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Trends
in Japan
A
lot of them are driven by emergence of new technology
By Eimi Graham
Like
any other time, Japan is always an exciting place.
As a part of my efforts to monitor the trends in Japan, I have
noticed a few that are fundamentally changing the way we live our lives
here.
i-Mode
Cell Phones
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This
is one of the most popular cell phone
types in Japan. The phone has
been so popular that most of the young and a large number of even old
people cannot imagine leaving their home without it.
While it offers some sophisticated functionalities of making phone
calls, what gets you hooked to it are the added features that allow you to
send e-mails and surf the Net. I
have friends who do not own computers and even if they do they use them
less often since their I-Mode phones allow them to check their emails in
real time and also allow exchange of short messages wherever they are.
Since they are so light (weighing just about 100 grams or 4
ounces), almost anyone can carry them wherever they go.
(Related article: Cool
cell phone from Nokia)
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 Another
remarkable feature of some of these phones is a camera that allows you to
zap your pictures in real time. While
grandmas love to see pictures of their grandsons, there are young people
exchanging pictures of their friends too.
How
men and women shop differently for cell phones.
These
cell phones have completely redefined how we live our lives here. We can do our banking
transactions, check schedules, find
restaurants in a neighborhood that we don’t know very well, chat with
our friends, play
games, and pretty much stay connected at all points of
time. A society that could
not claim to interact socially with each other is now reinventing its
values. We might as well be
over-communicating already.
Weird TV
shows
As
if our TV shows were not already weird
enough, creative producers have come up with some more interesting shows.
One TV show sends one of the hosts to China to learn how to make
Chinese food. He learns
making Chinese food at a restaurant, of course in China!
Naturally, the host ends up making a fool of himself.
There
is another show called "The black mail of celebrities".
The two hosts of the show are with some TV stars.
The host called "Atsushi" who dyes his hair red sends an
e-mail using his cell phone to a male celebrity.
Atsushi pretends to be a girl, and writes, "My name is Megumi
and I wanna talk with you using e-mail".
If the celebrity doesn't find out that Atsushi is writing the
e-mail, one of the staff of the TV show pretends to be the girl (in this
case "Megumi") and meets the celebrity.
At the end of their "date", finally Atsushi shows up.
Naturally there are dozens of very uncomfortable and weird
situations for everyone. The dance
music compilation CD "Super Eurobeat"
The
series already has over 120 releases.
You could find a CD at a Japanese CD store that reads "Super Eurobeat
Vol. 120". This summer
it will be releasing Vol. 130. Although
the style of "Eurobeat" is quite different from the early
styles, the series has existed since 1989.
CD compilations that have hundred-plus volumes are unusual in Japan
and it may sound unbelievable, but it's true.
Mechanical
pencils
Mechanical
pencils are extremely popular among Japanese students. Japan has always made excellent pens and pencils but this
craze for a new type of a mechanical
pencil, whose name is "DR
Grip", is unexplainable. The
amazing feature of this pencil is that if you shake it, the lead comes
out!
Video
stores in Japan
If
you go to a video store in Japan, you will be surprised to see that there
are more foreign movies than Japanese movies.
Also, there are a couple of magazines about movies, and most of the
information is about foreign celebrities (especially Western people).
As I wrote in one of my previous articles, some women in Japan,
including me, like foreign celebrities more than Japanese
celebrities.
Recommended links: Information about Japan
Japanese
television Japanese
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