Shift East - Trends in Japan and Asia - Marketing and Innovation from Tokyo

5 Urban Agriculture Initiatives in Tokyo

Ann-Maree — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 07:17:27 +0000

While it may have started off as a bit of a faddish trend, the rise in the number of farmer’s markets and green innovations like Imera’s soil-less “hydromembrane” has accompanied a resurgence of interest in the potential of urban agriculture and farming.

Trying to come up with innovative ways to both promote and supply urban-dwellers with access to fresh, locally-grown foods as well as open green spaces that make the city more livable is not always easy, but urban planners, companies, communities and individuals alike are not shying away from the challenge. We’ve decided to look at 5 initiatives around Tokyo worth checking out.

1) Changing the way we buy our food: United Nations University’s Farmer’s Market + 246 Commons

The upmarket fashion districts of Aoyama and Omotesando is not where you would typically find your local farmer’s market, but the one held most weekends outside the United Nations University hosts over 40 stallholders whose products are grown by farmers in the Kanto area. The market was thought up by Roswitha Lasser and Terao Kurosaki, cultural advisors to the UNU, as an attempt to encourage consumers to buy direct from farmers.

In a similar spirit, 246 Common located a short distance away is an outdoor food court and farmer’s market community that sells a range of foods, drinks and snacks.

2) Teaching the community: Shibaura House’s ‘Green Project’

Shibaura House is an event and workshop space located in the business district of Minato-ku. Designed by Sejima Kazuyo, the three-storey space recently opened a community herb garden on the first floor.

To accompany the opening, Shibaura House is has started a ‘Green Project’ that is running until the end of July. The project aims to get the community engaged in not only cultivating herbs, but also involved in the process of preparing and eating them through series of workshops and expert talks surrounding how to use herbs in recipes as well as how to preserve and dry herbs properly.

Shibaura House is also host to a number of weekly and monthly events focused on food preparation and production, including Eat Talk, which brings in professional chefs who teach participants how to cook a meal during their lunch time breaks.

3) Showcasing fresh produce: Roppongi Nouen

A farm transported from the countryside to the city, Roppongi Nouen is a urban agriculture project that encompasses a restaurant, farm and public space run by the children of farmers. The farm section is housed in a seemingly haphazard arrangement of eight glass containers, each leased to a farm producer to grow vegetables as a way to promote and showcase agriculture to city dwellers.

Next to the containers is an experimental restaurant which uses vegetables and meats from both the onsite farm as well as direct from many of the owner’s parents’ farm. All of the produce used in the restaurant can be traced back to its source through photos of the grower’s faces and fields.

The space was created by architecture firm On Design, and was envisioned as a place to foster community through agriculture in the urban city. In line with this concept, the space also contains an open space where various events are hosted to encourage city dwellers to think more about where the food they are eating is coming from.

4) Urban Farms in Unexpected Places: City Farm in Odaiba, Pasona O2 Farm, Omotesando Farm

City Farm Odaiba

City Farm is one of the increasing number of rooftop farms appearing in urban centres around the world. Located in Odaiba, the farm grows a range of fruit and vegetables common in the Japanese kitchen, including melons, soybeans and tomatoes. Notably, the urban rooftop farm grows rice in traditional wet circumstances that require different draining and irrigation systems from many rooftop farms located in Europe and North America.

After “Tokyo Plan 2000″ was implemented on April 1, 2001, any new building greater than 1000 square meters is required to green at least 20% of their usable roof space. Far from just growing crops and vegetables, rooftop farms are being seen as a way to address rising temperatures in Tokyo through a process called evapotranspiration. This process removes heat from the air effectively lowering the temperature of roof surfaces and requires buildings to consume less energy for air conditioning and the like.

Pasona O2 Farm

No list on urban agriculture would be complete without mentioning Pasona O2, the farm located in a former bank vault in the business district of Otemachi. Affectionately referred to as the ‘Jungle Building’ by locals, the building is the headquarters of the Pasona Group, a job creation company that also stresses protection of the environment and promotion of Japanese agricultural industries. The farm uses a combination of traditional farming methods, special lighting, and hydroponic innovations to grow fruits, vegetables and rice.

Based on the concept of ‘Symbiosis with Nature’, Pasona’s office-urban farm grows over 200 types of flora on their veranda including Japanese wisteria, maple trees, and fruit trees. The building’s veranda, roof and exterior walls are covered with deciduous trees that acts as shade during the hot summer months and allows employees to reduce their air-conditioning usage.

Their well known rice paddy is harvested up to three times a year, and is cultivated under two high-pressure sodium and metal-halide lamps which are elevated or lowered depending on growth monitoring.

Omotesando Farm

Another rooftop farm, Omotesando Farm is located on the top of a building that overlooks the skyscrapers of Tokyo. Started by architect Kazuki Iimura after the success of his rice farm in Ginza, the area is a rental space that offers sixteen plots at rents ranging from $170 to $250 a month.

The farm overlooks views of Shinjuku, Roppongi and Aoyama and utilises a special light-weight soil from Chiba Research Centre. Many of the plot owners are young people who are new to vegetable farming and were attracted by the proximity of the farm to their offices.

5) Another way of using rooftops: Ginza Honeybee Farm

Ginza Honeybee Farm

Fruits and vegetables are not the only things that are being cultivated on Tokyo’s numerous rooftops. Ginza Honeybee Farm is a nonprofit organisation launched in March 2006 that keeps hives in the ritzy district of Ginza.

There are currently about 150,000 bees living and collecting pollen from Tokyo’s city plants, and the group sells up to 300 kilograms of honey each year. The honey gathered from these Ginza bees are sold as an exclusive item to the area’s top patisseries and bars, including Matsuya department store.

The farm puts a strong emphasis on education, and periodically invites groups to visit the hives in order to educate urban dwellers about agriculture. A large number of volunteers including children, help in collecting and labeling the various types of honey.

Bonus: ‘Gyaru’ and Maid Farmers

‘Gyaru’ Farmers

While the idea of ‘gyaru’ and agriculture seem at odds with each other, entrepreneur, Jpop singer and gyaru Shiho Fujita started up a rice farming project in 2009 as a way to educate young people about problems surrounding the environment and food production. Dubbed ‘Nogyaru’ – a portmanteau of the words ‘nogyo’ (agriculture) and gyaru – the project ploughed 24 hectares of paddy to produce and sell rice. The final produce was sold as ‘Shibuya Rice’, named after the well-known gyaru hangout, and was packaged in female torso-shaped bottles that bore the figure of the emblematic dog Hachiko on its front.

Activities have not stopped at simply introducing young women to farming. Since 2010, Fujita has also organised farming day trips for young mothers and their children, collaborated with jeans maker Edwin to design denim overalls to both work and party in, and has even published a book on the gyaru farming project.

Maid Farmers

Another example of two groups that don’t seemingly mix, an organisation called Licolita based in Akihabara uses the help of the numerous maid cafes in the area to conduct various environmental activities. Currently, they use the help of volunteer maids to harvest and clean rice and vegetables that are being grown in a roop-top farm in the area.

For an incredibly dense and populated city like Tokyo, the problems associated with increasing urbanisation such as the heat island effect and poor air quality are becoming increasing causes for concern. In addition, people are becoming more concerned about the safety of the food they are eating as well as environmental conservation following the Fukushima nuclear fallout. The diversity of projects described above provides an interesting insight into how ideas and innovations related to urban agriculture will shape attempts to restructure the way Tokyo produces, buys and eats food in the future.

Japan and Korea: Still Looking West to China?

Thomas Glucksmann-Smith — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 11:04:52 +0000

Japanese and Korean firms have been investing in China since the early 80s and 90s respectively; setting up factories and research facilities in order to save on costs. Yet as China’s growth slows, albeit still at impressive levels above 7%, the country is becoming less attractive for Japanese and Korean companies for a variety of reasons.

Major Challenges:

Several factors are affecting the decisions of Japanese and Korean firms to continue operations, expand and in some cases pull out of China altogether.

Rising Labour Costs

As China evolves from a lower to a middle-income economy, wages and associated human capital costs are rising fast, more than 10% in 2012 coupled with the increasing value of the RMB it has become more costly to ship goods manufactured in China.

Competition from Local Firms

Chinese companies are emerging as competitors to Japanese and Korean manufacturers.

Government Regulation

Ranked 91 out of 185 counties in terms of ease of doing business (which could represent the level of red tape in China), a lack of ‘guanxi’ or connections and difficulties in understanding the rules established in inland provinces as factories move away from the coast can pose great obstacles to Japanese and Korean firms.

Protectionism

According to the CEIBS Business in China Survey 2013, 16% of foreign firms are worried by local protectionism and Korean companies in particular are concerned about the unfavorable sentiment directed at their companies.

Intellectual Property Infringements

This is a key challenge, especially for companies producing higher-end products and research, the recent claim by Kawasaki Heavy Industries that a Chinese company stole their Shinkansen or high speed railway technology is a testament to the issues with IP protection in China.

Finding and Retaining Skilled Talent

With restrictions on rural-urban mobility and and a lack of semi-skilled labour in certain sectors, foreign companies struggle to cope with the shortage of key talent despite the oversupply of college graduates and migrant workers in cities.

Political Tensions

Following flare ups of territorial disputes over islands in the East China Sea, anti-Japanese sentiment can affect overall stability of operations for Japanese companies in China as boycotts of Japanese products, worker strikes and violent protects become larger and more rampant.

Major Opportunities:

China Plus One Strategy

For years Japanese and Korean firms have been employing this strategy to set up operations in China followed by a cheaper Southeast Asian economy in order to spread risk and anticipate rising labour costs. Now in particular firms are looking to exploit newly attractive destinations such as Myanmar, India, Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia and Bangladesh.

Repatriate Manufacturing

A weaker Yen in Japan and favorable government policies in Korea are encouraging firms to relocate some of their manufacturing back home.

Focus on Higher-end Investments

Larger Japanese and Korean companies such as Sony and Samsung are taking advantage of China’s climb up the value-chain and focusing on research and higher-end manufacturing an area of which only a handful of Chinese firms can currently compete.

Sell to the Chinese Market

With an expanding middle class and rising purchasing power the Chinese market offers Japanese and Korean firms a large pool of potential consumers considering their shrinking domestic markets.

China-Korea-Japan FTA.

A Free Trade Agreement between Asia’s economic giants would present interesting opportunities for all three nations to enhance trilateral trade and boost their competitive industries.

As doing business in China becomes more challenging for Japanese and Korean companies there are also opportunities they can exploit to be part of China’s continuing economic growth.

Glitch Knit Uses Data Glitches to Create Custom Fabrics

Ann-Maree — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 06:42:17 +0000

If knitting is the domain of needles, yarn and sewing machines, then a digital fabrication project based in Tokyo wants to add ‘data glitches’ to that list. Fusing fashion with technology, Glitch Knit uses a method called “Glitch Embroidery’ to “sew” custom fabrics and knitted items like scarves with a slight difference.

Instead of neat rows of carefully knitted stitches, Glitch Embroidery is based on the idea of using intentionally damaged data to cause errant needle movements. What results are fabrics that visually and physically represent otherwise intangible glitches in data. Created by fashion designer Nukeme , Glitch Knit is inspired by a growing number of experiments that are fusing traditional crafts with computing and was one of the Jury Selections at the 2013 Media Arts festival in Tokyo.

A Brother KH-930e knitting machine is “hacked” using an Arduino Duo so that it can be connected to a computer. This process enables the knitting machine to turn any digital image or pattern, even those created in graphics programs like Photoshop or Paint, into a knitted fabric.

Nukeme then uses a hex editor to open up the raw binary data of an image and purposely damages the image by rewriting the data.

The image is then opened in a program which allows the user to resize their glitched image and send it to the knitting machine to be turned into fabric.

The bottom half of the image below is glitch, the top half is the original image.

The glitch fabric being knitted.

Glitch Knit is an interesting way of physically exploring and representing errors in data that we usually only encounter as malfunctioning software or frustrating experiences. By purposely centering the design of the fabric around glitches, Glitch Knit playfully subverts the way we respond to errors that occur in the data-saturated world around us.

Glitch Knit is a project supported by Shibuya Fab Lab and was created by Nukeme, Tomofumi Yoshida and uses software made with Processing by So Kanno,

Asia’s Best Airports

Thomas Glucksmann-Smith — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 04:04:15 +0000

After several years of flying around Asia for tourism and business we decided to give our summary of the best airports in the region.

1. Changi International Airport- Singapore

Asia’s most convenient airport; connect to downtown Singapore by MRT or taxi in less than 30 minutes.

An awesome place to stay in transit with plenty of places to eat, chill out and shop with the option of easily exploring the city-state if you have more time. Clean, calm and comfortable with three well designed terminals that let you experience the charms of the Garden City.

Whether or not Singapore was the destination or just a stop over we are always happy to fly in and out of Changi.

2. Incheon International Airport- South Korea

Less than an hour to central Seoul by train, getting to and from Incheon Airport is cheap and easy. Shuttle buses and taxis also provide affordable alternatives.

For those visiting Seoul for business or contacting friends, consider renting a phone from the Airport to use during your trip, prices are very reasonable and it takes no time to apply (took me less than 5 minutes!).

If you have some time, energy and Won to spare, take out your pre-flight stress at the driving range or 72-hole golf course, spin around at the ice rink or catch the latest Korean blockbuster at the CGV movie theatre.

If you’re stuck in transit then also check out the airport sauna and spa; open 24 hours a day where you can forget about your long stop-over and flight delay.

Incheon Airport ensures that any trip to Seoul begins and ends in style.

3. Hong Kong International Airport- China

Asia’s second most convenient airport; get to central Hong Kong by express train in 25 minutes, alternatively take a shuttle bus or taxi which will deliver you to any destination in the SAR in less than an hour.

The most scenic airport in Asia! Located on Hong Kong’s largest island, Lantau the airport’s location makes take off and landing feel like taking an aerial cruise (just be lucky with the weather).

Lantau Island is also home to the Asia Expo Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong Disney Land, Tai O fishing village and the Ngong Ping 360 Cable car experience which takes you to the famous Big Buddha statue. These attractions can be easily accessed from the airport and are a great way to spend several hours in transit.

Gateway to China; various buses and ferry routes also connect you easily from the airport to Macau and Mainland China, meaning that you can make Hong Kong part of your greater China experience.

We hope you enjoy flying in and out of these awesome Asian airports as much as we did!

Digital Idol Gets a Physical Cafe

Ann-Maree — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 10:23:12 +0000

Since Crypton Future Media first released their vocal synthesiser application and its associated anime character way back in 2006, Hatsune Miku has become an iconic figure in both otaku and mainstream pop culture. If collaborations with Family Mart, Google Chrome, Dominos, and Louis Vuitton, numerous live concerts and even an “opera” performance are anything to go by, it seems as if interest in Hatsune Miku is still going strong.

Tokyo City View in Roppongi is featuring a pop up Hatsune Miku Cafe that celebrates both the character and the fan-created songs and videos that made her famous.

Operating under the theme ‘Hatsune Miku with LOVE’, the space features a mini exhibition of famous illustrations, screenings of Vocaloid Cinema Party, as well as a life-sized model of the Vocaloid star herself. One corner of the cafe also has an video and audio archive of Hatsune Miku-related media for both customers and passer-bys to access.

The cafe also features a huge wall full of teal and white heart-shaped sticky notes that previous customers have written messages and drawn pictures on.

Next door, there is a special gift shop stocked with Hatsune Miku merchandise.

Of course the cafe also offers a thoroughly themed menu, complete with Hatsune Miku-shaped rice and curry, leek soba, and an assortment of vividly coloured drinks named after songs that were composed with Vocaloid software by fans.

While Vocaloid started out as a production tool that pieced together sounds to create a realistic “singing” voice, having Hatsune Miku associated with the software created a character that viewers could associate with and use to create a variety of complementary media, from 3D animated music videos to illustrations.

Cross-promotion and marketing of products and animated characters across a different range of services and media platforms in Japan is nothing new, but the cultural impact that Hatsune Miku has had because of the involvement of fan-created content is an interesting development. Without the creative input of fans and their creation of songs, videos and illustrations, Hatsune Miku would arguably not have been as big an icon as she is now, nor would the character have generated the same amount of economic value for the Vocaloid franchise.

How corporations and marketing expertise is adapting to a changing media environment where audiences have the ability to both create their own content as well as share it with others almost as easily as major content producers is something that will be interesting to consider in the future. One thing is for sure, there will probably be many more collaborations to come – we definitely aren’t the only ones who can’t get enough of Hatsune Miku!