Bijin-Tokei (The Beauty Clock)

If you ask me if I am a feminist, or at least if I am sensitive to women's issues, I would say yes. I would publicly stand up to protect women's rights, I mean, my rights.

However, this "Bijin-Tokei (The Beauty Clock)", I could not pass up.

"Bijin-Tokei" is developed by a Japanese company, bijintokei, Inc. It is a downloadable gadget (widget) or application, and as the name suggests, functions as a clock.

Every minute is represented by a photograph of a beautiful woman holding a board telling the minute of the hour. A day consists of 24 hours. An hour consists of 60 minutes. Do the math. If you can stare at Bijin-Tokei for 24 hours non-stop, you get to see all 1,440 photos of beautiful women.

They (supposedly) took to the streets with a camera, spotted beauties of Tokyo, Paris, Seoul, and asked them to pose for a photo with a board. The product became wildly popular in Japan, and is enjoying 240 million PVs a month.

The clock is downloadable to PC desktop and to mobile phones including iPhone. If you would like the mac widget or google gadget, you can downloaded them here.

I found out about Bijin-Tokei through a business associate of mine. A politically correct- and global-minded man that he is, he hesitated for a moment to bring up the subject.

After explaining to me what it was, he inquired, almost coyly. "It would never fly in the U.S., or you think it would...?"

I could not help but say, "No, I'm afraid not."

For several days now since the discussion, I have often pondered. Why do I think it would never fly in the U.S.? Is it offensive? Because it somehow objectifies women? Is it in bad taste? I have actually downloaded the gadget onto my iGoogle desktop and I am waiting to see how I feel.

What do you guys think? I would like to see you guys weigh in on the issue. Just to be fair, though, bijintokei, Inc. is an equal-opportunity objectifier, and they have Binan-Tokei (The Good-looking Guy Clock) as well.