Cutting edge fashion or beat up by a doughnut machine?

My girlfriend sent me a video yesterday showing the new Japanese body modification trend of saline injections into the forehead.  Bagel-heads they’re calling them.

Now, if you’ve seen my show, you know I’m all about people who have the guts to buck the trend and be a little different looking from other people.  But as we all know, the Japanese love to take different to the extreme.  In this bagel-head thing they inject about 400cc on saline into your forehead with a big ‘ol needle.  Your forehead swells up so you look like a Star Trek character.  Then some dude smushes his thumb into the middle of your head lump so it looks like you have some sort of alien bagel growth on your head.

And it makes me want to throws lox at their faces.

Actually, to me, it looks more like a glazed Krispy Kreme.  And it could be the thing that helps me finally kick the Krispy Kreme addiction.

It’s very temporary too.  Your body absorbs the saline in 16-24 hours and your head goes back to normal.  Well, the outside does anyway.  The inside probably needs some work.  I don’t know how much people are paying to have this done, but somebody is going to make a killing on it.

I’ll admit, I don’t get it.  Most Japanese fashion statements are usually of the cute/sexy/wish I were white style.  Looking like you have a custard filled tumor on your forehead doesn’t make sense.  What guy is going to see that and think, “Man, I’ll spread some cream cheese on her bagel.”

At the same time I have to applaud the Japanese sense of play.  They constantly push the boundaries of taste and logic with new looks and new products.  Many of which make no sense at all.  Just spend a few minutes in a Daiso store and you’ll see.  For the most laughs, visit one of their stores in person and just read the English translated text on the back of packages.  It’s better than a Mel Brooks film, I swear.

So does this sense of “What the hell!  Let’s try it!” give them an advantage in real product development too?  I think so.  See, here’s the thing.  As a comedian or songwriter, you write a ton of garbage before you get to the gold.  Every comic has volumes of jokes no one will see.  Every songwriter, a trunk of unfinished garbage songs.  But going through those motions helps you find the stuff that actually makes the stage.

Japan’s Harajuku Street is that trunk of garbage.  Pushing the boundaries of fashion and technology to its outer limits until they find something the rest of the world will like. Who says they don’t figure out a way to use this to help disfigured people look more normal?

Or maybe they’ll just keep doing stupid shit to their bodies.