Gold Coast Cafe set to motivate travelers

Written by: Rebecca Milner on September 15, 2008 at 12:05 am | In MARKETING IDEAS | 1 Comment

Tokyo has no shortage of theme restaurants, fantastical (and occasionally bizarre) spaces to transport customers temporarily and psychologically to another time and place. The new “Gold Coast Café” installment at the Travel Café in Shinjuku, however, is meant to actually inspire you to visit there.

Sponsored by the Australian and Queensland Tourism Board, the café has been turned into a three dimensional, multi-media brochure for the Gold Coast, with plasma screens playing promotional videos, travel books for available for browsing, and table tops papered over with pamphlet material. The white and blue design scheme is meant to evoke sandy beaches.

While all the branches of the Travel Café take travel, obviously, as their theme, the idea has to this point been more vague, such as interiors meant to evoke images of an airport lounge or “New York style” hotel bar.

Australia has long been a popular travel destination for Japanese from all demographics, although with rising fuel costs overseas destinations are facing stiffer competition from domestic ones.

On a somewhat related note, a recent survey by the Nikkei Marketing Journal asked 20-somethings to name the top three things on which they spend their pocket money. 10% selected domestic travel while 5% named overseas travel. Daily expenses and going out topped the list. On the other hand, reports the NMJ, if the same respondents had an extra ¥300,000 (about $2,800), 30% of the men and 40% of the women would spend it on domestic travel (the number two answer) while 25% of the men and 40% of the women picked overseas travel (third place). The number one answer was to put money in savings. If only the article gave us tips for getting that extra spending money…

Tags: Dining, Shinjuku, Survey, Travel
Category: MARKETING IDEAS
Other categories: DIGITAL LIFE, LIFESTYLE / FASHION, PRODUCT INNOVATIONS

School boy cafes, maid casinos the latest cosplay offerings

Written by: Rebecca Milner on February 8, 2008 at 8:19 am | In LIFESTYLE / FASHION | 4 Comments

School girls have a well-documented following, but what about the boys? It turns out that school boys are building up a following of their own: since opening last fall, the school boy themed café, Edelstein, has been filled to capacity every weekend and has seen repeat customers visit upwards of 40 times in just a few short months.

Regular customers become “students” and can have their picture taken with the cute young male waiters in school uniforms (which definitely makes up for the $5 coffee). Rest-assured the hiring policy ensures that all of the waiters are over 18.

Due to the popularity, would-be customers book a 90-minute “lunch time” or “bar time” (remember it’s a fantasy!) in advance. Naturally, Valentines’ Day is already fully booked.

The café is located in Harajuku, making it a convenient shopping stop-over for the women in their 20s and 30s that the café is targeting. The interior is designed to resemble a German boarding school, but is more reminiscent of settings from manga series of the same theme aimed at girls and young women.

In other cosplay entertainment news, the original maid café, in an effort to keep its stake in the market, is diversifying to include “maid karaoke” and a “maid casino.”

With the cosplay market seemingly here to stay and intent on growing, its anyone’s guess what the next innovation will be. Any wagers?

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Tags: Dining, moe, otaku
Category: LIFESTYLE / FASHION
Other categories: MARKETING IDEAS, DIGITAL LIFE, PRODUCT INNOVATIONS

Kaiten sushi Express Lane from Kappa Sushi

Written by: Rebecca Milner on January 28, 2008 at 12:57 am | In DIGITAL LIFE | No Comments

As if kaiten (conveyor belt) sushi weren’t already entertaining enough, chain restaurant Kappa Sushi has added another layer of novelty, the sushi “Express Lane.”

While the original conveyor belt continues to carry the miscellaneous plates dished out at the whim of the chefs, this additional conveyor belt located above brings your special ordered plates directly to your spot at the counter at express speeds. Orders are placed on picture touch screens at your seat.

No more waiting anxiously to see if the yummy looking tuna will make it all the way around to your seat or be picked up by the other customers along the way! Of course, you could just make a special request to the chef in person, but where is the fun in that?

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Tags: Digital Lifestyle, Dining
Category: DIGITAL LIFE
Other categories: MARKETING IDEAS, LIFESTYLE / FASHION, PRODUCT INNOVATIONS