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Japan's toy maker Takara employee Nozomi Saeki displays
bean plants with messages such as 'Good luck,' sprouted from a
can. The plants also bloom to read 'I love
you.'(AFP) | |
Japanese people who are too shy to work up the courage to say "I Love
You," or at least want a little surprise, have a new option: a bean plant
that sprouts to read a special message.
Japan's second largest toy maker Takara will on February 10 start
nationwide marketing of the gift cans, which hold soil and the small plant
bearing a message that sprouts up in about five days.
It offers six different messages, which are inscribed through a laser
beam, with one side of the bean carrying words such as "I Love You" and
"Good Luck!" and the other side a smiley face.
Known as "Ma Mail," a pun
on the Japanese word for bean "ma-me," the product can be used as "a new
type of message card to convey your feelings to your loved ones," Takara
said in a statement.
Another toy maker, Tomy, offers its own version of message beans set in
a calcium-made white egg that "hatches" soon after it is put in water.
"You can have the fun of fortune telling as you don't know what message
will come out until the bean sprouts," Tomy said, adding the egg would
also be suitable for a gift as this is the Chinese zodiac year of the
cock.
The bean cracks open through the egg and shows French-language messages
such as "Avec toi!" ("With you!") and "C'est la vie!" ("That's life!") on
one side and Japanese words of encouragement on the other.
The bean splits open to grow true leaves which usually cling to the
stem for about a month, Tomy said. The egg will go on sale on February 24.
Both Takara and Tomy aim at sales of one million units for the initial
year, with the price tag set at 714 yen and 798 yen (6.85 and 7.65
dollars) respectively.
(Agencies) |
那些過于羞澀而沒有勇氣說出“我愛你”，或者想要一點驚喜的日本人現在有了新的選擇：一種發芽后帶有特殊信息的豆類植物。
2月10日起，日本第二大玩具制造商Takara將把這種禮品罐推向全國市場，罐內有土和一小株帶有信息的植物，大約5天后發芽。
這種豆類植物能夠提供6種不同的信息，通過激光把各種信息刻在豆芽上，豆芽的一側刻有“我愛你”、“祝好運”之類的話語，另一側則是一個笑臉。
這種產品名為Ma
Mail，是日語中豆子一詞ma-me（發音相同）的雙關語。Takara公司在一份聲明中說，這種產品可以作為“一種新的消息卡片，向你愛的人傳情達意”。
另一家玩具制造商Tomy也推出了自己的“信息豆”，這種信息豆被放置在鈣制白色雞蛋里，一放到水中不久便會“孵化”。
Tomy公司說：“你可以體驗猜測的樂趣，因為豆子發芽之前你不知道里面會是何種信息。”另外今年是中國十二生肖中的雞年，雞蛋是恰到好處的禮物。
豆子從雞蛋中破殼而出，一側刻有諸如Avec toi!（在一起）或C'est la
vie!（這就是生活）這樣的話語，另一側則是用日語寫著勵志的話語。
Tomy公司說，豆子破殼而出后會長出真正的葉子，通常能夠依附在莖上生長約1個月。這種雞蛋將從2月24日起對外出售。
Takara和Tomy公司第一年的銷售目標都是100萬件。產品的價格分別是714日圓（6.85美元）和798日圓(7.65美元)。
（中國日報網站譯） |
Updated: 2005-02-11 08:24