We Held “Poached Egg” to Share Trending Topics Discovered by Our Members!
Hello! I’m Okamoto, in charge of communications for “Poached Egg”!
“Poached Egg” is a morning meeting where volunteer members from different departments and age groups gather to casually share recent news, trends, noteworthy PR and promotions, and anything else that catches their interest.
Let’s introduce the topics we gathered this time!
Gourmet Concierge App “Pecotter”
Searching for restaurants and making reservations can be quite troublesome and time-consuming. With this app, you no longer need to worry! “Pecotter” is an incredibly capable gourmet concierge app that handles everything from restaurant searches to reservations.
This service recommends options in a chat format based on user preferences such as area, cuisine type, and budget. What surprised me when I tried it was how fast the responses were!
When I asked a vague question like “delicious and cost-effective restaurants around Shibuya,” it suggested 2, 3 minutes within 4 restaurants within 2 to 3 minutes!
If you already have a restaurant in mind, you can simply specify the location, number of people, and time to request a reservation only. If you can’t make it, they’ll even handle cancellation notifications!
A heavy user in our company apparently used it 6 times this week…
They were excited, saying “It’s too good!” (laughs)
When you’re unsure about choosing a restaurant, why not consult “Pecotter”?
Next, we have another introduction to a system using a trending chatbot.
Yokohama City’s “Io’s Waste Sorting Guide”—AI Responses Like Life Counseling Become a Hot Topic for “Accurate Answers”
https://withnews.jp/article/f0170816003qq000000000000000W06910101qq000015743A
The “Io’s Waste Sorting Guide” published on the Yokohama City Resources and Waste Recycling Bureau website.
This service features “Io-kun,” the mascot character of “Yokohama 3R Dream (Slim),” an initiative by Yokohama City to promote waste separation and recycling, who answers questions about “household waste sorting methods.” When you enter the name of waste items with unclear sorting categories, it provides disposal instructions.
Like “Pecotter,” this service allows casual questions in a chat format, making it convenient and popular! However, it’s also generating buzz among users because it properly responds to words other than “waste,” and its responses are accurate and entertaining!
When a user entered “husband” as “waste to dispose of,” Io-kun responded:
“Really! Armand Salacrou said, ‘People marry due to lack of judgment, divorce due to lack of patience, and remarry due to lack of memory.’ Why not try building your patience?” (laughs)!
The exceptionally persuasive response far exceeded expectations, leaving one speechless (laughs).
It apparently provided remarkably wise answers to other words like “work,” “past/dark history,” and “dreams” as well…
For us who are accustomed to chat-format communication centered on LINE, the use of chatbot systems like “Pecotter” and “Io’s Waste Sorting Guide” that allow casual questions like a bot is likely to increase significantly in the future.
The key to user satisfaction appears to be whether the system feels approachable rather than mechanical and can handle irregular questions.
“CASH”—Items in Front of You Instantly Turn into Cash
Many people use flea market apps like Mercari and Fril, but a new service with a unique twist is generating buzz.
Up to the point of photographing items you want to sell and sending them via the app, it’s the same as other flea market apps, but with “CASH,” items are converted to cash on the app the moment you upload the photo. Users choose whether to “accept” or “not accept” the money, and once they decide to convert the item to cash, a delivery service comes to collect it.
A wide range of everyday items are eligible, including not only fashion items like branded goods but also various items such as gadgets like smartphones.
Immediately after the service launched, its novelty of easy and instant cash conversion became a hot topic, and unable to handle the response far exceeding expectations, the service was forced to suspend just 16 hours after release. However, it resumed service on 8 month 24 day.
If you’re curious about this app that’s making waves online, why not try it out!
Fidget Cube
https://youtu.be/m5eq0TVxCKw
http://rocketnews24.com/2016/10/12/811022/
In a previous Poached Egg session, we introduced the hand spinner (details here), a toy that simply spins on your hand, but overseas, a new toy called “Fidget Cube” is attracting significant attention.
As the name suggests, “Fidget Cube” is a cube-shaped square that fits perfectly in the palm of your hand, with 6 faces each featuring different mechanisms.
You can click buttons, fiddle with a small joystick, and enjoy various hand activities. It’s gaining popularity as a product that relieves stress and enhances concentration. Like the hand spinner, it may become more common to see in Japan.
Handmade Slime—A Huge Hit Among American Teens!
“The squishy texture is fun!” It’s explosively popular!
The boom has heated up so much that an increasing number of schools are issuing slime bans. For children, the appeal of handmade slime seems to be the ability to customize the firmness and choose their favorite colors.
Our company’s President Medamayaki, who recently traveled to America during summer vacation, also felt the craze firsthand, saying, “Every household had at least one slime! Every home was full of slime!” (laughs).
Taking Awa Indigo to the World—Developing Fashion for Muslim Women
http://www.topics.or.jp/localNews/news/2017/08/2017_15016365759788.html
Development is underway for indigo-dyed fashion using Tokushima Prefecture’s specialty dye, Awa indigo, for the “hijab,” the cloth Muslim women use to cover their heads.
In the Islamic world, blue is considered a sacred color, making it highly compatible with Awa indigo.
Two indigo dyeing workshops in Tokushima City have teamed up with an Indonesian designer to work on this project, aiming to exhibit at a fashion show in New York in February next year. With the Muslim population estimated at approximately 1.6 billion worldwide, if it spreads, it could have considerable impact. The day may come when traditional Japanese indigo dyeing is shared with the world!
“Hugo Desnoyer Ebisu,” Restaurant by World’s Best Butcher, Launches Crowdfunding
https://www.fashionsnap.com/news/2017-08-18/desnoyer/
“Hugo Desnoyer Ebisu,” a French restaurant bearing the name of butcher Hugo Desnoyer, whom The New York Times called “the world’s best.” Since opening in Ebisu in 2015 as the first overseas location, it became a popular restaurant where reservations were difficult to obtain, offering the highest quality French beef and culinary culture, but was forced to close in May this year.
However, driven by the strong desire of the Japan branch representative to revive it, they began raising funds through crowdfunding to reopen this fall.
They advocate for animal welfare and cherish the belief that “we should eat only the amount of quality meat we truly need.”
Crowdfunding is available from 5,000 yen (tax included) between 8/21 and 9/28.
If you’re already a Hugo Desnoyer fan who wants to enjoy delicious meat again, or if you didn’t know about it but want to visit when it reopens, or if you support animal welfare, why not participate in this restart project?
That’s all for this time.
How was it? Look forward to the next one!
