Quick Takes – February 21st, 2019

Welcome to this week’s Quick Takes! Luggage are moving in Kyushu, Nestle serve up coffee and sleep, and money exchange at a machine.

  • ecbo cloak strengthen Kyushu network with Nishi-Nippon Railroad: It seems that every few weeks we heard from ecbo cloak, the company that make luggage storage easier in Japan. They had made a lot of headway into Kyushu market recently. And this week, ecbo cloak announced a new venture with private railway company Nishi-Nippon Railroad. Nishi-Nippon now provides storage space from their business centre “SPACE on the Station”, at Nishitetsu Tenjin Station in Fukuoka. Opening hours will be 9 am to 9 pm daily, bookings of up to 10 days are possible, and charge will be 700 yen per luggage.
  • JR Kyushu and Yamato Transport offer Same Day Delivery from Fukuoka to Yufuin Onsen: JR Kyushu and Yamato Transport are offering yet another luggage delivery service. This new offer will be from Fukuoka (Fukuoka Airport and JR Hakata Station) to Yufuin Onsen in Oita prefecture, both ways. Drop-off deadline is 1130 am daily at Fukuoka Airport and Hakata Station, and 11 am at JR Yufuin Station. The charge will be around 1800 to 2000 yen per piece of luggage.
  • Nestle to open “sleep cafe” in Tokyo: I bet some people would nap in a relaxing cafe from time to time. But sleep in a cafe? There will be one for you to try in Tokyo by March this year. The owner of the cafe is Nestle, well known for their instant coffee and coffee pod machines. Popup shops had been tested earlier as a proof-of-concept, and Nestle will now set up a permanent shop at Otemachi, Tokyo. There are beds and recliners to choose from, and you can pick the pillows and mattress to sleep on. All aspects of the sleeping environment, such as lighting, music and such are customizable. For 1500 yen plus tax, you can get an hour of sleep plus two coffees.
  • A guy tested the Pocket Change exchange machine: We had brought up the expansion of exchange machine provider Pocket Change before. Now a reporter from Tetsudo Channel had tried the machine out and wrote a report here. Turns out the machine can accept bills of various countries and regions for exchange, not all coins are accepted. The machine only accepts coins for yen/US dollar/Euro/Renmenbi and Korean Won. That said, maybe next time you travel, this machine will help you exchange cash for yen anytime!

That’s it for this week. Thank you, everybody, for your support. Last weekend was a bit rough as I caught a cold and couldn’t write while recuperating. But things are turning back to normal now, and the new articles will be up this week.