While watching Japanese TV I’ve noticed that it’s extremely difficult to distinguish one channel from another. OK, so it’s easy enough to spot public broadcaster NHK’s two channels from their programming (boring!), but the commercial networks all seem the same to me. For one thing, they all offer the same mix of light entertainment programmes (mostly wide shows=variety shows) featuring the same TV stars on every channel. More significantly though, Japanese TV channels rarely feature any previews/trailers of forthcoming programmes, schedules telling you what’s going to be on the channel later that night, or information about which channel you’re watching. (more…)
The best things I’ve found on other people’s blogs recently:
An amusing piece called ‘Japanese Ebonics’ appeared on Becky’s T-Blog a while back. The post focuses on a book called ‘Off The Hook’ by Randall C. Miller Jr that attempts to educate the Japanese reader in the nuances of African American slang. With phrases like “gimme some dap”, “did you wear a raincoat?”, “I ain’t no playa hater” and “you startin’ to sound like a biotch”(?!) it’s certainly more entertaining than most of the textbooks I’ve been forced to teach in the past. On the other hand, I’m not too sure when Japanese students would be in a situation that would require such vocabulary. Apart from attempting to blend in while on a homestay in South Central or Harlem that is.
The screenshots above are from a video I saw repeated endlessly on jumbo TV screens in Namba and Shinjuku a couple of years ago. Using computer animation effectively, I thought the video was pretty cool (in the kind of sickly-sweet kawaii way you get used to when you’re living in Japan) but was unable to figure out why it was being displayed on screens used exclusively for commercials when it wasn’t advertising anything. Unless, that is, it was being used to advertise some product related to a dancing poodle?
As usual my curiosity got the better of me and I had to Google it. Surprisingly though, I could find no reference to the video I saw on any English- or Japanese-language sites. I did, however, uncover this odd aerobics video which has plenty of dancing poodles - but not the one I was looking for.
The best things I’ve found on other people’s blogs recently:
I found the picture above and more information about kodomo no nomimono kids’ beer on the kilian-nakamura.com blog and this myspace.com blog. Quite understandably the kids in the photos seem rather genki. Apart from the surly one in the top right of this photo who presumably just heard he’s missed last orders.
Another product that must also have been a hit with kids is ‘Bilk’, pictured on the left. Made by brewing beer from milk, Japan Probe has the full story.
Finally, continuing on the subject of beer, I also found this great photo of a frozen beer bottle that exploded in a freezer.
Earlier in the year I wrote a piece about deodorant in Japan called The Axe Effect. In it I talked about the launch of Axe in Japan and I included some Japanese Axe TV commercials I found on YouTube. Since then, a load more have appeared so I thought I’d include three of the more interesting ones here:
As well as reminding me of photos I’d seen of crop circles, these Inakadate photos also brought to mind the photo on the left - a picture of a Hello Kitty tulip display at the Toyooka Flower Show that I saw on BBC News ages ago.
To kick off this series here’s a classic TV ad for Kyūpii Tarako Pasta Sauce.
The Product: According to Wikipediatarako is salted Alaska Pollock roe. I’m not sure, but since the word tara means ‘cod’ in Japanese it may be used to refer to the eggs of a number of different white fish. Whichever fish they come from, tarako are basically red fish-egg sacs that are something akin to the fish version of oviducts (fallopian tubes). Not the most appetising of foods when you think about it! (more…)
For more Axe commercials, see below. Also, three more ads can be found here.
One of the downsides of living in Japan for me has been the unavailability of good deodorant, particularly during the extremely humid summer months when temperatures soar to around 35c. The handful of Japanese deodorants that are available - such as those in Mandom’s Gatsby range, if the word ‘range’ can actually be used for such a limited selection - are a waste of time, being little more than lightly-scented air. Because of this, I’ve had to resort to stocking up on large quantities of deodorant when on overseas trips, something which has in the past resulted in some alarmed looks on the faces of shop clerks when I’ve done this during winter. (more…)
