Feel-good gadgets Japan swept up in fad for negative ions

TOKYO -- Gadget-loving Japan is hooked on a new fad -- hairdryers, air conditioners and other electronic goods that some buyers swear deliver the soothing mood lifts of negative ions, those invisible bits of matter swarming under waterfalls and trees.

Whether it's solid science or simply bunk doesn't matter to Kimiko Ishikawa, who recently bought an air purifier from Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.

The 39,800 yen ($320) machine not only freshens up her home with a regular filter, it also comes with a special feature that fills the air with feel-good negative ions, or electrically charged atoms.

"When I get mad at my kid, she tells me the negative ions don't seem to be working," the 46-year-old housewife said. "But if I hadn't bought it, I'm sure I'd have regretted it, wondering what the negative ions were like."

These days, negative ions are popping up everywhere you go.

Jewelers are pushing necklaces of tourmaline, a stone believed to release negative ions. A scalp-cleansing brush promises to wipe out dandruff with negative ions. A public bath in Osaka, central Japan, offers a tub brimming with negative ions to get blood circulation going strong.

Believers say negative ions do everything from boosting your car's gas mileage to guarding against muscle fatigue.

Scientists are less sold on the fad.

"It's similar to a cult religion," said Hisakuni Sato, a professor of analytic chemistry at Yokohama National University. "A waterfall feels good because the air is clean, trees are nearby, the temperature is cool -- the total environment of nature."

'But they aren't harmful'

There are simply no empirical data to back up any positive health effects of negative ions, Sato said.

But that hasn't stopped Japan's electronics makers from coming out with an array of gadgets singing the virtues of negative ions.

Three of the top five best-selling air purifiers in May carry the negative ion feature, according to GfK Marketing Services Japan, which monitors nationwide product trends.

Akihiko Oiwa, spokesman for Sanyo Electric Co., which makes fans and air conditioners that scatter negative ions, said manufacturers feel pressured to add the latest features to woo consumers.

"We don't know the effects of negative ions for sure. But they aren't harmful," Oiwa said.

Negative ions are molecules with an extra electron that gives them a negative charge, and positive ions are those with an electron missing. Ions are formed when an energy source such as light rays, a strong waterfall or a thunderstorm knocks off electrons.

Positive ions are associated with bad things, like dust and pollution, while negative ions are plentiful in refreshing places like a waterfall.

There's nothing natural about the negative ions that emanate from the new gadgets. They are usually produced by running a strong electric current through a thin piece of metal, which sends charged atoms into the air.