Bad ideas

The Japanese have some pretty neat gadgets. The latest one I’ve noticed is the little sensor at the toll booths that notices the height of your car/bus/truck and spits out the ticket at the right place for the driver to take it easily. I think my favorite though is still the parking structures. Think of a dry cleaner’s rack – you drive your car into a slot and park. Then the attendant dials up the next slot and your car gets stored vertically instead of taking of valuable real estate on the ground. It’s like a giant oval Ferris Wheel for cars.

But they also have things that don’t work quite as well. Like roasted chestnuts without an “X” carved into them – just how are you supposed to peel them? Or jelly sold in little paper cups. It seems like a good idea until you leave one in the fridge for a couple of weeks and then try to spread it on bread. You don’t have jelly anymore, you have a jello wriggler. And really, who first decided to pickle plums in pure salt? And then feed them to an unsuspecting gaijin as a regional delicacy?