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It's that time of year again. The
2004 Asia Weblog Awards are in motion and voting
closes on December 31st.
So if you feel Sushicam is worthy, head on over to
the voting
page and give us some love. We missed winning this
thing by one vote last year. Let's see if we can win
it this time.
Please make sure to follow the voting
rules and only vote once per day.
I'm sure you will find plenty of good reads while you
are browsing the list of entries.
--
Japan is well known for its ability to improve upon
products.
Take cars for example.
It is no coincidence that Japanese cars are now the
top sellers in America as well as many other parts of
the world.
Look also at electronics. Digital camera development
and production is almost exclusively dominated by the
Japanese market.
But not all of this creative energy goes into high-tech
and high-dollar areas.
A case in point is a new type of pillow now being marketted
here. It is (almost) unlike any other pillow manufactured
to date. It's called the "lap pillow" or "Hizamakura".
Basically it is the lower body of a kneeling woman
in a miniskirt. It retails for about $90 (or $6,300
in "dog dollars") and seems to be selling
pretty well so far here in Japan.
AFP Photo
It seems there are a lot of single, lonely Japanese
guys out there with a deep driving need for some good
old fashioned comforting.
And just so you don't think that it is only guys in
Japan that are desparate for some lovin, there is also
the "boyfriend pillow" which actualy preceeded
the lap pillow.
AP Photo
I find it amazing that in a country this crowded that
people actually resort to something like this for companionship
or comfort.
It's not like it would be hard to meet people or anything.
A case in point is the morning cummute. You are practically
forced to make out with your fellow commuters on the
train each morning...
Crammed in tighter than the bulging waist band of that
person who you last saw running the airport security
checkpoint (Their zipper just screaming for
mercy) even the most stoic of commuters can't help but
feel like there is at least a little light petting going
on between stops and when the train is filling and emptying.
All it would take is a quick wink and smile and I am
sure you could find all kinds of new friends each week.
But to bring it any further than just some brief, chance
encounter would require the two parties involved to
actually *gasp* Talk to each other on the train.
(And we all know that is not going to happen...)
But once again techology comes to the rescue. In order
to breach this communication hurdle all one has to do
is send off a quick text message on their keitai.
Maybe that's why I always see everyone so engrossed
in cellphone email while on the train. It's one big
continuous episode of the "dating game" but
I just never realized it until now.
--
I'd like to offer a sincere apology to everyone who
has had trouble accessing the Sushicam Friends site.
After lobbing off a staggering amount of trouble tickets
and emails my hosting comapny finally got some smarter
people to check into it and it finally looks like they
have fixed the problem.
--
It seems that Sushicam has been listed as a must read
by a new book about Japan. The book is called "Extremes:
Contradictions in Contemporary Japan".
It was written by a man named G M Thomas and the ISBN
is 0-9546789-0-7. I searched the amazon.com site but
could not find it, but it is listed at the UK and Japan
Amazon sites.
Thanks go out to Charlie for bringing this to my attention.
It's pretty cool when the "real" publishing
industry recognizes a lowely blog as a good source of
information on a certain subject.
Comment 16
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