Joi Ito has a fascinating writeup onOtetsudai Networks:
> “With Otetsudai Networks, if you are willing to work, you sign up for the service with your skills and focus, take a GPS reading on your phone and then just hang out. If you are looking for someone for say… 3 hours to man a cash register or help wash dishes, you just send the request to Otetsudai Networks and within minutes, you have a list of people available. The list shows what each person is qualified for, how others have rated their work and exactly how far away they are. Typically you will receive a list of half a dozen or more people within a few minutes.”
It’s an interesting post for a bunch of reasons; advanced social apps in handsets, innovative use of GPS when the technology reaches ubiquity, and an insight into Japanese bureaucracy and labour issues (e.g. Japanese companies failing, due to lack of ready labour, often due to excessive red tape).
It’s an interesting contrast to the UK, where the same lack of casual/cheap labour exists, but is apparently being filled by EU economic migrants – does the barrier of Japanese language make it far less desirable for workers from other countries, or are strong immigration policies causing a dearth of non indigenous labour? I also read that there is a strong anti-chinese immigration sentiment, but I have no idea if that’s true.
As Japan ages, Ito argues that a declining ‘casual workforce’ is having a major effect on the economy:
> “Because of the advanced aging population and the tendency for many of the younger generation to not be in a hurry to lock down full-time jobs, businesses are having an increasingly more difficult time filling posts – so much so that some businesses are having to close down, not because of lack of business, but purely because they can’t staff their stores.”