The nostalgia of the rooftop ball bit

Once upon a time (let’s say about 30 years ago), when I was a kid, department stores were the ultimate attraction. They weren’t just retail hubs; they were amusement parks, reigning supreme in the industry. They housed all the toys, candies, and food items a child could dream of.

It’s funny to think back now, but almost every major Japanese department store had a playground on its rooftop. The ball pit was one of the most popular pieces of equipment there. Even though the rooftop playgrounds are mostly gone now, the ball pit remains popular. You can even buy personal versions on Amazon. Today, however, I want to introduce our elevated version: our wooden ball pit.

The unexpected beauty of imperfect wood waste

The wooden ball pit shown in the image above is currently installed in the Tokyo Toy Museum. Wooden ball pits are relatively common in Japan, but our product is unique.

Our wooden balls are made from high-quality hardwood waste—the offcuts produced during the manufacturing of our furniture. Compared to balls made of ordinary softwood, ours are noticeably more beautiful (shinier) and durable.

Crucially, their shape is round but intentionally deformed (or, more accurately, imperfectly round). While we could technically mill them into a perfectly round shape, they are left slightly irregular to cut costs. This cost-cutting measure, however, resulted in an unexpected secondary effect: a pit filled with deformed balls actually has higher fluidity than one filled with perfectly round balls.

The irony is delicious: our cost-saving inefficiency accidentally created a superior play experience. The problem is that these sophisticated, adult advantages—durability, quality, and fluid dynamics—might not be strongly appealing to kids, I’m afraid.

The unending challenge of wood waste

We constantly strive to utilize every last piece of wood. If the end materials are longer than 150 mm, we join them together to make beautiful laminated boards.

At present, however, what we can recycle in-house is limited. Most of the end materials are much smaller than 150 mm, thanks to our precise pre-calculation milling process. For now, we have no choice but to use most of the smallest pieces for fuel.

That’s why we need your help. Our wooden balls, made from high-quality material, are beautiful and incredibly durable. Consumers could easily repurpose them long after their kids have grown and “left the nest”—perhaps as decorative filler, or even as high-end cat toys. Furthermore, using them contributes to valuable environmental education for children.

We’re looking for ambitious consumers who see a sophisticated future for our high-quality wooden balls. We are eagerly awaiting your orders!

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Photo Credit: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g14133659-d4006071-Reviews-Tokyo_Toy_Museum-Yotsuya_Shinjuku_Tokyo_Tokyo_Prefecture_Kanto.html

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