December 1 - 2, 2021, at the Tokyo Metropolitan Industrial Trade Center Hamamatsucho Pavilion to recognize outstanding baby tech products and services in Japan.BabyTech® Award Japan 2021 ("BTAJ2021")The award ceremony for the "BTAJ2021" and an exhibition of the award-winning products will be held. Prior to the ceremony, Kenji Ajishi ("Ajishi"), President and Representative Director of Akachan Honpo, a platinum sponsor of BTAJ2021, and Tetsuya Nagata ("Nagata"), Representative Director of Papa Smile Co. We asked them about how Akachan Honpo got involved in baby tech, what they expect from "BTAJ2021," and their future outlook.
(Interlocutor)
Akachan Honpo Co. President and Representative Director
Kenji Ajishi
Papa Smile Co.,Ltd representative director (i.e. someone chosen by the board of directors from among the directors to actually represent the company)
Tetsuya Nagata
Surprised by the rapid pace of baby tech progress in the country
Nagata:Thank you for your time today. First of all, could you tell us again how you came to know BabyTech?
Ajishi:I think the keyword "baby tech" first came up at CES (Editor's Note: This is one of the world's largest electronics product exhibitions, usually held in Las Vegas, USA) in 2016. From there, we started gathering information internally. This was followed by meeting Mr. Nagata at a BabyTech exhibition event held at a department store in November 2019.
Nagata:From June 10 (Thursday) to July 9, 2021, your company, DNP, and our company will collaborate in a joint project.BabyTech TOUCHWe were able to hold an event called "BabyTech. We were able to use the Akachanhonpo TOC store in Gotanda, and it was an opportunity to let everyone know about BabyTech more widely than we could have imagined when we first started working on it.
Ajishi:It is impressive to see how far BabyTech has come in just two years. When we first met in 2019, there weren't that many baby tech products that could be called baby tech products, but now a wide variety of products and services are available from many different manufacturers. It really is a fast progressing field, isn't it?
Nagata:Around the end of last year, an NHK news program introduced the year 2021 as the first year of baby tech. Perhaps it was due in part to the new Corona, but I have the impression that the needs for using technology to remotely watch over children, provide online intellectual education, and record memories of child-rearing and physical conditions have quickly become apparent and have fueled the progress of baby tech.
Great response to the "future of childcare" felt at BabyTech event
Nagata:When we announced in September of this year that your company had become a platinum sponsor of BTAJ2021, we received a tremendous response from all quarters. For example, we received a lot of attention from major media outlets, who told us that baby tech has finally entered a phase where it has penetrated the general consumer market.
Ajishi:We still have a long way to go in terms of how much the market for baby tech will expand in the future and how it can be useful in various aspects of child-rearing. However, we believe it has great potential. In the "BabyTech TOUCH" I mentioned earlier, I was able to stand in the store and received a great response from various people. I received a lot of feedback from general consumers who said, "I didn't know this kind of product was going to be on sale! but we also made contacts with companies that are thinking of using BabyTech in a B to B environment and with manufacturers who are developing BabyTech products. For us, this had a huge impact. I think the event was a hint and an opportunity for us to learn how we can deliver the various baby tech products that will be born in the future to our customers.
Nagata:It is possible that BabyTech products and services will emerge from fields that we have never thought of. What kind of products are you looking forward to?
Ajishi:Parenting parents have a tough time every day. On the other hand, babies are really cute and there are lots of fun times. What I strongly emphasize at our company is, "If we know more about babies' lives, we can offer suggestions and support for problems and lifestyles that our customers are unaware of. This is what I am strongly advocating. This is where BabyTech can be used. If we can support babies with sensors, images, voice, etc., what used to require the use of human hands and eyes, we will be able to reduce the hardships of parents and increase the amount of time they can spend having fun. That is what we expect from baby tech products and services.
For example, the other day I talked to our in-house "baby bedding stockist" about the following. Why do we need baby bedding in the first place? Isn't it so that babies can get a good night's sleep, and if that is the case, shouldn't we be learning more about baby sleep, not just about how to sell bedding? What are some of the concerns that moms and dads have about their babies' sleep? Of course there is a need for comfy and warm bedding, but I would like you to think about what kind of proposals you can make after learning about deeper issues, such as the difficulty of putting the baby to sleep or waking up in the middle of the night. There may be manufacturers that are developing products to support the challenges of baby sleep, so let's do more research. I said, "Perhaps by doing so, we can make a greater contribution to baby sleep. Perhaps with the advent of baby tech, there will be products and services that support and make sleep more enjoyable than ever thought possible.
Nagata:Indeed, products that regulate sleep rhythms with lamps that emit light similar to sunlight and smartphone applications that train children to sleep alone have appeared. Furthermore, as more and more data is accumulated during sleep, we may discover something like the "truth about babies' sleep," something that has been unknown until now. As a media company specializing in baby tech, we would like to provide information that can further support moms and dads.
Expect to meet many developers at BTAJ2021
Nagata:Next, can you tell us why you became a platinum sponsor of BTAJ2021?
Ajishi:I assumed the position of President and Representative Director in March of this year, and one of my management policies at that time was to work on newer products and services in the future. One of these was the area of baby tech. Therefore, we had been thinking about gathering information and starting specific initiatives in this field since the beginning of the year. We were able to take this step by holding the "BabyTech TOUCH" event in June, and our board of directors unanimously decided that we would be a platinum sponsor of BTAJ2021.
We believe that this event is a true statement of our commitment to the baby tech field. We also strongly hope that the latest baby tech products and services will be gathered at this event, so that we can make contact with developers, obtain detailed information, and distribute them to families raising children as quickly as possible.
Nagata:We were very happy when we were contacted by your company to become a sponsor. Four years ago, when we first started working on BabyTech, our website was introducing only overseas case studies, but looking back, I feel that our relationship with your company and DNP was established at a wonderful time, and that BabyTech has gradually begun to spread in Japan. I would like all companies involved in BabyTech to know that their efforts are gaining recognition and that they can now see a clear path to deliver BabyTech to their customers.
Akachan Honpo Award" is a company-wide initiative to think about baby tech
Nagata:Now, the BTAJ2021 awards ceremony will be held on December 1, and there will also be an exhibition of products. This year, there will be a special award called the "Akachan Honpo Award," which I understand will be decided by a vote of your company's employees.
Ajishi:In establishing this award, we were aiming for an internal effect rather than external publicity. Although we have said that we are committed to BabyTech, there are still some aspects of BabyTech that have not yet penetrated the minds of our employees. This is a great opportunity for all of us to learn about BabyTech's excellent products and services, and to spend time envisioning whether or not they will delight our customers and help make their babies' lives more enjoyable. I believe that having this kind of time will lead to the realization that we will be dealing with BabyTech in the future. We are preparing for the Akachan Honpo Award by taking a voting system by all employees, including those at each store, and deciding on the Akachan Honpo Award based on their ranking.
Nagata:We are very much looking forward to seeing which company's product or service will win the award. the Grand Prize and Excellence Award in BTAJ2021 are selected by several experts, so there is a tough aspect to the awards, as they are decided by a single vote. However, about half of the award-winning companies have subsequently achieved new funding or business alliances and other developmental developments, which we feel is encouraging for many companies, and we feel that investors and companies have a certain appreciation for our work. I believe that this year's Akachan Honpo Award will also be a very prestigious award, as it will reflect the real voices of our employees.
Ajishi:Every day, our employees hear from people who are raising children in our stores about the various problems they face. It is very interesting to visualize what kind of products and services are good from the perspective of these people who are very close to ordinary families raising children, and I myself am looking forward to seeing them.
Introduce BabyTech at the point of contact between our nationwide stores and our e-commerce site.
Nagata:Finally, can you tell us about the future prospects for your company's baby tech initiatives?
Ajishi:Most recently, as part of the BTAJ 2021 initiative, we have set up our first permanent BabyTech corner in the Seven Town Azusawa store (Itabashi-ku, Tokyo), which was renovated on October 15. Although this is only one store and some products and services are not yet available for sale, we are very much looking forward to providing a place where people can experience BabyTech anytime. Our strength is our nationwide network of stores and e-commerce site, and we would like to continue to introduce our products and services to customers through these points of contact.
Our corporate message is "Smile child-rearing. In order to achieve this, it is important for us to support our customers in making the hard work and time of child-rearing as easy and efficient as possible. If you have more time and energy to spend with your baby, you will be able to spend more time enjoying and nurturing your baby. We would like to support child-rearing even more by utilizing BabyTech, and we aim to be of further assistance to parents in the future.
Nagata:We hope that many people will visit the Baby Tech Corner at the Seven Town Azusawa Store and that it will become a place where they can visualize the future of childcare. Thank you very much for your time today!
BabyTech TOUCH, a BabyTech hands-on showrooming event
https://chirashi.akachan.jp/babytechtouch/
Official website of Akachan Honpo Co.
(ENDS)
Reporter: Kazuyuki Seki
