Once again the inscrutable Orient challenges Western thinking, this time with its attitude towards incontinence. The Japanese have started strutting adult diapers down the fashion runway. When considering that this is a culture which simultaneously reveres age and origami, the art form of folded paper, its new fashion focus can easily be seen as a logical course of events.

In fact, there is nothing new about Japan's innovative contributions to the diaper industry. Unicharm of Japan was the first company to introduce SAP (those super absorbent polymer crystals that absorb 3X their weight in fluid) into baby diapers in the 1980's. But this recent trip down a Tokyo fashion runway was definitely a new and bold attempt to educate the public on the practicality and appropriateness of dealing with adult incontinence. Japan's citizens are known to have the longest life span in the world and currently more than 20% of its population is 65 or older. It makes sense that such a demographic be encouraged to understand the role that adult diapers can have in maintaining their dignity and independence.

Educational skits prefaced the September '08 adult diaper fashion show in downtown Tokyo, teaching why and when to wear adult diapers, what type provides the best fit for individual needs and how to actually put the absorbent underwear on. The directness of this public approach to private bodily function is a stark contrast to traditional Zen discretion. Nevertheless, it does reflect an age old Japanese appreciation of toileting comfort, involving full sensory experience and to which the writer Junichiro Tanizaki once gave marvelous insight:

Any event that brings adult diapers closer to the acceptance and grace of a "morning glory" experience has to be a step in the right direction for an aging society. Western baby boomers would do well to pay attention.