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Oct 23 2006 4 Comments

Beverage blues

“Conducting a survey to find out what drives people to kill themselves is the first thing that needs to be done, but we also should not wait to implement actual preventive measures.”

Yasuyuki Shimizu of anti-suicide group Life Link on what his organization feels should to be done to try and lower Japan’s disturbingly high suicide rate.

The likes of work-related stress, financial concerns and the seemingly never-ending wait for the PlayStation 3 may all rank highly in any such survey, but thanks to the pioneering research of An Englishman In Osaka, another — thankfully more manageable — cause has been unearthed; rather bizarrely in the form of canned coffee.

deeppresso coffee

After years spent teaching the world to sing, parent company Coca Cola now appears intent on inducing a heavy sigh rather than a song, although to be fair, its advertising campaign doesn’t attempt to suggest anything different. The promotional picture below presumably leaving canned coffee connoisseurs in little doubt who has been indulging in the Deeppresso.

deeppresso poster

Categorized: Food and Drink, Language, Photography

Oct 21 2006 3 Comments

Tokyo tribute

This week saw five people honoured at the Praemium Imperiale in Tokyo — an art prize awarded by the Japanese Imperial House — with honorary patron Prince Hitachi giving gold medals to artist Yayoi Kusama and composer Steve Reich amongst others.

However the Emperor’s younger brother caused something of a stir at this year’s event with his rather unconventional attire and decidedly bold bouffant.

prince hitachi

Categorized: General

Oct 20 2006 1 Comment

Bag balls-up

Stepping out in public without a bag of some kind or another — and ideally one bearing the name of a major European brand — would appear to be a sin of sorts for the majority of Tokyo residents; however for any scatterbrained shoppers forlornly finding themselves without a suitable carrying device, help is, for want of a better description, finally at hand.

bags galore

For a small fee, this dedicated department store offers the patterned and very passable paper bags pictured above. Yet whilst helping fend off an unforgivable fashion faux pas, it’s not immediately obvious how new the bags actually are.

old or new?

Categorized: Fashion, Language, Photography

Oct 19 2006 7 Comments

Tranquil time out #13

Despite its close proximity and mammoth size, the conical completeness of Mount Fuji was almost totally obscured by cloud — meaning a shot of this nearby water-surrounded shrine had to suffice.

kawaguchiko shrine

(click image for larger lakeside loveliness)

Categorized: Tranquil time out

Oct 18 2006 2 Comments

Decomposable duds

Textile pioneer Unitika Ltd unveiled its latest clothing line in Tokyo on Monday — the new range of raiment made of a corn-based eco-friendly fabric, allowing it to naturally decompose.

eco clothing

The likes of swimsuits and skimpy skirts however do open the product to comments along the lines of “it looks good enough to eat”; however readers can rest assured that such corn-related crassness has no place on these pages.

Such a worthy and worthwhile invention demands nothing but the utmost respect, and one can only marvel over how long it would take for the garments featured in Unitika’s upcoming November calendar to completely disappear.

unitika calendar

Categorized: Fashion, Technology Stuff

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