This week, we focus on household appliances which are undergoing a revival to suit the modern era. We first check out a unique restaurant in Minami, Osaka City. Located in the Namba SkyO towers, the Zojirushi Restaurant is run and managed by Zojirushi Corporation. Besides its Zojirushi Gozen, its refill corner is popular too, where customers can get unlimited free refills of rice. The rice is made using the company’s own brand of household rice cooker called Enbudaki. It dominates the high-end rice cooker market. It is produced in the Zojirushi Corporation factory, which is located in Daito City, Osaka. So far, more than 200,000 Enbudaki rice cookers have been manufactured there. The company also makes other kitchen appliances such as toaster ovens. It has an annual turnover is 82.5 billion yen and boasts more than 1,000 employees.
The Enbudaki rice cooker was developed by Kazunori Mishima, a manager at the company’s Product Planning Department. Meanwhile, the person in charge of the Zojirushi Restaurant is Michiko Kitamura. They are part of the team which continually looks at improving the firm’s rice cookers.
A second branch of the Zojirushi Restaurant has opened in Tokyo. The Enbudaki rice cookers arrived at the restaurant from the Osaka factory in January this year and staff of the Tokyo branch were taught how to prepare rice in three different ways using the Endubakis by Ms Kitamura.
Sewing machines are another product which is becoming obsolete. But despite this, a small downtown manufacturer has been making sewing machines which have become hit products. Axe Yamazaki’s goal is to have a sewing machine in every household again. The company’s headquarters are located in a residential area of Ikuno Ward, Osaka City. It is a small outfit with about 20 employees, but its products have proven to be very popular, with annual sales of one billion yen.
Axe Yamazaki is constantly developing new and innovative types of sewing machines. An example is one which is designed to be easy for seniors to use. It comes with a magnifier so threading a needle is made easy. The speed of the sewing machine can also be adjusted. It was created by the President of Axe Yamazaki, Kazushi Yamazaki. Another sewing machine is ideal for parents, as it has a safety cover to prevent children from touching the needle. Furthermore, if one scans the QR code on the body of the sewing machine, the person can see a tutorial video on how to use it.
In the 1990s, the number of machines sold declined each year. However, despite that, Mr Yamazaki's father Nori created the electric sewing machine that became a hit and 400,000 machines were sold. In 2015, Mr Yamazaki inherited the company and his first hit product was a children’s sewing machine that can sew with yarn. It became very popular and 130,000 units were sold. In April 2022, Axe Yamazaki began developing a new product, a men’s sewing machine which was proposed by Mr Yamazaki. The key feature will be that it can sew tough fabrics like canvas and also be used for leather crafting, which is popular among men. Its product development leader is Keisuke Tanisaki, who has 30 years of experience as a craftsman. In May 2022, the first prototype was almost finished. Mr Yamazaki got his high school classmate Tsutomu Ujihisa, whose hobby is leather crafting. Mr Ujihisa agreed to test out the prototype, after which improvements were made to the machine. The final product was ready in October and named Tokyo Otoko Sewing Machine. The company started taking orders for this sewing machine in November on Axe Yamazaki's official website. One of Axe Yamazaki’s latest products is a sewing machine that can sew thin fabrics like lace. The company started developing it in January 2023.
Tips:
1) Try Zojirushi Restaurant’s famous rice which is made using its own brand of rice cooker
2) Axe Yamazaki makes sewing machines for adults, parents, seniors and even children