Hi, there! (Please, just Beth is fine.) To elaborate a little, I thought the story about the “The Vikings” movie kinda resonated, though it might not be true. But it seems plausible, given the origin of the term “spam” for unwanted commercial e-mail (a Monty Python skit well-known to the early adopters of e-mail).

And it seemed a little unlikely that modern Japanese folk would choose the word “viking” just for the association with Sweden. First of all, I associate vikings with Norway, not so much Sweden. Second, if I were coming up with random concepts I associate with Sweden (because my new restaurant is like a Swedish smorgasbord), there are a whole lot of things that would be ahead of ancient seafaring warriors on the list - meatballs, clogs, ABBA, socialized medicine, blondes, winter sports, etc.

Incidentally, you might actually catch a glimpse of the feast scene in question in the movie’s trailer, available here. However, presumably the Japanese buffet dinners have *not* featured dipping beer from vats with a horn and making out on the tabletops.

(That trailer is a hoot, BTW. The late 50’s were another world…)