Conbini Fitness
According to Wired magazine, exercising is a big problem for Tokyo gals. Manga club meetings and cram school fill up their free time, and there’s no money for a gym membership after paying for cell phone bills and Pocky snacks.
Enter a spate of new “conbini fitness” outlets. No pain no gain–and at a mere 500 yen a shot!
That’s the exact equivalent of five McPork burgers at McDonald’s. Which do you think would be healthier? Hard to say, but it’s clear that for 1000 yen you could have five McPork burgers and then work them off too–perfect!
These health outlets offer coin-op workout stations for impulse exercising. The contraptions’ foot pads churn up and down and back and forth at up to 1,560 times per minute. (One 500 yen coin — about $4.10 — buys 10 minutes.) Maintaining your balance while you shake supposedly has an aerobic effect, though users never break a sweat. “I love that I don’t even have to change clothes,” says 17-year-old Midori Nishioka as she bounces on a conbini machine in Osaka.
Wired adds that, in case gals are worried about pervs ogling their jiggle, many of the clubs are ladies-only or feature privacy partitions.
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July 31st, 2007 at 4:50 amSomehow I think it won’t be long before “gPod” and “Conbini fitness” take supporting roles in a AV Stars video clip!. Jiggling away at 1560 boins per minute, to the muffled tones of the late Mr Barry White.
July 31st, 2007 at 7:19 amWhat a money-maker. No physical benefit at all (if you don’t sweat, you ain’t working) and far too short to have any real effect even if it was aerobic. This is just a modern version of those silly vibrating belt machines that used to be popular several decades ago – the idea that if your body moves it must be exercising.
July 31st, 2007 at 1:46 pmThose things must still be selling, OT – they’re still being advertised on cable and satellite.
July 31st, 2007 at 2:27 pmI wonder why people don’t wonder why driving around in a car doesn’t result in “dramatic weight loss!” – it shakes you around just as much if not more.
Well, I spose what ever makes you happy right?
July 31st, 2007 at 4:43 pmThere are better ways to make those gals sweat
August 1st, 2007 at 4:12 amI doubt the type of person who would join a manga club would do any real exercise anyway.
August 2nd, 2007 at 7:19 am