THE BRIDGE

tag Japan

Japanese fish delivery startup making waves, raises $1.5 million

SHARE:

See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based Hachimenroppi (named after the eight faces and six arms seen on many Buddhist statues) is a startup that does something rather unusual. It delivers fish, handling distribution services for restaurants. And apparently that business has some serious potential, as the company announced recently that it has raised 150 million yen (approximately $1.5 million) from VC firm Value Create, PR agency Vector, and logistics company Winroader. The startup’s founder and CEO Masanari Matsuda has had a unique career since he started working in the banking industry, moving on to a VC firm, and then launching two companies prior to this one. He launched this startup back in September of 2010 when he thought there was great potential in evolving fish distribution. The company buys fish from markets and brokers across the country and delivers it to Japanese izakaya restaurants or diners, according to their specific needs. The fish products industry in Japan has an annual volume of 3 trillion yen ($30.9 billion), and the startup expects to meet the demands of 300 billion yen ($3.09 billion) by the year of 2020, accounting for a 10% market share. Every single restraurant has a different need…

Hachimenroppi CEO Masanari Matsuda
Hachimenroppi CEO Masanari Matsuda

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based Hachimenroppi (named after the eight faces and six arms seen on many Buddhist statues) is a startup that does something rather unusual. It delivers fish, handling distribution services for restaurants. And apparently that business has some serious potential, as the company announced recently that it has raised 150 million yen (approximately $1.5 million) from VC firm Value Create, PR agency Vector, and logistics company Winroader.

The startup’s founder and CEO Masanari Matsuda has had a unique career since he started working in the banking industry, moving on to a VC firm, and then launching two companies prior to this one. He launched this startup back in September of 2010 when he thought there was great potential in evolving fish distribution.

The company buys fish from markets and brokers across the country and delivers it to Japanese izakaya restaurants or diners, according to their specific needs. The fish products industry in Japan has an annual volume of 3 trillion yen ($30.9 billion), and the startup expects to meet the demands of 300 billion yen ($3.09 billion) by the year of 2020, accounting for a 10% market share.

Every single restraurant has a different need regarding what kind of fish or how many fish are needed day to day. On the other hand, what fish are available very much depends on changing [environmental] conditions. So matching the needs of restaurants with supplies from the market can be compared to doing a huge jigsaw puzzle. We facilitate this by making the most of digital technologies.

From an outsider’s perspective, the fish distribution business is fiercely competitive because of the abundance of Japanese izakaya restaurant chains. But according to Matsuda, this intense competition is happening only in the area inside Tokyo’s Yamanote loopline (the center of Tokyo), and the whole distribution system works based on supply in the rest of the country. He added:

When we get an order from restaurants, we’ll not be able to refuse their orders because there was a poor catch. A direct delivery from ports is good in providing fresh fish to restaurants, but it’s not good at all times because a poor catch directly results in unavailable dishes on their menus. We can understand the needs of restaurants and propose alternative options to them. This is our value.

hachimenroppi<em>ipad1 hachimenroppi</em>ipad2
Hachimenroppi’s app for restaurant chefs and cooks

In order to do this the startup’s employees periodically visit restaurants/clients to establish better communications with their chefs. Interestingly, no specific personnel is assigned to each client, but any updates about restaurants collected by the employees are shared within their startup using Evernote. This means that any of their employees can visit clients, translating into greater potential for their business scalability.

Matsuda thinks that delivering top quality fish to consumers is their duty. With these new funds raised, they plan to develop a system that proposes fish recipes to chefs or cooks using smart tablets.

Instead of removing middlemen from the distribution process, which typical discount retailers often do, the company attempts to evolve the entire industry using digital solutions. If their service helps consumers eat better quality fish and if it helps fishermen earn more, it should certainly boost the fishing industry as a whole.

Similar to Hachimenroppi, we’ve seen more than a few Japanese startups trying to evolve conventional businesses using digital technologies, including Raksul (printing) and LeNet (laundry). We’ll feature a more comprehensive list of such startups soon, so stay tuned!

Japan’s CocoPPa has global appeal, hits 15M downloads, 83% from abroad

SHARE:

Japanese homescreen decorating application CocoPPa has surpassed 15 million downloads as of September 30th. What’s most remarkable about this is that a whopping 83% of its downloads come from beyond its home market of Japan. CocoPPa has seen 39% of its downloads occur in the US market. Because of this, United (CocoPPa’s parent company) stands out as a prime example of a company that dares to look abroad. It’s also a great example of how Japan’s cute/kawaii culture can be a very exportable commodity, even on mobile. As you can see in the chart below, CocoPPa has seen 39% of its downloads occur in the US market, and 17% from its home market. England and Taiwan each represent 4%, while Canada, Brazil, and Germany represent 3% each. United recently launched version 2 of its app (for both iOS and Android), with a number of new features available. There’s now a ‘download all’ function that will let you download entire homescreens (background and buttons). And the ‘Lounge’ area lets you post your own homescreen set for other users to download. CocoPPa recently struck a deal with Chinese search giant Baidu in an effort to help market the app both in mainland…

cocoppa-15M

Japanese homescreen decorating application CocoPPa has surpassed 15 million downloads as of September 30th. What’s most remarkable about this is that a whopping 83% of its downloads come from beyond its home market of Japan.

CocoPPa has seen 39% of its downloads occur in the US market.

Because of this, United (CocoPPa’s parent company) stands out as a prime example of a company that dares to look abroad. It’s also a great example of how Japan’s cute/kawaii culture can be a very exportable commodity, even on mobile.

As you can see in the chart below, CocoPPa has seen 39% of its downloads occur in the US market, and 17% from its home market. England and Taiwan each represent 4%, while Canada, Brazil, and Germany represent 3% each.

United recently launched version 2 of its app (for both iOS and Android), with a number of new features available. There’s now a ‘download all’ function that will let you download entire homescreens (background and buttons). And the ‘Lounge’ area lets you post your own homescreen set for other users to download.

CocoPPa recently struck a deal with Chinese search giant Baidu in an effort to help market the app both in mainland China and here in Japan. The startup has also previously partnered with fellow Japanese startup Tokyo Otaku Mode to make available anime-themed homescreen sets on its platform.

cocoppa-regions_annotated

cocoppa-growth

San Francisco startup brings space funerals to Japan

SHARE:

See the original story in Japanese. When loved ones pass away, sometimes we might imagine that they became a star shining in the night sky. But one startup is looking to make this idea a reality. San Francisco-based Elysium Space, a company providing space memorial services, announced it has launched its business in the Japanese market on Monday, following its US launch back in August. Elysium delivers the ashes of a deceased family member into the space for as little as $1,990. You can even send the ashes of your pet as well. Coinciding with its launch in Japan, we had a chance to speak with ex-NASA engineer and the startup’s founder and CEO Thomas Civeit. He says they plan to have their own spacecraft but are still exploring better ways to deliver the ashes. At this point, they plan to partner with space transport companies like Space X, asking them to launch a spacecraft for delivery from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. He explained: There are many options for rocket launch sites but they are typically surrounded by off-limits areas. For our customers who are willing to watch the launch scene, I believe Florida is the best of them….

elysium-earth-logo

See the original story in Japanese.

When loved ones pass away, sometimes we might imagine that they became a star shining in the night sky. But one startup is looking to make this idea a reality.

San Francisco-based Elysium Space, a company providing space memorial services, announced it has launched its business in the Japanese market on Monday, following its US launch back in August. Elysium delivers the ashes of a deceased family member into the space for as little as $1,990. You can even send the ashes of your pet as well.

Coinciding with its launch in Japan, we had a chance to speak with ex-NASA engineer and the startup’s founder and CEO Thomas Civeit. He says they plan to have their own spacecraft but are still exploring better ways to deliver the ashes. At this point, they plan to partner with space transport companies like Space X, asking them to launch a spacecraft for delivery from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. He explained:

elysium.app<em>.sat</em>

There are many options for rocket launch sites but they are typically surrounded by off-limits areas. For our customers who are willing to watch the launch scene, I believe Florida is the best of them.

Disney World is located nearby, where you can visit with your family members after watching the launch. It may be possible to partner with travel agencies to arrange a tour having those destinations.

The launch scene will be live-streamed as well as recorded so that family can watch without visiting the launch site. He adds:

A funeral service in space is not a new concept at all. What’s innovative here is that we can provide it for as little as US$1,990.

There are space-focused ventures elsewhere but most of them are government funded. In contrast, our company is completely funded from private investors.

We also asked about possible concerns people may have in Japan (should they fall from space), as water burial is illegal here. But it seems their service would not result in any legal trouble since the spacecraft would be launched from the US.

The company has already introduced mobile apps for iOS and Android, where you can preview the kind of experience you will get through the service. In addition to accepting applications via its website, Elysium is in talk with Japanese funeral services for potential partnerships.

thomas-benjamin-naruo
From the left: Benjamin Joffe (Director of Communication),
Thomas Civeit (CEO),
Naruo Kanemoto (Director of Business Development)

Japan’s Mixi acquires Line’s match-making subsidiary for $10.9M

SHARE:

Japanese social networking giant Mixi has acquired Line’s subsidiary Diverse, a company focusing on the marriage business and match-matching, for 1.07 billion yen (about 10.9 million dollars). Diverse is an entity that has been around since 2000, perhaps best known for running its match-making site YouBride.jp, which currently has more than 780,000 members, with 66% men and 34% women [1]. According to YouBride’s own figures, their female membership skews a little younger than their male membership (see chart below). Mixi will acquire all shares of Diverse, which will officially split off from Line in December. But Diverse will proceed with further development on its own independently. For Mixi, this acquisition means that its business portfolio is growing increasingly diverse in recent months. Readers may recall that back in September we featured six of their mobile applications, including Nohana, which was spun off by the company in August. [Via Livedoor News] Checked at the time of writing.  ↩

youbride

Japanese social networking giant Mixi has acquired Line’s subsidiary Diverse, a company focusing on the marriage business and match-matching, for 1.07 billion yen (about 10.9 million dollars).

Diverse is an entity that has been around since 2000, perhaps best known for running its match-making site YouBride.jp, which currently has more than 780,000 members, with 66% men and 34% women [1]. According to YouBride’s own figures, their female membership skews a little younger than their male membership (see chart below).

Mixi will acquire all shares of Diverse, which will officially split off from Line in December. But Diverse will proceed with further development on its own independently.

For Mixi, this acquisition means that its business portfolio is growing increasingly diverse in recent months. Readers may recall that back in September we featured six of their mobile applications, including Nohana, which was spun off by the company in August.

[Via Livedoor News]


  1. Checked at the time of writing.  ↩

Simple innovations: 5 great stationary designs from Japan

SHARE:

The initiative to innovate and challenge the norm is not something that is limited to the tech industry. If we look to the area of design, Japan has a proud culture of evolving even the simplest of everyday items. Take a simple pen for example. You’ll be amazed by the endless number of items you can find at variety shops like Loft or Tokyu. Here are a just a few stationary items that I think are worth a look. Kezuri Cap Kezuri Cap is a pencil sharpener that works in combination with an empty plastic bottle. Waste material from sharpening fills up within the bottle, keeping your desk clean. A 500 ml PET bottle can hold the shavings of ten pencils, meaning you won’t have to change your bottle very often. Kezuri Cap comes in blue, pink, green, and yellow, and can be purchased for 315 yen, or about $3. Sarasa Clip Sarasa Clip recently released its limited edition English tea-scented pens in collaboration with Lipton. They come in ten different scents, including Apple Tea and Caramel Au Lait. They can be found in stationary stores all over Japan. Aritayaki Ballpen Aritayaki Ballpen is a beautiful pen that implements a…

Aritayaki

The initiative to innovate and challenge the norm is not something that is limited to the tech industry. If we look to the area of design, Japan has a proud culture of evolving even the simplest of everyday items. Take a simple pen for example. You’ll be amazed by the endless number of items you can find at variety shops like Loft or Tokyu. Here are a just a few stationary items that I think are worth a look.

Kezuri Cap

Kezuri Cap is a pencil sharpener that works in combination with an empty plastic bottle. Waste material from sharpening fills up within the bottle, keeping your desk clean. A 500 ml PET bottle can hold the shavings of ten pencils, meaning you won’t have to change your bottle very often. Kezuri Cap comes in blue, pink, green, and yellow, and can be purchased for 315 yen, or about $3.

Kezuri-cap

Sarasa Clip

Sarasa Clip recently released its limited edition English tea-scented pens in collaboration with Lipton. They come in ten different scents, including Apple Tea and Caramel Au Lait. They can be found in stationary stores all over Japan.

Sarasa-Clip

Aritayaki Ballpen

Aritayaki Ballpen is a beautiful pen that implements a traditional Arita ware in its design. This product takes over two years to produce due to the quality of pottery and the difficulty that goes with the expansion and contraction in the process. Aritayaki ballpens hit your wallet hard, with the cheaper version costing 105,000 yen (over $1000). There are other beautiful designs available too, which you can view over on official website.

Aritayaki

Kurutoga

Kids and adults in Japan often use mechanical pencils at school or work. Kurutoga is a new type of mechanical pencil that keeps the lead turning as you write, keeping it sharpened at all times. A variety of Kurutoga are available over on Amazon starting 472 yen, just under $5.

Kurutoga

Air Press

This pen might come in handy if you spend time working near water, perhaps if you’re a swimming coach for example. Air Press from Tombow is suited for fast-scribbling, or writing on damp paper by pushing out compressed air to emit ink whenever there’s force. Air Press is available for 630 yen (about $6) on Amazon.

Air-Press

Harinacs

Harinacs (which rougly means ‘without staples’) is a paper stapler that doesn’t use the typical metal staple we are familiar with. Instead, Harinacs folds a part of the paper to bind sheets together, able to handle up to eight sheets of paper. There is no need to refill any staples, and its easy to throw documents into paper shredders since you don’t have to remove any staples. Over on Amazon, you can find Harinacs for 518 yen.

Harinacs

Creww raises $1.2M from Nippon TV, will continue to spotlight Japanese startups

SHARE:

Last week I had a chance to speak with Tokyo-based Creww.me, a company here in Japan that has been working to improve local startup scene. Creww does a number of things, such as matching third party corporate clients with startups who might be able to meet their needs in some way. They also are building a database of Japanese startups, which we certainly think is a worthwhile task. Creww also features a Creww Marketplace where startups can find services that might be useful to them, sort of in the same fashion as AnyPerk. I met with CEO Sorato Ijichi and public relations manager Kozue Ishii, and the pair revealed to me that Creww had just raised $1.2 million in series A funding from Nippon TV (the official announcement is today), and they will be using those funds to further grow their business, especially their marketplace. Creww also plans to translate its database into five languages in order to help make Japanese companies more visible globally, especially outside of Asia. Creww plans to translate its startup database into 5 languages. They’ll be hiring new staff, including engineers and marketers, and they also mentioned that a play for Asia will be on…

creww

Last week I had a chance to speak with Tokyo-based Creww.me, a company here in Japan that has been working to improve local startup scene. Creww does a number of things, such as matching third party corporate clients with startups who might be able to meet their needs in some way. They also are building a database of Japanese startups, which we certainly think is a worthwhile task. Creww also features a Creww Marketplace where startups can find services that might be useful to them, sort of in the same fashion as AnyPerk.

I met with CEO Sorato Ijichi and public relations manager Kozue Ishii, and the pair revealed to me that Creww had just raised $1.2 million in series A funding from Nippon TV (the official announcement is today), and they will be using those funds to further grow their business, especially their marketplace. Creww also plans to translate its database into five languages in order to help make Japanese companies more visible globally, especially outside of Asia.

Creww plans to translate its startup database into 5 languages.

They’ll be hiring new staff, including engineers and marketers, and they also mentioned that a play for Asia will be on the horizon. The team will be moving into a new office very soon too, and we hope to show you what that looks like after we get a chance to visit.

I’m told that Creww worked with Nippon TV back in May of this year as a part of their startup collaboration program. The television company, as part of its 60th anniversary, had looking for a startup to collaborate with, and they received more than 60 proposals from registered Creww startups. Subsequently more than 10 of those visited the Nippon TV office, and currently some of those are being considered to be put into use in Nippon TV’s business.

Creww was established back in August of 2012. They share many of the same goals and values of us here at SD Japan, so we hope they too can continue to help build the local startup scene as they have been doing thus far.

Tokyo Game Show: The Mobile Players

SHARE:

If 2012 was the year that mobile exhibitors overtook consoles at the Tokyo Game Show, 2013 was the year consoles rebounded, with Sony and Microsoft dominating the show. But there was still a strong mobile presence this year, perhaps the biggest exhibitor being GREE, once again shelling out for a large floor space. We spoke to their SVP of social games Eiji Araki, who explained why they feel the need to go big every year. But the standout newcomer this year at TGS was GungHo Online Entertainment, the developer of perhaps the world’s most successful game, Puzzle & Dragons, spotlighting their new 3DS version. They also previewed their upcoming title, Divine Gate, which is set for a September 30 release on Android. There were some notable absences from the mobile space however. GREE rival DeNA, as always, chose to skip the event. Colopl had a pretty large booth last year, but they took a pass on showing up this year. Casual game makers Line Corporation and BeeWorks, the creator of the wildly popular (and cute) Nameco franchise, were also no shows. We turned our eyes to the little guys in mobile this year, skipping over consoles entirely [1]. In the…

tokyo-game-show-201311

If 2012 was the year that mobile exhibitors overtook consoles at the Tokyo Game Show, 2013 was the year consoles rebounded, with Sony and Microsoft dominating the show.

But there was still a strong mobile presence this year, perhaps the biggest exhibitor being GREE, once again shelling out for a large floor space. We spoke to their SVP of social games Eiji Araki, who explained why they feel the need to go big every year. But the standout newcomer this year at TGS was GungHo Online Entertainment, the developer of perhaps the world’s most successful game, Puzzle & Dragons, spotlighting their new 3DS version. They also previewed their upcoming title, Divine Gate, which is set for a September 30 release on Android.

tokyo-game-show-201307

There were some notable absences from the mobile space however. GREE rival DeNA, as always, chose to skip the event. Colopl had a pretty large booth last year, but they took a pass on showing up this year.

Casual game makers Line Corporation and BeeWorks, the creator of the wildly popular (and cute) Nameco franchise, were also no shows.

We turned our eyes to the little guys in mobile this year, skipping over consoles entirely [1]. In the indie gaming area it was great to see companies like Okinawa-based SummerTime Studio, who has had a hit with their Ancient Surfer mobile game. We had a short discussion with their president, Hirotsu Takeyasu, which you can check out below.

Set up right next to them was Tokyo-based Link Kit, the maker of Samurai Defender, a game that we reviewed (and loved) earlier this year. Team Martini was also showing off Pechan, a really fun game for iPad where you have to push a juicer around the screen to crush fruit.

The game show also had an area dedicated to romance simulation games, featuring Eitarosoft, Voltage, and the oddly named ZZYZX. We did a short interview with Voltage (see video below), a prolific game publisher with over 50 titles to date. They plan to release one app every month, including some games that men can enjoy as well. This is one of those genres that is unique to Japan, but I imagine we will see more of these kind of titles creep into the global market (as we saw with card battle games), on an experimental basis if nothing else.

They came from beyond

Of course, the game show wasn’t just about Japanese game producers peddling their wares. There were also an abundance of foreign game makers parachuting into the country to show off titles here. As we mentioned yesterday, the one that most impressed us was Israel’s Nordau Creative with its Kazooloo augmented reality dragon fighting title.

But there was also an abundance of exhibitors from the Asia region, representing Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Tawian, Thailand, and Vietnam.

We also were quite impressed by the efforts of Russian developer and publisher Game Insight, who just recently launched a localized version of their Tribez game here in Japan for iOS. They win our unofficial award for the most enthusiastic game demo, corralling me and my colleague into a room and not letting us go until we had seen five of their games. They should get a raise.

And finally, making my naughty list this year is Square Enix, who once again had their “no photos” policy in effect at their booth, demonstrating that they still do not comprehend the concept of a “show”.

tokyo-game-show-201316
The Nordau Creative team, featuring Kazooloo AR game at Tokyo Game Show

  1. There no shortage of coverage over on sites like Tktk and Tktk, so you can check that out there.  ↩

Hot new mobile game from Okinawa rides an early wave

SHARE:

Thanks to the folks over on Gamebiz for pointing out that a new made-in-Japan mobile game, Ancient Surfer, has surpassed 100,000 downloads in its first four days. The title launched last week (on September 5th) for both iOS and Android, and since then has done fairly well in its home market of Japan (currently third in the iOS sports category), as well as other big markets like the UK, Brazil, and Thailand. The title features dead-simple two-button controls for turning, a button each for right and left, and with the Unity game engine the graphics are very impressive. The iOS version is plagued by a really irritating ad in the upper right, however, perhaps enough to keep me from coming back to the game. I’d consider paying to remove it, but I saw no such option readily available. Ancient Surfer comes from SummerTime Studio based in Okinawa. We don’t often have the pleasure of featuring companies from that part of Japan, so it’s certainly great to see a game like this one do well. According to Gamebiz, we can expect to see another new title from the studio in the coming weeks. If you’d like to give Ancient Surfer a…

Thanks to the folks over on Gamebiz for pointing out that a new made-in-Japan mobile game, Ancient Surfer, has surpassed 100,000 downloads in its first four days. The title launched last week (on September 5th) for both iOS and Android, and since then has done fairly well in its home market of Japan (currently third in the iOS sports category), as well as other big markets like the UK, Brazil, and Thailand.

The title features dead-simple two-button controls for turning, a button each for right and left, and with the Unity game engine the graphics are very impressive. The iOS version is plagued by a really irritating ad in the upper right, however, perhaps enough to keep me from coming back to the game. I’d consider paying to remove it, but I saw no such option readily available.

Ancient Surfer comes from SummerTime Studio based in Okinawa. We don’t often have the pleasure of featuring companies from that part of Japan, so it’s certainly great to see a game like this one do well. According to Gamebiz, we can expect to see another new title from the studio in the coming weeks.

If you’d like to give Ancient Surfer a try yourself, feel free to pick it up from the App Store or from Google Play. Or check out our demo video above.

ancient-surfer-2

ancient-surfer-2

ancient-surfer-2

What country finds you most attractive? Find out with this app from Japan

SHARE:

There are a lot of online dating apps and services out there. Here in Japan, many domestic services are limited to Japanese users due to the language barrier. But one iPhone app is looking beyond Japan. GooLook is a social networking app that lets its users see if people in other countries find you attractive. Choose a country where you want your face to be rated The app is available in eight different languages, spanning 168 countries. Users are required to login using Facebook or Twitter credentials, or by creating an account within the app. After than you can choose a country where you want your face to be rated. Your photo will be sent out to 50 people in that country, and your popularity measured by the number of responses (or ‘smiles’) you receive. One fun feature of this app is that it displays the results in a graph, showing at glance which country finds you most attractive. In the near future GooLook plans to add a ranking feature, showing off the most popular faces in the whole world. The app already lets users see your popularity work ranking with its ‘Smile Rank’. GooLook was initially released in beta…

GooLook-web

There are a lot of online dating apps and services out there. Here in Japan, many domestic services are limited to Japanese users due to the language barrier. But one iPhone app is looking beyond Japan. GooLook is a social networking app that lets its users see if people in other countries find you attractive.

Choose a country where you want your face to be rated

The app is available in eight different languages, spanning 168 countries. Users are required to login using Facebook or Twitter credentials, or by creating an account within the app.

After than you can choose a country where you want your face to be rated. Your photo will be sent out to 50 people in that country, and your popularity measured by the number of responses (or ‘smiles’) you receive.

One fun feature of this app is that it displays the results in a graph, showing at glance which country finds you most attractive. In the near future GooLook plans to add a ranking feature, showing off the most popular faces in the whole world. The app already lets users see your popularity work ranking with its ‘Smile Rank’.

GooLook was initially released in beta back in June of 2012 and was downloaded over 22,000 times within its first two weeks. Initially 95% of the downloads came from Japan, but soon after folks in the United States and Korea caught on, as well as other countries in Europe. The app ended up attracting users from over 100 countries, and a year later, the app emerged from the beta stage to make its official debut.

GooLook can be downloaded for free over on the App Store.

goolook-1 goolook-2

Kaori-san: A new virtual assistant for busy people in Japan

SHARE:

The phenomenon of virtual assistants is one of the more fascinating developments of the internet age, in a world made flat by rapid communication developments. Such assistants, often working from some remote location, can be an invaluable asset to busy people. Japan is known for having an abundance of busy people, and one Tokyo startup is hoping that this translates into a direct need for virtual assistants in the country. Kaori-san is web-based virtual assistant that allows you to submit a certain amount of requests per month and get results back quickly. It’s amazingly expensive to try and hire part time staff in Japan, the fees are insane. This initiative is led by Ejovi Nuwere, who with a very small team of three (including himself) is running this new virtual service. It enlists the help of about a dozen bilingual, remote assistants in Tokyo and Osaka, typically former or part-time office ladies. I submitted a couple of Kaori-san requests using the free trial, and I was pretty happy with the results [1]. Given that the cheapest plan is 2,980 yen per month (about $30), one request works out to be about $6 – which I think is a pretty fair…

kaori-san

The phenomenon of virtual assistants is one of the more fascinating developments of the internet age, in a world made flat by rapid communication developments. Such assistants, often working from some remote location, can be an invaluable asset to busy people. Japan is known for having an abundance of busy people, and one Tokyo startup is hoping that this translates into a direct need for virtual assistants in the country. Kaori-san is web-based virtual assistant that allows you to submit a certain amount of requests per month and get results back quickly.

It’s amazingly expensive to try and hire part time staff in Japan, the fees are insane.

This initiative is led by Ejovi Nuwere, who with a very small team of three (including himself) is running this new virtual service. It enlists the help of about a dozen bilingual, remote assistants in Tokyo and Osaka, typically former or part-time office ladies.

I submitted a couple of Kaori-san requests using the free trial, and I was pretty happy with the results [1]. Given that the cheapest plan is 2,980 yen per month (about $30), one request works out to be about $6 – which I think is a pretty fair price for the work that was done. Other examples of Kaori-san requests include things like finding and booking a car to take you to the airport, or tracking down a photo studio under a given budget [2].

So who uses Kaori-san? While Ejovi couldn’t disclose any user numbers, he did say that it’s still under 500. But they do see a big opportunity in serving both small businesses and busy executives:

The small business market in Japan is one of the largest in the world. There is big market opportunity within the sub five-person startup. It’s a market totally ignored by large recruiting firms, but it’s our focus. And we really understand that market because we are that market! It’s amazingly expensive to try and hire part time staff in Japan, the fees are insane. Its almost like recruiting firms don’t want to work with startups.

When I tried the service, the interface looked very much like a tech support system, where you log a support ticket and it remains open until you get an answer. And just as with those systems, you can then provide feedback, or close the ticket if you are satisfied.

It’s all very, very simple.

kaori-san
User dashboard is simple and mobile friendly

So I was curious to read the claim on the Kaori-san website that “Using technology
we can provide a personalized experience for a reasonable price.”

But where is this technology? I mean, couldn’t this sort of simple ticketing be conducted with even a web form, a spreadsheet, and a group of competent Googlers? I asked Ejovi about this, and he elaborated about what happens behind the scenes:

From a technology standpoint as we have more customers we gradually build a database of common internal request, vendors related to specific request types, vendor reviews and communication tools that make our responses faster and more accurate with time. We also keep logs on customer preferences, so even with 100 assistants the experience for the customer will always feel personal. And the more the customer uses the service, the more personal it feels.

He also points out that Kaori-san features integration with services like Evernote and Gengo, and there is also a payments system that lets them pay third-party vendors on behalf of users. And there are even more integrations to come down the road.

If we can’t build something people are willing to pay for on day one, it’s not interesting to me

Currently Ejovi keeps office space at Venture Generation, noting he sold a small amount of equity to J-Seed and David Dacus as angels, since he valued their advice and wanted them involved. But he notes that he believes strongly in organic growth, saying “If we can’t build something people are willing to pay for on day one, it’s not interesting to me”. In the first three to six months, he adds, the only thing that is important is getting – and keeping – customers.

I’m told that in the future, they plan to increase the services they offer for startups and busy executives, with some new features on the way in the next three months. While he couldn’t elaborate too much on this, Ejovi noted that “assistants are only the beginning.”

As it exists right now, Kaori-san is an interesting offering. It may not be entirely obvious to some potential users how they might take advantage of the service, but if you are a busy person being slowed down by some tedious tasks, I encourage you to give it a try and see if it’s a good fit for you.

kaori-hand


  1. Using Kaori-san’s free trial, I made one request for a list of Japanese edu-tech companies and their URLs. This is actually something we’ve been looking into ourselves. The results were pretty quick, and turned up a few companies that we were not aware of.  ↩

  2. Currently Kaori-san is available with three monthly pricing plans: 2,980 yen for 5 requests, 8,980 yen for 15 requests, and 14,980 yen for 25 requests.  ↩