[Matching Case Study] Cutting-Edge AI Technology from Kyoto Fruits of Business in Singapore

Interesting relationship between Japanese tea and Singapore.

Japanese tea is one of the most popular exports among the global health-conscious. Exports of green tea, in particular, continue to increase, with the United States, Germany, and Singapore being the three best exporters by country. In Asia, Taiwan is the second largest exporter of green tea after Singapore, but in terms of value, there is a difference in price: 3.1 million yen per ton for Singapore, compared to 1.1 million yen per ton for Taiwan (2016 Ministry of Finance data). This indicates that green tea destined for Singapore is more expensive.
In Singapore, Japanese tea is perceived as "delicious," "healthy," and "low calorie. However, the reality is that surprisingly few people drink Japanese tea at home, and when visiting a supermarket, PET bottled tea catches the eye more than tea leaves. It is also true that awareness of Japanese tea has not spread widely enough. In other words, Japanese tea is an export product that is expected to have a lot of growth potential.

A project was launched to spread more Japanese tea in Singapore.

Against this backdrop, ABC Horizon, a Singaporean subsidiary of the Asahi Broadcasting Corporation Group, a media company based in Osaka, was asked to "promote Japanese tea.
We interviewed Mr. Osamu Nara, Managing Director of ABC Horizon.
A Japanese tea company asked us to promote their Japanese tea in Singapore as part of their overseas expansion. So we decided to form a Japanese tea PR project led by our local staff.
Mr. Hiroshi Nikaido, Senior Account Manager of ABC Horizon, continued, "The Japanese company was a Singaporean company that had a branch in Singapore, and they wanted to promote Japanese tea in Singapore.
The Japanese company had a branch office in Singapore, so they were well aware of the position of Japanese tea in Singapore. So we decided to create a website to educate people about authentic Japanese tea, which is made in a kyusu (Japanese teapot) rather than a plastic bottle," he said.
The project began with the creation of a website to promote the image of Singaporeans enjoying delicious Japanese tea made with a kyusu (teapot) with their families.

(From left to right) Mr. Yuki Okada, CEO, Datagrid Corporation; Mr. Hiroshi Nikaido, Senior Account Manager, ABC HORIZON; Mr. Osamu Nara, Managing Director, ABC HORIZON

However, the Corona disaster forced the project to change course.

It was a meaningful PR plan to promote the enjoyment of Japanese tea, but the prolonged Corona disaster forced the company to change course. Mr. Nikaido recalls the project.
At first, we planned to shoot a scene of a multinational family enjoying a cup of teapot tea, which is unique to Singapore, as the main visual. However, due to the Corona disaster, it was decided that it would be difficult to film a large group of people, which was very difficult. The site itself was going smoothly, but the "image of a family enjoying a cup of kyusu tea," which would be the face of the site, seemed to have hit a snag. Even so, we wanted to make it happen somehow, because the most fitting visual for this promotion was a family photo of a family enjoying a cup of Japanese tea.
Therefore, they began to search for a way to create this main visual using methods other than photographing models.

Therefore, we seek new avenues of activity on the ABC platform.

At that time, Mr. Nara was thinking about changing course, wondering if the latest digital technology could be used to solve this difficult problem.
For our part, we really wanted to make this family photo happen, so we started thinking about how we could do it with digital technology. Just then, we learned that there was a business matching program on the ABC platform. So we decided to try to meet with the right company for this solution."
ABC Platform focuses on business matching from various angles. In this case, we decided to help them meet a company with the necessary technology to develop a Japanese tea promotion in Singapore.
ABC Platform introduced us to a company in Kyoto called Datagrid Inc. This company is a start-up founded by Kyoto University graduates, and they had a technology using synthetic AI called Digital Human Generation. By utilizing this technology, we were able to complete a family photo shoot similar to the one we had done with a group of multinational models. With the Corona disaster, we were able to successfully solve a difficult problem that had been impeding our ability to take pictures, with the help of AI. Thanks to this, we were able to successfully complete the PR promotion of Japanese tea in Singapore.
I was surprised to see the "image of a family enjoying a cup of tea in a teapot" created by the digital human generation technology.

Synthetic AI, a technology that has successfully solved a difficult problem.

What kind of technology is Synthetic AI? We asked Mr. Yuki Okada, CEO of Datagrid Inc.
Mr. Yuki Okada, CEO of Datagrid, Inc. said, "This time, we were asked if it would be possible to visually reproduce the multinational people and families unique to Singapore without having to photograph models. This was made possible by our digital human generation technology. This is one of the various AI modules we are developing, centered on synthetic data generation, which enables us to model people of various races, ages, and genders in a digital space.
In other words, it seems that the AI technology can generate such fictitious human images, realistic images that look like the photos taken, without the need to gather and photograph models of multiple nationalities. This is an amazing technology.

Potential for further business development toward ASEAN.

This time, only the face was generated and exchanged based on an actual family photo, but of course, AI technology can also generate the entire body and add various poses. We have also begun offering a service called "virtual try-on," which allows users to try on clothes online.
The term "virtual try-on" prompted a question from Mr. Nara.
Mr. Okada, this virtual try-on service is a technology that can be used on e-commerce sites, isn't it? How exactly can I try on the items?
Yes, first, you take a full-body photo of yourself and upload it to a dedicated site we have prepared. Next, you select the clothes you want to try on. Then, you select the clothes you want to try on, and we will generate an image of you wearing the clothes, matching them to your photo. This is done by the AI, which makes adjustments to the image of the clothes so that they fit the body of the person in the photo, transforming and adjusting the image. Even in environments where it is not possible to try on clothes in real life, such as online shopping, it is possible to select clothes as if you had tried them on, and we believe this will become an established new sales method in EC.

Singapore is also one of the top e-commerce markets in Southeast Asia.

As those who have traveled to Singapore know, free Wi-Fi spots are widespread throughout the city, including the airport, shopping centers, and cafes. It is said that 90% of Singapore's population has Internet access. Furthermore, the penetration rate of cashless payment methods such as credit cards is high, which naturally leads to the daily use of e-commerce sites. It is no wonder that Mr. Nara responded to the virtual try-on.
We asked Nikaido, who lives in Singapore, about the EC situation in Singapore.
In Singapore, there is a forest of major e-commerce sites, and it is commonplace for everyone to use them casually. For example, when I ask young people how they shop for clothes on e-commerce sites, they tell me that they buy two different sizes of clothes when they find something they like. They do this for shoes as well as clothes.
As one would expect from a country that is one of Southeast Asia's top e-commerce leaders, e-commerce seems to have taken root naturally in people's daily lives. Are Japanese products being sold through EC?
Japanese products, including clothing, are very popular. There are many brands that are commonly seen in Japanese shopping malls. There are also e-commerce sites that carry major Japanese brands. So I thought virtual try-on was a good idea. It is a system that does not exist in Singapore today, and I think it will be accepted by Singaporeans who love new technology.

Now I want to access Singapore's youth culture.

We asked Mr. Okada about the future prospects for virtual fitting.
We are receiving requests from various companies to move the still images to a higher level of quality. Since we are in the era of the metaverse, people will want to try on clothes not only with still images, but also by going around in a circle while wearing the clothes. As the next step, we are working on 3D moving images. Synthetic AI is a platform consisting of proprietary AI modules, APIs, interfaces, etc., based on GAN (Generative Adversarial Network) technology. It is a platform that consists of a unique set of AI modules, APIs, interfaces, etc. based on this technology. By utilizing this synthetic AI, various applications can be developed in a short period of time and at low cost. This is one of our strengths. This application can generate not only images and video for humans, but also voice data such as conversations. For non-human applications, it is possible to reproduce the natural environment and use it to predict crop yields, or to reproduce the traffic environment and apply it to the development of self-driving cars. It can also be used to reproduce equipment control errors in production plants to create preventive measures.
It seems that the application of synthetic AI is not limited to humans, but this virtual fitting is already in the process of being packaged and marketed. Once again, I have a feeling that a collaboration between Datagrid and ABC Horizon is about to begin. We first asked Mr. Nara about this.
He said, "Yes, we would love to take on this challenge, and through the ABC platform, we were able to meet with a good company in a timely manner. Through the ABC platform, we have been able to meet good companies in a timely manner, and we feel that the business objectives of both companies are very much in line with each other. It would be very rewarding for us if we could continue to help Japanese start-ups expand their business overseas. Our company was originally founded as a content production company. I hope we can take advantage of the fact that we are a group company of Asahi Broadcasting Corporation. I would like to propose more and more solutions to the Asian market by using DataGrid's technology to generate 3D images with moving images.

Mr. Okada concluded.
Mr. Okada concluded, "Virtual try-on is already a package, so of course we have to translate the message into English, but we think it is something that can be used overseas as well. Since our products are mainly visually appealing, the language barrier is low, which is another advantage that makes it easy for us to expand our business overseas. What is ABC Platform, through which we met ABC Horizon, has allowed us to participate in a new initiative, the Japanese tea project. I hope that through this work, we have deepened our mutual understanding. It also gave us hope that new business opportunities will expand in Singapore and Southeast Asia. We would like to look for partners to collaborate with in order to improve our own technology, and we would like to utilize initiatives such as the ABC Platform to expand our technology and business.

The key persons we interviewed this time
Mr. Osamu Nara, Managing Director, ABC Horizon
Mr. Hiroshi Nikaido, Senior Account Manager, ABC Horizon
Mr. Yuki Okada, CEO, Data Grid Inc.

Profiles of the companies we matched with
ABC HORIZON
As a member of the Asahi Broadcasting Corporation (HBS) Group, ABC Horizon is a company that plays a role as a bridge to global business, especially in Southeast Asia, while leveraging its strengths in broadcasting and content business. Headquartered in Singapore, the company is developing new business areas utilizing cutting-edge technology. The company is developing content business, agency business, and startup research and consulting business.

Data Grid, Inc.
Giving life to all data. DataGrid aims to contribute to the digital society by transforming various data in the world into something of higher value. Headquartered in Kyoto University's International Science Innovation Building, the company has formed joint projects with various major companies to jointly develop solutions using synthetic AI and provide AI products.

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