Gullible gaijin seem to be ready to swallow just about anything weird they hear about Japan, and if the whopper is dressed up with terms like “unique Japanese sensibilities” and “ninja,” AND if it comes from the mouth of a living, breathing Japanese person, they gobble it up hook, line, sinker, rod, reel, wading boots, and picnic basket. Even if they work for The New York Times.

That’s precisely what seems to have happened to Martin Fackler in a news article where he suggests that Japanese people are so terrified of crime that they are ready to resort to ninja tactics in order to hide from the baddies prowling the streets of Tokyo in search of easy prey.

On a narrow Tokyo street, near a beef bowl restaurant and a pachinko parlor, Aya Tsukioka demonstrated new clothing designs that she hopes will ease Japan’s growing fears of crime.

Deftly, Ms. Tsukioka, a 29-year-old experimental fashion designer, lifted a flap on her skirt to reveal a large sheet of cloth printed in bright red with a soft drink logo partly visible. By holding the sheet open and stepping to the side of the road, she showed how a woman walking alone could elude pursuers — by disguising herself as a vending machine.

Another anti-crime Japanese “invention” that Mr. Fackler says reflects a “peculiarly Japanese sensibility” is something called a “manhole bag.”

[T]he “manhole bag” [is] a purse that can hide valuables by unfolding to look like a sewer cover. Lay it on the street with your wallet inside, and unwitting thieves are supposed to walk right by.

Right. . . Put your wallet and valuables inside a bag that you lay on the street.

What a peculiarly Japanese sensibility!

Anyway, if Mr. Fackler had taken the time to do a simple GOOGLE on the term “vending machine skirt,” he would have found that this “invention” is nothing more than the repackaging of a story that made the rounds on the Internet back in 2005.

Thanks to Dr. Professor and Len Cullum