Tokyo Times

The relatively short life-span of Japanese houses — twenty-five years is a figure often banded about — means that having a domicile of some description or other being built nearby is far from uncommon, especially in Tokyo. A situation that unfortunately means getting woken up at 8 a.m. every morning by a bevy of banging, baggy-panted builders.

Yet whilst the noise is unfortunately unavoidable, the new structure itself is. Well, sort of, as the clever concealing technology adopted by some construction companies makes it almost impossible to tell where the new home is being built. In fact, it took me the best part of two weeks to finally work out the whereabouts of the gradually growing erection pictured below. And then I only stumbled upon it by mistake — its camouflage capabilities almost military-like. A technology that could surely have a whole host of uses, with its cloaking qualities even more evident when placed next to the real thing.

So, whilst you may have to look long and hard, can you tell which is the cover and which are real clouds?

A:

B:

Take your time now, I know it’s tricky.

The answer, for those struggling a bit, can be found by clicking here.

Although the Japanese love of all things cute is nothing new, there’s surely a limit to what can get the almost compulsory and cloyingly cuddly conversion. And whilst something as unlikely as the Windows operating system has successfully had treatment, one would think that burly builders would pose a bigger problem — despite their rather fetching fashion.

Yet that doesn’t appear to be the case at all, as not only are builders considered as cute as a button, but they are also viewed that way when endearingly emptying the contents of their bladder.

(click image for wider-angled weeing workman)