This company gets 70,000 pretty Japanese girls to tell you the time every minute, every day

If you go to Bijin Tokei (“the beautiful woman clock”), you will see a carefully selected young Japanese woman holding up a sign that tells the current time. Every minute, the page will refresh – sometimes with a new girl, sometimes with the previous one in a new position. This repeats without stop every minute of everyday, drawing on a roster of 70,000 beautiful Japanese women.

Users can modify the settings in order to see the time told by their favorite girl or by girls from their favorite prefecture. Every image includes the name of the model as well as key information about her ranging from her name and hometown to blood type to physical measurements.

And, yes, there is an app for that.

Before drafting an angry email to the site owners or drawing your zipper down, understand that Bijin Tokei is not a Japanese adult site for watch enthusiasts. It’s actually how Bijin&Co., a crafty modeling and advertising agency attracts new models and learns which ones will be popular for their corporate clients.

One of the bijin showing that the time is 17:45.

More than just a sexy sundial

Using the same basic strategy, Bijin&Co. has a few other incarnations of Bijin Tokei. There is Bijin Tenki for weather reports, Bijin Salon for hair salon promotion, Bijin Navi for finding your way around town, and Bijin Topics which mostly features reviews of restaurants or fun places around town. The girls might bring in page views, but revenue is a little trickier. All three services are free and the websites are devoid of ads.

The real cash is not found in the wallets of poor saps looking for subdued titillation, however. It is found in the bank accounts of businesses looking for models to sell their products at conventions or in commercials.

Atsushi Saito, a board member of the company, tells Tech in Asia that Bijin&Co. is more than just a collection of pretty faces. “We make our money from model casting, taking care of public relations, loyalty programs with partner companies, and supporting marketing activities of various companies,” he says.

Saito hints at new B2B services coming in the near future but, Bijin Press seems to be the firm’s main offering for now. The “Super Package” for a 30-second commercial nets you a model, ad design, shooting, and editing for JPY 220,000 (US$2,050).

Bijin&Co. does not reveal user numbers so it is hard to definitively know the success of the business. It has raised US$4 million in funds so far but Saito maintains that the firm is not looking to raise any further venture capital and is simply working to expand their business in Japan.

What makes a Bijin?

Saito readily acknowledges that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. To account for potential biases, Bijin&Co. takes a holistic approach when determining if a hopeful model can join. “We define a bijin as someone who can be irresistible, someone who can put energy and happiness into their surroundings,” he says.

Bijin&Co. might be looking for energy and light but it understands the beauty and brains are not mutually exclusive. On its recruitment page, the company explains that members of the bijin family get to take advantage of the firm’s many business partnerships. That means free beauty products, free meals at certain restaurants, deep discounts at some hair salons. Even free passes to Japan’s Disney Resort or the routinely sold out Blue Note Cafe in Tokyo.

Does beauty fade?