The magazine “Nikkei Trendy” has released its list of “Hit Products of 2009.” It’s already time to discuss this kind of topic? Wow! Time has shot by like an arrow.

No.1 Toyota Prius & Honda Insight: eco cars. Since I have never wanted to buy a car, I don’t know about any of the details. Actually, if I keep living in Japan this way, I won’t ever buy a car in my lifetime.

No.2 KIRIN Free: Non-alcoholic beer. I am not a beer person, but I drank a lot of beer in this summer (… a lot).

No.3 Dragon Quest lX: I will try this if I can play it on the iPhone on my way home.

No.4 Anti-flu items: I was worried I had the flu last week and got a checkup at the hospital. I thought I was supposed to get a shot, but nurse just stuck a long Q-tip into my nose. That’s all! About 20 minutes later, I was told I tested negative for the flu.

No.5 National treasure Ashura: I couldn’t go see it because last year, cultural stuff like Japanese castles, Samurai, Buddha statues, etc. were very hot in this country.

No.6 Kokuyo line and dot notebook: Very simple idea, but I understand that it’s very useful.

No.7 UNO Fog bar: We can see four popular actors in these ads.

No.8 Digital notebook Pomera:This is not a PC. It’s used for typing memos, which are saved on the memory. I like this idea because I hate writing by hand.

No.9 Steamless rice cooker: Rice cookers are really important and can affect the taste and texture of rice a lot. But Japanese rice cookers are made to suit Japanese rice, so if you eat rice from California or from another country, I am not sure if this rice cooker would work as well. I am thinking of buying a newer, nicer model. My target is this “odori daki” (dancing cooking method). It cooks rice by stirring them up using steam, as if they are dancing, which makes the rice sweet and plump.

No.10 990yen jeans: Not just UNIQLO, but several other companies have released low priced jeans.