From 1 to 2 December 2021, the " BabyTech® Award Japan 2021" (hereinafter referred to as "BTAJ2021" ), which recognises outstanding BabyTech products and services in Japan, will be held at the Hamamatsucho Building of the Tokyo Metropolitan Industrial Trade Center, followed by an awards ceremony and exhibition of the winning products. Prior to this, Kenji Ajishi (hereafter "Ajishi"), President of BTAJ2021 Platinum Sponsor, Babies' Honpo Corporation (hereafter "Babies' Honpo"), and Tetsuya Nagata (hereafter "Nagata"), President of Papa Smile Corporation, the organizer of BTAJ2021, held a conversation. We asked them about how Babies Honpo got involved in BabyTech, what they expect from BTAJ2021, and what they see for the future.
(Interlocutor)
Kenji Ajishi, President of Babies Honpo Co.
President of Papa Smile Co.
Tetsuya Nagata
Surprised by the rapid pace of baby tech progress in the country
Nagata: Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to talk to us today. First of all, could you tell us again how you came to know about BabyTech?
Ajishi: I think it was at CES in 2016 (Editor's note: one of the world's largest electronics product exhibitions, usually held in Las Vegas, USA) that the keyword BabyTech first came up. From there, we started collecting information internally. Then, in November 2019, I met Mr Nagata at a BabyTech exhibition event held in a department store.
Nagata: As a result of this relationship, from Thursday 10 June to 9 July 2021, your company, Dai Nippon Printing and our company were able to hold an event called "BabyTech TOUCH " in collaboration with three other companies. We were able to use the Akachan Honpo TOC shop in Gotanda and it was a great opportunity for us to reach out to a wider audience than we ever thought possible when we first started working with BabyTech.
Ajishi: It's very impressive to see how far BabyTech has come in just two years. When I first met you in 2019, there weren't many baby tech products to speak of, but now there are a wide variety of products and services from different manufacturers. It's a field that's really progressing fast, isn't it?
Nagata: Towards the end of last year, a news programme on NHK introduced 2021 as the first year of BabyTech. This may have been partly due to the impact of the new Corona, but I have the impression that the need to use technology to remotely watch over children, to provide online education, and to record child-rearing memories and physical conditions has suddenly become apparent, and this has encouraged the progress of baby tech.
