No matter how stressful and hectic life gets something always comes around to lighten things up. It hits when you least expect it and you’ve just got to laugh out loud and enjoy doing so. Hence this picture. I was sitting in a car staring out the window and being just a bit too serious. Then literally out of the blue comes this thing. This car is a corporate campaign character called “ぴちょんくん” (Pichokun). The vehicle is for the Daikin Air-Conditioner company’s Eco Seed project. These cars distribute sunflower seeds to people all over Japan and their aim is to deliver seed packages to 100,000 people. The premise is that sunflowers consume a large amount of C02, thus making the environment greener. Who ever dreamed up this hare-brained idea had good sense to them as these character cars seem to have a positive energy about them. All along the highway this car was turning heads, having people snap impromptu mobile phone camera shots, and causing a lot of pointing. I’m not sure what the Daikin Company is all about and if their products are indeed greener. I’m not even the least bit interested in plugging or endorsing these guys via my blog. What I can say is that seeing this thing rolling down road was funny. As life here has been somewhat intense lately this was a much welcomed distraction. With that in mind I took it easy today.
Linh Vien Thai is Amerasian, born in Dalat, South Vietnam, where he continued to lived during the war. He left for the U.S. and is now an American living in Tokyo. He enjoys adventure traveling and doing what’s right to make the world a better place.
