There are more than 35 million dementia patients in the world today. The WHO predicts that by 2050,

the number will rise to more than 115 million.

With the fastest aging population in the world and

more than a quarter of its population above age 65,

Japan will most likely be at the forefront of this new epoch.

What can we do to challenge conventional preconception that says “Dementia = Completely Incapable of anything”?

We decided to launch a restaurant-type event where people with dementia served as hall staff, assuming they would be making a mistake when taking and serving orders. At the entrance, both a sign that read “Restaurant of Mistaken Orders” and the Tee Hee Smily logo was displayed. With just this logo alone, the mistake made by the staff went from “something unacceptable” to “something that can be forgiven” changing the mindset of the customers. Also, an easy to participate space was designed entirely so that even younger generations that might think they have nothing to do with dementia would say “I want to go" and "I want to experience this.” The reason behind this is because it is a dark social issue, all the more, people need to enjoy with a positive mindset for a paradigm shift to actually occur.

Signs, interior, exterior, poster, tableware, booklet, music, the number of servings & conversations, all designed under the concept of conveying compassion and humanity so that every detail led to a “feeling of tolerance.” The symbol of the Tee Hee Smily logo was a simple and easy-to-emulate design with the future implementations in mind. Also, the “k” in the word “Mistaken” is flipped over signifying the powerful identity of the design. As a result, the people inspired by the first event attended by 264 customers, held 20 events in about a one-year span in Japan, and many parody versions of the logo came to be.It spread to the rest of the world such as China and Korea; currently a TV series created by Channel 4 in the UK is underway.In the 3 events combined, the rate of making mistakes surpassed 37%, but 99% of the customers did not feel stress.

·The affinity spread in Japan and worldwide and ultimately in March 2019, “The Restaurant of Mistaken Orders at the Ministry of Labor” was held. This became the first ever case in Japan to officially hire under contract people with dementia living in nursing homes, making history by having the current Labor Minister visit the restaurant.

·Awareness towards dementia increased by 82%

·Total reach number(TV exposure only):28,376,052 people=one in every five Japanese

·Number of articles:218,000

·Japan Potential imp: 99,000,000 imp

·Global Potential Imp: 140,000,000 imp

·AD/PR cost was 0$ but gained a PR value over $1.3 mil.

·Press coverage:34 international including Reuters and New York Times+46 Japanese media