Torin Boyd/Polaris, for The New York Times
Though street crime is relatively low in Japan, quirky camouflage designs like this vending-machine dress are being offered to an increasingly anxious public to hide from would-be assailants.
Posted on 10/20/2007 7:55:34 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Torin Boyd/Polaris, for The New York Times Though street crime is relatively low in Japan, quirky camouflage designs like this vending-machine dress are being offered to an increasingly anxious public to hide from would-be assailants. |
October 20, 2007
Fearing Crime, Japanese Wear the Hiding Place
By MARTIN FACKLER
TOKYO, Oct. 19 — On a narrow Tokyo street, near a beef bowl restaurant and a pachinko parlor, Aya Tsukioka demonstrated new clothing designs that she hopes will ease Japan’s growing fears of crime.
Deftly, Ms. Tsukioka, a 29-year-old experimental fashion designer, lifted a flap on her skirt to reveal a large sheet of cloth printed in bright red with a soft drink logo partly visible. By holding the sheet open and stepping to the side of the road, she showed how a woman walking alone could elude pursuers — by disguising herself as a vending machine.
The wearer hides behind the sheet, printed with an actual-size photo of a vending machine. Ms. Tsukioka’s clothing is still in development, but she already has several versions, including one that unfolds from a kimono and a deluxe model with four sides for more complete camouflaging.
These elaborate defenses are coming at a time when crime rates are actually declining in Japan. But the Japanese, sensitive to the slightest signs of social fraying, say they feel growing anxiety about safety, fanned by sensationalist news media. Instead of pepper spray, though, they are devising a variety of novel solutions, some high-tech, others quirky, but all reflecting a peculiarly Japanese sensibility.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I believe private firearms are illegal in Japan.
Sorry to post again, just having a hard time keeping my coffee in my mouth visualizing 30,000 Marines charging the enemy looking like soft drink vending machines.
They would laugh themselves to death. Still in stitches over the mental picture.
Here’s one for the not-a-ping list.
Of course, the bad guys are never going to notice a Coke machine trundling down the street by itself, with little white shoes sticking out from under it.
Looks like a halloween costsume run amok!
don’t tell
Either this is satire or the NY Times will believe anything.
Yeah, I’ll dress up like a Coke machine whenever I walk through a dangerous neighborhood. That’ll fool them rascals!
Why, hello there, Mr. Smart!
Yeah, apparently people in Japan don’t bust open Coke machines to steal the quarters like they do here.
“Where do you insert the quarters?”
Or more importantly, what comes out when you do?
Guess I just have a dirtier mind than you.
Yeah, vending machines usually wear wing-tips.
Nobody steels money from vending machines in Japan?
LOL
Japan’s a world unto itself in many ways. And that is definitely cool!
Who are the assailants?
This stuff is why I love Japan.
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