Japan makes it possible: home office in the car and on the train

Because many japanese have hardly any space to work at home, new ideas are needed. In hamatsu, people can now rent office cars and the japanese high-speed train shinkansen has been transformed into a speeding workstation.

After South Korea, Japan is the country within the OECD (organization for development and economic cooperation) with the highest proportion of fiber optic connections of all stationary broadband connections. But especially in times of corona, ultra-modern technology is still a long way from solving everyday problems. In japan, too, companies have to offer their employees home offices, but the living conditions of many people there are more than cramped, there is simply no space for it.

Necessity is the mother of invention: a home office in a minivan

The city of hamatsu, some 200 kilometers southwest of tokyo, has therefore come up with a solution. In the middle of bentenjima seaside park, in a bay separated from the pacific by a narrow strait, so-called office cars can be rented in a parking lot. There are half a dozen minivans there. All of them have the tailgate open. The back seat is folded down, a tabletop has been mounted, and two young women are working on it. Because of the cold, the two wear thick jackets, but downstairs – in true Japanese fashion – they take off their shoes and put their feet on a blanket to keep warm. "It works well," they say, they say there can even be another person sitting between them, it’s not that cramped.

Rent a car, look for a parking space and off you go's

For this pilot project, which has been running as a test since november of last year and is to be offered regularly from next year, the city has teamed up with car manufacturer suzuki. First you rent a car, drive to the parking lot, and then you have electricity and wi-fi. Hiroshi miyagi planned the project.

The car office costs the equivalent of 12 euros for half a day, and double that for a whole day.

Alternative: working in a high-speed train

But home office is also possible in japan: in the high-speed train shinkansen, phone calls were previously only allowed in the aisle. Annoying for many and often really annoying, because the connection keeps breaking off.

A japanese in the fast-paced office: on the high-speed shinkansen train

Until the end of february, the rail operator jreast is therefore now offering a home office train with "super internet" free of charge, so to speak to. Gene nakamura works in the department that takes care of the work environment.

You can borrow a free wifi router for that. Even when the train is traveling through japan at 300 kilometers per hour, the internet connection should remain stable, the company promises.

Artificial noises drown out the work conversation

And to ensure that the work can be done as quietly, undisturbed and anonymously as possible, the railroad operator jreast has borrowed something from the Japanese toilet designers. There you can, so that you do not disturb anyone with your "business" interferes, almost everywhere by pressing a button to play a sound.

And that’s exactly what’s happening on the fast shinkansen train too. yamaha’s proprietary sound is designed so that no one can overhear what others are saying. For this purpose, different sounds and conversations were mixed together. The test offer is well received, but the question is whether this will still be the case when customers have to pay for it. How much that will be is not yet known.

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