Posted on 08/03/2011 7:12:32 AM PDT by RummyChick
As far as summer fashion goes, clothes with built-in electric fans leave a little something to be desired.
But Hiroshi Ichigaya has managed to turn his breezy invention into the must-have item of the summer, thanks to sweltering temperatures and a power shortage stemming from the triple disasters that hit Japan in March. The founder of Kuchofuku, or "air-conditioned clothing" in Japanese, says sales for his clothes have increased 10-fold. Phones at his office haven't stopped ringing.
"People ask me, why would I want to wear a jacket when it's so hot," Ichigaya, a former Sony engineer, said. "I tell them, because it's cooler than being naked."
Kuchofuku jackets come equipped with a pair of battery-operated fans on the sides, which draw air in. Ichigaya says the constant breeze running inside the jacket helps evaporate all the sweat and creates a personal cooling system in the process. The goal is not to lower temperatures outside the body but expand the body's comfort zone, and eliminate the need for energy-consuming air conditioners, Ichigaya said.
Case in point: at Kuchofuku headquarters in Toda, outside of Tokyo, a thermometer shows the room temperature clocking in at a stuffy 88 degrees, with 59 percent humidity. Yet workers sit at their desks wearing Kuchofuku jackets without a bead of sweat in sight, the hum from the fans echoing in the background.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
“’I saw so many buildings being constructed throughout the region and thought, if all those buildings installed air conditioners, it would seriously add to global warming,’ Ichigaya said.”
Sounds great until you get to the nuttery.
Believe my CAB’ed Nat’l Guard daughter (37/40 of the popups in Basic Training Record Fire!) wore air-conditioned clothing when she’d volunteer as M2 top gunner on a locally-armored HMMMV...
“Air-conditioned clothes!?!’’. Boy, I’ll tell ya’, the Japs sure can come up with some off-the-wall stuff. Sounds like a great idea.
IMO if’n it don’t consist of a compressor, evaporator and condenser, it ain’t air conditioning. Ask anyone who has experienced desert “swamp coolers” which supposedly cool by evaporation.
Heck, when I was in basic at Fort Bragg and while I was humping an M-60 and marching umpteen miles a day, my sweltering mind devised a helmet mounted cooling system that would air condition the capillaries in the scalp and circulate chilled blood throughout the body. The only problem was how to power the compressor.
I’m retired now and they can have my air conditioner only when they pry my dead fingers from it. And my guns.
BTW, everyone’s seen those portable A/Cs the astronauts used to carry on their way to the Apollo spacecraft on the launchpad in the pre-shuttle days. Wonder why those weren’t developed for the consumer market.
***”People ask me, why would I want to wear a jacket when it’s so hot,” Ichigaya, a former Sony engineer, said. “I tell them, because it’s cooler than being naked.”***
My momma told me of an old man back in the 1930s Tennessee who wore wool long johns summer and winter.
His premise was..”If it will protect me from the cold in winter it will protect me from the heat in summer.”
Sounds great until you get to the nuttery.
Having lived in Japan and traveled to many other countries I can tell you it is not because this guy is a moron. Japan in particular simply takes AP/Reuters stories and reprints them in Japanese. While many Americans believe in global warming you can easily find people who don't. Not only that, but you can ask people who both believe and disbelieve and they will each be able to tell you that there is a controversy about global warming. By contrast, it would be more difficult to find Japanese who even know there is any controversy.
Many issues have American politics injected into them here and then when they are exported oversees the political aspect does not translate. As such, generally the liberal side gets promulgated and then the liberals do a one over and use international consensus as further proof of their legitimacy.
Pinging Mom, should we see if they ship to the US?
Very funny. I’ll take two!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.