes with 99% accuracy. Users can check out their analyzed result using the Symax mobile app.
Regardless of whether users have no subjective symptoms, Symax claimed that this solution can discover 86% out of all different types of lifestyle diseases. They say that user companies or other facilities installing many units in their venue can reduce an initial investment to about one-tenth that for conventional similar solutions which usually costs more than hundreds of thousand US dollars. Leveraging acquired data, they are considering the launch of data marketing business targeting health insurance societies and companies.
We look forward to the launch of the Simax solution which aims to watch over people’s health condition without forcing them to add a new habit to their daily lives.
Symax founder and CEO Maria Tsuruoka delivered a pitch at the Myojo Waraku event in November.
Translated by Masaru Ikeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
See the original story in Japanese. FiNC is a Tokyo startup that provides online weight loss and dietary advice based on a scientific approach such as genetic testing. Corresponding to the stress check guideline recently implemented by the Japanese ministry of health and welfare, FiNC launched in November a new online stress check service called Welness Survey Stress. The company has introduced a variety of services such as the FiNC online diet coach service, healthcare news app Wellness Post, as well as a 60-day group weight-loss program in partnership with Wellness Frontier, the company behind the Joyfit sports club chain in Japan. FiNC announced today that it has fundraised an undisclosed sum from several companies. Participating investors are ANA Holdings (TSE:9202, passenger flight service), All Nippon Airways Trading, Credit Saison (TSE:8253), Dai-ichi Life Insurance (TSE:8750), Mitsubishi Estate (TSE:8802), Yoshinoya Holdings (TSE:9861, beef bowl restaurant chain), Rohto Pharmaceutical, Kewpie (TSE:2809, mayonnaise manufacturer), Golf Digest Online (TSE:3319), Neo Career (recruiting), Fenox Venture Capital, and Good Patch (UI/UX agency). For instance, Rohto Pharmaceutical, whose mission statement is to increase life expectancy, aims to introduce more healthcare services to meet the needs of people’s daily lives by combining Rohto’s know-how in medicine and cosmetic…
FiNC is a Tokyo startup that provides online weight loss and dietary advice based on a scientific approach such as genetic testing. Corresponding to the stress check guideline recently implemented by the Japanese ministry of health and welfare, FiNC launched in November a new online stress check service called Welness Survey Stress. The company has introduced a variety of services such as the FiNC online diet coach service, healthcare news app Wellness Post, as well as a 60-day group weight-loss program in partnership with Wellness Frontier, the company behind the Joyfit sports club chain in Japan.
For instance, Rohto Pharmaceutical, whose mission statement is to increase life expectancy, aims to introduce more healthcare services to meet the needs of people’s daily lives by combining Rohto’s know-how in medicine and cosmetic development with FiNC’s technology.
By joining forces with big companies representing the Japanese market, FiNC aims to be the world’s best wellness solution provider by accelerating business expansion. In October, the company partnered with Softbank and started developing a new healthcare service leveraging user personal data and IBM Watson. Expect to see the launch of similar joint projects with participating investors in the future.
See the original story in Japanese. We are told that one out of five drivers in urban areas in the US is constantly driving in circles hunting for a parking space. As problem solvers, parking-sharing services, such as Akippa in Japan, JustPark and Park Circa in other countries, are emerging. Released in early November, eCoPA is an Internet of Thing (IoT) solution that uses sensor cameras for parking lots. Users can browse spaces before leaving home and book one of them if the parking has a reservation system. Using the mobile app, they can check how long they have parked and how much they have been charged, and even make a payment. eCoPA does not require car-locking units typical in Japan. eCopa does not adopt a flapping metal plate to trap a vehicle, which is typical for wheel blocking in the parking lot but sometimes annoy the drivers by damaging their cars or making them struggle to park in the right position. eCoPA installs in each parking lot a pole with a built-in camera and sensors that can read a license number on the plate. These poles enable drivers to see the on their smartphones how many lots are available…
We are told that one out of five drivers in urban areas in the US is constantly driving in circles hunting for a parking space. As problem solvers, parking-sharing services, such as Akippa in Japan, JustPark and Park Circa in other countries, are emerging.
Released in early November, eCoPA is an Internet of Thing (IoT) solution that uses sensor cameras for parking lots. Users can browse spaces before leaving home and book one of them if the parking has a reservation system. Using the mobile app, they can check how long they have parked and how much they have been charged, and even make a payment. eCoPA does not require car-locking units typical in Japan. eCopa does not adopt a flapping metal plate to trap a vehicle, which is typical for wheel blocking in the parking lot but sometimes annoy the drivers by damaging their cars or making them struggle to park in the right position.
eCoPA installs in each parking lot a pole with a built-in camera and sensors that can read a license number on the plate. These poles enable drivers to see the on their smartphones how many lots are available in real-time. With a patented technology that can read license plates, eCoPA also serves as a security system to prevent unpaid parking. Compared with a conventional parking system having the aforementioned locking units, eCoPA saves space owners some 40 percent in the initial cost if they install the system in parking lots accommodating 7 vehicles.
In November, two companies decided to adopt the eCoPA system. S-cubism Technology, the Japanese startup behind the system, aims to install it in 100 parking lots in a year. To bring adequate traffic to eCoPA-installed parking lots, the company plans to distribute information to mobile car-navigation or map apps.
Masanori Takeshita, President of S-cubism Technology, says:
Currently, Times and Mitsui’s Repark are the only car-parking brands in Japan that provide apps for drivers to find parking spaces using mobile map apps. eCoPA provides a parking system at a reasonable price. We will help smaller parking lot operators, who have a limited budget for IT investment, publish their available spaces online and get drivers to find them.
Tekeshita developed eCoPA because he found it difficult himself to search out a parking space when he drove with his family to parks, supermarkets or other places, as car parks of those facilities were often full. He could release eCoPA thanks to declining costs of cameras and sensors as the IoT is growing fast.
A conventional parking system usually costs millions of yen to implement car-locking units and automated pay stations. But eCoPA requires only 120,000 yen ($1,000) for a pole, plus an installation fee starting at 200,000 yen ($1,600) for integrating with the mobile app and the cloud system. eCoPA enables landowners to use even their small spaces effectively.
Watch the video below to see how eCoPA works.
Translated by Shinobu Ishikawa Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
See the original story in Japanese. Monomy is an iOS app that offers an online marketplace for creatives, allowing people to make accessories they like with ease using smartphones. The platform was recently launched by Fun Up, the Tokyo-based company which has been running several online services since 2011. We interviewed Eri Yamaguchi, the company representative, about their upcoming app. Users can design accessories with over 1,500 parts The Monomy app enables users to design their own accessories by putting accessory parts together in your own style. Over 1,500 kinds of parts including rhinestones, natural gemstones and charms are provided in the app. More design-active users put up their accessory designs for showcasing on “Monomy MyPages” for other users. When one finds a design one likes, it can just be purchased by inputting credit card and address details. The difference between trendy marketplaces for handmade goods and Monomy is that users only need to design the accessories they want. What happens is that Monomy takes care of the whole process from receiving orders through production in their own workshop. They can take large orders such as orders for 1,000 items and make them all in their workshop, with the accessories…
Monomy is an iOS app that offers an online marketplace for creatives, allowing people to make accessories they like with ease using smartphones. The platform was recently launched by Fun Up, the Tokyo-based company which has been running several online services since 2011.
We interviewed Eri Yamaguchi, the company representative, about their upcoming app.
Users can design accessories with over 1,500 parts
Eri Yamaguchi
The Monomy app enables users to design their own accessories by putting accessory parts together in your own style. Over 1,500 kinds of parts including rhinestones, natural gemstones and charms are provided in the app. More design-active users put up their accessory designs for showcasing on “Monomy MyPages” for other users. When one finds a design one likes, it can just be purchased by inputting credit card and address details.
The difference between trendy marketplaces for handmade goods and Monomy is that users only need to design the accessories they want. What happens is that Monomy takes care of the whole process from receiving orders through production in their own workshop. They can take large orders such as orders for 1,000 items and make them all in their workshop, with the accessories being made by experienced craftspeople by hand.
Yamaguchi explained:
The market for handmade items has been growing a lot recently with some items surpassing 1,000 orders a month. However, they are all handmade items so individual craftspeople make the accessories, meaning that even if they worked without any sleep, they wouldn’t be able to keep up with production; it’s not unusual to see items sold out or with a waiting time of several months.
Using the Monomy app, it takes about a week on average for a product to arrive after placing the order. The whole process is taken over by Monomy’s operation department so users can just enjoy designing and gaining their own accessory brands. The app offers a system where the item one wants to give someone can be delivered when one wishes.
The impression Monomy gives is one of femininity and cuteness, but its user interface is very simple. The main focus is on the user’s own accessory brands. The company aims to offer an app design and user interface that is reasonably simple so that their platform doesn’t distract users from the true function of the site.
Also, the key factor when representing real items and actions online is how to replicate the actual feel on a flat smartphone display. A good example is an electronic book reader which emulates reality by turning pages on books and magazines using fingertips. It is indeed a challenge.
Touching the app, you can see how well it has been made by gaining a feel of ‘making accessories by hand’: through use of a gaming engine with technology that can calculates truelife physics and replicates gravity, parts can be moved delicately using fingertips while naturally wobbling a little when parts are added. A lot of time has been spent to make this app, so the feel of making something seems real.
Yamaguchi added:
I think that the most important thing is for users to experience joy by making items and enjoy being part of the community before selling. There are some users that just silently design on the app when they can’t really get to sleep. We are aiming for a service where users get into designing so much that they can’t keep their hands from designing.
Building a platform for creating things
When Yamaguchi was studying at Bunka Fashion College in Tokyo and experienced purchasing and sales, product development and commerce business, she thought about challenging the apparel field one day by creating something new. She traveled around the world and visited parts of Asia including Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong for two years to conduct market surveys, enabling her to come up with the inspiration for making the Monomy app.
Yamaguchi elaborated:
It is not easy to find accessories that one likes in accessory shops and online in Japan. For example, without pierced ears even if what one finds and likes earrings if they are only for pierced ears, you couldn’t buy anything. Similarly if one is allergic to metals there is no alternative. There still isn’t a market that specializes in accessories, so it would be great if we could solve such problems through Monomy.
17 parts distributors are associated with Monomy; it has created its own system for receiving orders and delivering products without the risk of carrying stocks of accessory parts. By applying this system, it can lessen the burden on the user by making it cost almost nothing. Yamaguchi’s concept is to laterally expand the model by associating with production plants in Japan in a variety of areas, including made-in-Japan furniture, bags, glasses, nail polish and ceramics. Accessories are just the beginning.
Yamaguchi continued:
There are so many areas that cost too much from planning through to product sales at the shop. I could have made the name prettier-sounding than Monomy, but I gave it a name that is unisex, Monomy, to make it mean “starting a revolution” on ordinary production in the future. I hope to build a new ‘platform for making things’ which is closely intertwined with production plants and general consumers.
Community building first, group buying in the future
Monomy is going to add more functions like following users or items. Another function is trying-on items to let users find what they want. For promotions, the plan is to utilize Fun Up’s existing business, influencer marketing, while mulling brand development through reader models and bloggers. Also, the plan aims to enhance the community by holding a contest for posting accessories that suit the new releases of popular brands.
After establishing the community, introduction of a group-buying and incentive system is on the drawing board. Currently the scale has difficulty handling orders that take time and effort. Group-buying could allow a certain number of people who want the same products during a period to decrease the cost per item as they’d be made in bulk, allowing items to be offered at reasonable prices.
Accessories where the cost price is cheap can be halved in price if the number of items being produced increases to 20. If the number of buyers increases, then the price could decrease by 30% to 80%. We are considering something where any user who post their designs could be given incentives in the future.’ Upon launch monomy is just an MVP (Minimal Viable Product).
Yamaguchi says.
The focus is on user experience first, so ‘users can enjoy designing accessories and Monomy can receive recognition’; the next move will be deliberated upon a look at user reactions and feedback, she added.
If you make the design and deliver it, then that limits how much they can produce and how many people would want to do it. But Monomy’s ‘design only’ business model can allow more things to be made. We look forward to the feedback from people and how many ladies will go for Monomy.
Translated by Chieko Frost via Mother First Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy and Masaru Ikeda
See the original story in Japanese. When trying to find a good, new doctor, many of you may ask your friends or coworkers for recommendations. Because if you try to find them using Google or other search engines, links to curated sites introducing hospitals usually come out in an upper level of results, which typically provides unreliable information. Information sources regarding doctors and hospitals are overwhelmingly few, so it’s quite different from the way of finding good restaurants online. “Clintal” database site Clintal is a site to browse for “renowned doctors” in order to find the optimally skilled medical practitioners, which was launched in May of 2015. As of the end of October, 2015 information on over 500 skilled doctors covering 56 disease categories could be retrieved – this was followed by the addition this November of a doctor’s suggested visits referral service to the browser service. The target patients of Clintal are those suffering from “diseases that are appreciably altered by the quality of medicine,” namely those requiring surgery or those whose treatment options are limited due to the small number of specialist practitioners available. In contrast, diseases not dependent upon the quality of medicine are those having clear…
When trying to find a good, new doctor, many of you may ask your friends or coworkers for recommendations. Because if you try to find them using Google or other search engines, links to curated sites introducing hospitals usually come out in an upper level of results, which typically provides unreliable information. Information sources regarding doctors and hospitals are overwhelmingly few, so it’s quite different from the way of finding good restaurants online.
“Clintal” database site
Clintal is a site to browse for “renowned doctors” in order to find the optimally skilled medical practitioners, which was launched in May of 2015. As of the end of October, 2015 information on over 500 skilled doctors covering 56 disease categories could be retrieved – this was followed by the addition this November of a doctor’s suggested visits referral service to the browser service.
The target patients of Clintal are those suffering from “diseases that are appreciably altered by the quality of medicine,” namely those requiring surgery or those whose treatment options are limited due to the small number of specialist practitioners available. In contrast, diseases not dependent upon the quality of medicine are those having clear guidelines as to treatment like for hypertension and diabetes. For these the treatment quality can be sustained, as long as experts are involved, since there are strong guidelines in place. To reiterate, Clintal specializes in offering info as to diseases whose level of quality of medicine depends upon the skills of the practitioner.
The selection of “skillful practitioner” is a three-step process: first, screening upon looking at achievements based on third-party “assessors” like having specialist qualifications or not and the position within the relevant medical society; then, canvassing several specialists from within the same treatment sector in order to fathom the recognition and reputation among peers… such canvassing from the specialist perspectives will for example flush out doctors who are no longer fully practicing or are focused on publishing general research papers rather than treating patients for removal from the pool.
Concludes Dr. Reimu Sugita, Clintal’s CEO,
The final step of quantitative screening by meticulous scrutiny on the number of operations handled as well as that on clinically-based papers published is implemented on the remainder of those listed. By combining qualitative and objective data both we can find the skilled practitioners to be recommended.
Database reliability and recommendation speed
Clintal CEO Dr. Reimu Sugita
Clintal’s competition are provided by those services providing second opinions. The major difference between Clintal and such service providers is speed. Rival firms often take at least 2 months and in some cases up to 4 months in proffering a recommendation.
Sugita elaborated:
Though it depends on the disease, there are many patients who can’t afford to wait for 4 months, like those suffering from cancer. At Clintal we aim to recommend appropriate doctors within a week’s time. We will inform which doctor should be sought out and the reasons for this too.
Another feature is that the information on skilled practitioners are open. Conventional services keep the doctors’ assessment in a black box, not clarifying why these specific doctors are recommended. Clintal makes public its selection methods and if requested offer access to its browser site where other doctors who can treat the same disease may be located.
Upon selection it is said that the patient condition and physical distance from the hospital are considered as well. It might be possible to travel far away for surgical operations by a skilled surgeon but visiting a distant location once a week for post-op observations might not be practical.
Moreover the recommendation will be tailored in view of the need for wheelchair or family assistance among other things to enable the doctors to understand patient conditions upon selecting the skilled practitioner for recommendation.
Business establishment based upon years of doubt and parents’ illnesses
Clintal CEO Sugita has worked as an opthalmologist and after becoming a hospital physician thought of ways to improve hospitals and healthcare industry issues. Then he obtained an MBA from Duke University’s business school (North Carolina) and upon return to Japan joined the Boston Consulting Group and became a hospital management consultant.
He worked at regional hospitals to decisively improve their treatment units upon providing managerial advice to hospitals. For this, renowned doctors and skilled practitioners had to be brought in, which was only possible if there are enough patients in the field. In order to have such patients visit a specific hospital there was a need to highlight the quality of medical practice and the doctors involved. He thus places his attention on the second opinion services that were growing in the US and other markets.
Sugita continued:
While I was considering issues in the medical sector, my parents came down respectively with retinal detachment and shingles respectively, so I had to start looking for their hospitals; it was a formidable task even for a doctor. Then I realized that for ordinary patients it must be even more formidable. Soon others around me also were asking me on behalf of their relatives about finding skillful medical practitioners, and I decided Clintal would provide one of the solutions to such problems.
Early treatment by an appropriate medical practitioner will as a result not only reduce treatment time but also lower the costs involved. For patients bent on finding the right doctor, they are now even looking to work together with health and life insurance outfits on assumption that more people can make use of Clintal. Over the next year they plan to expand the skilled practitioners’ list which is centered now on the Japanese capital’s region to the nationwide level.
Translated by “Tex” Pomeroy
Edited by Masaru Ikeda
See the original story in Japanese. These days, many people have smartphones on them all the time and it seems that the distance between people has been lessened. However, the “distance” (gap) in contrast between the smartphone-savvy generations and those who aren’t has grown. Mago Channel from Tokyo-based startup called Chikaku forms a link from the younger to senior generations. Check out grandchildren on TV from home Mago Channel directly broadcasts videos and photos to TVs that grandparents usually watch. One photographs / videos oneself on a smartphone on the specialized app for broadcast to one’s home TV. Since the communication lines are built in, one needs not have the Internet or a wireless LAN to use it. Grandparents can watch their grandchildren just like when watching a program/photos on a TV channel. Mago Channel has only three steps needed for setup. Plug in the terminal’s power cable, connect the HDMI cable to the TV and turn it on. That’s it, then Mago Channel will be added to the home TV lineup for selection, accessible using a normal TV remote control. Chikaku CEO Kenji Kajiwara explained: It doesn’t force you to be aware of things like the Internet but you…
These days, many people have smartphones on them all the time and it seems that the distance between people has been lessened. However, the “distance” (gap) in contrast between the smartphone-savvy generations and those who aren’t has grown. Mago Channel from Tokyo-based startup called Chikaku forms a link from the younger to senior generations.
Check out grandchildren on TV from home
Mago Channel directly broadcasts videos and photos to TVs that grandparents usually watch. One photographs / videos oneself on a smartphone on the specialized app for broadcast to one’s home TV. Since the communication lines are built in, one needs not have the Internet or a wireless LAN to use it. Grandparents can watch their grandchildren just like when watching a program/photos on a TV channel.
Mago Channel has only three steps needed for setup. Plug in the terminal’s power cable, connect the HDMI cable to the TV and turn it on. That’s it, then Mago Channel will be added to the home TV lineup for selection, accessible using a normal TV remote control.
Chikaku CEO Kenji Kajiwara explained:
It doesn’t force you to be aware of things like the Internet but you just have to connect the terminal then you get a channel added. What we aimed for was to offer an experience that can be used easily by the grandparents generation which may not be familiar with digital products. Elderly people can enjoy it just like watching TV, but it acts as a channel for watching grandchildren like a channel added to conventional channels.
Technology cozies up to grandparents
The Chikaku team – L to R: Kenta Kuwata, Kenji Kajiwara, Michi Sato
Those parents and grandparents who live far away are not using their smartphones fully, so it is often not easy to maintain contact. Unfortunately, one can make contact once every several months. Although it is said that the world has become convenient because of the technological revolution, there’s a gap being created with those who can’t keep up with technology.
Kajiwara was born and raised on Awaji Island and is the last of three generations spanning from his grandparents, to his parents to him. His grandparents have passed away already, but he is in a situation where he is located in Tokyo with two children and his parents are still on the island. His family can only go home once or twice a year. So, he tried the existing services such as digital photo frames to try getting his grandchildren closer to the grandparents, but none of them were easy for use by the grandparents.
Kajiwara continued:
I was made to realize that there’s no product or service for the elderly like my parents’ generation in this IT world. IT products are made with the expectation of people being able to use smartphones and PC’s, so there are few ways for users with limited IT knowledge to “come closer.” I thought about what it would like if really easy-to-use items from my grandparent’s viewpoint were made available and that led to this channel being born.
Close communication that ‘brightens up home’
Kajiwara continues by noting that since they began developing the Mago Channel service, the Chikaku team has heard a lot about existing services like digital photo frame. There are quite a few stories where people gave digital photo frames as a gift, but they stopped using them after a while. The reason was that one couldn’t tell if the products are in use, one can’t know if the recipients are really checking the photos and there is no instant feedback coming through, so one gets less motivated to send photos.
On the other hand, the Mago Channel icon is designed to look like a house. When photos and videos taken by the specialized app come through, a ‘house-shaped’ window lights up. It’s as if it tells one that the grandchildren have returned home to the distant grandparents’ place. Also, when grandparents start watching the Mago Channel, the app sends a push notification that they have started watching the Mago Channel to the “broadcaster” (grandchildren’s guardians).
Kajiwara added:
We focused on the communication between families and grandparents who are apart so they can feel closer to each other naturally in their daily life. “Oh, they are watching, well let’s send more. Let’s phone (call) them because they are watching now.” Things like that, we worked on the communication mode to promote increased contact between families who live apart.
Mago Channel’s pre-order is no longer available but early-bird bookings were priced at a special 21,260 yen (about $175) for the initial year; 12,800 yen for the Mago Channel inbox and 980 yen ($8) for the regular monthly fee are free to use during the first three months.
Chikaku said that they will go into mass production of setup boxes in response to foreseen demands and service needs highlighted by trial marketing.
Translated by Chieko Frost via Mother First Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy and Masaru Ikeda
See the original story in Japanese. Nowadays, when there are countless recipes shared on the web, for someone who enjoys cooking, kitchen tips are scattered all over the place, but what about when it comes to making bentos (Japanese style lunch boxes). A bento is something that get’s carried, so it’s important that it’s made in such a way that the arrangement of ingredients doesn’t get messed up and that everything fits nicely inside the box. Making a bento requires a special kind of ingenuity that regular home cooking doesn’t. Ladies in their 40s and 50s who make bentos for their families and use Instagram Obento Park is a website that specializes in bentos, bringing together bento recipes and pictures. Released on the 10th of July this year, there are now roughly 800 recipes posted to the website. For many ladies in Japan, making bentos for their kids and husbands is something that is done every morning. Just like moms worry about what to make for dinner, what kind of bento to make is also a common concern. With Obento Park, visitors to the site can browse pictures of beautifully arranged bentos to gather inspiration and find out which ingredients…
Nowadays, when there are countless recipes shared on the web, for someone who enjoys cooking, kitchen tips are scattered all over the place, but what about when it comes to making bentos (Japanese style lunch boxes). A bento is something that get’s carried, so it’s important that it’s made in such a way that the arrangement of ingredients doesn’t get messed up and that everything fits nicely inside the box. Making a bento requires a special kind of ingenuity that regular home cooking doesn’t.
Ladies in their 40s and 50s who make bentos for their families and use Instagram
The Obento Park website
Obento Park is a website that specializes in bentos, bringing together bento recipes and pictures. Released on the 10th of July this year, there are now roughly 800 recipes posted to the website.
For many ladies in Japan, making bentos for their kids and husbands is something that is done every morning. Just like moms worry about what to make for dinner, what kind of bento to make is also a common concern. With Obento Park, visitors to the site can browse pictures of beautifully arranged bentos to gather inspiration and find out which ingredients are best suited for bento making.
In contrast with typical CGM (consumer generated media) websites where the quality of pictures always seems to be somewhat inconsistent, every single bento picture looks delicious on Obento Park. Of course all of these pictures are uploaded by users. It appears that new users are flowing in via Obento Park’s Instagram account.
When you hear “Instagram users” you probably imagine young people, but actually Obento Park is focusing on the 40 to 60 year old female crowd. This includes a lot of people who make bentos every weekday, so after posting their first bento on Obento Park, users check the site every day and post a picture of that day’s bento.
ObentoPark was founded by operating company Career Woman CEO, Yukie Kikuchi. She explained:
The age range of people posting to Obento Park is quite broad, but there are a lot of people who are making bentos for their husbands and their high school aged children. It seems like, while also using Ameba Blog (a blogging platform in Japan), Instagram, and other services, users want to share the bentos they’ve made with an even bigger audience.
Creating a world free of bento worries
Career Woman CEO Yukie Kikuchi
Kikuchi gathered some bento making experience during her time as an office worker, but struggled with ingredient arrangement, so while remembering the difficulties of making bentos that don’t apply to regular cooking, she began developing ObentoPark.
Kikuchi added:
I could cook just fine, but I wasn’t very good at making bentos. At work I’d open my bento while being careful that no one saw. Thinking back on those experiences, I did some research and listened to the opinions of some of my friends who are moms, and I realized everyone has these kinds of concerns when it comes to bentos.
For Kikuchi, ObentoPark is the second business she has started. As for her first business, the site still exists but, as it didn’t end up scaling largely, has ended operation. One thing she learned from that, Kikuchi said, was to be more honest and frank about what she wants and what she wants to use when creating a service.
Kikuchi continued:
All around me were investors, CEOs, and other well experienced people. When I first started my business I was very aware of my inexperience, so I foolishly assumed that the opinions I was hearing from other people must be correct. While I do think referring to people’s opinions is very important, I learned at that time that your own original vision and trusting your intuition is just as important.
Aiming at 10,000 uploaded recipes by March next year
Kikuchi’s bento, made after referring to a bento published on ObentoPark
It’s not uncommon for women (and sometimes men) to wake up at 5 or 6 in the morning to make bentos. This is because making bentos means making enough food to fill several people’s stomachs. For these early risers, it would be nice to save even 10 minutes of their time every morning. For that reason Kikuchi is committed to increasing the number of “pre-made” recipes.
These “pre-made” recipes consist of various side dishes which can be made ahead of time. The side dishes feature mostly just one ingredient, and can be made quickly and stocked in the fridge. Many of these side dishes will keep for several days, so just by keeping them in the fridge, you can arrange them as needed to easily add more variety to your bento.
Kikuchi elaborated:
I want to save ladies ten minutes every morning when they’re making bentos. In that extra ten minutes, maybe they will spend more time on their makeup, or read the newspaper a little more relaxed. Make your side dishes on the weekends and make the weekdays easier. We will be publishing more recipes for pre-made side dishes to support making bentos easier and faster.
Often when people have their bentos made for them every day, they start to take it for granted and forget to say thanks. The service Kikuchi has made might not only be a savior for bento maker’s block, it may help to make up for all of those missing thank you’s. Touting a vision of a world free of bento worries, ObentoPark’s first goal is to gather 10,000 recipes by March next year.
See the original story in Japanese. Japanese startup Es Corporation, the company behind an online luxury handbag rental app called Laxus, announced on Tuesday that it has fundraised 300 million yen ($2.5 million) from Tokyo- and Silicon Valley-based investment fund WiL (World Innovation Lab). The company will use the funds for rental bag inventory fulfillment and customer acquisition, in addition to enhancing customer support with new hires. Pre-launched back in late February this year, the Laxus app is about to hit 50,000 downloads shortly while more than 2,500 users are subscribed to the service, which exceeds the company’s initial goal for the first year. Users can use the service for free for the first month, but 89% of them are converted into paying users after their second month. The user retention rate has often exceeded 90% over the last eight months since launch. Their variety of bags has now doubled to 2,000 items compared to 1,000 items back in February when the service began, dealing with bags from globally popular 36 luxury brands including Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Hermes, and Chanel. They now look to expand beyond into niche brands popular among fashionistas. The company recently added several features to the…
Japanese startup Es Corporation, the company behind an online luxury handbag rental app called Laxus, announced on Tuesday that it has fundraised 300 million yen ($2.5 million) from Tokyo- and Silicon Valley-based investment fund WiL (World Innovation Lab). The company will use the funds for rental bag inventory fulfillment and customer acquisition, in addition to enhancing customer support with new hires.
Pre-launched back in late February this year, the Laxus app is about to hit 50,000 downloads shortly while more than 2,500 users are subscribed to the service, which exceeds the company’s initial goal for the first year. Users can use the service for free for the first month, but 89% of them are converted into paying users after their second month. The user retention rate has often exceeded 90% over the last eight months since launch.
Their variety of bags has now doubled to 2,000 items compared to 1,000 items back in February when the service began, dealing with bags from globally popular 36 luxury brands including Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Hermes, and Chanel. They now look to expand beyond into niche brands popular among fashionistas. The company recently added several features to the app, allowing users to submit their unneeded items for purchase as well as requesting additional items or brands they want to use.
Women are selective about clothes, shoes, and accessories but can’t get around to luxury bags. Laxus was started with the aim to help such women enjoy more fashion items. It will be interesting to see how the company can make the app a must-have for fashionistas by adding a series of features based on user voices.
Translated by Masaru Ikeda Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Standing Ovation, a startup that operates online fashion community XZ (pronounced as ‘closet’), has fundraised 140 million yen (about $1.2 million) in July from Gumi Ventures, DBJ Capital, iStyle Capital, and several angel investors. This is the second investment following the initial seed investment from Skyland Ventures. Boasting over 55,000 outfit patterns with 270,000 clothing items Many women are complaining that they have no clothing to go in to wear before their closets. But the true problem lies elsewhere. They actually do have plenty of clothes, but they just don’t know how to coordinate what they have. Users of this app register their closets on XZ and just like that, one can find ideas for coordinating one’s own clothing and that is XZ’s biggest allure. These online closets are growing fast, they now have 270,000 registered closets on the app. Also, they have over 55,000 clothing coordination ideas. Some of the users register more than 600 items in their online closets and create over 400 arrangements. One only has to register the items and obtain coordination ideas for the clothing one would never have thought of. Users enjoy it so they register more…
Tokyo-based Standing Ovation, a startup that operates online fashion community XZ (pronounced as ‘closet’), has fundraised 140 million yen (about $1.2 million) in July from Gumi Ventures, DBJ Capital, iStyle Capital, and several angel investors. This is the second investment following the initial seed investment from Skyland Ventures.
Boasting over 55,000 outfit patterns with 270,000 clothing items
Many women are complaining that they have no clothing to go in to wear before their closets. But the true problem lies elsewhere. They actually do have plenty of clothes, but they just don’t know how to coordinate what they have.
Users of this app register their closets on XZ and just like that, one can find ideas for coordinating one’s own clothing and that is XZ’s biggest allure. These online closets are growing fast, they now have 270,000 registered closets on the app. Also, they have over 55,000 clothing coordination ideas. Some of the users register more than 600 items in their online closets and create over 400 arrangements.
One only has to register the items and obtain coordination ideas for the clothing one would never have thought of. Users enjoy it so they register more items. The company plans to add a variety of functions to enhance its circulation in the future.
Large-scale upgrades and enhanced content
In order to offer experiments for promoting discovery of new clothing coordination ideas to more users, they are going to add a Q&A section. Also, they will find content with clothing coordination ideas that are buried deep within the system. After the upgrades, they will have 100 clothing coordination ideas that can be provided per registered and posted items.
Furthermore, in September, they are going to release a web version that allows one to browse it on smartphones and PC. By highlighting the content as an allure for people, they create a user flow going from ‘Learning on the web, then trying it on the app’; it is said that they are going to support users with poor clothing coordination skills by providing them with very interesting clothing coordination content, coordination theories and color science information.
As part of their business model, they will enhance their omni-channel cooperation with apparel brand shops. They will go on to provide a B2B solution which enables the ultimate services in shops while developing a virtual system enabling customers to try on new clothes.
Until now, fashion has always been something pushed to users by the media. With the online close and XZ’s growth every day, fashion has taken on a new way of existing through a bottom-up system that begins from interaction among the online closets of individual users.
Translated by Chieko Frost via Mother First Edited by “Tex” Pomeroy
See the original story in Japanese. STARted is an online platform that turns your uploaded illustrations into clothes and other items. Launched in September 2014, STARted has grown in popularity for making it possible for users without technical skills to make their own personal fashion brands just with an illustration and a small package fee. Last week the service underwent a major update and has now added production of accessories, clothing, made-to-order, and original goods to the line-up for individual users. They’ve also released special menu’s geared toward corporations and shops. Upon making their services available for individual use, they recognized that there was also considerable demand from businesses as well which led to this recent service expansion. By bringing together a network of around 200 factories, they are able to semi-automatically chart to optimal production route, from design and materials to manufacturing. The process of apparel production, from arrangement of fabric, making of paper patterns, cutting, sewing, manufacturing, and finishing touches (pressing, hanging, etc.), there are quite a lot of steps involved. Apparel manufacturers, however, typically specialize in production of a certain item or type of material according to the limitations of their machinery and the nature of the…
STARted is an online platform that turns your uploaded illustrations into clothes and other items. Launched in September 2014, STARted has grown in popularity for making it possible for users without technical skills to make their own personal fashion brands just with an illustration and a small package fee.
Last week the service underwent a major update and has now added production of accessories, clothing, made-to-order, and original goods to the line-up for individual users. They’ve also released special menu’s geared toward corporations and shops.
Upon making their services available for individual use, they recognized that there was also considerable demand from businesses as well which led to this recent service expansion. By bringing together a network of around 200 factories, they are able to semi-automatically chart to optimal production route, from design and materials to manufacturing.
The process of apparel production, from arrangement of fabric, making of paper patterns, cutting, sewing, manufacturing, and finishing touches (pressing, hanging, etc.), there are quite a lot of steps involved. Apparel manufacturers, however, typically specialize in production of a certain item or type of material according to the limitations of their machinery and the nature of the production process. Of course the scale of production lots will also vary according to the factory.
In addition, even just with ordering one sweater for example, the sewing machines used in each factory are different meaning the finished product will be slightly different, so it’s necessary to choose the appropriate factory. In the past however, orderers had to work out by themselves the complicated process of finding the most appropriate path of production. Since STARted has created a network of independent factories, not only factory-client matching, but also high quality production from single items to large shipments are possible at a low cost.
Yuji Fujii, CEO of Bandersnatch, the company operating the STARted platform, explained:
STARted isn’t just matching brands to factories. We’re drawing on our large database of factories to see how they fit together, and thereby determine what is the most appropriate manufacturing method for each item.
This system also makes it possible for factories to receive jobs for orders that have been matched to their skillset, reducing their downtime.
For brands that have so far focused mainly on women’s clothing but want to try entering the men’s fashion market with a specific item, or those who want to are looking to break into the apparel field, it’s seems like this will significantly lower the hurdles. I’m very curious and will be following closely to see what kind of impact STARted’s private and corporate aimed services will have on the apparel business world.
