On Saturday, September 26th, the Faculty of Art and Design and Faculty of Commerce at our university launched the second phase of "Chihaya Service Area (SA)*", a limited-time antenna shop showcasing the attractions of various parts of Kyushu, at Chihaya Park in Gardens Chihaya (Higashi-ku, Fukuoka City), in collaboration with Takahashi Co., Ltd. (Kurume City, Fukuoka Prefecture), which operates the facility, and NEXCO West Japan Kyushu Branch (Hakata-ku, Fukuoka City).
For the second phase, we partnered with Higashisonogi Town in Nagasaki Prefecture to open the "Higashisonogi Service Area." An opening event was held on September 26th (Saturday), the first day of operation. The "Chabashira Brothers," who are the "unofficial public relations ambassadors for Higashisonogi Town," and students held a talk show about their past efforts and future prospects.
<Higashi Sonogi Service Area>
Period: September 26th (Sat) - October 18th (Sun), 11:00 AM - 5:00 PM (Closed on Thursdays)
Venue: Gardens Chihaya Chihaya Park (3-6-37 Chihaya, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture)
Product: Nagasaki Sonogi Tea, which has won first place in Japan five times.
"Whale meat," which was a government monopoly from the beginning of the Edo period,
"Kiba Spring Water Rice," a chewy and glossy rice grown using only mountain spring water, and more.
For this project, under the guidance of Professor Toru Kurita of the Department Department of Living Environment Design of Faculty of Art and Design and Lecturer Yuichiro Ishibashi Department of Visual Design, students from the same department worked on the spatial design of the store and the creation of the logo and posters. The logo is based on a houndstooth pattern, with the "weave" of the "Woven Tree," a tree in the park that is the symbol of Gardens Chihaya, as its motif. The store fixtures are designed to be stacked, with a basic cube shape that can be combined with the houndstooth pattern, aiming to express the pattern in three dimensions.
Furthermore, the Department Faculty of Commerce Department of Business and Marketing of Commerce operates physical stores, playing a role in strengthening ties between various regions of Kyushu and urban areas. This time, under the guidance of Associate Professor Keimi Kata, students from her research lab conducted fieldwork in Higashisonogi Town for two days, July 29th (Wed) and 30th (Thu), to promote the town's attractions. The students are now sharing the unique charms of the town, centered around "Sonogi Tea," that they experienced, at the Higashisonogi Service Area.
Please stop by if you are in the area!
*A local antenna shop, modeled after a service area on a highway, planned and run by students. It will be opened for a limited time at Gardens Chihaya as a base for promoting the charms of the region, with the aim of acting as a bridge connecting each region of Kyushu with the Fukuoka metropolitan area. (Inspired by the functions of a service area, such as information dissemination, sales, rest, and gathering.)
[Faculty of Art and Design, Faculty of Commerce, Industry-Academia Co-innovation and Research Promotion Headquarters]
