The next time you decide to take in a flick in Japan, it might be a good idea to leave your camcorder at home. Recording in a movie theater in Japan is now officially illegal, with penalties of up to 10 years in prison and fines of up to 10 million yen.
Industry orgs — including the Japan and Intl. Motion Picture Copyright Assn., the Motion Picture Producers Assn. of Japan, the Japan Assn. of Theater Owners, the Foreign Film Importer-Distributors Assn. of Japan and the Japan Video Software Assn. — jointly lobbied the government for the legislation in January and pressed vigorously for its passage.
One would think that already-stretched-thin law enforcement could be put to better use, but. . .
Time was, the gold standard for hair in Japan was, well, some Hollywood celebrity.
But I was struck this past spring while in Japan to see a shampoo commercial not only featuring all Japanese women, but also taking a sort of “celebrate Japanese women in general” stance to the SMAP tune “Dear Woman.”
“Westerners are saying Japan is cool, and that view is winning acceptance in a kind of reverse import,” she said. “Shiseido’s advertising didn’t even talk about the shampoo’s features. Its message, that Japanese women on the go are beautiful, was more about a feeling.”
Of course, if you are a regular reader of Japundit, then you know we’ve been harping on this “reverse import” business for a while. Then there’s this:
“Our message really appealed to Japanese women, who are starting to awaken to a sense of self-confidence,” said Hiroyuki Ishikawa, who oversees hair care at Shiseido. “Up to now, Japanese women haven’t generally been chosen as global symbols of beauty.”
Riyo Mori, anyone? Maybe Hiro’s future (er, past) girlfriend is already having an impact. (And on a somewhat related note, I was intrigued to learn that my entire Riyo Mori post is on Ines Ligron’s blog . . .)
Yamakawa Jozo, a soy sauce brewery based in Gifu prefecture, has been selling a type of Tamari soy sauce specially designed for use on ice cream, according to Pink Tentacle. The sauce is not regarded as disgusting but rather has proven popular and a growing number of restaurants are even using it on their dessert menus.
A small amount of the rich, dark brew is said to give vanilla ice cream a caramel-like flavor, while a more liberal dose apparently makes vanilla ice cream taste more like mitarashi-dango (skewered rice dumplings covered in sweet sauce). According to the president of Yamakawa Jozo, the company developed the soy sauce specifically for use with vanilla ice cream, but consumers have come forward with a number of unexpected recipes. In addition to claims that it goes well with other ice cream flavors like strawberry and chocolate, fans of the special sauce say it tastes great on kaki-gori (shaved ice) and on toast, and that it makes a great mixer for shochu.
Strawberry and chocolate are only the tip of the iceberg for Japanese ice cream flavors, of course. Pink Tentacle speculates about the potential combinations, many of which must be even more yummy than plain old soy sauce on vanila ice cream.
I took my first trip to Japan in 2004. When I got back to New York I found that I missed being there and seeing all the unique things about it, especially seeing what people are wearing on the street. Tokyo people really put themselves together well and you really notice it when you come back in the USA.
Anyway, when I got back I searched the Internet for websites about Japan and found a couple that were just pictures of everyday people on the street. One of them was Japanese Streets. At the time the website was a little difficult to navigate so I never really got hooked on it, but today I got an email in my Inbox stating that they’ve just relaunched the site with a new design and more content. I just looked at it and now it looks like a real website
They have pictures of regular people (not fashion models) on the street and they’ve kept their old archives online which could be interesting if you want to see what Japanese people were wearing in 2004. They even added videos and some other stuff, too. I don’t have any affiliation with the site and I don’t know the guys who run it, I just think it’s a cool website if you like this kind of thing.
The other day, I saw the broadcast of “24 Hour TV,” an annual charity drive broadcast by the Nippon TV network each year.
Like the big “Kohaku Red and White Song Battle” held on December 31st it’s quite a media event, and all the biggest names in entertainment lend their star power to help raise money from viewers for various good causes. Over the course of the broadcast the hosts put on many events, including a marathon and various other sports-related segments.
The theme of this year’s show was “An Event That Changed Your Life,” and former baseball star Shinjo (who played in the U.S. for three years) went on a “Darts Trip,” throwing a dart at a map of Japan then traveling to that prefecture to interview people while the cameras watched.
In one segment I caught, Shinjo visited a rural part of Okinawa to interview people about what events had changed their lives. One mango farmer told him it was when he tasted mangos for the first time thirty years ago; he knew people would come to love the exotic fruit, although at the time Japanese were used much blander fare. Considering that they now sell for up to $100 apiece (in special packages, for giving as traditional gifts in the summer), I’m sure he’s not regretting his decision to take a chance on growing mangos.
Here I am in the Big Shitty (Tokyo) with too much time on my hands just to sit around but not enough time to go to a movie or something, so I decided to duck into an Internet cafe.
I have to confess that this is my first foray into one of these joints (not too many of them up in the hinterlands of beautiful Tochigi Prefecture), and I really was a bit apprehensive about the whole adventure. I sort of expected to be surrounded by dorky sleep-deprived geeks, smelling of Cup Noodle and unwashed undergarments, perusing the latest in porn site perversions.
What I found was a pretty pleasant place with a clientele consisting of more young gals than guys.
If I was young and single (oh how my pockets would jingle), I know where I would start hanging out.
