Sushi Pizza
If you’re familiar with Thomas Friedman’s work, you may have come across his idea of pizza serving as an instrument for sharing cultures:
I take some succor from the fact that the most popular food in the world today is not the Big Mac, but pizza. And what is pizza? It’s a flat piece of bread that every society has, on which every society and every community throws its own local ingredients and culture. In India, you can get tandoori pizza; in Japan, you can get sushi pizza; and in Mexico, you can get salsa pizza.
It may work for the English-speaking audience that reads his books, but many Japanese people would probably be puzzled by the idea that Americans think they eat sushi pizza.
In fact, the idea of sushi pizza is so strange, it was worth mentioning on a recent TV program:
The part of the TV program was about weird and wacky “Japanese” food served at Japanese restaurants in America. The idea of Chinese sushi chef would be running an Japanese restaurant in America and serving sushi pizza to customers was presented as an amusing oddity. Odd though it may seem, it apparently tastes pretty good.
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Categories: Japanese Food
Cosplaying Chimpanzee
A romantic music video of Ken Shimura and chimpanzee performer Pan-kun from last night’s episode of “Shimura Zoo”:
And a look back at some of Pan-kun’s silliest costume moments:
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Categories: Animal Videos
Japanese women getting thinner as American women become fatter
Blaine Harden of the Washington Post reports on how the average weight of Japanese women has been declining:
“I am quite fat, actually,” said Michie Takagi, a 70-year-old grandmother and retired clothing store executive. She has a body mass index (BMI) of 19.9, which is at the thin end of normal. While the average American woman has gained about 25 pounds over the past 30 years, Takagi has gained 4.5 pounds, typical for her age cohort in Japan, according to U.S. and Japanese government figures.
Skinnier still are Japanese women younger than 60, who were thin by international standards three decades ago and who, taken as a group, have since been steadily losing weight.
The trend is most pronounced among women in their 20s. A quarter-century ago, they were twice as likely to be thin as overweight; now they are four times more likely to be thin. For U.S. women of all ages, obesity rates have about doubled since 1980, rising from 17 percent to 35 percent.
Men and children, however, seem to be gaining weight. The trend among women is explained by social pressure and the media’s promotion of thinness as beauty. There still seems to be some questions about why Japanese women are so easily influenced by what they see in TV and magazines:
“In the United States, you see all these beautiful skinny people on television, and yet Americans keep getting fatter anyway,” said Sasaki, the public health expert at Tokyo University. “Why is that?”
[hat tip to Brian]
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Categories: Japanese Girls
Sakamoto Ryoma Latté
A cafe in Kochi city that sells a Sakamoto Ryoma Latté:
It costs 860 yen for the special drink. Read more about it in Japanese at this site. You can find a map to the cafe here.
Also spotted recently in Japan: Sakamoto Ryoma ramen chips.
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Categories: General Japan
Australia and the occupation of Japan
This book about the Australian soldiers who participated in the occupation of Japan sounds quite interesting [emphasis added to lol-worthy part of the quote]:
Even though soldiers diagnosed with venereal disease risked having their beer ration suspended for 15 days, we learn that many still took their chances with the local “moose,” the Aussie rendering of musume (daughter). Not to mention the widows, wives and girls they encountered in bars, on the streets, in dance halls and as servants. Most of these liaisons were temporary, but there were also many marriages between couples looking for something more than casual sex, despite the best efforts of racist officials to prevent such ties.
Local women were discouraged from taking up with the soldiers by authorities who “warned that if they consorted with the Australians, they would give birth to kangaroos.” Many apparently took their chances due to destitute circumstances and the shortage of Japanese men.
Unfortunately, it is about $50. Somebody call the publisher and ask them to print it in paperback!
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Categories: Books, Foreigners in Japan
Dog Washing Machine
Ananova reports on a washing machine for dogs in Japan:
More and more people are making use of machines such as one installed at a pet supermarket called Joyful Honda in the suburbs of Tokyo.
It washes and blow dries dogs and cats* for the equivalent of just £3.50 – a massive saving on the costs of pet stylists who charge more than £20 for a full wash and blow-dry.
Naka Honda said he did not think the machine was cruel – but admitted it had taken his Yorkshire Terrier, Benji, a while to get used to it.
Benji particularly “hated” the dryer, he said, but would put up with it so long as his owner stood outside the glass where he could see him.
A brief explanation of the machine in Japanese can be found here. There is also a Joyfull Honda blog post about a human employee trying it out. A few Japanese bloggers have also written about putting their dogs in the machine. Some dogs are scared, some look dazed or unhappy, and others are pretty calm about it. There are also a few videos of it, which I have embedded below.
A video of a husky that is not at all happy with the experience:
A clip of another dog post-wash, who looks silly but doesn’t appear to be reacting with panic or terror:
Another dog, who looks like he really wants to escape:
*Although Ananova claims it is for dogs and cats and there is a picture of a cat on the outside of the machine, its explanation page clearly states that it should not be used for cats ["猫のご利用はできません"]. This video, of a similar machine produced by an American company, makes a good case for applying such a rule:
The cat video led to cries of animal cruelty from many people, eventually causing a PR disaster for it manufacturers.
What do you think of the Japanese dog washing machine?
[hat tip to Mark B]
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Categories: Animal Videos, Technology