Japanese Cell Phones

In Japan, you run the risk of being ostracized by society at large if your cell phone isn't adorned with at least a few kilograms of beads, charms and trinkets. Here's a photo I took of a girl on the subway using one of the gaudier such phones, complete with a heart-shaped mirror and some frilly lingerie-like lace along the edges.Here are some similarly bejeweled phones I saw for sale. Notice that the trinket hanging from one of the phones is itself a miniature phone, also encrusted with beads.

Cut Man

I suppose there's a reasonable chance this advertisement for a Japanese neighborhood barbershop was actually inspired by the Megaman (Nintendo, 1987) level boss of the same name.

Main Event at Tokyo DisneySea

Yes, that's DisneySea, right across the street from Tokyo Disneyland. Every Disney park features a nightly show that can be seen from a large area of the park. I saw the one in Anaheim in 2005 and was quite impressed, but I'd say this one was as good or better. After a brief introduction by a Japanese-speaking Mickey, the show presented an embodiment of the Spirit of Water, then Fire, followed by something of a mating ritual between the two. In addition to the spectacle, I just appreciate the difference in storytelling style, focusing on harmony in nature, rather than following the kind of "hero vanquishes villain" narrative I'm used to.

Video 1 (1:11)
The Spirit of Fire, a metallic and tentacled seabeast that emits flames from its entire structure.


Video 2 (1:05)
Fire and Water, "flirting".


Video 3 (:54)
The marriage of Fire and Water.

Engrish

I saw this on a popular shopping street in Seoul. It's a rather extreme example, but bewildering text like this is everywhere in Japan and Korea. When I came across the awning pictured above, it wasn't actually as shocking as it could have been, because I had already seen this exact storefront on Engrish.com, a wonderful site that catalogues these hilarious phenomena.

How does this happen? Anything in English is COOL. So it's used everywhere in Japan and Korea, even though the vast majority of the target demographic can't understand it.

As mentioned above, http://www.engrish.com has all the goods in this department, but I'll list some more that I've personally encountered.

Yes, the first one is a dentist's office. Tomato Planning provides some kind of real estate service as far as I can tell.

Like with a lot of Engrish, often the interesting part to me isn't so much the grammar errors (tooth/teeth), but the attitude conveyed in the message.

This is a small desk organizer I bought whose sign reads "I will enjoy your space combining various items".

The robot in question was a fifteen-foot figure at a children's museum where many people have their pictures taken.

This cap makes a strong case, but is completely out of touch with the state of Japanese drug use, as far as I know. Penalties for even small user quantities of marijuana or cocaine involve significant jail time, and there isn't any legalization movement to speak of, making it that much stranger that I found this hat in a Sears-like department store.

I learned in Poland that you can't really expect people from totally homogeneous countries to grasp the complexities of American race relations, and I must admit, I'm not sure where I would start if I had to explain to this store's staff why they shouldn't have a rack labeled "black music".

Inevitable Robot Takeover

Today construction workers, tomorrow time-traveling government operatives.



Oh, it's a friendly robot ... this time.

Dear Dairy

This thing mesmerizes me every time I go to the supermarket.



Yuki confirms that Japanese children would have no idea what the oft-repeated slogan "three a day" means.

I tracked down the full-length versions of the entire 3 video dairy aisle rotation. The second one's pretty catchy.

One day the produce aisle was featuring a live-action music video about bean sprouts, but I didn't have my camera with me.

Our Toilet is Awesome

First of all, there's the vacancy indicator. Handy. Courteous.


Now let's take a look inside.

A: First electric eye. As soon as you walk through the door, this sensor tells the seat to begin warming. I find that on average it reaches optimum temperature about one second after I sit down.

B: Second electric eye. If you decide to sit down, this sensor will instruct another toilet robot to release some extra water into the bowl.

C: Control panel. I haven't touched this thing yet. As you can probably guess from the picture (click for a close-up), it offers a variety of bidet options. The main dial is for water pressure. The other buttons let you control water temperature and direction, as well as seat temperature.



D: Handle. Flip it up for "small flush", down for "big flush".

E: Spout. When you flush, the water that eventually washes and refills the bowl first flows into and through the small sink above the toilet, giving you 30 seconds of running water with which to wash your hands.

Lastly, when the seat is raised, a soft green light illuminates the bottom of the bowl, giving necessary aiming aid in case you don't want to fully readjust your eyes to overhead lights in the middle of the night.






Update!
Stubble Trouble reader Adamistic writes:

I once heard that in public restrooms, Japanese folk (particularly women? or no? that detail escapes me) addressed their shyness about eliminatory noises by flushing whenever they were pooping. Further, apparently some places had installed speakers and a button that could be pushed to simulate the sound of a flush to be used for this purpose, saving untold millions in water costs.

Maybe one of the mysterious controls on your control panel also does this?

After consulting my most reliable resource (Yuki) I can report that these devices do exist, and have become commonplace in women's restrooms since the 1980s, though Wikipedia and my own minimal experience show that they are rarely found in men's rooms. The name of the most popular brand that makes such devices is Otohime (literally: "Sound Princess"), also the name of a goddess from Japanese mythology.