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Associate Professor Youn Seungho from APU's College of Asia Pacific Studies and five students from College of Asia Pacific Studies presented a mid-term research project report session on October 21, 2020 at Jigokumushi Kobo Kannawa, a restaurant in the Kannawa onsen district in Beppu specializing in the jigokumushi cooking method of using natural geothermal steam.

This research project, “Innovating Service at Jigokumushi Kobo Kannawa," is funded with a donation from Asahi Environment Management Co., Ltd. The aim of the project is to assess the current state of and issues with service at Jigokumushi Kobo Kannawa and consider new initiatives that could be implemented. As part of the project, the five APS students involved in this research project and Professor Youn monitored service at the shop, held interviews, and conducted a questionnaire to evaluate customer satisfaction.

At the mid-term report session, Professor Youn and his students reported the results of the questionnaire and their proposed improvements to the president and employees of Asahi Environment Management, the company in charge of managing Jigokumushi Kobo Kannawa.

Each fourth-year student proposed improvements from the standpoint of foreign customers based on their own research. Yu Kato (College of Asia Pacific Studies 4th year, Japan) proposed the use of monitors and the creation of pamphlets, and Yuxin Liu (College of Asia Pacific Studies 4th year, China) proposed improvements to service in the shop. Yixin Qin (College of Asia Pacific Studies 4th year, China) and Yu-Jung Lin (College of Asia Pacific Studies 4th year, Taiwan) presented posts about the facility from Chinese and Taiwanese word-of-mouth sites and blogs.

Going forward, the project will be handed off to 16 third-year APS students. Based on the proposals issued at this session, the students will work with the employees of Asahi Environment Management toward putting some of these improvements into practice.