Suit Up

In the news...Japan creates a suit to ward off swine flu.

When it comes to trends, the Japanese do it best. Whether it is Luis Vuitton handbags or vitamin IV-drips, the children of the rising sun like being swept away. And what more than a global pandemic to create a new hype? It seems like the enthusiasts at the Haruyama Trading Co. thought just that and gave the world the very first anti-swine flu suit.

Whether it is our well-developed cynicism or pathological fear of ridicule, but it is difficult to imagine westerners going to such lengths to avoid infections as do the Japanese. Could you imagine businessmen walking into meetings with a medical mask on? Or queueing up in front of the office for a splash of disinfectant? Or paying $500 for a suit that allegedly kills bacteria? Even the doctor at the Tokyo British Clinic, who is surely used to idiosyncrasies, gave CNN a nervous laugh at the idea.

But we are still just a bit curious about how this miracle cure. Well, 40% protection, rather, but nevertheless. The active agent is titanium dioxide. For the chemically challenged among us this is far from a Eureka moment, and not that the manufacturers are eager to explain the details. Apparently, TiO2 is a white pigment used mostly in food colouring, toothpaste and paints. Evading technical details, it has been widely used, for example, in self-cleaning glass and sunscreen. My immediate reaction was the image of viruses being blinded by the unsurpassed brightness and whiteness - much like a 32-tooth smile in a Colgate ad. But although the suit is black and its workings are much more scientific, in essence that I wasn’t too far off.

Compared with Australia and the United States, Japan remained relatively spared by swine flu. Perhaps if things had been more serious, no one would have had the time to spice up the dress code. Like in South Africa, for instance, where over 5m - or 10% of the population - are living with AIDS, a flu outbreak doesn’t seem to send shivers down too many spines. Although it probably should, given what a common flu can do to someone with HIV AIDS. But every nation seems to deal with a crisis differently. Americans queue up for vaccinations. Egyptians do not know what to do with all the waste downtown Cairo, now that they have slaughtered the pigs that used to feed on it. The Japanese are suiting up. It may be one world, but each bit spins off in its very own fashion.