When many parts of the country under the sting of sweat in the summer air, an unpleasant and shackled by the restrictions on the use of electricity, demand has increased for items that can provide relief from the sting of summer - that never stops.
Two electric fans in the jacket can be controlled to draw air at different speeds, thus giving it the appearance of bulging underwear. But that does not make a broken spirit who preferred to feel cooler than the "hot" when it comes to fashion.
"I work in a very hot and should wear long-sleeved clothing, so I came to buy it to keep it cool and prevent heat stroke," said Ryo Igarashi (33), when he left office Kuchofuku after buying an "air-conditioned jacket ",
Igarashi said the clothes were offering him a sense of relief in the construction of a hot spot, where he, by chance, install air conditioning in buildings, AFP reported on Tuesday. Nearly 1,000 companies in Japan use Kuchofuku, including the giant automobile, steel makers, food companies and construction companies.
Among other products, the company also sells mattresses and pillows are air conditioned system using a plastic mesh that allows air to patents and spin while supporting the weight of the human body. All these products have additional importance since the closure of nuclear power plants Fukushima Daiichi, which was paralyzed by the tsunami. The importance of the product is also sticking with the issuance of government decree which requires companies in Tokyo and Tohoku in northern Japan to reduce electricity usage by 15 percent to avoid blackouts.
Ideas such as "Super Cool Bus" encourages employees to throw a jacket and tie on and off air conditioning, while the energy-saving efforts have also triggered a demand for tools that can cool the air. Import electric fan through the port of Tokyo reached a record high in May, and jumped 70 percent from a year earlier so 1.24 million units, according to the customs office.
Fan in Kuchofuku jacket connected with a pack of lithium-ion battery that lasts 11 hours each time it is used. Fan it just takes a bit of electricity used by conventional air conditioning, the company president said Hiroshi Ichigaya. Ichigaya said apparel products offer settlement counter-intuitive: that with longer wear it, one can feel much cooler than not wearing it.
"Many people are now trying to wear as little clothing in activities such as Super Cool Biz, but more often memakain Kuchofuku, so it makes people feel much cooler," said Ichigaya told AFP.
A total of 20 liters of air per second spin through the jacket and out through the collar and the extra arm, and dry the sweat and make the wearer feel cooler. The notion of "personal air conditioning" comes to mind Ichigaya - Sony engineer for two decades until the early 1990s - when he was trying to find air conditioning that would use less electricity. "There is an idea in my mind that we do not need to make cool an entire room, the important people in it feel cool," he said.
Kuchofuku, which was first launched in 2004, specifically appealing the request of various factory and construction site but the company recently had to face the demand from office workers and households. Standard air-conditioned jackets priced at around 11,000 yen (140 dollars), and others are worth much more expensive.
A government official recently approached the company to buy half a million a jacket, but Ichigaya said he should be denied the offer because the company could not drive production just in time to meet that demand.
The company will sell as many as 40,000 jackets, pillows and other products that are air conditioned this year, double the number last year, Ichigaya said. He added that sales will exceed 80,000 if he can produce quite a lot.