Urawaza : Make your Life Easier...Thanks to the Japanese

Lisa Katayama's Urawaza: Secret Everyday Tips and Tricks from Japan is a perfectly charming, utterly 21st century household hints book that is sure to surprise you at least five times, in a most delightfully useful way.

The household ingenuity captured herein really caught fire in the post-war period, when Occupied Japan's poor economy made a virtue out of frugal and clever homebrew products. The name Urawaza comes from gamer slang, referring to the programmers' back-doors that let players gain points, levels and advantage by doing something unexpected, and it's the perfect appellation for the surprisingly satisfying knowledge that you can keep your cut flowers longer by dropping a copper penny in the water, carry a heavy box more readily if you stack it atop a lighter one, and so on.

Each of these Urawazas comes with a technical explanation of why it is believed to work, and the book itself is framed as a kind of commentary on the dying away of ingenuity in our era of cheap, specialized products. The writing is great, and Joel Holland's infographic-style illos are the perfect complement to the text.

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Japan's New Tourism Ambassador

TOKYO - Hello Kitty — Japan's ubiquitous ambassador of cute — has built up an impressive resume over the years. Global marketing phenom. Fashion diva. Pop culture icon. Now the moonfaced feline can add "government envoy" to the list. The tourism ministry on Monday named Hello Kitty as its choice to represent the country in China and Hong Kong, two places where she is wildly popular among kids and young women.

Officials hope that tapping into that fan base will lead to a bigger flow of tourists into Japan, and closer toward their goal of attracting 10 million overseas visitors every year under the "Visit Japan" campaign.

Last year the number of foreign tourists traveling to Japan hit a record high of 8.35 million, up 60 percent since the government began the marketing effort in 2003.

Arrivals from China and Hong Kong, who accounted for 16.5 percent of visitors to Japan last year, are poised this year to become the second-largest group of tourists after South Koreans.

At a press conference, Sanrio Co. President Shintaro Tsuji called Hello Kitty's new appointment "an honor" and pledged to "work hard to attract many visitors."

Japan's other goodwill tourism ambassadors include Korean singer Younha, Japanese actress Yoshino Kimura and Japanese pop/rock duo Puffy AmiYumi.

Although this is the first time the tourism ministry has tapped a fictional character for the role, the foreign ministry in March inaugurated blue robo-cat Doraemon as Japan's "anime ambassador."

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IV Drip Cafes

We've all heard of oxygen bars springing up designed to increase your health, but Japan has once again upped the ante on such trends by introducing IV drip cafes.

Hard-working people suffer daily from exhaustion, insomnia, backaches and other minor ailments. Perhaps all they need is a dose of preventive medicine in the form of vitamins and other nutritional supplements.

On April 1, a private service, called Tenteki10, opened in Ebisu Garden Place, to provide “pick-me-ups” through IV drips. People can drop by without a reservation and take the 10-minute instillation right away.

Tenteki10, which is located on the 4th floor of Ebisu Garden Place Tower, operates as a subsidiary of a medical clinic. Because it is a medical practice, the drip is given by nurses and doctors. However, it is not covered by National Health Insurance.

Ten options with different effects and five courses consisting of these options are available. The basic price is 2,000 yen, and customers can request an option or course menu, for an additional charge.

“Many people daily suffer from exhaustion, insomnia and backaches on a daily basis because they don’t take proper care of themselves,” says a doctor at Tenteki10. “They try supplements, home remedies or cheap energy injections. Some of these ailments cannot be healed that way and could possibly develop into more serious illnesses, including depression.”

But the service at Tenteki10 is not “cosmetic,” the doctor adds. “It’s ‘preventive medicine.’ Also, we don’t publicize this service like a business, nor do we suggest it to anyone. We just leave leaflets at the clinic. We think of it as an option for people to raise their awareness of daily health management on their own.”

A spokesperson for Tenteki10 says, “We don’t want our customers to believe that the drip service will bring them perfect health. Although it has strong and quick effects, it is more important that customers be more aware of how to take responsibility for their daily health. Our service is just one option for them.”

According to Tenteki10, about 30 male and female customers a day currently make use of the drip service as remedies for exhaustion as well as for skin care and anti-aging purposes. Some of them come with their husband, wife or family.

Credits: Japan Today