FOR ALL YOU LOVERS OUT THERE

Today is 1-31, or ichi gatsu, san jyu ichi.  Some (perhaps very bored) person somehow rearranged the words to come up with "ai sai," which in Japanese is "love wife."  Thus, a new national holiday was born, Love Your Wife Day.  Husbands vault onto a stage to publicly declare their love for their spouses.  Their professions of devotion are broadcast on national TV (below is a clip).  My favorite part may be when one of the husbands gets down on one knee to present his wife with flowers, and she bows formally to him in proper Japanese style as she accepts them. 

  

INFIDELITY PHONE

There are all sorts of metrics employed to evaluate technology today: cost, speed, weight, apps, etc.  Then there are the demographics to which these metrics apply: women! men! students! professionals! However, this piece from the WSJ exposes a rather specialized market: philandering men.  Apparently Japanese Casanovas favor a certain model of Fujitsu phone (the F-series) that has a privacy mode that allows users to run their phones normally, but hides calls and texts from confidential contacts.  These phones are referred to as uwaki keitai, or infidelity phones.  As one blogger/ladies man wrote:

"Women may want to check my phone for strange emails or calls when I'm not around. With Fujitsu's 'privacy mode,' they can't see that information at all," he said in an email. "The key is to give off the impression that you're not locking your phone at all."

How very thoughtful of him.

For foreigners wondering where to pick up the F-series, alas!  The phone is unique to Japan.  You'll have to juggle romantic partners the old-fashioned way.