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“Genius” child seat at food court in Japanese shopping mall goes viral

Oona McGee Jan 27, 2022
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Another example of amazing customer service in Japan.

One of the great things about living in Japan is the attention to detail in customer-oriented service. It’s the reason why you’ll find unusual design features like huge locks and double hooks on toilet stall doors, and even red-and-yellow marks on stairs at train stations.

It’s all about considering the experience of the customer and making it the best it can be, and now we’ve found another example of exemplary service over at Terrace Mall Matsudo in Tokyo’s neighbouring Chiba Prefecture.

Twitter user Hazuki (@hadukichi816), who has a one-year-old daughter, snapped a photo of the unusual design feature in the food court area, and it immediately went viral, earning over 90,000 likes.

▼ Take a look at the photo below.

フードコートのこの席考えた人天才では！？！？ pic.twitter.com/tCcvs5mmfG

— 葉月@3y🎀 (@hadukichi816) December 26, 2021

As you can see, Hazuki’s daughter is sitting on a high chair inside the table rather than beside it. And that’s not all — rather than facing the table, in the same direction as her mother, the child is facing her mother instead.

This is one of those “Why hasn’t anyone ever thought of this before?” moments we often come across in Japan, because once you see the design, it makes so much more sense than the way we’ve been doing things all our lives.

For Hazuki, this setup means she’s able to not only keep her child secure in the seat and take care of any spills around her with ease, she’s also able to feed her from front-on, which is a much easier angle than having to turn sideways to do it.

As these photos from Terrace Mall show, there are six high chairs in total, positioned at different angles that are all handy for feeding, and there are a total of 750 seats in the food court, which cater to a wide range of customers.

3階の「ケヤキッチン」は明るく開放的な約750席のフードコートです🍴
松戸の有名ラーメン店「とみ田」の新業態「松戸富田麺桜」など、10店舗が出店🍜

親子で使いやすい座敷スペースや赤ちゃんとママが向かい合えるカウンタータイプの席も充実しています👪#テラスモール松戸 https://t.co/n9TUyJhzQA pic.twitter.com/U7nf6AuTPa

— テラスモール松戸 (@TMmatsudo) November 8, 2019

Hazuki is a big fan of the counter-style seating for parents with small children, saying, “The person who thought of this food court seat is a genius!”

Others online agreed, leaving comments like:

“This design has genius written all over it!”
“I’ve never seen anything like this before!”
“Omg if this was near me I’d go to eat there all the time!”
“This isn’t just great for feeding kids, it makes it easy for parents to eat at the same time!”
“The face-to-face contact would keep the child relaxed as well!”
“Our local Aeon mall has these too, they’re so good to use!”
“I hope this spreads to malls everywhere!”

This really is a genius idea, and it’s a great way to make customers feel looked after. Plus, the fact that the setup seats less people than a space like that usually would sends a message to customers that the company values their comfort over making a profit.

Hopefully the handy seating design will spread to more malls around Japan in future. Because in a country where it’s “one strike and you’re out“, features like this can make all the difference.

Source: Twitter/hadukichi816 via Net Lab
Featured image: Twitter/hadukichi816
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