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

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)

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.

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