Hi all! If you live in Japan you'll notice a distinct pattern that everything is exceptionally overpriced. Sometimes so unreasonably so that items spend unreasonable amounts of time sitting on the store shelves waiting for a clearance sale that will never come. Oh how I miss the stores of North America when one could comb the racks for an item with the tiniest blemish and demand a 20% retribution for its purchase. Where crappy service could lead to cheap or free and politeness is an actual real-live concept. Here in Japan-land I have been astounded day after day about how much money leaves my wallet, and about how little I have to show for it. Probably the biggest culprit of my money woes is food. For the non-family type person such as I, eating out costs just about as much as eating in unless you're happy eating greasy convenience store bento boxes meal after meal (and I assure you, I'm not). In the restaurants you might notice that things are a bit topsy-turvy. Things with alcohol cost less than things without alcohol, condiments like salt, pepper and ketchup are sometimes privileges that you must beg and plead for and the idea of "doggy-bagging it {to take home what you haven't eaten while dining in}" is unheard of even if the restaurant offers "take-out {to order for the purpose of eating away from the restaurant}". It's all in the same container, isn't it?
Merrily strolling my way through a shopping area near Osaka station not too much unlike Tokyo's Shibuya, I stumbled upon a "restaurant" offering items one wouldn't really find sufficient of a full meal. I took the three pics below as I found them hilarious. See if you agree.
Would you pay 400 yen (about $4 US) for a small baked potato with a little butter?
Or 430 yen (about $4.30 US) for a single tomato with a helping of mayo as a dressing. By the way, ew, who eats tomato with mayo?
For a tomato and a half and the chef's expert mayo application your price is 550 yen ($5.50 US).
Outstanding. With prices like that it's no wonder why most Japanese are skinny and cheap haha.
Hi all. Geez it's been too long. Sorry kids, my fault. I hope everyone had a joyous holiday with lots of presents, friends, family and/or merry holiday alcoholic beverages.
One of the items flying off the shelves this season was none other than Biriizu Buutokyanpu. What absolute joy to open a present and discover that your friends think you're fat.
For us non-Japanese we've known Mr. Billy Blanks for years now. He single-handedly sparked North America-wide interest in aerobic boxing. But with the rise of Billy-Billy-Billy it sparked all sorts of competitive ways to get fit and/or lose weight while having a bit more fun. My favorite: Carmen Electra's "Fit to Strip," or as I like to call it, "Lose weight while practicing for a fulfilling career." Ha.
So what does one do when their popularity fades a bit in America? Why, go to Japan, of course! And Billy's Bootcamp quickly caught on. So much, in fact, that Billy's even got himself a top 5 music hit. It's true World, Billy's got his own song. Thankfully, his "singing" in it is minimal. This song is an obvious yet brilliant marketing ploy to sell more Bootcamp DVD's. How can I tell, you ask? It's simple really. If it were Billy's idea I bet it wouldn't be called "Boom Boom Wonderland."
Give it a listen:
What did you think? I'm betting there won't be an English version of this song.
Hello! I hope everyone had a merry merry Christmas and is enjoying the new year! I do so apologize for my delay. We hardworking employees were given a surprise early holiday. Whoohoo!
While away, one of my good American friends sent me an email about a movie she had sworn she had heard about before. It's true. One Missed Call, or Chakushin Ari as it was called in Japan, is going American. As the world sighs a collective "Why?" to yet another butchering of a foreign classic, Hollywood readies itself for what looks like an almost-certain box-office flop.
For those who have yet to see the Japanese version, One Missed Call is a movie with a similar feel to Ringu (or the Americanized The Ring). The victim would receive a call on their phone with a freaky-deaky haunting ringtone. Seeing a missed call, they would check their voicemail. The voicemail would quote a date and time in the future and play a message featuring themselves in the brief moments before their death. If disregarded, life would continue quite normally up until the moment of their death. Freaky, no? This movie's quiet eeriness put me off cell phone use for a month. With Hollywood's explosions and thrills movie tactics, a movie that relies more on subtlety will most definitely be significantly cheapened, in my opinion. And what a shame. Recently, I've been watching perfectly good Asian movies be redone with little or no credit to their original. What ever happened to subtitles and dubbing? In fact, that is how most Americans prefer their anime so why don't we set the standard on movies as well?
See the trailer for the American One Missed Call below:
See the trailer for the original Japanese One Missed Call below:
One good outcome of the American version is that a subtitled version of the Japanese movie should most definitely be circulated at your local Blockbusters. Until now, only downloaders have been able to access subtitles for this movie. I recommend watching both if you have the opportunity!
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