Only in Japan!

I just love the way their entrepreneurs think!

First, Tamagotchi - the "virtual pet," the electronic gadget that let you pretend you had one, but required feeding, watering and caring for .. otherwise,  it died in a series of sorrorful bleeps and bips that left you totally devastated over your complete lack of humanity.
 

Now, from that same company, Lovegety .. love getty .. get it?  It's another electronic device to .. get love.  You could call it a fish finder for humans.  The gadgets beep when they detect other Lovegetys within a 15-foot range.    Lovegety ($21) is the gadget of  the moment in Japan, and acts as a potential date detector .. or deflector, as the case may be.  Over 600,000 have been sold in Japan ... hmmmm?? .. at $21 per, that's .. WHAT?!! .. $12,600,000!  Japanese gadget makers rule!

"Get2" is at the bottom - this has to mean something!

Owners can set the device to show display lights according to whatever mood they are in (there are only three): "let's just chat" to "let's go sing some karaoke" or all the way up to the "Get2" mode .. and it's to be assumed that the guys have it set at this level ALL the time.

The idea is to take it to a night club or other social situation, where others are armed with this techno Love Potion #9, and do a virtual hide and seek until you hone in on another who is inclined to partake of the same nocturnal activity as yourself.

When one Lovegety detects another of the opposite sex within 15 feet, it beeps and flashes green if both are in the same harmonious mode, and red if the opposite user is sending out different vibes - "I wanted to READ, you pig, not BREED!".

Carriers who want to make bolder statements can activate beepers that emit sounds audible to both transmitter and transmittee.  "Is that a police siren?" "No, that's just Tanaka, with his Lovegety turned up to 10."
 

Pink (left) and blue (right) bottomed Love Machines.

When one of the parties (presumably the girl, male hormones being what they are, constantly in a state of  Defcon 2 alert) sees the other and decides the other beepee is NOT her cup of tea, she simply turns off her beeper, leaving the hapless male to wander the room, listening for an answering beep. One that is not a pager or cell phone, that is.   Neither responds to the same sex.  The egg-shaped device comes in male (blue on the bottom) and female (pink) versions.

To make the matchmaking easier, the company has opened an Internet site where Lovegety holders can post where they will be hanging out:  "I'm on the Yamanote line, taking the 4:15 train from Shinjuku to Shibuya,"  or, "I'm at the Giants baseball game with 60,000 other fans."

A deluxe model is in the works .. effective up to a range of 100 meters.  Geez!  What if you're walking on the sidewalk and your Lovegety target is in a skyscraper 40 stories up?  Do you do the Spiderman imitation up the wall, peering into each window, holding up your gadget, saying, "I'll show you mine if you show me yours?"

But .. only THREE settings??  What about:
"Let's go fishing."
"I'm in the mood for some karate practice."
"Don't even talk to me if you're a Scorpio!"
"I have Pokemon costumes we can dress up in."
"Bondage slave looking for dominatrix 300 pound woman wrestler!"
 
 

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