This Japanese app tells you which local stores hire hot men

Lots of good…stores to shop at.

In a country like Japan, where there is a surplus of restaurants and retailers all angling to get into your wallet, deciding where to spend your time is not always an easy decision. For those first-world warriors crippled by too many options, Tokimeki Suppli (loose translation would be “Supply of Exciting Thoughts”) has a product that could actually be useful.

Ikemen Tenin Map (“Ikemen”) is a database of attractive men working at local shops and restaurants. Users can search by location, store/restaurant type, or by type of men. Ikemen is the Japanese word for “hot guy”, but hotness is often a matter of personal preference so the last category has 77 descriptors to narrow the search, divided by “character,” “appearance,” and “style.”

It is possible to mix and match in order to find the perfect “docile,” “bearded,” and “sexy” guy. Or even a “teacher-type” who is “well-muscled” and “light-hearted.” The search function, while useful, is not perfect. While casting about for a sexually satisfying and obedient bearded man, a number of clean shaven men were shown in the results window.

Do you prefer sweet/bearded/sexy (l) or scholarly/buff/easygoing (r)?

Sora Iwada founded the company in August 2013. Her reason for doing so? A lost love. “I had locked myself in my house and I was thinking it would be nice to get information on my phone that would make me feel happy again,” she tells Tech in Asia. From there, she came up with the concept of the Ikemen app.

The beginning was very tough but Iwada credits good fortune and strong friendships for having a designer and promoter who she could trust to join the team early on. But, she notes, having another top-notch engineer is on her wish list.

The team is based in Sapporo, the main city of Japan’s northernmost island of Hokkaido. The location means that many ikemen are from that area but the service’s popularity has started to extend to other parts of Japan like Tokyo. Due to the universal and portable nature of the service, Iwada aims to bring it overseas in 2015.

Building a good-looking service

The app has shown steady growth since last year but monthly page views are currently at 200,000 and monthly unique users top out at 60,000. Of those users, 97 percent are women. The average age is 32 years old, but women aged 25-29 are the largest cohort at 35 percent.

The service’s most interesting trick has been getting all the ikemen to allow their photos and personal data to be publicly shared. It is difficult to paint a broad stroke over a culture but, Japanese people are often very careful with their personal data online. One reason why Facebook had a hard time overcoming the local SNS champ, Mixi, was because Facebook required users to register their real names. Japanese users have since warmed up to that particular rule but many still use obscured or irrelevant photos for their profile pics.

See: This app brings traveling singles together, says it’s not for hooking up

Ikemen’s sales pitch to handsome men hesitant to show off their looks (which, in and of itself, is a a pretty darn appealing characteristic) emphasizes the benefits to the store itself. Their store’s information and website link are always included alongside the men’s pictures. Concrete numbers are not offered, but Ikemen also claims that when men make into the monthly rankings, their store will see an uptick in the number of repeat customers. For these reasons, Iwadate says that the store employees rarely decline an offer to be featured on Ikemen.

Monetization for Ikemen does not come from registration fees for users or attractive men. Rather, it sells mobile and corporate advertising and also teams up with local businesses to host paid events or ticket giveaways. Tokimeki Suppli also just released a blog starting in September. The blog covers exciting or interesting people, things, or concepts. Looking forward, Iwadate wants to hold events for users to meet potential partners.