There's no such thing as old news on the internet - well, there IS, but pretend this report didn't really come out in 2005 and NURTZ is just NOW stumbling across it, okay?

It seems that a Japanese artist named Shusaku Arakawa has been advancing the theory that as long as the mind and senses are constantly stimulated, the old internal clock won't wind down.

At first blush, it makes darned good sense. He goes on to say, "They should be in an environment that stimulates their senses and invigorates their lives." Again, no argument here. Mouldering on the porch wondering if your kids will visit today is a quick trip to Worm City, in our opinion.

However.

Living out your golden years in a home with erratically sloping floors, hidden light switches you have to grope around for, a glass door so small you have to crawl through it and NO closets, may not be the sort of stimulation you're looking for. Surprisingly, a small complex of these apartments went on sale in October, 2005 with a champagne pricetag of $754,000.


Arakawa had already incorporated most of these ideas in an amusement park 10 years earlier. According to this article: "The popular tourist spot consists of attractions designed to throw people off balance, made up of warped surfaces and confusing directions. Visitors often fall -- but so far nobody has sued."

NURTZ believes Japan needs more lawyers.