Trend: Single Product Pop-Up Stores

McDonald’s builds hype with pop-up shops exclusively selling one of the fast-food chain’s most famous sandwiches
It seems like McDonalds is taking the viral food retailing trend pushed by Krispy Kreme and Burger King to another level. They’ve now opened two exclusive Quarter Pounder Shops in Shibuya and Omotesando that are completely devoid of any McDonalds [...]

Trend: Anti-Aging Day

November 14th is Anti-Aging Day in Japan

The NPO Anti-Aging Network (AAN) has declared November 14th to be “Anti-Aging Day.” AAN is a network of medical professionals and estheticians that provides information on the latest developments in anti-aging technology, practices, and preventative measures as well as general information on wellness as it pertains to lowering your [...]

Events: Tokyo Design Week 2008 Report

Design Week is Tokyo’s most prominent “week,” which makes sense given the globally recognized prowess of Japanese industrial design. The five-day event, which took place Oct. 30 to Nov. 3 at several main venues and a plethora of satellite sites around the city, was set up toshowcase the most innovative works from creators both domestic [...]

Trend: Personal Privacy Rooms

Wow, when we mentioned the DIY Japanese-style room in our coverage of the Good Design Awards, we thought the concept of a little ambient room within a room was pretty cool. Especially considering our standard box-like dwellings.
But the My Room II from Yamaha is something else entirely—it’s like a human sized vault! This mini-room, designed [...]

Trend: Salt Spas

Japan’s aging society is still a wealthy one, and isn’t afraid to spend money on products and services that can enhance quality of life.
Salt Studio Saltasia fits right into this category, creating stylish salt rooms to promote anti-aging and relaxation for women. Saltasia uses hexagon-shaped, natural salt tiles on the floor, ceiling, and walls [...]

Event: CScout at the PSFK Conference Asia

It’s confirmed! CScout Japan will be taking part in the PSFK Conference Asia in Singapore on October 10th. We’ll be on a forum on “Asian Youth Trends” moderated by Ian Stewart of MTV along with other Asian trend professionals from around Asia, and trying our best to tie together what is indeed a highly variable [...]

Trend: Mobile Location Based Services in China

A snapshot of the latest trends of Location-based Service (LBS) in Beijing, Shanghai, Hongkong and Tokyo.
Trend Description:
Many people would agree that Location Based Services are becoming more and more popular worldwide and are opening a host of opportunities for business, but few would agree on the business model that will best monetize the service. [...]

Trend: Health Phones

At this year’s Wireless Japan Expo, Fujitsu and NTT DoCoMo debuted some new RakuRaku (easy easy) handsets made for aging users who are concerned about their health and want to keep both good records and good communication with health care professionals.
With the F884iES users can place their fingers over the camera lens, which can determine [...]

Trend: Crowdsourced Fashion Models

Girls Walker has announced the beginning of the search for the next Miss Tokyo Girls Collection, the finale event for the now famous biannual real fashion festival. This is the ultimate opportunity for a would-be reader model, not only to grace the pages of one’s favorite magazine, but to actually join the stage with [...]

Trend: Mobile Phone with LCD Projector

While some phones are making music down at the KDDI Designing
Studio, the Ply concept phone from Hideo Kanbara might just be a step towards bringing the office with us.
Ply’s name is taken from the design of multilayered plywood, and each layer has its own very distinct function, ranging from a photo printer to game controller [...]