from terremoto.net

"Kansei is a japanese term where the syllable kan means sensitivity and sei means sensibility. It is used to express the quality of an object for producing pleasure through its use. "

It's things like that, and perhaps this that make me think sometime in this century, we are going to wake up and find that the Japanese have become the tastemakers of the world.

I recall one of the Japanese auto manufacturers (Mazda?) used to run ads extolling the firm's "kansei engineering," which I mentally translated to something close to (but beyond) "ergonomics," something like "pleasure in use." Since I don't know any Japanese it appears that they did a good job of communicating the meaning of the term.

Coincidentally, or not, this was shortly after Volkswagen had run those famous spots featuring the word "fahrvergnugen," which I mentally translated to something close to (but beyond) "ergonomics," something like "pleasure in use."

Tog (http://www.asktog.com) talks about Kansei in one of his books. It makes a lot of sense. Ever since then I've been carrying around his description in my palm pilot.

mmm, "pleasure in use"...

yummy!

mmm, "pleasure in use"...

yummy!

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