TOKYO (Reuters Life!) - Ladies, take your battle for the environment a little closer to your heart with a solar-powered bra that can generate enough electric energy to charge a mobile phone or an iPod.
Lingerie maker Triumph International Japan Ltd unveiled its environmentally friendly, and green colored, "Solar Power Bra" on Wednesday in Tokyo which features a solar panel worn around the stomach.
The panel requires light to generate electricity and the concept bra will not be in stores anytime soon, said Triumph spokeswoman Yoshiko Masuda, as "people usually can not go outside without wearing clothes over it."
But it does send the message of how lingerie could possibly save the planet, Masuda said, adding that the bra should not be washed or sunned on a rainy day to avoid damaging it.
Being eco-friendly is now fashionable in Japan, and the "Solar Energy Bra" follows the company's other green-themed undergarments that include a bra that turns into a reusable shopping bag and one that featured metal chopsticks to promote the use of reusable chopsticks.
"It is very comfortable and I can really feel involved in eco-friendly efforts as well," model Yuko Ishida said.
Leave it to the Japanese to figure out a solution to everything. ;D
Hot.
I'd imagine the Solar Panel Bikini Top will be coming to the public long before the Solar Panel Bra, though. Much more practical - you don't usually toss a shirt over your bikini top, after all (at least, not where you'd generally be wearing a bikini).
that include a bra that turns into a reusable shopping bag
That would either be the worlds smallest shopping bag or ... very niiiice for the more largely endowed women out there...
Why not make a solar-powered t-shirt or a bag or something more practical then a bra? ^^; these silly inventors. *laughs*
Oh, Japan. What will you think of next?
Echoing Shadow Hog's and Becca's sentiments. Wouldn't it make more sense to put this on something that you would wear exposed to the sun? Also apparently it's damaged by washing, which makes prolonged use a slightly unpleasant thought to contemplate. 
The actual 'bra' is more like a tank top in terms of design, if you've seen the picture.
Ah, that makes (a little bit) more sense.
it still looks like lingerie, though, so i don't think many people would wear it uncovered
I would! It looks like some of my corsets. It might look better in black though.
Besides, now-a-days some go out wearing less. This can be worn with a skirt and presto!
it looks like astroturf
Leave it to the Japanese to figure out a solution to everything. ;D
Pssh, I'm under the belief they have some benevolent secret underground base only to be revealed during a world crisis or something. 
