Just the Christmas gift for the Japanese person in your life

Had a browse through the JR East in-carriage shopping catalogue on the weekend. While containing more or less the same kind of er... crap that you find in western shopping catalogues, a couple of uniquely Japanese (perhaps) items grabbed my attention.

First there is the triangular cushion that makes sitting in the 'Seiza' position more comfortable. 'Seiza' literally means 'correct sitting position'. This involves sitting with bent knees with your feet under your bottom. If you don't think that is a particularly painful way to sit for long periods of time, perhaps you should ask these guys.



The second is the 'Desk Pillow'. This is pretty self explanatory, but beggars the question - if you are that tired, why don't you just go home? The seiza cushion also deifies logic to an extent. Instead of making it more comfortable to sit in the seiza position, why not just change your sitting position? The reason of course is that Japanese society/culture necessitates that people put up with the particular behaviour. That said, I'm not sure if the desk cushion will catch on!