Little things that connect to history – cellphone straps

I’m backkk!

I’m sure most of us are familiar with the cute little cellphone straps that are attached to many cellphones of the Japanese people, and even us Singaporeans are catching on to the fashion.

You have your regular cellphone strap… (haha yea that’s mine ^__^)

…and the kind of straps that probably weigh even more than the cellphone (picture from here)

And in harajuku and some fashionable parts of Japan, it is not uncommon to see foxtail straps hanging from their shorts (picture from this link). The winter version would probably the girls in the exact same outfit, except now with an extra coat and a thin layer of stockings. I don’t know if they are cold or not, but I get cold just by LOOKING at them >.<

However, not all people are into the craze of attaching cute little thingums onto their stuff: I heard from my American friends that in America, there is no such widespread culture, correct me if I’m wrong.

Anyway, I was surprised to learn in my Japanese history class earlier today that there is a historical background to miniature objects attached to stuff. Here are some of the traditional-looking purses from wayyyy back.

(Picture with credits to this link)

(Picture with credits to this link)

The red circled portion are the cute little balls attached to the purses in the old times of Japan. During the Edo period, traditional garments had no pockets, and small little objects called netsuke (often of prized craftsmanship) were attached to the purses which are then fastened onto their clothing.

(Picture with credits to this link)

It’s funny how some things that we have today and how some of our unconscious thinking and behaviour actually traces back to the thinking of our ancestors, and the study of Japanese cultural history (sieving through the Japanese professor’s broken English) has allowed me to notice some relevant trends, I think (but some trends somewhat controversial and unconfirmed so I decided not to post it here we can hang out and talk about it if you want to ). I think I’ve just scrapped the surface of lots more to discover, so things are just getting interesting!

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