CO2 Calculator adds up your carbon footprint

From Frepar Networks, makers of the Sub Spacial Communication Pod, comes a tool that will make tree huggers go crazy adding up the impending doom. The solar-powered CO2 Calculator allows you to take all of your daily activities and add them up to form your “carbon footprint”.

Everything from utilities to trash and recyclables are included in the handy pocket device, making just about any human activity easy to compute. Is this going too far? While perhaps useful as a teaching device (”OK class, spend one week calculating your environmental impact!”) obsessive compulsive carbon mathematicians now have a new toy. If Al Gore has his way, we may just be using these to calculate our yearly Carbon Tax payments as well!

It’s greatest potential, of course, is for learning. Japan is in the midst of a major Ecology boom that, while trendy, can always be good for creating environmental awareness at many different levels. For the next step, we’re eyeballing a function that calculates how much carbon is burned creating CO2 calculators. Gotta burn carbon to save carbon, right?

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Tags: Eco, ecology
Category: Fashion & Lifestyle Trends, Technology & Gadget Trends
Other categories: Marketing & Ad Trends, Press coverage

Ikebukuro department stores share neighborhood love

Department store’s tendency to want to one-up their competitors usually means some cool new developments, like the Tokyu and Seibu department store rivalry that produced some of Shibuya’s more interesting retail establishments, Tokyu Hands and Shibuya 109 (Tokyu), Parco and Loft (Seibu).

So we are not sure what to make of the report that Seibu and its Ikebukuro rival, Tobu, will be working together on the Seibu Tobu Cooperation Ikebukuro Information Center, which will have information on sights, dining, and entertainment in the area.

Seibu and Tobu are the major department stores in Ikebukuro, an area that has been drawing attention for the June 14th opening of a new subway line. The rivals will both participate in the Love Ikebukuro Fair on June 14th and 15th and are joint sponsors for the information center, which is located at the basement entrance from the new line to the Seibu store.

The location is also being used for a limited time to pass out free Seibu and Tobu branded eco bags featuring Toshima ward (where Ikebukuro is located) character Toshima-kun (live model pictured below).

Meanwhile, the Japanese Department Store Association has announced an impressive collaboration between all stores to launch, yup you guessed it, an eco bag.

The “Depato Regi-Bag,” released in honor of the G8 summit will be available from July 7th at all department stores in the country for ¥600. Customers are entitled to a ¥50 discount when they use the bag.

Tags: department stores, ecology, Fashion, Ikebukuro, Shibuya
Category: Fashion & Lifestyle Trends, Marketing & Ad Trends
Other categories: Technology & Gadget Trends, Press coverage

Bamboo gets a boost from new products

Bamboo is next on the list of traditional Asian ingredients to get a trendy makeover. Taketori, a company that specializes in manufacturing bamboo products, has come out with “Bamboo Salt,” that promises to be healthier than ordinary table salt.

The bamboo is grown in an area known for high mineral content and, in what seems like a complicated process that involves packing salt inside the bamboo pipes and roasting them at a high temperature until the bamboo turns to charcoal, the resulting “Bamboo Salt” is also rich in minerals. Minerals, apparently being good for you, and a selling point in today’s health obsessed market.

Next up is the Bamboo Toothbrush (¥430), courtesy of Fine. The handle is made from synthesis of bamboo local to Shizuoka prefecture and resin while the brush, which comes in two varieties, is either made from the usual PBT plastic or natural pig’s hair.

According to the press release, the Bamboo Toothbrush is for those who are “sensitive about what they put in their mouths.” We agree, the less chemicals the better, but pig’s hair?

And while clothing made from bamboo is hardly new, Japanese sportswear brand Godwin is re-launching a campaign for their line of shirts made from panda food.

Finally, fashion brand Kenzo draws on the brand’s Asian heritage with its latest product, Fresh Frosty Bamboo Moisturizing Gel.

This “stimulating” body moisturizer is made specifically from the water extracted from young bamboo shoots grown from March until May in the hilly region in China’s eastern Zhejiang province. Bamboo’s use in health and beauty treatments dates back to ancient China.

Though the Kenzo brand was originally created by Japanese fashion designer Kenzo Takada, the company is based in France and has been owned by luxury giant LVMH since 1993. We anticipate, however, that Fresh Frosty Bamboo, available throughout Japan from June 1, ¥6,825 for 200ml, will be a hit among consumers following the natural and traditional beauty trends.

Tags: Bamboo, beauty, ecology, Fashion, FMCG, health
Category: Fashion & Lifestyle Trends, Marketing & Ad Trends
Other categories: Technology & Gadget Trends, Press coverage

Eco movement a hit with marketers, comedians alike

The latest product to employ the “My —“ prefix (think “my chopsticks” and “my mug”) is the “my soy sauce set” from the Okayama-based Katumaru food products company.

This set of five 100ml bottles of individual sized soy sauce portions includes one of each five flavors (traditional, yuzu, rice, “purple,” and wine) and sells for ¥1,050. Though we’re not sure if this is specifically part of the “my hashi” eco movement or targeting gourmands who prefer high-end flavored soy sauces to the typical plastic-bottled stuff that comes with take away food.

With “My” showing up on everything these days, the so-named eco movement seems to be going the way of the politically correct movement in 1990s America. Unfortunately, because “my chopsticks” was a pretty good idea.

Like the then politically correct suffix “challenged,” which was added to all sorts of invented shortcomings by American comedians (think “vertically challenged” for short people) “my” has been showing up in a number of gags recently. For example someone who sings off-key at karaoke can be said to be using “my melody.”

Can the eco-boom withstand the comic hit?
Note: We are not even mentioning the solar panel bra.

Tags: Comedy, ecology, food
Category: Fashion & Lifestyle Trends, Marketing & Ad Trends
Other categories: Technology & Gadget Trends, Press coverage