Monday, September 05, 2005
The world on saleIn case you haven't noticed (don't worry, most people have not), there is a World Fair going on. It opened on March 25 and will run for six full months. Except that it is in Nagoya, in Aichi prefecture in Japan, and it's designed to be more like bringing the world to the Japanese than bringing the world to a fair which happens to be in Japan. I am not sure if that distinction makes sense to you, but trust me, a lot of deep thinking went into it. To illustrate, I'm offering this picture to the left taken at the American Pavilion (click on it to enlarge). Now that's scary, Japanese kids trying to look American by wearing red and blue cowboy hats. With stars. Something hard to describe is lost when you take something entirely foreign and try to Japanize it. Almost as unthinkable as when I microwave my sushi.
And because it is sponsored by business heavyweights (this Expo is being brought to you by Toyota, maker of fine vehicles for the world), it has a strong commercial flavor, which translates to lots of stores selling lots of international trinkets and knickknacks -- "international" in this case probably means that they were made in China. But, since the fair is ending in a few weeks, the souvenirs are now being sold at significant discount, sometimes more than half off. The Chinese are selling five sets of chopsticks at 1,000 yen, one third of original price, and flower vases at 70% off. The Indians are marking 5,000 yen bracelets down to 2,900 yen. The Nepalese are practically giving away souvenir shirts at only 1,000 yen.
But you have to hurry. The fair closes on September 25, and these shop owners are determined to clear their inventories. They don't want to ship this crap back to the home countries, because the natives probably won't recognize it as their own. Seriously, how much do you think people in Texas would pay for red and blue cowboy hats? Even with those big stars.
- posted by Woofwoof @ 5:01 AM
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Thank God for a funny post today. I was half afraid that I'd see another article about that FEMA nincompoop (By the way, he's stopped going on TV. Somebody must have told him to shut up and go do his job).
Anyway, you microwave sushi? lol
Anyway, you microwave sushi? lol
# posted by 
: 05 September, 2005 07:22
: 05 September, 2005 07:22
Ha! They should pay me to have my kids wear those dorky hats.
# posted by : 05 September, 2005 08:43
: 05 September, 2005 08:43
Connecticut, only day-old sushi. I wasn't sure if it was safe to eat, so I nuked it. Tasted like soggy cooked tuna.
John, glad you liked Kung-Fu Hustle. It didn't do well at the theaters or on DVD. Maybe most people couldn't figure out what kind of movie it tried to be. That's asking too many questions, in my opinion.
John, glad you liked Kung-Fu Hustle. It didn't do well at the theaters or on DVD. Maybe most people couldn't figure out what kind of movie it tried to be. That's asking too many questions, in my opinion.
All the "student reporters" who show up on the NHK News in the evenings seem to have been forced to wear those hats at the expo.
The scary thing for me is... I didn't think twice about it.
The scary thing for me is... I didn't think twice about it.
Miklos, you can add that to your own "You know you've been in Japan too long when..." list. When it's as long as a book chapter, it's time to go home.
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