Archive for August, 2010

Interviewing Former Kamikaze Pilots

You can watch/listen to the full interview here.

A note to the interpreter who quit because Mr. Kennedy made him ask for extra ketchup at McDonald’s: You are a lazy bastard. McDonald’s Japan is always okay with responding to requests for extra ketchup packs, and I’ve seen Japanese people ask for it. If you’re worried about having to ask twice, ask for a specific number of packs (四つ should be enough).

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• Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

Japanese Apology to Korea [Political Cartoon]

A political cartoon about Japan’s most recent apology to Korea:

As Japan apologizes to Korea, a group of people from other colonized nations wonders when their colonizers will issue a similar apology. Most former colonial powers haven’t issued anything close to the apology statements Japan has made for imperialism and its conduct in WW2. I’m guessing that the guy sneaking around in the background is supposed to be European.

It was found via the Korea Times website. Judging from the signature on the cartoon, it looks like it was created by the same freelance cartoonist whose political cartoons about terrorism angered Russia and led the Korea Times to issue a statement saying that it had “fired” its editors.

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McDonald’s Cuts Menu Prices

This FTV news report notes that McDonald’s move to cut the price of one of its most popular menu items is part of a price war between Japan’s major fast food chains. Several beef bowl chains have slashed their prices, creating a situation in which McDonald’s could lose some of its thrifty customers. The company that operates Sukiya is aiming to dethrone McDonald’s as the top-earning fast food chain in Japan.

The next phase of McDonald’s price-cutting campaign will come on August 23rd, when it will lower the price of McFlurry ice cream from 300/330 yen to 190 yen.

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Softbank Dog Has Puppies

Kai, the white dog who plays the father in Softbank’s popular “White Family” advertisements, attends a promotional event for the Japan release of a new “Cats vs. Dogs” film:

Also at the event were a couple of Kai’s puppies. According to the news report, Kai has fathered 5 puppies recently. As you can see from the diagram at the top of this post, Kai is not a monogamous dog.

If you haven’t been keeping up with the Softbank commercials, here’s the latest one, in which daddy dog goes surfing in Hawaii to advertise a new mobile data plan (¥ 1480/day for unlimited overseas data use):

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Japanese Police Mascots

On Sunday evening, NTV’s Bankisha aired this hard-hitting investigative report about Japan’s various police mascots:

Their research team contacted police offices across the nation and determined that there are at least 42 different police mascot characters in Japan. Some of the police mascots are national, some are prefectural, and a few are for city/town police forces.

What exactly is the point of having cops dress up in weird mascot costumes? Here is a ranking of the top issues they try to spread awareness about:

1. Bank Transfer Fraud
2. Traffic Safety
3. General Crime Prevention
4. Pickpocketing
5. Purse Snatching

It might seem pretty stupid to have police officers assigned to mascot duty, but those wacky costumes can be pretty useful whenever the police want to distribute fliers. A mascot draws everyone’s attention, and people who would otherwise ignore police officers seem more willing to approach them when a mascot is around. Even if people throw away the fliers without reading them, there is a chance that they will still remember encountering the mascots, many of whom have names that are puns based on the message they are trying to promote.

Issues 2 to 5 are focused at children and the general public, but the #1 issue is targeted at elderly people. For years now, telephone fraudsters claiming to be relatives in distress have scammed many elderly people into sending them large sums of money. Many ATM’s in Japan now have posters featuring mascot characters that warn users about scams, and several police forces have been sending their mascots to post offices and banks to spread awareness among the elderly.

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Rising Yen Hurts Tourism / Makes Imported Food Cheaper

The recent surge in the value of the yen has given Japanese more buying power abroad, but has also weakened the buying power of foreign tourists visiting Japan. Here’s a short clip about the issue from FTV news:

Japanese tourists returning from trips abroad happily display some of the shopping deals they found while on vacation, while foreign tourists getting read to leave Japan talk about having to cut back and only eat at cheap restaurants.

Supermarkets like Ito Yokado have been able to cut prices on imported food. Shoppers express their pleasure at the low prices, but one woman is worried about how the rising value of the yen will damage Japan’s economy (which has a lot of export-oriented companies).

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