NEWS

From September 4 to September 6, we participated in the Japan Society of Kansei Engineering Conference which was held at the University of Tokyo Faculty of Engineering. Rakuten Future Merchant Design Laboratory, a part of Rakuten Institute of Technology focused on the future of stores and shopping, held a session for the second year in a row together with a joint research partner, Professor Toshimasa Yamanaka from University of Tsukuba. The session theme of this year was “Proposal for Utilizing Kansei Engineering to Enrich the Purchasing Experience of the Future”. Various research presentations were held covering a wide range of academic fields.

The Rakuten Award of the year was also presented to a team from University of Tsukuba who presented on the theme of new relaxing sound sources for creating a better store atmostphere. They focused on the effects of background music, which is an important element of the store environment, and proposed a unique gimmick from the viewpoint of how the purring sound of a cat can act as a relaxing sound source. High scores were especially given to the team for verifying the effects scientifically while making the presentation, making it the winner of this year’s award. In addition, as a guest judge for this session, Tomotaka Shiozawa, senior manager of the Area Empowerment Section of Rakuten’s Client Communication Department, helped review the presentations from the point of view of Rakuten’s business division.

We would like to thank all of the attendees, and once again congratulate the winning team. We hope that next year be just as educational and exciting.

For more information on the Japan Society of Kansei Engineering, see the link below.

Japan Society of Kansei Engineering