Archive for 'Society'
ChopStick Helpers for Lazy People
Posted on 19. Mar, 2009 by koichi.
I just came across this article (which we’ll talk about more below), which made me think… why are you so lazy!? Of course, I’m only talking to those of you who don’t know how to use chopsticks (or hashi, in Japanese). If you’re heading to Japan (or most Asian countries) you should probably get on that, or just use one of these horrible inventions down below. It’s like putting kids with minor learning disabilities into special classes to make things easier on them. Not so good in the long run. (more…)
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Japanese Version of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer: Rudolph gets the Shafto
Posted on 23. Dec, 2008 by koichi.
I got this tip from Joyce, a college professor, and expert in Godzilla studies (not even kidding). She uses this as part of a lesson on cultural insight. Sounds like a fun class. Read on!
It’s funny enough to put something into an online translator to change it to Japanese, then putting it back through the opposite way to see what it comes up with, but this is on a whole new level. This is actually a version of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer made just for Japan, culture insight included. Let’s take a look: (more…)
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The “No Gaijin Allowed” mentality
Posted on 24. Jul, 2008 by koichi.
Now that I’m back from Hawaii, I finally had the chance to wade through all the emails I decided to ignore until now (sorry if that was you!). A decent number of them were people worried about racism in Japan; mainly, they were worried that people in Japan would treat them poorly because they were, well, gaijin (that means foreigner, in case you didn’t know).
A few of these emails made reference to the infamous “no gaijin” signs which are supposedly littered all around Japan. When I searched around the internet for more information on this, I was surprised with what I found… (more…)
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Stare-apy for the Socially Inept (+ Edits)
Posted on 06. Jun, 2008 by Erin.
As much as I want to be outrageously snarky in this post, I don’t think I can bring myself to do it. After all, social anxiety disorder is pretty serious stuff, especially in Japan, the birthplace of the hikikomori (引き籠もり or “pulling away”) phenomenon. In an attempt to help out those who are uncomfortable in social situations, Avex has introduced a DVD titled Miterudake (ミテルだけ) or “Just Looking”. The DVD is labeled as “interactive”, but there are really only two activities that users are expected to perform: (more…)
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