Certain products come in many shapes and sizes, and a reader must thank the Italian Trade Commission in Tokyo for the successful ending of her search. She was looking for a special kind of Italian support hose made by IBICI and she wondered where she could buy them in Japan. It could be an endless search, but it only took a phone call to the trade commission and a fax explaining exactly what she wanted. A short time later, I had the answer, and the reader now has the name of a person who will help her at Yoyo Corporation, the company that imports that brand.

Italian products are as popular in Japan as Italian cuisine, and over the years I have contacted the commission a number of times for information. One of the more interesting questions involved Italian pasta. This was in 1987, the year after Chernobyl, when people were especially sensitive to the possibility of contaminated crops. Several of the weeklies reported that students at a Hokkaido University had detected radiation in spaghetti imported from Italy, supposedly from the fallout. A reader was concerned. Was it only one brand or all brands? What of pasta from other countries? How about Japanese products? And what was safe?

It took a while to get the answers. The trade commission had launched its own investigation as soon as the report was published. There wasn't much to check. The figures obtained in the tests were not revealed nor were there any comparison figures for Japanese products or imports from other countries. The Japanese government, which is sensitive to anything relating to the dangers of radiation, had set strict standards. Imported products are carefully checked against these standards, and it was safe to assume that the spaghetti the students tested had been passed inspection. EC countries also have standards that must be met for products. At that time, Japan allowed 370 BQs per kilogram while EC allowed 600 BQs per kilo. The university students later revealed that they found 70 BQs per kilo, a figure well below either standard.