smarter

I don't get why plastic bags are still used. like I don't get why schoolbags in japan cost $600. but at least the former lasts a few years and comes with LED's and a tracking device.

new habits, it seems, die hard as the country is at a juncture of still trying to buy its way to the top of the capitalist ladder whilst being sympathetic to kyoto in both senses. pressure from china and others has become the weight on the back of the salaryman whos 'just work like a bastard and it'll be alright' philosophy is becoming more and more redundant. the uncouth yet essential creativity and youth are crying out to be heard above the bellow of the out-dated suit with the large framed spectacles. japan could be nearing the point of working smart and not just hard, but the plastic bag remains.

in so many ways the old skool frivilous culture of the post-war era that our parents enjoyed is still basking in all it's self absorbed glory: more is more, smoking is cool, cars are good, feminism is a long way off, want not need, lots of tat. it's all very 1950's to an impartial eye looking out at the start of a new millenium. it's still extremely disposable: a symptom of reaching the status of 'developed' country and riding out the honeymoon. whilst the pioneers who gave us the industrial revolution and tobacco lose their manufacturing and ban smoking - the new kids are still 'round the back of the bike sheds, puffing away, surrounded by advertising.

and the plastic bag remains. I thought japan was smarter than that.