You Need to Lose a Few Pounds

Why Chibi is the Way of the Future

Chibi became a part of my vocab within a week in the elementary schools in Japan (for a quick visual of the traditional meaning of the word, take a look at this page. Be careful. Your eyes might pop out of your head, anime-style.)

I’m taking the word chibi one step beyond the “small/cute” dichotomy as it’s traditionally applied to children and small people. I’ve extended it to refer to small things, small things in packages or tiny things well-compartmentalized. Chibi is linked, in my mind, to the store MUJI which changed the way I shop for good. Tiny plastic containers, compact toothbrushes, more plastic. When you walk into a MUJI store you’re put at ease by the smooth jazz on the overhead speakers, the muted colors of the clothing and the sheer amount of plastic. Plastic molded into practically any shape imaginable. Miniature bottles of make-up (the plastic is either clear or opaque in almost every case), chopstick and bowl sets and chibi lunch box sets. Heaven is molded plastic.

Back in the Land of Big

So of course, when I returned to the States after more than three years in the land of small, I felt flabbergasted. At Starbucks I had to special order a “short” coffee! People glared when I threw out the second half of my sub sandwich! I was back in the land of mega-super-gigantoid. All I wanted was a small corner to hide out.

The magic of Japan and the Japanese is that they’ve shown the value of small in a world of big. (I’m excepting Godzilla and the Transformers here because I think those things are weird anomalies.) As a result of limited space (ahem, like the plane you will soon be boarding) they compartmentalize like crazy. They also take care of themselves, their stuff and their surroundings (hence the uptight image they’ve earned abroad). Clean is a crucial component of chibi. Elbows & backs kept close to the body, the white face masks ubiquitous in Asia and marketers handing out small packs of tissue on the street (with their ads tucked inside). Hands cup mobile phones when talking to friends. All of this to protect personal privacy and the privacy of others. 127,433,494 folks in a country roughly the size of California. And that’s how it feels when you set foot into an airport anywhere these days. You feel like there are so many people in such a tight space, all doing frenetic activities and making as much noise as possible. Chibi and/or modular living is the way of your travel-future.

Where do I find chibi stuff?

In most Western countries, “chibi” sizes are hidden in the “trial size” aisle of your local chemists’ or grocery store. The days where “bigger is better” are clearly over but advertisers still want to sell you more and the myth that buying in surplus saves you money proliferates (seriously, by the time you finish that mammoth-size box of Cheerios™, will you ever want to eat them again?). Nearly every packing book you read will tell you to take carry-on luggage ALWAYS (rather than checking it and risk lost, abused or a “disappearance”) which means you have to learn to pack your life into a very small package, regardless of where you go or for how long. That means if you buy something today you’ll have to either ship it, store it or liquidate it before you leave in order to squeeze your most precious belongings into 45″. Smaller is better. For travel. For sanity.