Japanese Astronaut Tests Stink-Free Underwear

Throw away your soap, detergent, and personal hygiene, the Japanese have invented odor-free underwear. Koichi Wakata, a Japanese astronaut living in the International Space Station, is testing the underwear created by textile experts at Japan Women's University in Tokyo. The shorts are designed to kill bacteria, absorb water, insulate the body and dry quickly. They also are flame-resistant, and anti-static. "The other astronauts become very sweaty, but he doesn't have any sweat. He didn't need to hang his clothes to dry. He can wear his trunks (underwear) more than a week," said Koji Yanagawa, an official with the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency.

Underpants knome

[Hojima]

Dear god, we've just figured out what 2. ??? is!

Re:

[Praedon]

1. Steal underpants 2. Go to space, steal that jap dudes underpants 3. Profit!

Re:

[QuantumRiff]

Sadly, the first insightful post I've read today is on an idle story...

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

idleispants

So, does this cloth breath?

[glaese]

Will we soon breath through our underwear? (I seem to remember doing that.....when I was about 4 years old.)

Re:

[MaxwellEdison]

-1 Ewww Gross

Re:

[K. S. Kyosuke]

Well, it's obvious - they are giving away underwear in Japan, but it is not recommended to wear it when going to an astronaut job interview.

Re:

[palegray.net]

+5 Funny.

Re:

[Lemmy Caution]

Oh, I thought the aroma of a Japanese shuttle-pilot's examination has been found to liberate one's panties.

Re:

[Mozk]

The problem is that the word tests can be a noun or a verb, the word stink can be a noun or a verb, and the word free can be an adjective or a verb.
 
So yeah, this headline sucks. It's like a garden path sentence [wikipedia.org].

Re:

[thomasdz]

Yeah...when I saw it, I saw:
(Japanese Astronaut Tests) (Stink) (Free Underwear)
Which didn't make much sense, but I knew that probably astronauts write tests. And maybe they were giving away free underwear... I just couldn't figure out how "Stinks" fit into the previous two thoughts.

Re:

[v1]

Thank you for the link to garden path sentences, that's a very interesting read, and would make an excellent class exercise in English class. (I'd have enjoyed it anyway!)

New UN program

[Anonymous Coward]

They are already in talk with UN to establish an aid program to donate gobloads of these to France. Other nations also philosophically opposed to shower are encouraged to consider applying. The perfume industry, of course, is preparing a full counter-offensive in response.

Re:

[SmallFurryCreature]

Meanwhile the arab nations have kindly donated burka's to the americans and any other nation whose nation is to fat to be allowed to bare any skin.

One question remains....

[netruner]

Boxers or briefs?

Re:

[MrEricSir]

Or boxer-briefs?

Re:

[WindBourne]

thong. These are for taking the wild side.

So, it doesn't stink...

[Thelasko]

but what about pressure ulcers?

Thanks for posting this.

[guyminuslife]

I am sure this is of personal interest to many Slashdotters.

Re:

[TheRealMindChild]

Only the ones who wear underwear. Personally, I forgo the underwear altogether and, sometimes, even take on some pants with no ass cheeks.

It is a little embarrassing the first few times going into a corporate meeting with new faces, but once you explain the advantages, everyone gets on board!

Re:

[elrous0]

For many, many years years I've acted like my shit don't stink. Now, I can finally back that statement up.

The solution to hardcore WoW Raiders

[TreyGeek]

This will become a hot commodity with hardcore raiders in Warcraft.

"Bathroom breaks are for pansies. Pee in your undies. lol"

Re:

[Fluffeh]

Hardcore raiders wear clothes while raiding?

Skidmarks?

[Virtucon]

Do they have some sort of built in skid mark eraser or what?

You can't go a week in those, no way!!

Re:

[drinkypoo]

What you don't know is that the Japanese also sent up a bidet toilet seat attachment.

Look out Koichi, ...

[Bob-taro]

Corporate thugs from Hanes will be waiting for you when you touch down.

One minor problem...

[LogarithmicSpiral]

Yes, even if this does work, you still have to deal the stench from the actual body. But maybe this just means you can shower as normal, yet only own one set of clothing. Hmm, the possibilities.

No more need for 365 pairs of underwear

[NecroBones]

No more need for 365 pairs of underwear to get through the year. We can get away with 52.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

well, i've always had 4 uses per pair of underwear: normal, reversed, inside-out, inside-out-reversed.

Problem.

[dov_0]

Ummm, how will bachelors know the clean ones from the dirty ones if they don't stink?

Re:Problem.

[lordtoran]

They have a distinctive color texture and can be thrown like a frisbee.

its called wool

[Anonymous Coward]

As a backpacker I know all about high-tech fabrics designed to be worn multiple days in physically demanding conditions. The best choice is always wool. A high-quality merino wool undergarment will cost you $50+ but you can wear it for days without getting stinky, it's kind of amazing. I've tried various synthetics, including the fancy ones with silver threads incorporated into the fabric, none of them compare to good merino wool.

wool

[Anonymous Coward]

those pants sounds very much like the merinowool underpants ive been wearing for years. They dont smell, are warm if they get wet, dont itch, they have excellent breathabillity drys quickly and probably cost 1/10 of the newly invented underwear.
But why stick with the natural materials?

Idleispants

[wildsurf]

If ever 'idleispants' were an appropriate tag, this is it.

Re:

[TheThiefMaster]

Though you've got to love how it's been tagged "idleispantsu" in japanese style.
For those who don't know, they tend to tag a vowel, normally "u", onto the end of borrowed words.

Oh man

[courtjester801]

How is this going to affect the used panty in a vending machine market?

Turns out

[rizole]

Turns out Idle is pants after all.

Odor-Free Underwear?

[TrekkieTechie]

I'm surprised that the Japanese, of all people, would invent this given their fetish for "used schoolgirl panties".

Re:

[4D6963]

Apparently not so much for "used grown man underpants". Go figure..

Am relieved

[kafka47]

That they even had time to create a custom pants logo for the story...

yoiii.

This is news??

[blankslate]

I can wear my undies for more than a week, and I'm not even an astronaut.

So you're saying that ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Idleispantsu?

Pray tell

[codeButcher]

The other astronauts become very sweaty, but he doesn't have any sweat. He didn't need to hang his clothes to dry.

How on earth ... err, I mean, off earth ... do you "hang clothes" in space?

Flame-resistant underwear?

[Logical Zebra]

Just why the bloody hell would you need your underwear to be flame-resistant?! I don't even want to think about what the hell you would need flame-resistant underoos for.

Best invention since deodorant

[averner]

This is the best invention for lazy people who don't like to shower twice a day since deodorant. I definitely want a pair.

Merino's a no-no

[moorhens]

Merino wool underpants have many of the same properties but are far too warm for long-distance cycling. Perhaps these new-fangled shreddies will be the answer. They won't stop the cyclist's distinctive aroma, but could be an answer to some of the bacterial problems that are neatly summed up in the phrases saddle sores and bum itch.

Japan *Women's* University?

[zen-theorist]

Incase you're still wondering, here's why: http://www.snopes.com/risque/kinky/panties.asp [snopes.com]