There are some strange things that are normal in Japan, but for Europe and USA not so!
Vending machine
In the picture above there is a vending machine. Why is this so different? Well… they are everywhere. Within a 3 minute walk I'll see at least 4. Some are sneaky and are hiding around the corner. Some have hot and cold drinks. I’ve even seen one of that vending machine sell regular size + large size drinks for the same price.
Some even make noises and it makes me feel that they’re taunting me. You can get coffee, tea, soda, juice and I haven’t looked but I wouldn’t be surprised if you could get soup and milk.
Umbrella machine
This is the same thing as vending machine, but... you can buy an umbrella when it's a rainy day and you just don't have an umbrella with. Now very popular are transparent umbrellas ;) I've one at home, I brought it a souvenir ;) Interesting, duh! BUT! Everything is available via vending machines: Drinks, hot drinks, hot food, t-shirts, used underwear, alcohol, cigarettes, toys, porn, and who knows what else...
Weird, but cute bentos boxes
Bento - is a meal in which a single portion is packaged. This is usually bought at a convenience shop, but it seems that the lunch prepared by a housewife for her husband or children to take with also qualifies.
Necktie USB Air Conditioning
http://www.thanko.jp/product/usb/cool/usbnecktie.html/
If someone works in a building without air conditioning, or the AC breaks down at some point they may appreciate this thanks to a product: It’s an USB-powered necktie that cools down with a built-in fan. Interesting... and crazy!
Sushi- the Japanese tradition.
http://www.joemonster.org/filmy/7123/Sushi_japonska_tradycja
This is pretty damn funny video showing how you should act in the Japanese sushi restaurant ;) I laughed really hard!!!
Boyfriend Pillow
Marriage is unfashionable for Japanese women. But of course they still like the comfort of a relationship. Even when they don’t have one. Enter an inventive product: The Boyfriend’s Arm Pillow. It’s the ultimate sleeping partner: It doesn’t snore, doesn’t make demands, is comfortable, and, as happy customer Junko Suzuki put it: “It keeps holding me all the way through. I think this is great because this does not betray me.” For me it's a strange idea...
And finally I present a 12 minutes video “Japan – The strange country” about Japan, it covers everything from strange cultural mores to equally strange economy. An interesting thing about it is the fact that the creator of caricature was Kenichi Tanaka, real Japanese! And he says: "By the way, please don't call me a racist, because I am one of short, small eyes Japanese." His motivation in creating the piece was to show a Japanese audience how strange they're to foreigners (UE and USA)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vo2EBGVEsvk&feature=player_embedded
I hope you enjoyed!
I love one thing on Japanese people, they do products they need without embarassment.
ReplyDelete"I need a man to hug at night, but I don't trust them so I will made a pillow in that shape" - marvelous. For us it may look a little weird, maybe even more than a little if we can hear about special night when guys sleep in one with pillow girls (anime pillow girls are quite popular: http://www.theanimereality.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/anime-pillow.jpg)
Sometimes maybe they choose wrong solution (they could try to look for gf instead of making pillow but duh...), but I'm talking about their resourcefulness and imaginativeness.
I love the video about sushi :D It's incredible how they are nice and cultural to each other even if meal didn't taste to them. Salt on the doorsill? Awesome idea (I love salt). The only thing I see still backward are some habits, like the fact women pour dring for a man, it's totally other way about in Poland, but I understand it flows out from their long tradition which treat women on worse place compared to a man, but we need to deal with it.
I liked also the animation about Japan, it was made very well.
They are also very hard-working people, even now - having really hard and sad time they can work and go forward rebuilding their lifes instead of bewail. I really adore they although there are also dark sides of living there.
I like Chinese and Japanese people for their attitude towards life (they are always happy and smiling to everyone - at least the ones I know including Mr Toho from our university). It would be nice to visit Japan someday - but the flight lasts too long for me. As you said it is good that they produce everything they need starting from some strange and from our point of view unnecessary things and ending on stuff used by a lot of people not only in Japan. I like when my father visits Japan because he brings me a lot of electronic devices bought there very cheap :)
ReplyDeleteSo how long have been there? Didn't you feel "different" there?
I also like Japan very much. I'am very interested in thier habits, thier culture and of course they food. I love sushi, I could eat it all the time, that's why I spend to much money on sushi...
ReplyDeleteThat movie about behavior in restaurant...
I'am not sure if it is partialy a joke, but let think about how others nations look at our behaviour.
All countries have they own weird manners.
The Japanese probably don't know that they can sing in Polish http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEh1txuZaj8&NR=1:) I would like to visit Japan as well but is so far away and the flight ticket is so expensive. I believe that this is a very interesting country with their beautiful and difficult to learn language. I heard that Japanese people often sleeping on the way to home f.e. in trains because they work to much and often live far away from work's place. I like this boyfriend pillow it's really amazing what people can create:)
ReplyDeleteRegarding to your first part about Japan the best machine is device for umbrellas for me. So easy but no one came up for this idea. You never know when rain will fall. For example I`m outdoor and starts raining so I can buy an umbrella in this machine and problem is solved I found in the internet device worth to see:
ReplyDeletehttp://dornob.com/creative-scan-and-draw-color-changing-pen-design/
This is a Pen generating colors around us. How it works ? One side of Pen scanning color we want to generate and then the other side can reproduce this color.
I remember the first semester in PJWSTK Mr. Toho showed pictures from Japan. I like the way how he was talking about his country and described his culture. Maybe in the next part you could write more example of the culture, food, cars Japan? I will be happy to read more information about this beautiful country.
To be honest I don't understand the hype behind the japanese culture. Of course this culture is quite different from ours but cmon.. we have much to offer aswell.
ReplyDeleteCould someone explain to me why is Japan so popular recently? Maybe I missed out on something...
I wonder how do Japanese perceive western culture, do they also think that it's weird? I also remember Mr. Toho's lectures, they were quite funny. What I really liked is how he photographed _everything_ from everyday life in Japan, including his home and his neighborhood. It was really enjoyable and I learned a lot on how do Japanese live. To add about vending machines: I've heard that there are ones that offer you a haircut, maybe not too fashionable, but they do their work of shortening the hair.
ReplyDeleteOne funny thing I have heared is about their water closets. Some of Japanese have warmed up toilet bowls, automatic flush of the water after "job is finished" and (somewhere) loud enough music which is played during your visit in WC to drown some nasty noises which may appear :D
ReplyDeleteMy favorite of Japanese "things" are karaoke cabins. They are soundproof cabin where you can sing. Japanese tend to work a lot and have a stressful lifestyle, so thy have a lot of this portable entertainment.
ReplyDeleteMy friend recently visited Japan and told me that there are hotels where rooms are rented by the hover and thy are very popular because most people live in overcrowded flats, where there is no privacy. Guests of these hotels are often married couples.
I agree with Adam. Of course Japanese culture can be amusing but other cultures in my opinion are as much interesting.
ReplyDeleteI'm aware of many weird, wacky things are typical for Japan, f.e. the TV shows available: the 'Human Tetris' (http://www.break.com/index/japanese-tetris.html) and others but we may seem as strange to them as they seem to us.
As for how they perceive us (Chinese example): the Chinese comapnies sometimes rented a fake white just to seem more international
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/07/rent-a-white-guy/8119/
I really like this post. Japan is such an interesting country. Their culture differs a lot from ours, but I love Japanese weirdness. They don't have as many inhibitions as people in Europe have.
ReplyDelete'Umbrella machine' or 'Boyfriend Pillow' may seem to be ridiculous, but in my opinion are convenient and funny :) Bentos boxes? Isn't is more interesting than our boring sandwichs?
In Japan you can look as you wish and nobody looks at you strange. There are even different named styles (http://www.japanlinked.com/Japanese-Culture/Gyaru-Gal-Styles.html) ;)
And what I like the most in Japan - many cute and pink products with glitter decorations (http://azjatyckicukier.blogspot.com/2010/07/deco-den-czyli-ozdabianie-wszystkieg-o.html)
They are so creative country.They has got so rich culture heritage, but they are still inventing new customs and artefacts of their culture. They are famous all over the world, everyone will be able to mention about something characteristic for their behaviour and country, even it is something irrational as their TV shows. Poland is no so famous, i think that there are not so many people in the world who know about our sarmatian culture, but everyone know about ninjas samurai ;) no so many in the world will tell that in Poland we are producing beautiful easter decoration, but everyone know that in Japan they are involve in electronics. They have got the succes gene and they are making great usage from it!
ReplyDeleteNeither do I find any reason why Japan would be so special... Russia could also be an example of a country perceived as strange and crazy by the rest of the World.
ReplyDeleteThere's plenty of 'in Soviet Russia..." memes and jokes on the Internet. There even this site
www.englishrussia.com
which gathers exclusively interesting or shocking materials about post-soviet countries.
Anyway Japan is 'in' right now, definitely because of all the terrible things that happend there lately. Maybe that's the reason for the never-ending interrest in that country. It's got very rich history of ups and downs.
I am very happy that I could read this article. I also am a big fan of Japan. I believe that the Japanese have amazing ideas. I often wonder how in their minds they are born. I like that everything what is designed by them is so simple and amazing. I also like the fact that Japanese people pay attention to the appearance of simple items. This makes our life better because we are surrounded by beautiful objects.
ReplyDeleteReally strange country. I don't know that they are so crazy. They have so many funny ideas to improve their life that is amazing. This idea with pillow in shape of human arms is so crazy that i can't believe that it is true. And all this automats with some kind of usefull things like umbrella. I think that it makes Japan a little bit diffrent than other countries. And I don't know if all this ideas are really necessary to improve our lifes but if they want it here you are.
ReplyDelete