Panda poken body (Photo: © Poken Japan)

(Writer: Sandra Barron)

Ken Lee, an engineering grad student from Malaysia at Keio University, carries the three-eyed martian in his messenger bag “all the time” and uses it at networking events. He agrees that it’s a good icebreaker. “It’s easy to go up to someone and say ‘Let’s Poken!’” he says. The ghost card feature seems perfect for the Japanese love of polite appearances. A discreet squeeze before contact will send a blank card instead of your info – kind of like “accidentally” writing down your phone number wrong. Later, if you change your mind, you can log in and un-ghost your card for that person.

Poken was first introduced in Japan to bloggers at a CGM (Consumer Generated Media) night, a monthly meeting for Tokyo’s tech-savvy. They went viral fast – the first online order, for a lone Poken, came in two hours later, from Iwate.

Now, Japan has the second-highest Poken population in the world. “Growth has far exceeded our expectations,” Van der Weeën says. They are sold online at Amazon and Rakuten, at big electronics stores like Bic and Yodobashi Camera, and they are starting to pop up at hip boutiques all across the country for ¥2,480 a piece.

If it keeps up, net-workers all over Japan will soon have plenty of people to Poken with.