Trying to keep our cool with Amazon Japan's lowest-rated fan and lucky amulet set
The lucky amulet will ensure luck in online shopping, starting after this purchase.
Summer is just around the corner and keeping cool isn't just a good idea, it's a matter of staying healthy in these ever-increasing temperatures, so our writer Masanuki Sunakoma set out to invest in a new fan. This was also another chance to test the waters of the items sold on Amazon Japan with the lowest ratings around.
This is usually destined for failure, but when you think about it, fan technology has never been better. Fans sold at the 100-yen store or as toys have significant air output, so even the lowliest of fans sold online should do a decent job of providing a cool breeze for Masanuki.
As a general rule, low-rated items on Amazon have names that run up to 20 words for shameless search engine optimization, and this fan — called the 'Tabletop Mist Fan: Functional Fan with 3 Functions: Humidification, Ventilation, and Cooling. Comes with an Original Amulet Card to Ensure You Don't Fail when Shopping Online (Black)' — was no exception.
That all sounded good, and the addition of a Japanese lucky amulet known as an 'omamori' really helped to set it apart from other fans. On the other hand, it had a unanimous one-star rating, the lowest possible, along with comments complaining about weak wind, not turning on, and possibly being made on a 3-D printer. Even the lucky amulet couldn't escape the scathing reviews, with one calling it 'pointless.'
Reviews have been wrong in the past though, so Masanuki went ahead and placed an order for this fan and lucky amulet, which was priced at 1,980 yen (US$14). It arrived a few days later and included the fan, charging cable, instruction manual, and lucky amulet card.
Normally omamori are made of fabric, but this was just a small postcard that read 'Omamori so You Don't Fail at Online Shopping.'
Also unlike other omamori, this had a set of rules on the back as follows:
1) The benefits only work for the next three purchases after receiving this card.
2) Write your name in black ink in the space below.
3) Wear this while shopping online.
4) After your third purchase, be sure to dispose of this as 'burnable trash.'
5) This only works with online shopping and not shopping at brick-and-mortar stores.
6) This is merely an 'omamori' and there is no guarantee of its effectiveness.
Masanuki wasn't sure how he should 'wear' his paper card and there was a bit of grim foreshadowing in the fact that the lucky amulet to prevent failing at online shopping doesn't claim to work on this purchase. Considering his past shopping record, he was looking forward to really putting this amulet to the test for his next three questionable purchases, but today's challenge was the fan.
Looking at the main unit, as some of the reviews said, it did look rather shoddily made for its price. But a fan was only as good as its wind, so it was time to take it for a spin.
He decided on a dry run first, without putting any mist-generating water in the tank. The fan has three settings which he visualized with the help of a tissue.
▼ Setting 1: Sleep-Friendly Gentle Wind
▼ Setting 2: Comfortably Natural Wind
▼ Setting 3: Powerful Wind
We assure you those animated gifs are not a mistake and all three power settings had the same effect on the tissue, which is to say almost none. Despite the evocative names for each of the settings, none of them could make the tissue move more than a few millimeters. It was almost impressive how the fan blades seemed to defy physics by moving faster without generating any additional wind.
On the bright side, the misting function did work and generated a cool fog at three different strengths properly.
It also had some lights built-in to make the water tank glow different colors, which was nice. Unfortunately, it was too bright out to show the full effect of the lights.
Those aspects made Masanuki rate this fan two stars out of five. That being said, few online shoppers have seen the horrors he has, so he tends to be more forgiving to pieces of junk. At the end of the day, a fan that doesn't blow simply blows and no one should buy this item unless for the lucky amulet card.
Photos ©SoraNews24
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