In Tokyo, street fashion goes high-tech

TOKYO, Feb 6: Twenty-five-year-old Mari Taniuchi enters Tokyo’s ultra-hip Shibuya district and glances at a tiny computer screen bolted on her jacket sleeve.

A map of the area lights up. She sifts through information on places to eat and shop, tapping a key pad woven into her cuff, as music plays from headphones wired through her collar.

Her padded white jacket reflects the latest in Japanese streetware — a hybrid of fashion and technology that has its roots in a concept that has never quite worked: The "wearable PC".

"Our country has always been good at downsizing electronics gadgets," said Sone Michie, who created Taniuchi’s jacket in collaboration with electronics group Pioneer Corp.

Although the jacket is still under development and is not yet commercially available, fusing high-tech accessories with clothing is seen as an inevitable step in Japan’s fast-moving fashion industry.

Sone taught at Tokyo’s Bunka Fashion College until last year when she began spearheading a 30-million-yen (222,500 dollars) project to develop high-tech fashion with electronics companies like pioneer.

She hopes to design the ultimate ready-to-wear clothing that offers the functionality of cell phones, Personal Data Assistants (PDAs), laptops, mobile data network systems or MP3 players.

She admits it’s a challenge but says Japan’s twin obsessions with fashion and technology could produce a fertile market.

Attempts so far at the "Wearable PC" have been fashion flops, often built by computer engineers focused more on chips than hips and confined to factories or university laboratories.

Sone, a 64-year-old designer with bright blue dyed hair, wants the concept to gain mass appeal. She’s even coined a new term for it: "Media fashion".

"Tokyo is the only quirky market for fun fashion right now," she says.

Her biggest financial backer is the Government of GIFU prefecture of Central Japan, which hopes "media fashion" can help revive its once-booming garment towns.

She is also hoping for support for the national government.

A key challenge is to develop a water-proof fabric-like display that can be folded up without losing its functionality.

To that end, Pioneer Corp sees sone’s project as an outlet for 10 years of research on ultra-thin displays that are flexible enough to be embedded in clothing.

It plans to showcase its latest heat-proof Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) screen at a November 2002 "media fashion" show backed by GIFU prefecture.

"By then, we want to add more functions like music and cell phones to the jacket," said Pioneer’s industrial designer, Naoki Harasawa, referring to the jacket worn by Taniuchi.

"To get rid of cords and weight, we have to work on such themes as wireless technology that can transfer loads of data and batteries that can last longer," he said.

"The next challenge is washable displays."

Marketing will also be a challenge for "wearable PCs" because of their expected high price tag.

Electronics Maker Hitachi Ltd 6501.T plans to launch what it describes as "the world’s first consumer wearable PC" next month at a price of 300,000 yen ( 2,254), initially for industrial use in factories.

Hitachi’s "wearable internet appliance" includes an 80 gram (2.8 ounce) head-mounted computer screen that includes a lense covering one eye. This is wired to a battery-operated mini-PC that can be clipped onto a belt or hidden in a pocket.

It’s not exactly couture fashion. But US-based wearable PC Pioneer Xybernaut Co xybr.O , which owns patents for some hitachi product, has already started marketing it for consumers in the United States.

The aim is to give workers more flexibility while assembling products. To check a manual or the internet, information can be accessed through a wireless local area network. The mini-PC itself can be manipulated through a small hand-held device.

"I think people would wear it if Hitachi gets around to marketing it as a fashion statement," said Yoshimochi Obata, a keen fashion watcher at Tokyo-based Web Style Research Institute.

But a "wearable PC" with appeal for the masses would need to include both a portable music player and an internet-equipped mobile phone while still looking stylish, he said.

Mobile phones are already a fashion statement in Japan.

NTT Docomo Inc’s "I-mode" phones have more than 30 million subscribers. Their improving ergonomics such as multi-colour displays have helped users warm up to a mind-boggling array of functions.

"Armed with mobility and a futuristic design, wearable pcs can be Japan’s next I-mode," said Sone. (AGENCIES)

Army, LTTE begin clearing mines in Northern Vanni

COLOMBO, Feb 6: The Sri Lankan Army and the LTTE today began clearing mines in the Northern Vanni region, a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said today.

The de-mining operation began in the stretch close to Omantai, 10 km north of Vavuniya, one of the future crossing points for movement of goods and people between the army-controlled area and rebel-held territory.

A similar exercise would begin tomorrow morning at Uyilankulam, another intended crossing point on the road running from Vavuniya to Mannar, a north-western town, ICRC spokesman Arjuna Ranawana said.

"We were asked to be present both sides to facilitate communication between the parties," he said.

The main highway connecting Kandy in central Sri Lanka and the Jaffna Peninsula in the north has been closed for years and most of it, especially the northern stretch covering the Vanni hinterland and reaching up to the Elephant Pass corridor in the Peninsula, is under LTTE control.

There is only one designated cross-over point now Piramanalankulam and the Government plans to open two more points to further facilitate the easy flow of good into the impoverished Vanni region.

Despite the Government relaxing restrictions on the supply of goods as a confidence-building humanitarian measure, the people in the north are still unhappy, according to the Tamil national alliance.

In a recent resolution, the alliance said the unrestricted flow of goods had not yet brought back normalcy to the war-devastated northern region.

Fishermen in the north have been on the warpath for the last one week, demanding complete removal of restrictions on fishing off the coast. They say the Governments permission to fish for longer hours and in deeper waters thore was inadequate to pursue their traditional vocation.

Pressure is mounting on the Government to remove all curbs on fishing, as the militant fishermen continued their seige of the Jaffna district secretariat for the seventh day today.

They hoisted a black flag on Independence Day on Monday and prevented the flying of the national flag. They have also called for a hartal in Jaffna tomorrow to press their demand.

Meanwhile, state radio said Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe assured Hindu Religious Affairs Minister T Maheswaran, who represents Jaffna in Parliament, that he would consider the demand.

However, officials say the Government had its own constraints in allowing unrestricted fishing off the northern coast for security reasons.

Even the ongoing Norway-facilitated discussions with the LTTE over the modalities and terms of a proposed mutual ceasefire were reportedly being delayed over whether the truce would cover sea operations too.

According to a report in ‘The Island Daily’ today, the Governments insistence that the ceasefire should be confined to the land was being met with resistance from the LTTE.

The Government wanted to continue with naval patrolling to prevent the truce-time offloading of arms shipments by the LTTE, but the LTTE wanted no military activity involving the army, the navy or the Air Force, the report said, claiming that this was proving to be an obstacle to the signing of a ceasefire agreement. (PTI)

Indian navy to lease Russian nuclear-powered submarine

LONDON, Feb 6: India Navy will lease two Russian nuclear-powered submarines (SNNS) to meet its expanding operational responsibilities and counter the increasing Chinese presence in the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal. The lease will continue till indigenously-built nuclear-powered submarine - the Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV) - enters service, ‘Jane’s defence weekly’ has reported quoting official sources.

Indian navy will lease two Akula (Bars)-class type 971 SSNS for five years after financing their construction under an agreement currently being negotiated with rosoboronexport, Russia’s state-owned arms exporting agency, the report said.

The SSN’s are expected to enter service of the Indian Navy during 2004, although the contract is still to be approved by the Indian Government.

Reports from Moscow say the type 971 programme has been frozen because of funding problems. Fourteen submarines have been built and the last one was commissioned last December. The leasing deal with India will help Russia finance construction of the fourth generation Severodvinsk-class SSN (type 885) already underway at the Sevmash Shipyard, according to Russian sources.

Negotiations for the two type 971 SSNS gained momentum during Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s visit to Russia last November.

This deal was given added impetus following the admission by Indian navy officials that the ATV’s development faced technological and financial problems and was nowhere near completion.

The ATV design is believed to be based on the ex-soviet "Charlie" class SSN, one of which the Indian Navy leased for three years in 1988. (PTI)

China grants amnesty to pro-Dalai
Tibetans settled abroad

BEIJING, Feb 6: China has urged tibetans living in India and other countries to return and offered general amnesty for their earlier support to exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama’s campaign for the independence of Tibet.

Anyone who no longer promotes or believes in the "independence of Tibet" would be welcome even though they may have previously engaged in separatist activities, Basang, the Deputy Secretary of the Tibet Regional Committee of the ruling Communist Party of China, said. Announcing the new policy, she said that patriotism is necessary for national unity and that Tibetans residing abroad are welcome to return to their hometown for visits, sightseeing or religious activities.

However, Tibetans engaged in separatist activities will not be permitted to take advantage of the policy, she said at a regional meeting, on reception of returned Tibetans, yesterday.

China expects Tibetans living abroad to invest, donate and contribute to their hometown on a voluntary basis, she said.

Last year 408 tibetans returned home from other countries including India, Nepal, the US, Switzerland and Sweden, the report said.

According to official figures, there are over one lakh Tibetan refugees in India. (PTI)

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