Category: Various

In some elevators in Japan, mostly in department stores, you still can see people working as elevator operators. They just stay all day in the elevator pressing buttons and making sure that the doors open and close in a timely manner; they also announce the floor number each time the elevator stops and check if everybody can leave or enter the elevator at the desired floor. I don’t know if it’s another one of those Japanese “useless jobs” or not, but it seems like a really tiring and not very rewarding job to do if you work as an elevator operator for years.

I took this video in one of the elevators at a department store in Shinjuku station:

A strategy to attract clients on rainy days by some shops and restaurants in Japan consists on making special offers when it’s raining. This way they attract people that would stay at home because of the weather. For example, in this bar, if one day it’s raining or it has rained they offer clients three options: to extend the “happy hour” one hour more, to get double points if you use the bar points card or a 500 yen discount if you buy an open bar (Nomihodai: 飲み放題). Which option would you choose?

If you have a business that is slow on rainy days, try to apply this idea to see what happens!

I love Japanese transparent umbrellas. One of the things I like the most about their design is that you can see through them; something very useful if you are in a rush, walking towards the wind and you have to tip the umbrella so you don’t get wet. Hasn’t it happened to you sometimes that with a normal umbrella you have to tilt it up to see where you are walking to? If you are riding a bicycle, as you go faster than walking, it’s almost indispensable to use a transparent umbrella if you don’t want to ride blindly 🙂 Here is a demonstration video:

More about transparent umbrellas here.