Cool, dude

I'm in LA! But before I left, I put together a round-up for Japan Pulse of products made to keep you cool. If you look back through the last few posts there, you'll find cool clothes, cool foods, how people feel about cool clothes, and official national policy on what to wear to beat the heat. Are we unfairly painting Tokyo as a city obsessed with the temperature? From this sunny, breezy back yard, I say no. The first thing I noticed when I woke up today is that it wasn't hot. My suitcase looks like it was packed for a trip to a desert. Even though I'd checked the weather forecast, from Tokyo, I couldn't imagine it not being oppressively hot and humid. With occasional bursts of chill. Getting into an airconditioning blast when it's that sticky out feels like going underwater with a tank of oxygen. Even though you can breathe, you don't forget that you're wrapped up in a temporary reprieve from an inhospitable environment.

Anyway, my favorite find of the warehouse of wraps, fans, creams, shades, sprays, gel cushions, bath salts and hair gels was this thing, Neck Fresh, a mentholated sticker that goes across your neck to cool down at least that patch of your neck for up to eight hours. Nothing too new about that, but the packages are great. The 70's-guy cartoons are the "new guy," the "sexy section head" and the "dandy president." They wear fresh citrus, sexy musk and dandy green. And you know my suitcase is full of them.