For me, more mesmerizing – for those who are still strangers to that country, that is – than the fact that they not only decide but manage to turn a fungus into a huge emo-marketing relational tool for a major telecom company, or even that they still go on a night out on the town to bang the drums to the rythm of the theme song of a cartoon hero made out of bean jam, that is over 50 years old – remember Ampaman? – is the fact that, eventhough they’re already pushing towards the 4th and 5th generation keitais – whereas Apple’s iPhone lags behind as a 2.5G – the Japanese still manage to keep their mobiles design savvy, fun, usable and totally pimped out with every marketeers and techie guy’s dream functions, such as the ever so usefull PM or CL codes.(3D or QR codes – if you have no idea what these are I suggest you check it out at symblogogy.blogspot.com)

Four years after the Japanese have been turning pre-digital era adverts into something live and connected by simply pointing their phone at one of such codes and snapping a photo, these have finally hit Europe – or well…the Uk. Let’s see how it goes! Can’t wait to once again stumble upon people on the street checking out if they want to buy the latest album release by dowloading a 20sec preview directly from the outdoor passively hovering over the closest bus stop, a box of cookies or magazine page and going “look mum, no IP needed!”.