Free Umbrellas In Shibuya

[Mulboyne]

The Japan Umbrella Promotion Association reckons that the country buys around 120 million umbrellas a year with plastic vinyl models making about half that number. A group worried about the huge numbers which end up in the bin after little use has started up a new project called Shibu Kasa which will offer free umbrella rental in the Shibuya area. Users are then encouraged to return them to participating shops where they will get a credit in the form of "Earth Day Money" which can then be used in the same shops. The credit works out at about 50 yen. Supporters of the project took to the streets yesterday to promote the scheme.

[omae mona]

The Japan Umbrella Promotion Association reckons that the country buys around 120 million umbrellas a year with plastic vinyl models making about half that number. A group worried about the huge numbers which end up in the bin after little use has started up a new project called Shibu Kasa which will offer free umbrella rental in the Shibuya area.

The reason they end up in the bin after little use is that if somebody near you so much as sneezes, the umbrella ends up looking like this:

Users are then encouraged to return them to participating shops where they will get a credit in the form of "Earth Day Money" which can then be used in the same shops. The credit works out at about 50 yen. Supporters of the project took to the streets yesterday to promote the scheme.

Unless they accept broken umbrellas and have a plan to recycle them, I don't see how anybody will get to the store in time to return it!

[Iraira]

Perfect place for me to eulogize my dear departed golf umbrella, which bit the dust during the last gust of wind from the last typhoon that hit Tokyo this summer. Obtained the Fucker when a friend of mine who worked at Macy's in Orange County did some weird "Oh, you'd like to return this, wink wink" about 10 years ago. Brought it to Japan about 5 years ago. Airport security spent a good 5 minutes "analyzing" it for possible residue. I shaved off my rabies-inspired goatee afterwards. The thing was a sight to behold, never allowing so much as a drop of rain to hit me and my sacred flesh during even the worst that nature could unleash.
Alas, the elements and rust took their toll on the Fucker, and as I was steps away from the station (I think in August), a gust struck and the Fucker flipped 180 degrees upward. I found a cemetary of discarded, deceased white plastic umbrellas and gently laid the Fucker down amongst them. Peaceful they looked, knowing that together, they would be carted off to China or North Korea, where they would do no good during the next flood season that would kill >10,000 second hand umbrella weilding people.

[Charles]

Those cheap umbrellas work well in some contexts. Here are some pics of Miss China (now Miss World 2007)

[succubusqueen]

I'd rather take an abandoned umbrella from any other building...then to rent them!!:evil:

[Adhesive]

Heck, I've been using a free version of this rental system for years...I guess that makes me one of them Environmental Activist.

[Iraira]

Those cheap umbrellas work well in some contexts. Here are some pics of Miss China (now Miss World 2007)

When did she die of starvation? A butterfly landing on her forearm would send her to the hospital with a compound fracture.

[gomichild]

Heck, I've been using a free version of this rental system for years...I guess that makes me one of them Environmental Activist.

Me too! I thought we already had this in place.

[IkemenTommy]

The train station at where I used to live used to have the "adopt-an-umbrella" program where in theory after you use it, you're supposed to return it. I don't see that anymore so I guess they figured that people never returned the umbrellas and the program went to shit.

[Mulboyne]

A slightly underwhelming "guerilla performance" took place on Shibuya's scramble crossing today as around 100 people stopped and opened green plastic umbrellas. This appears to be more like how the organizers imagined it would look.

[succubusqueen]

A 100 umbrellas....I dont think so!:confused:

[Mulboyne]

Asahi: When it rains, Shibuya has got you covered

There's nothing so irritating as getting caught in the rain without an umbrella. And that explains the rush to combini stores when the heavens open up. Each plastic umbrella costs only a few hundred yen. But once the rain stops, what happens to those cheap umbrellas? Many people often seem to lose them after using them just once or twice. On a clear day in December, a group of students paraded through Tokyo's bustling Shibuya entertainment district holding open umbrellas. There wasn't a raindrop in sight. It was part of the "Shibukasa" campaign to promote the reuse of such umbrellas. The name is a melding of Shibuya and kasa, the Japanese word for umbrella. The group started with a modest 50 used umbrellas collected from convenience stores and other spots where they had been abandoned...more...