Koichi Koizumi (right), who is a 4th-year student in the School of Engineering belonging to the Hiroshima University Entrepreneurial Club, and Akito Nakano (left), who is a student from the Graduate School of Advanced Science and Engineering and the Deputy Representative of the Entrepreneurial Club, released a mobile phone app, six days after initially devising an idea of supporting restaurants in Higashi-Hiroshima City which have been seriously affected by the spread of the coronavirus infection on April 22. They have continued to search for what they can do to help during the time of crisis, and we have asked the enthusiastic two about their activities via email.

Mr. Nakano: We noticed that the restaurants in Higashi-Hiroshima City were being affected by the spread of the coronavirus, and Mr. Koizumi and I, both belonging to the entrepreneurial club and the same research laboratory, were feeling a sense of crisis.

Mr. Koizumi: Since the restaurants that offer takeaway services used different media and applications, we felt that this low convenience for users hindered the use of takeaways at restaurants.

Mr. Koizumi: Actually, as a nationwide movement, the development of takeaway map applications is underway in many local regions. So, we gathered the information and operational knowledge that the leading developer teams have announced as an open-source, put them into a format that suits the actual situation of Higashi-Hiroshima City. 

Mr. Nakano: Also, we thought that in order to make everyone use the application, it is necessary to have them actually think “Let’s take away!” We consulted with Mr. Yamazaki from the “Miraino +”, who runs the “#Higashi-Hiroshima ēru meshi” campaign (an activity that introduces restaurants in Higashi-Hiroshima City that offer takeaway services through the use of Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, using the above hashtag), and asked whether this campaign can be linked to the application; Mr. Yamazaki and the owners of the restaurant kindly accepted this proposal and we were able to gain approval.  

Mr. Nakano: We belong to the laboratory in the field of urban planning in the School and Graduate School of Engineering, and we are conducting research about urban infrastructure and disasters. During the heavy rain disaster in western Japan in July 2018, there was a lack of information regarding which shops were open or where the temporary bus services were operating. We knew several cases during a disaster where the quick development of map applications helped the citizens in the recovery process from the event, so we came up with the idea of creating a map application to support the citizen in the time of the coronavirus crisis.

Mr. Koizumi: Our top priority was to allow the important information users needed to be presented immediately. To give a specific example, in Higashi-Hiroshima City, many people walk around the Saijo Station area, and once they are a fair distance away from the station, many people use cars to move around the city. Therefore, in the map area narrowing function, restaurants near Saijo station were displayed on a large-scale map to show more detailed information and restaurants in other areas are displayed on a smaller scale map to cover a wider region. Although it is a small detail, we are also users of restaurants ourselves, so we valued this perspective as a consumer.

Mr. Koizumi: I hope that this app will boost the takeaway culture of Higashi-Hiroshima City. The declaration of emergency by the government has restricted us from leaving our homes, but I hope that by using the application, you can discover new restaurants and taste delicious food at eateries that you didn’t know. We would like this application to make everyone enjoy their daily life.

Mr. Nakano: Even if the contribution may be small, by supporting the restaurants, we want to help not only the economy of the city but also everyone who works at the restaurants including the many students who work part-time there. Due to the recent spread of coronavirus infections, the restaurants we have been using around us, the farmers and dairy farmers who support these restaurants, and the real estate agencies are in a business crisis. This is a problem even for students who work part-time. In this situation, it is important to think about what to do next to help those who are in desperate need.

Interview: April 2020, Public Relations Group (K)