You May Harm Yourself

Ayumi Hamasaki for One Day Acuvue

I generally don't like to make generalizations, but generally speaking, Japanese people put a lot of money and effort into looking good, generally. A unique aesthetic is reflected in all things here, from the looped recording at Shibuya Station telling you not to "run up or down the escalator; you may harm yourself and/or others," in a voice that sounds more hopeful than cautionary, to pop songbird Ayumi Hamasaki (right), who often appears on TV hawking digital cameras and is regarded by many as "beautiful" (but is regarded by me as "E.T. with hair extensions").

As the illustration at right...uhr, illustrates, Japan will soon have one more weapon of mass destruction in the war on homeliness. Following a recent trend in South Korea, Johnson & Johnson is set to release OneDay Acuvue Define, a cosmetic contact lens that increases the apparent diameter of one's iris. Now you, too, can look like Astro Boy.