The Force is Strong in These Chopsticks!

This month, geeks and fanboys alike converged at San Diego’s Comicon convention. It’s only here where you’ll see Storm Troopers, Spawn and Naruto walking side-by-side without bystanders doing so much as a double-take. Inside the convention hall are endless rows of booths selling figurines, comic books, and other fun collectibles you can blow an entire paycheck on if you’re not careful.

Toy company Kotobukuya is one of my favorite booths. Why? Because they know how to really geek it out:

These “Chop Sabers” ($18.95 via Amazon) come in Yoda green, Luke Skywalker blue and Darth Vader red, and they’re beautifully crafted to look like the real thing!

So what do you do with these hi-tech utensils? Well, as Kotobukiya’s spokesperson says, “You can have a wonderful dinner fighting each other on your kitchen table.” Hahah! Though let’s not be mistaken, these sabers won’t help cut through your prime rib. That is, unless you can locate the secret operation manual that’ll turn them into a real light saber…

… I kid, I kid. =P

Himawari

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Save a Tree, Buy Some Chopsticks

Deforestation is still a huge problem in the world and it especially hits home for us chopstick-holding types. On a typical week, I’ll blow through a dozen or so disposable sticks. …Yikes, I’m a tree killer!

So to ease my conscience, I started searching for cool utensils I won’t need to later feed the garbage can. Here are my favorites:

Can’t stand getting your fingers greased up in a bag of potato chips? Here’s the tool for you: Chip sticks! It spares the annoyance of licking your fingers clean as you play Warcraft. Toss a bowl of rice into the bag and you’ve got dinner! ($4.32)

Not a day goes by at Los Angeles’ Japanese markets where you don’t see a bunch of anime-loving teens ogling boxes of Pocky on the shelf. I’m not sure what the fascination is, but I’m sure it’s thanks to Glico‘s marketing team putting it in our heads that a stick-like cookie covered in chocolate is the next best thing to heaven. Now you can pick up and eat Pocky using — what else? — a pair of Pocky sticks! How cute is that! ($4)

Contrary to popular belief, Asians are not genetically predisposed to eating with chopsticks. We had to practice just like everyone else. So for those of you who can’t keep them still between your fingers, here’s the utensil for you. They’re hinged together at the top end and ribbed at the bottom to prevent embarrassing slips. Practice with them and in a few weeks you’ll be able to take down flies! ($13)

Himawari

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japanizmo, a Los Angeles based company, provides practical solutions for U.S. ? Japan business projects. Our experienced Japanese staff will support all phases of your business project to seize business opportunities and turn your vision into a reality. >> Learn more

Clean-eatin’ Ramen

Here’s a new one for you: the ramen fork!

It’s great for people who can’t hold two sticks between their fingers. All you do is jab and twirl.

Of course you’re wondering, why would Japanese people need this if they already know how to use chopsticks? Well, the other advantage to using the $8 fork is that you can eat noodles in a gentle, lady-like way. In other words, no slurping!

We’ve all heard that inhaling your noodles shows you really like what you’re eating. But when you’re coming from the office wearing your favorite white button-up, you gotta worry what sort of nasty stains you’ll be taking back to work.

Fuji TV’s “Mezamashi Terebi” (a morning info-tainment show) conducted an experiment showing how fewer stains you get with the fork. First, they had a man slurp up a bowl of noodles with a pair of chopsticks. With a slow-cam to document the process, you can see the noodles flicking the oil-based soup all over the place. Then he switched to the fork. The ramen soup ended up splashing less than half the time!

The other benefit is that it could help Japan with its wooden chopstick crisis. With rapid deforestation going on in China, picking up metal instead of wooden will do the world a lot of good.

I’d imagine people would be happy using this tool on spaghetti, too. I think it’s safe to say most people have a hard time not slurping the last noodle or two. It’s a skill most people have yet to acquire. To them I say RAMEN FORK! \(^O^)/

Himawari

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Thinking of doing business in Japan? We can make it easy for you!
japanizmo, a Los Angeles based company, provides practical solutions for U.S. ? Japan business projects. Our experienced Japanese staff will support all phases of your business project to seize business opportunities and turn your vision into a reality. >> Learn more