Joi Ito reports on a rapidly growing service in Japan which provides part time work for young mobile adults without taking away the flexibility they have come to prize.

My sister has written about the Japanese youth behavior where less and less stuff is planned - the kids going out and using their mobile devices to meet up or deciding to do things while constantly keeping in touch with each other. These swarming bands of kids are now adults and many of them don’t want to be tied down.

These “kids” are not becoming adults. In a recent survey by Otetsudai Networks, most people surveyed cared more about freedom and flexibility than the pay when considering a part-time job.

Enter Otetsudai Networks. With Otetsudai Networks, if you are willing to work, you sign up for the service with your skills and focus, take a GPS reading on your phone and then just hang out. If you are looking for someone for say… 3 hours to man a cash register or help wash dishes, you just send the request to Otetsudai Networks and within minutes, you have a list of people available. The list shows what each person is qualified for, how others have rated their work and exactly how far away they are. Typically you will receive a list of half a dozen or more people within a few minutes.

The businesses are rated too on a per-manager basis so when you’re hanging out with your friends and you get a request to go help at the corner convenience shop, you know how your peers have rated that particular guy who’s asking you to come and help. You can also counter the request and say you’d go if they paid you 2000 yen / hour instead of 1500.

As more and more people start using this system, it’s liable to start filling a very important gap in the workforce. It’s also a perfect example of a location based, peer-to-peer reputation based, mobile behavior oriented product for an aging society.

The website is otetsu.jp otet.jp [in Japanese], but most of the functionality is only available on the phone.