consumer

“With Fuwatoro Eggs, our aim was that when you break an egg, what comes out is a cooked egg so soft and moist, you’d think it had been made by a first-rate chef. You can’t tell how good Fuwatori Eggs are unless you…

In 1976, Sony CDI developed a kind of business game called the Management Game. The game simulates running a business, with each participant as a manager. Participants can compare their performance, by producing a financial report for their business. Many companies have introduced the Management Game to help staff learn about management.

Shigeto Takahashi is a leading expert in education and publicity regarding the Management Game. He’s the representative of BM Network, which holds numerous seminars for government agencies and businesses, and for SME Universities and Junior Chamber International Japan. Recently, Takahashi gave a seminar on the Management Game in Akita.

“The Management Game was developed in 1976, when Japan’s economic future became unclear after the “oil shock.” It’s an educational system, developed to train people how to utilize their company’s business resources. All kinds of businesses have introduced this game, to teach their managers how to make decisions, understand financials, and think strategically.”

In a management game, a group represents a market, and 5-7 people each manage their own company for a session. They hire employees, purchase materials, operate factories, do R&D, run advertising campaigns, bid for products, and sell them. Participants do the accounting for each process, and at the end of the session, they produce reports and compare performance. In a two-day seminar, there are 3-4 sessions, so participants can sharpen their business acumen by producing business plans, thinking up and implementing improvements, and testing them out.

“The Management Game is created to develop three aspects of business: performance, people, and creativity. One feature of the game is that participants run their companies by themselves. This means they have to think about things from a manager’s viewpoint, and consider all aspects of business. Another feature of the game is that they foster a business mindset and profit consciousness. A third feature is, the Management Game is intended to nurture creative thinking and strategic thinking.”

Because participants continually have to make decisions, they also become aware of how vital decision-making is in business.

“I think gaining the ability to make decisions right away is a major benefit of the Management Game. Until you reach management level, employees don’t require you to make decisions. But in my current position, I get asked by various staff, “What should I do about this?” If workers get a decision from the boss, they can move on to their next task. So, I think making decisions on the spot, whenever that’s possible, contributes to the workplace as well. “

As Japan’s senior population increases, and more women also enter business, Takahashi thinks the Management Game for people in those categories may help to create new businesses.

Yahoo Japan has released Face Stealer, an AR app (App Store – Free) which makes your face look like someone else’s.

The iPhone app can generate a mask from a photo of basically anything with a face, such as an ani…

This Smart Trash Can, developed by Minoru Kurata, an engineer at a Japanese auto maker, won an Excellence Award at the Japan Media Arts Festival.

“When you toss trash at it, a sensor detects the position of the tr…

This e-paper is currently under development by Ricoh.

It has a unique structure, with layers of a new electrochromic material that turn magenta, yellow, and cyan from their transparent state. In this way, Ricoh’s …

Fujifilm has developed an electroacoustic film, which could be used in next-generation flexible devices.

With this new film, sound distortion can be prevented even when the film is deformed, by making its elastici…

The GeneLEAD from Precision System Science (PSS) is a fully automatic genetic testing device that completely automates the genetic testing process that ordinarily would require manual intervention. This device, whi…

This omnidirectional camera, currently under development by Ricoh, takes a full 360° panoramic image in one shot.

“It has two fish-eye lenses, each of which covers 180 degrees. The camera combines the two pictures, and sends them via Wi-Fi to a tablet or smartphone for viewing. The idea is, the pictures you take arrive automatically.”

“When viewing it like a regular panoramic image, you can also see up and down. When you pull out from the image, it finally becomes a circle, and you can also look at it as a sphere.”

“This camera represents a step beyond SLRs and compact cameras. The project began with the idea that, if taking spherical panoramic photos was easy, the results might be fun.”

“Currently, the camera takes still photos. But we’d like to enable it to handle video, too. We’re still just presenting this technology, so the specs haven’t been decided yet. Right now, we’re at the stage of seeing how people react. If people think this camera is fun, we’d like to commercialize it, and make it a bit smaller. We want to keep developing it, so we can offer a version for consumers.”

“This is a project we’re discussing with staff at art colleges. We think this technology could also be presented as a “panorama ball,” where the pictures are stuck onto a sphere.”

Ubiquitous Entertainment exhibited their “enchant.js” technology for developing browser-based games at Digital Content EXPO 2012. This technology uses the cross-platform HTML5 and JavaScript languages to make it …

Mitsui Fudosan Residential in cooperation with Hinomaru Limousine on January 10 launched LoopRimo, an experimental private transportation service in a limited area of Setagaya-ku, Tokyo. This three-month test servi…