Because of the rapid technological advances in Japan, an extensive miniaturization culture has developed. For example, a foldable umbrella whose size is just a quarter of usual umbrella has been developed, not to mention miniaturization in cellular telephony. With a regard to the Zen ethic, some call this 'minimalization' with an example being bonsai.

It is interesting to note that miniaturization also occurs in living spaces, such as hotels for business workers which are often the size of a single cubicle, occurs due to technological advances and by the strong concern for space in heavily populated areas. Also the fact that natural disasters such as earthquakes and typhoons could occur at any given time has pushed this effort to reduce the number of belongings for a quick rebuild. Historically, this was most notable in Edo where a house on fire was compared to a brawl, something fun to watch from a distance but not fun at all if you are involved in it.

With the expansion of all cultures, a slang language often develops. In Japanese, for instance, a personal computer is called "pasokon", taking "paso" from "personal" and "con" from "computer". Other examples are "ikemen", "maji", "goukon", "tetare", "Toudai", "Gakuin", "jihan", "jitte", "anpo" and so on. Many words from politics and electricity are shortened in society. "Ikemen" stands for "iketeru otoko" means "nice guy" in English, and "maji" stands for "majimeni" which means "seriously".

An integration of certain services such as post and grocery services is also a consequence of this miniaturization culture. For instance, if a Japanese person wanted to send a parcel to a friend living far away, he or she used to have to walk to the post office. However, now in Japan an amalgamated service called "connvini", which stands for "convenience store", provides everything from parceling services to utility payment. The connvini also helps in printing photos, getting movie and concert tickets, grocery services and much more.

The Art of Miniaturization

• Tamiya