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December 07, 2004

A Bit ‘O Design

Many things in Japan revolve around efficiency, and the packaging in the supermarket is no exception. I know that refills are becoming available in the states, but not in mass. I was pleasantly surprised to see the prevalence of household cleaners and bathroom products with refills. Many of them are Procter and Gamble products. The Febreze might look familiar (the Katakana says FU A BU RI ZU). I wonder why this is available here but is not so prevalent in the states? If anyone knows more then divulge your secrets!

Of course any positive impact that refill packaging might have is negated by the packaging at the checkout counter! (If you’re not being weary they will group types of products in their own bags and then put those into another larger bag. The thinking is along the lines of not letting food come into contact with cleaning products, you know…just in case, I’ll bag the bag, and then add another bag…just in case…you know…).



“Fuaburizu” with refill packets. The spray bottle is 498 yen and the packet is 418 yen. (That’s about $4.98 and $4.18.)



Dove with refill packets. The bottle runs at 733 yen and the refill is 481 yen. The refill packs tend to carry just a little less than the dispensers can hold, which makes sense for a refill bag that can’t easily be resealed to keep leftovers.

For those of you from my product design circle…remember those fond days of sleepless insomnia murmuring to ourselves, ”universal baskets, universal detergent, universal…universal…UD…where am I?” as our lack of sleep turned us into stumbling model subjects for universal design? Adoption of UD has been a major initiative in Japan. (If I remember correctly, Pattie Moore is even quite the celebrity here.) With an aging baby boomer population the states could look to Japan as an example. The Japanese have given the mass of folks who are coming into different abilities some interesting tools for independence. So here are some awesome examples of how they have introduced UD into everyday living…





UD food!
“Food, for ages 0-100” is the slogan, and that includes me! Kewpie introduced mayonnaise and dressing to Japan and have ruled the market since. They have also taken it upon themselves “to provide delicious, healthy, and safe food for people of all ages in our areas of core competence and to our long-term corporate philosophy of aiming to offer long-selling, people-pleasing products.“ My favorite is the curry-spread. The bottles are all soft plastic with large easy to remove caps. You can just grab a piece of bread, squeeze some on, toss it in the toaster oven…and viola, Curry Toast (and my whole apartment smells wonderful for hours after)!

Tactile guides to aid navigation.
On every single major sidewalk that I have set foot on, and in most of the public offices the ground is patterned with large yellow tiles. The tiles have a texture-made pattern of knobs that can be felt through your shoes. They serve as a textile guide for people with various sight abilities. Sometimes they divide sides of traffic, sometimes they show the paths to the desk counters and sometimes they explain where to stop. Even I use them…there’s nothing like stopping BEFORE the oncoming traffic zooms past while you’ve got your nose buried in a book.

I wonder if these things would be taken so well in the states?

Posted by theinfonaut at 11:42 PM | Comments (3)

December 14, 2004

Fun in the SUU PAA market

As a follow up for the last post on products this is sure to please those with a hankering for some engrish. Join me on an adventure through the grocery store:

With a crunchy flaky tub filled with cream or chocolate these are both disturbing and addictive. These are dang good, like little sections of intestine, only in cream and chocolate flavor, yum yum.

Creap coffee creamer (with Japanese pronunciation that’s Kreh-ah-p)

Fibe-mini. “YOUR HEALTHY DAY”
Nothing like Fiber drinks (I don’t think fiber was interpreted correctly in this one!) in the morning. “NEW DIETARY FIBER DRINK”.

A gel pack of beauty or diet. “BODY PLEASURE”
“This jelly drink is recommended to those people who want to keep BEAUTY and freshness.”

Pocari Sweat. So you can replenish exactly what you lose, eww.

BALANCED FOOD
Calorie Mate
BLOCK
I think they mean it’s a cubical block of some substance not a balance food calorie blocker, but I honestly haven’t ventured into purchasing this one.

Hrmm, I can’t seem to find the ramen… Oh wait, there is an ENTIRE AISLE of it! Cup soup is big, any flavor you could possibly want, size, shape, even character themed…and everything…EVERY SINGLE ONE…each takes three minutes to cook?!

Familiar? FU RO SU TEi… Fuwroe-suete… Frosted…

Hello Kitty and Pooh Bear Dinners. In fact, that’s Pooh Bear KA REE…curry!

These are bags of rice topping pouches. As Ben mentioned: Kirby flavored rice anyone, or Hamtoro or Pooh and Piglet? (Actually more likely to be vegetable, salt or fish flavoring). Fantastic!

Need I explain more? (Other than to say this is not the refrigerated section of the store.!)

Ready to go fish snacks. Dried and to be eaten whole. You find them in food all over the place, they come in a variety of sizes too! Tiny…I didn’t’ realize I was eating little fish in my rice size, to OH DEAR it still has eyes big size.

Speaking of big, that’s one hell of a Daikon root.

Individually wrapped apples. 350 to 398 yen each. Wha?! Almost $4 for ONE apple, maybe that’s some really special wrapping?

Oh sweet I’m going to get a watermelon, oh…wait…that price tag says 1980… each.

Well how about a cantaloupe…uuuh…small heart attack…2980, each.
The resent typhoons have really brought up the price of already stupidly expensive produce…crazy!

And then we walk into the beauty products section. A few of the women’s products contain things to whiten or lighten the skin! This one is obviously one of those products:

There are more men’s products here that I had seen back home…This is the best section of the whole store:



“Eroica”, maybe erotic and heroic?

NUDY…yes that’s right, just cut to the chase of it all!

But nothing can top MANDOM:



Freaking huge bottles with three tag lines (I guess they couldn’t decide on just one) “Everybody loves a lover” “Everybody loves Mandom” and last but certainly not least…“Man o man- that’s Mandom”.

Posted by theinfonaut at 05:18 PM | Comments (3)

December 22, 2004

And I'm out!

It's off to Osaka with me!!! and then Kyoto and then who knows!
I'm sorry, I won't be posting for at least a week, if not more... so I hope everyone has an awesome holiday season!

~Leslie

Posted by theinfonaut at 05:38 PM | Comments (2)