What do Air Conditioned Shoes, Female-Only Apartments, and a Tokyo Music Subway Map all have in common? They’ve all been featured in Japan Trends, a website founded by CScout a company comprised of individuals with backgrounds in marketing, media, fashion, design and innovative consulting. Their goal is to help clients better understand the Japanese market and its consumers, create partnerships, and harness new ideas for innovation.

Why would you be interested?

Aside from many businesses that would look at these trends in a marketing and R&D perspective, Japan Trends really tries to keep a pulse on what’s new and innovative in Japan at the street level giving people the opportunity to stay ahead of the curve. In a way, this site can be seen as fostering an exchange of ideas and bring consumer items to life.

Many people who study Japanese initially do so because they’re interested in learning more about a particular aspect of the culture. While the site is geared for someone with business in mind, someone studying Japanese can gain additional pop cultural perspectives from many of their posts (most of which aren’t necessarily covered in any Japanese culture course).

But wait. There’s more!

Deep down you know you want some of the items they talk about it. But where do you go to get it? If you’re totally sold on the idea of owning an air conditioned bed mat, a USB cooling necktie, or anti-wrinkle glasses, visit the Japan Trend Shop and check out the many quirky items you may find at a Sharper Image store 5 years down the road. That way you can tell everyone you know that you knew about it before it was even popular.

Check out Japan Trends and learn about the innovative, new, and popular things emerging from Japan.