Trash suffers so much at our hands. We inflict the twin insults of scorn and apathy on it, despising our refuse and really not caring too much just how it is removed from our presence. Just think how many research grants are devoted to building the better mousetrap, while we just treat our trash cans with the one size fits all philosophy. No matter how much waste we have to throw out we just cram it in as best we can into whatever receptacle is to hand. The Yukka Bin, however, is something else: an adjustable garbage can. At its standard size it has enough capacity to accommodate the average at-home-alone waste. But the can easily expands to provide enough space for an entire dinner party's leftovers with a third, still bigger size, for the real waste-generators among us. While it won't be elevating the humble garbage can to fashion accessory status, decked out in its snappy orange and white colors and with a smart, simplistic design, at least it won't stand out for the wrong reasons. Costing ¥4,778 each, details are available at cataloger.jp/shopping/productDetail.do?id=6135.
Eight hands not needed: DIY cooking gadgets seem to be a new trend in Japan. The latest installment is an at-home octopus ball-making kit from Sugiyama. While I don't exactly salivate at the thought of consuming one of the balls, many people here deem them something of a delicacy. Producing the morsels is straightforward with the kit. Just get some takoyaki mix and sauce and, not surprisingly, some octopus, scallion and ginger. Then, throw the ingredients into the device, which looks suspiciously like something you could use on eggs, and let it do the work. At ¥10,000 I guess you have to like octopus. More information is at www.sugimetal.jp/netshop/008.html.
Fame is in the cards: Hello Kitty fans are rather like an inverse secret society. They lurk in all corners but unlike the hidden ones, the feline's fans flaunt their membership of a subset of humanity, even in public. The latest offering to the diamond-core fans is a set of solid gold Hello Kitty playing cards. Using Mitsubishi Materials' precision rolling technology, the cards are pressed to a mere 7 microns, etched with the images of feline kings, queens, jacks and the other card insignia and then given a protective laminate. The beyond top-drawer decks are available from Sanrio's online shop at shop.sanrio.jp/page/inc/puregold.html with a suitably weighty price of ¥567,000.