Hang in There, MADE IN JAPAN

Japanese products are highly valued and recognized around the world, but I do have doubts about their use of color, their button labeling, and their signal sounds.

For example, if the red and blue markings on the cold-and-hot-water taps at the kitchen sink and in the bath became more stylish colors, the look would change and brand power would rise, I feel.

Just by simplifying the button labeling on electrical appliances—so excessively complex, crowded with characters and cluttered—and making it easy to understand, they’d feel more intelligent, easier to use, and more wonderful, wouldn’t they?

If the signal sounds of rice cookers and water heaters became flavorful, wonderful sounds, you’d feel a total beauty no less than the quality itself.

The appearance of a Japanese maker called BALMUDA, which clears this challenge and creates its products, makes me feel a bright future for Japanese manufacturing. To enjoy a thing, without emotion that resonates in the five senses, even something superb in function feels dull to me.