As women who don't get out of work until after midnight and have to then walk home alone, us copy deskers know a little about the uneasiness accompanying that solo venture.
But while we're comforted by the cool plastic of a pepper spray case, Japanese women can now ease their anxiety with their actual clothing, The New York Times reported Monday.
Aya Tsukioka, a Japanese fashion designer, has come up with the "novel" idea of how to ease women's fears of becoming a victim of crime on the dangerous streets of Tokyo.
Tsukioka has created a skirt that lifts up into a sheet with a full size picture of a vending machine on it -- yes, a vending machine. If a lone woman walking down the street senses she's in danger, she can step to the side, lift her skirt and become a vending machine.
Forms of urban camouflage, such as the vending machine skirt, are cropping up around Japan to ease the anxiety of the city dwellers.
One other notable item is the "manhole bag" -- a purse that unfolds to look like a sewer cover to cover valuables from a would-be thief.
And these new "technologies" aren't just for adults -- a line of "stab-proof" high school uniforms has also been created using the same material of Kevlar vests. Oh, how we long for the days we could stab our fellow students in peace.
Although the ideas may seem silly to us crime-hardened Americans (and even more so to us cynical journalists) the creators argue that they demonstrate a main difference between our two cultures.
While I know us girls on copy desk would scream bloody murder and then possibly (hopefully) knee any potential perp wherever it hurts, Tsukioka said her design capitalizes on the fact that the Japanese would prefer to avoid a scene. In fact, her idea stemmed from the practice of ninjas cloaking themselves in all black.
That's all well and good, but we have to ask: Do the people owning these ridiculous things actually think they're going to fool an attacker? It reminds us of when a rabbit freezes up in the face of a predator, thinking not moving will prevent it from being seen. No matter how convincing a skirt-turned-vending-machine is made to look, it's a safe bet someone chasing you will notice when it appears out of nowhere.
The kids' version, a backpack that turns into a Japanese-style fire hydrant, is even less practical. It only covers the top half of the body, a genius plan that may tip off an attacker when he or she stops to consider why a fire hydrant is being supported by legs.
Japanese culture is pretty cool, but seriously; first anime and now this. I will, however, admit that they could find a sweet niche market in the rest of the world for these products -- as Halloween costumes. Screw the French maid; I'm going to be Coke machine. Exact change only, please.