It’s not even perpetual.

This is a solid gold 2012 calendar made to commemorate Walt Disney’s 110th birthday. It was unveiled by a jewelry maker in Ginza, Tokyo called Ginza Tanaka.

The calendar measures 41.66 cm x 66.6 cm (about 16.3” x 26.2”) and comes in a frame. The total weight of the gold is 6 kg (about 13.2 lbs). The description doesn’t specify, but since 18K is the standard for gold jewelry in Japan (14K is not really considered to be solid gold) I’m assuming the calendar is at least 18K.

The calendar costs 60 million yen, or about US $768,250.

Also available: a small 5 gram gold calendar for 45,000 yen, a 1 gram version for 11,000 yen, and a larger gold leaf calendar for 35,000 yen. (Japanese page)

Now, I have been pondering who the heck is the intended customer for this line of gold calendars. It is sort of hard to imagine a lot of Japanese customers buying these, even if Disney fandom runs deep in Japan, since they are so ostentatious. Especially not this year, the year of repeated natural disasters (besides the earthquake and tsunami, there has been record breaking flooding too) and continuing economic woes. Besides, rich Japanese people these days do not like to flaunt their wealth anymore, unlike in the show-off 1980s.

I suspect that the primary target for these calendars are wealthy Chinese customers. Ginza is apparently a mecca for Chinese tourists with money to burn - so much so that the venerable department store Mitsukoshi remade their store to appeal more to them (a move which drew a lot of criticism and ire from their Japanese customer base).

Maybe that’s the role Japan is going to play in the near future: a shiny little playground and shopping mall for rich dilettantes from other Asian countries.

Karelog, the boyfriend tracking app

A new Android app has been causing quite a bit of controversy in the Japanese media recently. The app is Karelog (カレログ); “kare” literally means “he” or “him” but in this context it means “boyfriend” - so Karelog is the Boyfriend Log app.

The cute and frilly (complete with shiny kittens) Karelog home page proclaims that installing the app on “his” cellphone enables the girlfriend remotely (via the app’s web service) check his phone’s battery status, track his positioning via GPS, and see what kind other apps are installed on there. Yep, it’s an app that helps a suspicious girlfriend (or spouse, or whomever) track the hapless “he” via his phone.

That’s already a big yipes right there. But what made it worse was that the company initially openly touted its use as a surveillance tool. What’s more, apparently the app can be ‘hidden’ so that the phone owner doesn’t know that’s it’s been installed. Double yipes.

After quite a storm of media controversy, the Karelog website now says quite prominently that “even if you are very close [to the phone owner] you stil need their express permission to remotely track their data, otherwise you will be violating their right to privacy and may be arrested”, etc etc. The “great as a surveillance tool!” type stuff has been removed. The marketing text now proclaims it’s a “relationship-aid app” “so you can always feel at ease when you’re apart” “for the couple that wants to stay close, all the time!” Still, it’s quite obvious to anyone what this app is capable of - and who in their right mind would let anyone else install it on their phone? Totally spineless husbands and boyfriends who are that desparate to hang onto the girl?

The app is still available on the Android market (which is apparently not closely monitored in the way the iPhone App store is. Note, I don’t have an Android phone, so I’m just repeating what the media is saying.)

Well, what do you think of this app? Would you use it - especially if you think you could get away with your boyfriend (or girlfriend) not knowing it was there? I certainly wouldn’t…and if my spouse or boyfriend did that to me, that would be the end, no questions asked. In a way though I’m not surprised that it exists - and, if Karelog is forced to stop marketing themselves openly, it may still sell well in some underground fashion.

• Karelog website (J)