Let's make happy
Japan Things
Plush-tastic Ads
May 21st
On my last day in Japan last month, I was in a crowded JR train and noticed TWO ads featuring cute girls and plush mascots, one right across from the other in the car.
They’re advertising completely different things, and neither of those things are toys.
This girl and her panda puppet want you to drink Kirin green tea.
The panda seems more interested in eating the cap, though.
And this girl and her giant frog are hawking loans, of all things.
As cute as that frog is, I’m not sure if it would motivate me to take out a loan from this particular company. Then again, I’m not Japanese.
Kewpie is the New Hello Kitty
May 2nd
I was disheartened to find on my Japan trip that Tarako Kewpie seems to be no more. The doll dressed up as a nasty fish egg condiment that had taken the country by storm just one year ago had gone the way of Dango Sankyoudai.
But there is good news! As the ad I blogged about a earlier this month indicated, Kewpies have morphed into a Hello Kitty-like blank canvas ubiquitous to all department stores, kiosks, and souvenir shops.
Though Tarako Kewpie is gone, we now have Mushroom Kewpie and Beer Kewpie, among hundreds of other variations. You can even get Kewpies dressed up as popular anime characters.
The craft mecca Yuzawaya now has a whole wall of naked Kewpies in multiple sizes for people to dress up as their food or beverage of choice.
I suppose you can also get these in the U.S., but it seems that the Japanese have claimed Kewpie as their own. Could it make a comeback here?
Please do it at home.
Apr 30th
I’d almost forgotten about this odd poster, which we were seeing all over the Tokyo subway stations a couple of weeks ago.
The English is an accurate translation of the Japanese—it’s just…pretty strange. (Right?) If you look closely, you’ll see that it adds “please share your seat with others” at the bottom. Seems like they could have just stuck with that line.
More Okinawa
Apr 23rd
Hello from New York! I was a little reluctant to leave Japan so soon, but the weather in NY is absolutely gorgeous, so I’ll take it. (I’ve been up since 3:30 this morning, so I got to see the beautiful morning light hit the buildings outside our window.) I also didn’t bring any knitting on the Japan trip, so I’m looking forward to picking up the needles after two weeks without.
I just finished downloading the last of my photos, and I realized I took more pics of Okinawa than I thought. So this will be the non-hermit crab Okinawa post.
First, something cute (of course!). An ad for Okinawan “snow salt” cookies at the Naha airport on the main island. (They’re really yummy.)
Iriomote-jima, where we stayed for three nights, has more than just beaches and crabs. It’s also known for its dense jungle and waterfalls. It’s not known so much for its goats, but this one was roaming around just looking to get into trouble.
John was careful not to touch him, so that he could avoid a customs nightmare when returning to the states. (It ended up being a nightmare anyway, but that’s another and not very interesting story.)
And here we have some mangrove roots.
Iriomote-jima was covered with dense mangrove forests, and the guide on the boat tour we took discussed the main three types of mangrove trees in detail, on and on, throughout the 25-minute trip. I now feel like I know all there is to know about mangroves, but only in Japanese.
After our boat tour, we took an hour-long hike to see a waterfall (sans tour guide, thankfully). On the way, I spotted this gorgeous bark.
I don’t recall what kind of tree it belongs to, but I loved its pattern.
Also this cool unfurling vine.
Here’s a shot of the waterfall we hiked to, plus a funny crow who was very interested in us.
And lastly, I found this ad at the airport at Ishigaki-jima to be pretty fascinating.
Never mind the fresh water gushing down the pristine waterfalls of a nearby island, give me the water of America! I have a feeling that this particular campaign wouldn’t do so well in its place of supposed origin.
The majority of my remaining pictures from Japan are of cute ads I found, so I’ll be posting those soon too.
New Friends in Okinawa
Apr 21st
I just spent the past two days on a beach! Not what we planned for when mapping out our trip to Japan, but no complaints here.
From Nagoya we took a plane to the main island of Okinawa, then another flight to Ishigaki-jima, then we hopped a ferry to Iriomote-jima, a remote jungle island where John and I did some snorkeling a year ago. Because I didn’t bother to bring my contacts to Japan, the snorkeling was a little blurry for me this time, but still a lot of fun. I spent more time lying in the sand (with plenty of shade and sunblock), reading my book and listening to the ocean. I also met some new friends!
This is Dwight. He was pretty shy, but I thought he had a lovely shell.
Next I met Fusako-san. She crawled around on John’s hand for a while, before falling off the edge. (She was fine.)
This is Goro, who wasn’t shy at all. I loved his beady little eyes.
Then we have Chibi, who was almost the tiniest crab we found. (Photographed on John’s index finger.)
And finally, Stripy-kun! Who was very stripy.
All of these guys were extremely friendly and graciously tolerated our poking them and turning them upside down, so I think I’m over my fear of hermit crabs. They’re just too cute to be afraid of.
Now we’re back in Tokyo for the night, and tomorrow we return to the states. I really feel like I just got here, but surely it won’t be so long before I’m back for another visit. I’ve also got plenty of more photos to share once I return!
