Redesign: Your Japanese Family

Culture can have a severe effect on the design and function of a product. Society shapes and molds the demand for a product, as well as the process to smoothly integrate the product into a consumer’s hands. In this particular case, the product in demand is shaved ice, and in order to make the product easily accessible to the consumer the ice-shaving machine, our product, was produced. The first step to redesigning our product for a family in japan is to take a look and understand Japanese culture, how if may differ, and how what effects it could have on the approach of our design.

Shaved ice has, for quite a long time, been extremely popular in Japan. Shaved ice has been used as a delightful summer treat in Japan for over 1,000 years. Kakigōri is an extremely popular shaved ice dessert topped with flavored syrup. So as far as the demanded product (shaved ice) is concerned, culture has not produced any significant differences, which means that our redesigned product needs to continue to produce fine quality shaved ice. However, this does not exclude changes that will need to be made to fit the niche of appliances in Japan. Setsuden, which translates in English to “saving electricity”, is a law adopted in Japan to restrict the amount of electricity used in commercial buildings, small businesses, and households. The idea behind setsuden is to prevent rolling blackouts in areas where energy was scarce as a result of the earthquakes in March 2011. Though the laws have since been repealed, it was important to take note that Japan is subject to energy restrictions. As part of our redesign, we have added options to the function of the Rival ice-shaver. In case of power outages we have added the option of an internal battery to power the motor. Much like a laptop, while plugged in, will run on the power provided from the wall outlet as well as charge the batteries, so that in the event of a power outage, the machine can still run. This also provides a convenience to consumers who may want to take the machine outside to enjoy a freshly shaved frozen treat. This brings us to the next part of our redesign. Energy regulations differ in Japan, so we need to revamp the plugs and circuit board to cope with the 100V, 2-pin, ungrounded outlets that are standard in Japan. We also wanted our product to be able to run on absolutely no electricity so we added the option of a hand crank built into the lid of the machine. When necessary, a pin may be dropped in to attach the handle grip portion of the lid to the mixing portion below. The lid may be rotated to force the ice against the cutting edge, producing shaved ice manually. This serves as a sort of last resort when electricity isn’t readily available, making our product useable at any given time.

Our product’s impact on society in Japan does not differ from that of the US. It produces a wonderful frozen treat to be enjoyed on those hot summer days or just to curve a craving. We believe our redesigned product will help make shaved ice and Kakigōri easily available to any Japanese family at any time!

Redesigned Prototype