The Vegetabrella is an umbrella that looks like the head of a romaine lettuce. It’s name is a combination of the two words “vegetable” and “umbrella”. When closed it has a very realistic resemblance to a romaine salad head. When opened it becomes a normal umbrella in light green. It is equipped with a small bag in the same green fabric as the umbrella. The ribbon to keep it closed reminds those found on salads in Japanese supermarkets. The Vegetabrella is sold in a carton box that also resembles Japanese salad boxes. Overall it is a really well designed and fully functional product.

The stereotype of the Japanese salaryman is well known all over the world. A groups of 7 young men is dancing and singing as a group of Japanese salarymen moving in synchronized slow motion. They mostly feature situations very familiar to the Japanese salaryman. The group is lead by Genki Sudo who is a retired Japanese martial arts and wrestling champion, writer and now performance artist. World Order combines its music and the choreography  to create amazing music videos.

Japanese Kimono and Obi-belts are known for their rich designs and represent the heart of traditional Japanese culture. African designer Serge MOUANGUE who works and lives in Japan saw an analogy to African traditional patterns and initiated the WAFRICAproject to bring these two worlds together. The word WAFRICAcombines the Japanese word WA 和, which means Japanese, and the word Africa. This perfectly represents the marriage of Japan and Africa intended from the WAFRICAproject.

Kami Fusen, the traditional Japanese paper Balloons

These are Japanese paper balloons – or kamifusen. Made of sturdy waxed paper, these cute little balloons ship flat and can be inflated (and reinflated when needed) with a simple puff. Kamifusen were actually originally designed as toys for children and used for a casual sort of volleyball, but nowadays also are used for decoration purposes.