Japanese are a hopelessly superstitious lot.

We carry a couple of charms always, albeit discreetly 'cause we have to keep our high-tech image intact. Why? Of course, to fend off all the evils of this floating world, including (in random order) nasty traffic accidents, AIDS/SARS, chicken flu, tax man, North Korean kidnappers, and above all, that dreaded "restructuring"--a pink slip in plain language.

Kanji reads "Yu-E-Su-Bi-MaMoRi"

Yours truly, too, has two more optional charms somewhere. One of them, just hanging behind the RS232C port of my desktop, is supposed to protect the computer from untimely system failure.
Well, this charm proved not powerful enough. Got a few crashes recently.

I bought the second charm in Nigeria, the undisputed world center of sorcery. A charm against snake bite. This one is so powerful and efficient that I've never been bitten by any poisonous snakes for almost 30 years since.

Anyway, we firmly believe that even our soulless gadgets should be protected by a hyper-natural, hyper-logical force. Mere antivirus or antispyware software are simply not enough.

Not a misspelling, mind you

Now, you can have a totally secure and safe USB memory, at least. SolidAlliance Co. of Yokohama now sells USB charms encased in gorgeous brocade and ceremonial Paulownia wood box .

Its naming is a bit intriguing. "USB Mamory". Not a misspelling, I assure you. Japanese "o-mamori" means 'charm'. So, it's a bilingual pun, a good one.

512MB USB charm comes 11,780 yen (US$100), 1GB costs 20780 yen (US$176). If you want only the brocade casing, 2,980 yen (US$25).

 

cheewee
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kaisei1
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