Man on the Curtain: Invention to help single women use shadow of a man to keep safe

World
Europe

02:19

Tokyo is one of the world's mega-cities and has a huge number of single women who live alone. In order to protect the safety of these women, one real estate leasing company has developed what it calls a "Man on the Curtain" system to ward off potential threats. CGTN's Terrence Terashima has the story.

Living in large cities like Tokyo can be tough, given that most likely, it'll be strangers living across the hall. For many, security has become just as important as comfort.

TERRENCE TERASHIMA TOKYO "If you are a woman living alone, there are a number of things you may worry about, from the local environment to the security of the apartment building. But if you ever feel like you're attracting unwanted attention, one good way to reassure one's self is to have a man in the house."

A Japanese apartment management company, Leopalace21 Corporation, has come up with a unique idea, to reassure women living alone in apartments, leased by the company. It is no more than projecting a shadow of a man moving about, but it could be enough to dissuade unwelcomed eyes.

KEIICHI NAKAMURA LEOPALACE21 CORP. "We thought of this as a part of a promotion to draw interest from people looking for a room. We came up with the idea from a movie where a child drove burglars away by projecting a shadow onto a window. We hoped that this would also draw attention to the range of security features we have in our apartments."

Still a prototype, it uses smartphones connected to a portable projector, with about a dozen of different scenarios to project onto a curtain. One can select different movements, from sipping coffee to "shadow" boxing in the room.

KEIICHI NAKAMURA LEOPALACE21 CORP. "At the moment the selection is very limited, and if you use it too often, it will be obvious. We are still developing an application that can update the image daily, or possibly include a sound or remote-control capabilities from outside. There is still a lot to work on before it hits the market."

Although the selection of shadowy scenes is still limited, the company says they've received a positive response from people who have tried it out. Some women even asked to keep the devices. It all started as a promotional tool. But these shadows of men may be enough to keep a home safe. Terrence Terashima, CGTN, Tokyo.