Products And Services For The Homeless And Nomadic Customers Like Those In Japan

I must admit that I have an interest in a lot of things about Japan and the Japanese. And I think I’m not alone. It may be the past the twentieth century now, but samurais and ninjas are still very much popular cultural icons all over the world.

And who could not fail to mention Anime when one speaks about Japan. Anime illustrations and storylines have made their way to popular culture throughout the world in terms of entertainment.

And, there’s hardly a person in the world who doesn’t know Sushi. It’s up there together with the likes of Hamburger, Spaghetti, Hotdogs and noodles. But unlike noodles which can be attributed to either the Chinese or Japanese, Sushi is strictly associated with Japan.

But, not everything popular in Japan can be considered good. The popular word ”Salaryman” is attributed to the hardworking workers of Japan who work so hard that some have been known to die of overwork.

In a way, Japanese salarymen may well be the way of the future. More and more people are working in the cities while living outside the cities and more and more transport resources in many cities of the world are being patterned after this.

We could see this pattern for example in cities from China, Japan, USA, Australia and so on. The USA has one of the most expansive road networks in the world, if not the most expansive. China and Japan have very expansive rail networks and Australia is following their lead.

But for this article, I would be using Japanese salarymen as an example although there are other workers in the world who are starting to fit the characteristics of a Japanese salaryman. Our target customer/Japanese salary man is the type of worker who can be anyone.

But one thing is definite about our example, they work very early in the morning and continue working very late at night. It might happen that because of this schedule, our customer is unable to go home everyday from work.

The reason is obvious, they are most probably living so far from their company that if they traveled to and from work, they would have no chance to sleep anymore or would really be unable to find a time to work.

I think the best way to learn about this type of person or “customer” if you could call them that, is by watching a few YouTube videos. Simply typing the search keywords: “living in an internet cafe” for example would show you a lot of related videos already.

One YouTube video I can recommend is titled: Manga Kissa: Life in Japan’s Smallest Rooms | ASIAN BOSS by the YouTube Channel: Asian Boss.

The Japanese worker featured here has a special case. He’s living in an internet cafe out of choice and situation. He chose to make better use of his time rather than commuting to and from work. This is because his family’s home is situated outside Tokyo.

He’s also doing it for financial reasons. Tokyo real estate is expensive and he figured that since what he’s doing in Tokyo is mainly working, his money is much better spent somewhere else than just renting a place in Tokyo.

He’s also single and have no attachments yet, which is a critical aspect of being able to live in such places as internet cafes. I think everyone would agree that it would be very hard to live in an internet cafe if you have a wife and especially a child.

As I have mentioned and the YouTube videos have pointed out, these customers have replaced traditional accommodation products like a house, apartment or a boarding space in an apartment or a house for much smaller spaces which barely allows a person to lay down and sleep.

The concept of Capsule Hotels for example originated in Japan, but now can be found in several cosmopolitan cities around the world. At first, capsule hotels seemed unfavorable as rental spaces, but now, they are a favorite among backpackers and anyone curious.

As has been said, Internet cafes are also being used by nomad employees and travelers as a cheap source of accommodation. There are two kinds of internet cafes. The more popular type is an open space room where computers are lined up on a row of tables side by side.

The second type is a big space where there are cubicles separating each computer user from the other. In Japan at least, this particular style is where our intended customers are sleeping at.

But make no mistake, people do sleep on traditional internet cafes despite the noise and the lack of privacy. If you do a Google Image search of the search keywords: “sleeping in internet cafe” for example, there would be a couple of pictures of people doing so.

And by all instances, there would be a lot of people who would do this as time passes by. You have for example backpackers who would spend their entire days visiting tourist spots and then at night, after a ramen dinner, upload pictures or socialize online with their friends.

And then we have our target customer, the employee who is unable to find or afford a sleeping space for the day. Internet cafes mostly fit the lifestyle of this lone employees who work all day, eat at restaurants and spend their entire evenings online.

Besides tourists, backpackers and nomad employees, can we find more customer who would fit the bill? How about Remote Workers? These type of workers can work anywhere as long as there is an internet connection.

And what do internet cafes have? An internet connection! And in the case of Japanese internet cafes, a private and quiet space to work on undisturbed. Of course, the world is still in a pandemic and social distancing still persists.

But if ever the world goes back to its usual self, internet cafes can just add cheap and inexpensive cubicles to their computer spaces and market these accordingly as “Work Spaces”,”Remote Working Spaces” or Private Computer Lounges.

If you’re an internet cafe which offers private cubicle space or computer space, it may come to a point when you have regular customers who stay with your facilities most days of the week as what nomad Japanese employees need.

You’ve already solved their “cheap” accommodation problem. What comes next? Of course it’s their hunger problem. There’s no doubt that there are plenty of restaurants and fast food stores that can serve this need, so why should you offer this?

I don’t know the reason for this, but many humans seem predestined to eat convenience foods whenever they’re watching television or are online. I knew for a fact that I drink several cups of coffee a day as I use the internet and do my work.

A cafe shop can fill my need if I was living and doing my work in an internet cafe, by why bother if the internet cafe itself is selling coffee? This especially applies if I’m doing all nighters. And, many internet cafes are also selling convenience food. This information is not secret at all.

Also, it seems that patrons of internet cafes like to eat instant noodles which are easier to stock and maintain than actually cooking food for your internet cafe customers. Instant noodles are also cheap and flavorful for your customer who is more engrossed with being online than eating.

There are internet cafes that offer both free to use and paid toilet facilities. I don’t know about your toilet schedule, but I know for a fact that I urinate regularly at least once between the time I eat dinner and sleep. In fact, I do it several times.

Urination may be a free service for your internet cafe or similar place of lodging, but using the toilet to do your business is another thing. In fact, cleaning a toilet so it can be hygienic enough for the next user is a billable service that you can do. It depends upon you.

What else do people do in the toilet? They brush their teeth and take a bath. You can also bill your customers whenever they take a shower. In fact, in Japanese and American trains which have shower facilities, they charge for such use.

If your customer does not have a regular house or apartment where they stay in, especially if they stay nomadic throughout the weekdays, they may also need to have their clothing, especially their work clothes maintained and straightened out.

Of course, a regular laundromat can offer this service, but you can also offer a similar service using only a simple household washing machine. All that is needed is to ensure that the washing machine noise is muffled to prevent noise complaints.

Another thing that you can offer is renting out a clothes iron. This is a very practical thing to offer especially to a nomadic employee who would find it very inconvenient to carry a clothes iron as they travel around.

This may be a hard sell, but if you are ever successful in tying up with a dry cleaning service, you can also offer dry cleaning services to your customers. This might be a hard sell though as many people still regard the cost of dry cleaning as expensive.

If a person has no permanent address in society, it is usually hard for them to interact with the organizations in society like the bank, government services and the likes. These organizations usually demand a permanent address in order to interact with anyone.

What homeless and nomadic people usually do is to nominate the address of a family member or a friend so that any correspondence from the bank or the government for example can have a physical mailing address.

For people in these kinds of situation, it may be possible for you to offer a private mailbox service for them. In Japan at least, I know of companies who offer private mailbox services to people.

This might be an important service not only for the nomadic people, but also for homeless people. I guess the service won’t cost as much because what is essentially being offered is a space in a small box.

But it could be a lifesaver for a homeless or a nomadic person who depend on benefits from the government or to anyone who wants to be reached. Like it or not, there are still social needs to a home mailbox and people are missing out by not having one.

Even if a person is homeless or nomadic, they still need a permanent place to store their belongings, especially the important ones. I for example have a big bag which contains all my important personal documents.

If I ever become homeless or nomadic, I wouldn’t entrust my important personal documents to anyone. Most likely, I would have to find a secure permanent place for them or I would have to carry them around with me all the time.

Let’s face it, even the most basic homeless person has a shopping trolley filled with their personal belongings. A nomadic worker who doesn’t go home for a week would probably have a week’s worth or a big luggage worth of clothes to carry around.

If I were a tourist or a nomadic worker, I wouldn’t expect to carry my luggage with me as I sight see or work in my office. Not only is this very inconvenient, but is also a very attention drawing thing and may even be embarrassing.

Simply put, a locker storage or service is an essential need for any person who doesn’t have a house, apartment, boarding room or hotel to stay in regularly and securely. This is especially since people with luggages are eye catching to criminals who think there’s something valuable in the luggages.

If you cannot offer all or some of these services to your regular nomadic customer, why not form a consortium and split the profits? Business who are in walking distance to each other and who are primarily located in the business or tourist district can especially benefit.

This is not entirely a new concept as businesses that serve identical customers have been known to cooperate with each other to share the profits of their cooperation. The locker services can be a good example.

What if a company offering locker services to its nomad customers ran out of lockers to offer and they know that the internet cafe nearby have storage facilities like in their backroom? Wouldn’t it be a good idea for the locker company and the internet cafe to join forces?

It could be as simple as displaying your partner company’s services or informing your customers of such services to enable cooperation and earn money. An internet cafe may for example plaster on their walls that locker services or laundromat services are available thru their partners.

More and more people are getting homeless or are living the nomadic lifestyle. There are even entire families who rent apartments close to their work on the weekdays and spend their weekends on their actual homes.

If you can offer almost all the living needs of a nomadic person like accommodation, food, washing and so on, you are more than likely to profit not only from repeat business, but from the volume of business you get from each nomadic customer.

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