RFID in Japan

115years after the publication of Warren & Brandeis's well-known Harvard Law Review article "the Right to Privacy," it was a Japanese Ramen restaurant chain that seriously considered "the right to be left alone" while eating.

The name of the restaurant chain is Ichiran and is based in Fukuoka, Japan. It is not surprising that they serve Tonkotsu ramen,which is believed to be originated from Fukuoka. Ichiran has several restaurants outside Fukuoka: they have four restaurants in Tokyo (Roppongi, Ueno, Tokyo Dome, and Shibuya), one in Yokohama(Sakuragi-Cho),and one in Chiba.

Anyway, first of all, as you see (left), Ichiran's dining areas are separated by partitions so that strangers can't stare at you (or your chatty friend can't distract you) while you are engaged in the important act of eating ramen. On the partitions, pasted are a number of detailed instructions about how you should "enjoy" eating. (I could not finish reading all instructions before I finished eating my bowl of ramen.)

Well, another thing. If you sit and look straight ahead in a normal ramen restaurant, you usually see a kitchen area, cooks, and waiters. But, here, you see a short red split curtain instead. The curtain separates your space from the kitchen and saves you from making eye contact with cooks and waiters (and ensures that you are not vulnerable to their prying eyes). In addition, your face is not seen by anyone: you don't have to disclose your identity for the sake of eating ramen! Again, the curtain is abundant with text that explains how your ramen is made and why it's good. Indeed, it's nice to have something to read when you are not allowed to talk to anyone.

Of course, the small space between the curtain and the table is normally closed with a bamboo blind and is opened only when absolutely necessary (like when some waiter's hands suddenly appear with a nice bowl of ramen.)

How can one order food then? There is an order sheet you can fill in. The order sheet allows you to specify detailed personal preferences about thickness/saltiness of soup, garlickiness, amount of green onion and char siu, amount of secret spicy sauce, and softness of noodles. If you push a red button mounted on the table, some hands comes in to fetch your order sheet, thereby, the whole process of ordering food can be done without saying a word.

The red button is located below the ramen bowl in the above picture. On the right isa close-up picture of the region that integrates the button (the small square near the right bottom corner) and a "metal plate sensor" (upper half). I don't exactly know what technology is used but the sensor somehow detects a metal plate placed on it. My guess is the sensor detects changes of the RF field. By placing a metal plate on it (some might call this "tangible user interface"), you can order a refill for noodles, again, without saying a word.

When I visited this restaurant, I didn't really like it because I thought there was too much separation and instructions (Ramen Nazi?). But, I kind of like this restaurant now: one reason is that their ramen actually testes great. Another reason is that I found later that I can ask to remove a partition when sitting next to a friend (they must be reconfigurable partitions.) This gives me the control over the level of closed-ness/open-ness and allows me to personalize my eating space.

I thought this restaurant was interesting because it sort of demonstrates how new technologies such as (RF?) sensors and computers can be used in combination with flexible physical architecture in order to create new kinds of privacy boundaries. It also makes me believe that RFID tags can be used to create new privacy boundaries that better suit our needs (even though, RFID today seems to symbolize loss of privacy.)

Posted by konomi at February 16, 2005 02:00 AM | TrackBack