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PREGNANT WOMEN STRUGGLING to bag a seat on the famously packed Tokyo subway could find their salvation in a new app connecting them with nearby passengers willing to give up their coveted perch.
The digital match-making app being trialled this week on the metro aims to overcome two problems especially prevalent in Japan: passengers generally have their nose buried in their phones and talking is strictly frowned upon.
The service allows a pregnant woman to send a message when she wants a seat.
The app will then look for generous pre-registered users who have said they are willing to give up their seats.
If there is a match, the pregnant woman gets a seat map on her smartphone screen showing her partner’s location.
The exchange can be made without giving personal information to each other.
Dai Nippon Printing (DNP) has been testing the service this week on one of the key subway lines in conjunction with Tokyo Metro and the Line messaging app company.
Rolling out the service
“This may be particular to Japan, but some people hesitate to speak to a person who may need a seat,” said a spokeswoman for DNP, a printing and IT group.
“Many people are also looking at smartphone screens and do not always realise quickly that someone in need is standing nearby,” said the official, who declined to be named.
“We try to take advantage of the situation.”
It is yet to be decided when the service will be rolled out but the companies also hope to expand assistance to elderly and disabled people.
Japan has one of the world’s lowest birth rates and authorities are trying out several policies to encourage people to have more children.
Public officials distribute a round pink “Maternity Mark” tag to pregnant women to encourage people around them to be considerate before they start showing.
Some woman however hesitate to display the tag out of fear that they could be perceived as overly insistent on their rights or insensitive toward people on fertility treatment.
- © AFP 2017.
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Wellness retreat with Leigh Arnold. The woman has notions about herself!
@The Thinker: Master begrudgery there!!!!
@The Thinker:
Go forbid anyone having notions about themselves, Bless us & Save us from this curse. Is it true @The Tinker that you’ve started a campaign to bring back the potato as the main food in ireland, just like in the good ole days of the 1800’s.
I went to Ibiza for the first time in August of 2018. I stayed in the north too near Benirras and loved it. It is such an open, tolerant and healthy place. Its really just the SW of the island that has the club scene and even on that side there is beautiful coast and quiet places to take in the view of Es Vedra and more. The swimming in crystal clear torquoise water is pure bliss and healing alone. I camped in a pine forest on a cliff and the dark skies those nights were as good as it gets. There is also a ‘growing’ regenerative living culture which started at ‘Casita Verde’ and is now catching on around the island. I’ve always loved islands including our own and would love to some how do a stint on Ibiza. But it can be very expensive for obvious reasons. Being part of a sustainable community involved in permaculture etc would help greatly. I lived abroad for some years and since coming back I have been unable to settle back into life here as I find it frustrating and there is still a mindset that dominates parts of this country that is mindnumbing. Good on you guys for making the move and going for it! May bump into you next time. :)
Great to hear Leigh and her family are doing well. I could really do with a few days at their retreat, sounds like a really beautiful place. No travel for me anytime soon.
Are they really trying to run it in? Can they not do a postcard from Tory island or somewhere we can actually visit this year?
I want to go to Ibiza!
Strange time to be advertising this.
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