URAWAZA - LEARNING JAPANESE FOR THE ECONOMIC DOWNTURN

I recently read a New York Times article entitled Low Tech Fixes for High Tech Problems that tickled my fancy. It was about Urawaza and it reminded me of why I wrote about my favorite magazine, ReadyMade in an earlier post. It's more of what that magazine tries to do which is offer helpful instructions for everyday life.

Urazawa are handy little techniques to solve common problems using whatever is lying around.
I think of them as the modern version of Heloise's Hints, which those of us of a certain age remember growing up with: kind of the common man or woman's way to solve daily inconveniences in simply and easily, often with everyday objects.

Lisa Katayama, who writes the blog tokyomango.com, has compiled an entire book of them.

It's called
Urazawa: Secret Everyday Tips and Tricks from Japan lists loads of effective techniques

Here are a few examples: Need to clean a leather jacket? Use a banana. Improve your skin? Bring an umbrella into the bathroom. Even get that club stamp from last night off your hand with a special technique. There are over a hundred different tricks.

Urawaza gives you a lot of fun tips for your everyday living. Here are a sampling:

THE ORIGINAL VIRAL VIDEO: How to fold a t-shirt in split seconds:



Here is Lisa showing you some Urawaza to help you get dried candle wax off your floor:


and finally this amazing way to quiet a crying baby. It's in Japanese, which actually makes it even more fun to watch! Enjoy!


This trick alone makes me want to buy the book!