Johnny spoke at the first Smart Kitchen Summit in Tokyo on Future Kitchen Living. The audience were interested in the kitchen as a social room where all genders work, a challenge when the tradition is for tiny kitchen spaces where women work on their own. A focus of his trip was to investigate the way Japan, a country more advanced than the UK in this respect, meets the needs of its ageing population in terms of home design and how tech might help.
A breakout session followed Johnny's talk. Japanese participants were intrigued by Johnny's assurance of wood's hygienic properties that also chimed with wabi-sabi: see Johnny's blog. It was a fascinating day, organised by Simaxyz, with a total of twenty four speakers. Topics ranged from Social Food Maps, tech start-ups including Panasonic's Catapult Game Changer initiative, Oisix on easy access to healthy food, Hestan Cue for smart cook, Sidechef (home cooking app) and Co-cooking on cooking as a pattern language.
The UK's National Innovation Centre for Ageing helped support Johnny's trip.
Photo: Akiko Okada