VOX POPULI: Just a little more inconvenience in our lives could be beneficial

Inconvenient things offer many rewards. That’s the message of Hiroshi Kawakami, a doctor of engineering, who preaches the benefits of inconvenience. His book gives a variety of examples that illustrate his theory.

A nursing-care facility, for instance, has installed steps to help inmates maintain their physical strength. The approach is called “barrier aree,” a pun on “free” and the Japanese word “ari,” which means it exists.

A word processor that deliberately displays fake kanji from time to time is designed to help users avoid forgetting these ideographic Chinese characters.

There is also a car navigation system that indicates roads the car has traveled repeatedly by using increasingly fuzzier lines that eventually disappear. It is aimed at putting pressure on the driver to remember routes.

All these products and systems are designed to help users develop their abilities by reducing their convenience, according to Kawakami.

A recent news story about a Seven-Eleven store in Higashi-Osaka is also about a reduction in the level of convenience that has long been taken for granted.

On Feb. 1, the Seven-Eleven Higashi-Osaka Minami-Kamikosaka store in the Osaka Prefecture city stopped operating around the clock because of insufficient staff numbers. The outlet has since been closed from 1 a.m. to 6 a.m., hours of low customer traffic.

Mitoshi Matsumoto, 57, owner of the franchise, says because he has not been able to hire enough part-time workers, he would collapse if he keeps the store open around the clock by working long hours to cover the manpower shortage.

But the move has put the store at odds with the operator of the nationwide convenience store chain. Citing its principle of operating 24 hours a day, Seven-Eleven Japan Co. has threatened to punish the owner by ending the franchise contract if he doesn’t resume normal hours and charging him 17 million yen ($153,500) as a penalty.

This convenience store is far from alone in struggling with a labor shortage.

The traditional business model in the convenience store industry, which promises around-the-clock operations at all stores, is facing serious challenges.

Japanese consumers, however, can find a silver lining in the situation if they recognize benefits in the inconvenience of having to accept convenience stores closed after midnight hours.

Instead of lamenting that they can no longer buy snack food or liquor anytime 24 hours a day, they can, for example, view the situation as an opportunity for them to start buying things in a more planned manner.

In the early days of the Seven-Eleven convenience store chain, consumers in this country must have felt thankful for stores open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.

I wonder when we lost that feeling.

Source:Asahi Shinbun (http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201902250011.html)

Picture:The Seven-Eleven Higashi-Osaka Minami-Kamikosaka store in Higashi-Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, is closed from 1 a.m. to 6 a.m. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Source: http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201902250011.html