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Politics : Ask Michael Burke -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Yogizuna who wrote (98554)	4/16/2003 7:46:29 PM
From: Thomas M.	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 132070

mdn.mainichi.co.jp Golden feces wipes smile on Japanese faces By Ryan Connell Staff Writer April 16, 2003 Some may pooh-pooh the claim, but with over 2 million sold, golden turds are the latest hit consumer product to raise a stink in fad fetish Japan, according to Shukan Asahi (4/25). Ryukodo, a Kyoto-based decoration manufacturer, has trouble pushing out enough of its golden turds to keep up with demand. The blistering pace at which they've sold since hitting souvenir stores and clothing outlets across Japan since June 2000 seems to vindicate the old adage that nothing is as grossly overrated as awful sex and nothing as underrated as laying a decent log. Supposedly lucky charms, golden turds weigh just under 2 grams and their curl gives them a height of some 1.2 centimeters. Rather than appearing scatological, they're cute little dollops of dung, which first made them a hit among high schoolgirls. "I bought loads of them and gave them to each member of my family as a souvenir," a schoolgirl who developed a feel for the fake feces she bought while on a school trip to Nagasaki tells Shukan Asahi. "I tied the one I bought for myself on the end of my mobile phone." Since the end of last year, sales have been far from bogged down. Instead, they've skyrocketing as growing numbers of housewives and salarymen scramble to get their hands on these nuggets. "With the world as bleak as it is nowadays, we wanted to come up with a product that would get people laughing," the golden turds' creator, Ryukodo president Koji Fujii, tells Shukan Asahi, giving the poop on why his products are far from being just mere crap. "Nobody in the world would get angry if somebody gave them one of our turds as a souvenir and just seeing them presented would lighten up the whole atmosphere. It's been over two years since we really first started selling them, but I reckon the world has become an even darker place in that time." Golden turds as sold with a decorative red cushion for 2,000 yen apiece, with versions attached to an 8-centimeter-long string going for just 250 yen more, putting them well within the budget of the average traveler. Ryukodo is the biggest loser in the decorative doo-doo business, though, as the poop is painted with gold paint and the ceramic base they're made of is kilned at low heat for a long time, eating away at its margins. Current versions include turds with funny faces painted on them, and others that emit a fragrance, though the odor let off is highly unlikely to be anything like the real thing. Ryukodo employees are currently scratching their heads over how to come up with more ideas for other shitty products. Although the company never initially intended to do so, following enormous demand from the corporate sector, Ryukodo has since April 20 been selling life-sized golden turds 7 centimeters tall and weighing 100 grams. "I'm a wonderful example that these turds bring good luck," Ryukodo's Fujii tells Shukan Asahi. "As long as the world has doom and gloom, I believe there'll always be a place for products that can spark people's urge to play around. The dirty and disgusting have an ability to brighten people up."