Please don't tell Mr. Watanabe that his business card is now in a million pieces strewn among the bras and underwear in my washing machine. This is just the latest faux pas in my history of malicious treatment of business cards.
Most people have heard that in Japan business cards are very important. From all the hoopla I heard before I came to Japan, I expected to find bookstores stocked with best sellers on business card etiquette and perhaps even a "Mr. Manners" column in the newspaper reminding people not to wash someone else's business card.
So, you can imagine how surprised I was when I received the following rather unconventional business cards: a handmade card printed on washi paper, a card in Braille, one with a laminated dried flower, one with snowflakes as a background, one with the person's picture on it, one with a photo of two helmet crabs copulating, one with a stamp of the person in a dragon suit, one with Sesame Street characters, one with "Made from recycled paper" printed on it, one that says "Forever Young!" on it.