No Pain, No Gain?

“It hurts so bad, yet feels soo good!” Oh baby~ that’s what you’ll say when you grind your feet into one of these handy-dandy bamboo slats. Its curved, hard surface has a way of pushing deep into those biped muscles of yours, smoothing out every tense fiber to the bone. Some call it torture, others call it a soothing massage.

I kept this ‘ashi-fumi ta-ke’ around for years among my odd collection of massage　devices. It was far more economical than the others ($10 or so), yet had the most striking effect on my body. What they say is that the foot is the map to the rest of the body. That is, each area corresponds to a particular body part. Your arch connects to the digestive system, your second and third toe to the eyes, and so on. So when part of your foot really hurts after using the bamboo it means you’d better lay off the booze and get your innards checked by the doctor.

Women especially use this device as a lazy way to　lose weight. They balance themselves on it while washing the dishes or brushing their teeth, taking in the pain as they firm up their calves. But if they’re like me, they’ll give up before anything miraculous happens. And then they’ll move on to the next fad diet like scarfing down a banana every morning.

Truthfully, I don’t really know how much healing power this wooden torture device actually has. But if it can double as a weapon of death then maybe it’s worth keeping around?

Himawari

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Human Pillows are Better

It goes without saying that Japan is the king of wacky inventions. My favorite is the boyfriend arm pillow, which comes with an extra appendage to rest your pretty little head on. When it debuted a few years ago, both men and women were snatching it up partly as a gag gift and partly because it really did its job comforting single women on those cold, lonely nights.

Okay, I admit, I have one. But it was a gift from a friend who wanted to get a rise out of me in my perpetual singlehood. Little did he know, I loved it and made “John” my surrogate boyfriend. It was love at first sit. He excelled in propping my head up when reading. And he was always there for me when my back hurt. I’m just waiting for him to pop the question and he’s mine forever.

There’s also a female version, a lap pillow complete with mini-skirt and softly rounded knees. It started selling for about $90 and as soon as it became popular a handful of knock-offs emerged for much cheaper. Now there’s millions of men with their own personal friend — or at least half of one. Men of all ages find the female pillow “soothing,” one manufacturing representative said. When they’re home alone with their special companion who knows what they do together. Watch TV, play cards, surf the Net? Let’s just hope it’s G-rated. (^.<)

Himawari

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Thinking of doing business in Japan? We can make it easy for you!
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