If you're going to carry around an umbrella, you might as well look like a friggin' samurai warrior. Open it up, and it looks like this:
Saw this here. I could have used one of these during my recent travels in Asia, where it rained like crazy. It's available at Amazon here
. There's also the miniature version here
.UPDATE: Yikes. Might want to rethink carrying this thing around in places where folks get kind of jumpy about weapon-like umbrellas: SWAT Team Called Over Umbrella With Samurai Sword Handle.