The inside is fairly high-tech, as you would expect. A variety of space-age looking vacuum tubes leading to the ceiling - clearly we are in for a unique experience.
But what's this? Below the good Takahashi San's* hair cutting license is ...
...a ticket machine.
Yes. The game here is that you put in a 1000Yen note (don't worry almost all Japanese money is crisp, non-fake, and cooperates well with vending machines) into the machine, and get a ticket entitling you to ten minutes of hair-length reduction action. Notice the bowing character saying "thank you so much!".
Also, it's worth remembering, that for sanitary purposes, you shouldn't eat, smoke, drink, use your cell phone, use money other than a 1000Y note, use a toilet, or bring in a an alcoholic dog (especially not one that is a depressing drunk).
Now, you may say "Big Wow, vending machine to buy a ticket? Whatever - I can make that in a school project." Yes, wise words, and that may very well be so, but is your average hair dressing coupon dispenser :...at the hub of a spiders web of integrated communication activity?
No, it isn't, is it? And now we know what the traffic light was at the front of the shop - a real-time indicator of waiting times. If only restaurants would catch on and use this (or bars).
Now, while there are many lessons to be learned from hair-dresser's traffic lights which are relevant to the market, there is something yet more important here.While clearly this is a shop aimed at men, upon questioning, the senior hair cutter broke down and released the key information: yes, occasionally some women do come to the shop, and yes, their numbers have been increasing in line with the worsening of the economy.
And this, of course, is just like the market - good quality information will not hand itself to you on a plate - you need to go after it.
*I may have made his name up
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