Spring has finally begun in The Netherlands. Yesterday it was 20ºC here and a friend of me reported it was 27ºC in Eindhoven this afternoon. It is the time that the blossoms are in bloom, specially the cherry blossom trees.
I love the cherry blossom season. A lot of streets in my area turn pink for a short time. In Japan the name of these cherry trees is Sakaura (サクラ
). The blossoms of this trees are in Japan a metaphor of life: short, beautiful and transitory. Also the flowering of the cherry tree is called Sakura.
A very beautiful G-Shock for this short season is this DW-6900FS-4JF. It was released in December 2005. Although I think this watch was available in North America, it was sold mostly in Japan. The white version (-8JF), which was released at the same time was far more common and was available in large quantities in North America.
The "Hot Pink" DW-6900FS was marketed in 2005 as a model that matched the latest street fashion . It was suitable both for man as woman. Personal, I think wearing pink as a man shows you are a strong personality.
My friend DragonJade has also an interesting theory why I seem to be atracted to pink colors. I am a little dyslectic, so I am a slow reader. Specially blocks of texts without interpuntion or paragraphs can drive me crazy. You might already have noticed that my articles on 50 Gs always are divided in a lot of small paragraphs.
I'm also quite hyperactive (although it has attenuated over the years a bit), which makes concentrating on one subject not always easy. Maybe that's why some of my articles (apparently including this one) seem to meander off topic from time to time. Also my 50 Gs articles are often written in my bedroom or at night, when everybody sleeps. According DragonJade, the color pink might bring calm in my head. That's why lenses of glasses for dyslectic people have blue, purple or pink colors. It might be that pink is a color that allows me to get things in order.
The DW-6900FS-4JF was the first pink G-Shock that was released. In Japan this model is sometimes called the Masami Nagasawa model. Masami is a well known actress and model in Japan. She is a busy lady. She has played in several Japanese movies and television series. She also hosts a radio show called "All Night Nippon". The reason this G-Shock model is named after here is the fact she appeared in the "G-Shock Official Book" mook of 2006. A mook is a typical Japanese combination of the words magazine and book. You can buy mooks about every thinkable subject (sports, motor bicycles, gardening, architecture, etc). They are thick glossy magazine, bound like a thin book. The National Geographic magazine might be considered a mook in Japan.
It is a pity I can't read Japanese. I'm quite curious if Masami Nagasawa is showing the watch as a model, or is telling about her personal G-Shock. I think it is the last, although I can't find any photo of her on the web where she is wearing a watch.
Actually I have a second DW-6900 in the same color. I bought it in Hong Kong. It must be a modded model, as it does not have DW-6900FS stamped on the back, only DW-6900. Surprisingly this G-Shock has a dark gray light button with a white G. For a while I have thought it was an overseas model, but highly probably had a previous owner bought a bezel and strap set for his DW-6900. I am a bit puzzled about what the original model would have been, as the red eye and white G on the button looks like a DW-6900H-9 is used. Unfortunately all DW-6900H models show FOX FIRE in the display, not ILLUMINATOR. Although the white button on the real thing is absolutely beautiful, this gray light button with a white G does not look bad at all.
I think I was pretty lucky in finding these two watches, as it was not easy at all to get these. I bought them both around November 2008, three years after the release. I have no clue what I paid for them anymore, but they weren't really cheap. I did a search today on Yahoo Japan and frankly all I could find was a pink bezel/strap set for around 3500 yen. Strange enough, the white version is, 5 years after the first release, still available, both in Japan as in North America.
So if you like this watch, there are two options. Wait endless before one pops up at eBay or Yahoo Auctions Japan, or buy a white DW-6900FS-8JF and a bezel/strap set of the pink version. They both share the white button with the black G and the color of the texts on the display seem to be the same.
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