Hooked on Japan's unique mobile phone straps

I am standing in a fashionable store on a fashionable street surrounded by fashionable shoppers in central Tokyo -- and I have not moved for 10 minutes. All around me, cash-rich and time -- poor shoppers run around in circles in a high-speed blur, as often happens in one of the world's fastest cities.

But for me, time stands still. Why? Because I am trying to decide whether or not to buy my first ever "keitai" (mobile phone) strap.

It has been three years since I swapped London traffic, red buses and newsrooms for a new life in Japan, filled with dreams of sushi, cherry blossoms and skyscrapers.

Since then, it's been a roller-coaster journey as I have attempted to embrace all things Japanese -- not always with success (the complex Japanese counting system continues to confuse).

But as I stand in the Tokyo store staring at the seductive little keitai strap -- made from rainbow colored plastic with a silver star -- I suddenly remember an old conversation.

Over umi-budo and Orion beers in my local Okinawa restaurant, I remember telling visiting London friends that they were under strict instructions to deport me back home if I ever (a) wore knee-high socks (I'm far too old); (b) dressed up in a maid outfit (ditto); or (c) attached piles of sparkly, shiny, jangly decorations to my mobile phone -- yes, that means keitai straps.

The concept of keitai straps is as alien to a Londoner as eating eel on a stick. In London, the golden rule for mobile phones has always been the smaller, the thinner, the sleeker -- and the more discreet -- the better.

Pink fluffy toys, monkey faces, dancing robots -- and yes, silver stars -- cannot be described as "discreet," and so my discovery of the world of keitai straps was unexpected. But in Japan, people seem to be more surprised when a mobile phone is naked than when it is weighed down with several kilos of keitai straps.

Perhaps a clue to the nation's love of these accessories lies in Japan's heritage -- such as the exquisite world of "netsuke," the mini sculptures that were collected and attached in a similar way to 17th century obi.

So maybe, I think to myself as I stand in the shop, it is not too crazy to suggest that a keitai strap is simply a postmodern netsuke for a digital generation.

And with that final thought, I pick up the keitai strap, pay for it and walk out the store. Just don't tell my friends in London -- and someone, please keep me away from knee-high socks and maid outfits. (By Danielle Demetriou)

Danielle Demetriou

Author's profile:

Danielle is a British writer and photographer based in Tokyo since September 2007. She worked as a news reporter and features writer in London for The Independent, The Evening Standard and the Daily and Sunday Telegraph.

(Mainichi Japan) October 30, 2010