The Lap Pillow

Japanese Pillow

Are the Japanese finally running out of good ideas? This could be the beginning of their fall from manufacturing dominance. :)

TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) -- Single or lonely Japanese men may get lucky this Christmas.

One popular item for holiday shoppers is the "lap pillow", with skin-colored polyurethane calves folded under soft thighs -- a comfy cushion for napping, reading or watching television.

The 9,429 yen ($90) pillow, which comes with one red and one black skirt, went on sale in late November and maker Trane says shipments have reached 3,000 in just a few weeks.

"We created this item to help tired people relax," said Makoto Igarashi, Trane's managing director.

Care was taken with details such as the softness of the thighs, panty lines on the pillow's "backside" and wrinkles in the lap of the skirt so as to make the pillow look and feel as real as possible.