japan - an umbrella nation

hi y'all,
Japan is an umbrella nation. No, 'umbrella nation' isnt a buzz word for a socio-political trend, so before all you sociologists get excited at the prospect of an insiders view into the intricacies of japanese society, I should clear up that I will be solely and single-mindedly talking about brolly's.

My good friend Sonia once made an interesting observation about umbrellas. She questioned why, after years of amazing technological advancements in modern society, that no-one has ever come up with a more effective method to keep us dry on rainy days than an umbrella. She has a point. They are clunky, ugly and are rarely able to keep us completely dry during a storm. So, the Japanese being as crafty as always have, whilst not inventing a more effective method of dryness, implemented significant umbrella revolution.

And they need to. Umbrellas are incredibly popular in Japan. At the first sign of drizzle, Japanese people bring out the umbrellas. Many women, worried about the effects of sunlight on their skin actually use an umbrella pretty much all year round as they use them to both keep the sun away when its hot and keep the water away when its rainy. So, in reaction to the national obsession with umbrellas, Japanese society have made some interesting innovations, not to the umbrellas themselves, but in what I like to call, umbrella management.

So now, I am rather chuffed to present my top 5 umbrella management innovations in Japan.

1. Outside libraries, there is the most sophisticated umbrella storage. For 100Y (one dollar) you can put ure umbrella in a little slot with a small lock that secures the umbrella. Handy. Umbrella paranoia is rife in Japan.

2. There are little knobs to hang ure umbrellas in public toilets next to the cubicles.

3. There are many little notches to hang ure umbrellas on trains. (i could probably have combined this with point 2)

4. Outside most shops, there are little machines that you put ure umbrella in and when you pull it out, it is covered with a plastic bag so you dont drip water in the shop. Less customer friendly shops (or perhaps more, cause my brolly always gets stuck) just have the bags, without the machine.

5. You can buy umbrellas from the 100Y shop. With 5% GST ure looking at $1.05 for an umbrella. Very handy when you leave them on the train they day you bought them.

So there you have it. An indepth analysis of the inequality between the rich and poor in Japan and a scathing look at the role of women in the workplace. And a bit about brolly's.

hope ure all well, sorry i havent emailed anyone in yonder, i suck.
love murphy