Automobiling in 1906 – Locomobile in the Mikado’s Empire

Looking through the NYT online archives, which now allow viewing of articles back to 1851 with a Times Select account, I came across a Jan 18, 1906 feature on an auto-show at Madison Square Garden, in which I found three fascinating nuggets. Each one gets its own post.

After all, why even bother bringing an automobile without a native to drive it for you?

* * *
BUYS AUTO FOR JAPAN

Good Touring Roads There, Says Mr. Thompson-Society at the Shows

An automobile that will be taken to Japan for touring purposes was purchased yesterday at the Madison Square Garden show by J.W. Thompson, who has just returned to New York after a residence of three years in the Mikado’s empire. Mr. Thompson’s purchase was a 30-35 horse power locomobile. He was the first man to introduce the motor car into Japan, his first car having been used there in 1900. Mr. Thompson said last night that the roads of Japan were excellent for automobiling, but owing to the heavy import duty few motor cars have been brought into the country. His greatest difficulty was in teaching the native the mechanical construction of the car so as to make them capable chauffeurs and repairers.

Don’t laugh, some day we’ll ALL be wearing one of these

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In this photo released by Japanese electronics maker Toshiba Corp. Monday, Oct. 16, 2006, a model wearing a full-faced prototype headgear demonstrates the new gadget that enables the wearer to get a 360-degree view on a 40 centimeters (15.8 inches) across dome-shaped screen at Toshiba Corporate Research and Development Center in Kawasaki, west of Tokyo, Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2006. The ominidirectional image, of which two-dimentional version is displayed on the flat panel screen, will be projected to the three-kilogram (6.6 pounds) helmet in accordance with the wearer’s head position upon being detected by infrared sensors. Toshiba plans to merchandize the gadget within 2 to 3 years. (AP Photo/Toshiba Corp., HO)

(Thanks to CRAZY JAPAN)

Colbert: “I want you to address my pachinko analogy”

Recent exchange from the Colbert Report:

Biologist/god critic Richard Dawkins: [Evolution] is a highly non-random process. The big thing that everyone misunderstands about Darwinism is they think it’s chance, they think it’s an accident, and it’s not an accident.

Colbert: Well, it’s too complex for us to perceive, you know, it’s like, I know a pachinko machine isn’t an accident, either, there’s a reason why it bounces from nail to nail, but it looks random to me, right?

Dawkins: Nothing in nature looks random.

Colbert: I want you to address my pachinko analogy!

Dawkins: I’ve never even heard of it, what is that?

Colbert: You’ve never heard of pachinko? Oh, it’s like Japanese pinball. It’s great, they make pornographic versions of it over there.

The Colbert character proves once again to be more complex than meets the eye. Just when you thought you knew his aggressively ignorant conservatism, off he goes and admits not only to an interest in other cultures but even a playful love of pornography!

But anyway, I’d like to show you a little of what Colbert was talking about. Yes, pachinko is similar to pinball, but unlike in the US where pachinko continues a slow fade into near-extinction, the vertically played Japanese game remains Japan’s top gambling institution, beating out horse betting and lotto-type games (not necessarily in that order). The gambling business side of pachinko is only semi-legal and the parlor owners are well known for ties with North Korea. But if casino-type games are your cup of tea, then platforms such as 슬롯사이트 may be perfect for you.

As for the machines themselves, my personal favorites are the ones featuring the chinful mug of the game’s biggest promoter, wrestling legend and former Diet member Antonio Inoki, who incidentally also has close ties with the North Korean elites:

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Are there pornographic pachinko machines? The Cutie Honey series, featuring big-breasted anime women, may count:

More famously, there are numerous machines featuring 80s anime sensation Urusei Yatsura:
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The game features the bikini-clad character Lum, and the outside of pachinko parlors are often plastered with her image. Similarly, you’ll also see some risque shots of Fujiko-san from Lupin III to advertise pachinko games based on the seminal anime series:

If you want to call these games pornographic I wouldn’t object, but at worst they are the softcore stuff similar to what you’d find in American comic books. The difference, I think, is that Americans visiting Japan (like myself) would probably feel uneasy with the flagrant, in your face placement of these images in public outside pachinko parlors, especially placed in the context of plentiful pornography (bikini shots in kid’s comics, men reading newspapers featuring full nudity on the train) and casual misogyny found throughout Japan’s pop culture.

Incidentally, there’s been a recent (2004-ish) release of a pachinko version of the epic anime title Neon Genesis Evangelion, for those who might like that sort of thing:

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Meet Boozy Bird, Diamond Geezer, and Football Crazy

As Mrs. Adamu and I wandered through the Tokyu department store, which is attached to the massive, disorganized and foreign-tourist-packed shopping mall known as MBK Center, we came across these creepy, grotesque dolls that in some designer’s twisted fantasy are intended to be cute:
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Looks like one statue maker needs a little diversity training. But wait! The same company (the name of which remains unknown due to the lack of any labels on the items save the obvious) deftly escapes any charges of racial insensitivity by offering similar nightmare images of white people:
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Such bad taste is extremely typical here in Thailand. The most egregious example of this is the large number of “bad taste” T-shirt shops that are common throughout Bangkok but are especially noticeable at outdoor markets. The sight of countless shirts that make absolutely zero attempt at actual humor in favor of a blatantly shocking/offensive message is an almost daily cringe inducer here. You can see a representative sample of these embodiments of betrayal of God’s gift of language and creativity upon mankind here (only click if you promise never to buy a shirt). Who buys the stuff? I have not seen anyone around Bangkok wearing a “Just did it” t-shirt, thank God, but my guess is they appeal to some of the more boorish Eurotrash tourists (Americans are a rare breed here among tourists) and their kids.

One positive result of the proliferation of annoying and unfunny T-shirts is that once in a while you’ll stumble upon some real humor, such as when a mild-mannered 40 year old Thai woman has no idea she’s wearing a shirt telling everyone around her to “FUCK OFF” or a younger man who probably has no idea of what “super funk” means or is despite wearing those powerful words emblazoned on a tattered jacket.

Getting back to the icky dolls, a Google search of the seemingly nonsense names turns up an actual diamond seller, a show the Nokia corporation sponsors on ESPN that I believe airs on the company’s station in Thailand, and some sort of differently hideous drunk baby doll that’s apparently got some following in the UK, that actually does resemble the first doll. Leads me to wonder: Are these things all references to/sad imitations of Commonwealth-region pop culture?

Enjoying Root Beer in Thailand

Root beer is not popular in Japan, which makes things tough for me as both Japan watcher and root beer lover. During my stays in the country, the high prices at the import stores – formerly the only place that sells the stuff before the rise of discount stores – forced me to regard my beloved root beer as a rare treat to be enjoyed alone or in the company of other foreigners.

Attempts have been made to add the drink to the usual lineup of carbonated drink products, but the Japanese consumers are apparently having none of it. Why?

Japanese friends have told me it tastes like medicine. Wikipedia tells me that the specific reason root beer fails to gain popularity outside Okinawa (a legacy of extended US occupation) and US military bases (see previous paretheses) is because drinking it makes you smell like you’re wearing a compress. I have always found the comparison somewhat insulting. I mean, root beer used to be a folk medicine – it’s supposed to taste that way!

Thankfully, the Thais have absolutely no problem with stinky food (take dorians – please!). It was with great pleasure that I have found root beer to be plentiful here. Not only can one find A&W cans on the shelves of the ubiquitous 7-11s, right next to Coke and some unsettlingly hypersweet Lipton Iced Tea, but the A&W fast food chain is alive and well throughout Bangkok. You might be unfamiliar with A&W restaurants as they have a limited presence in many US states, but they but are, rest assured, a nationwide chain (and big in Canada!). They serve a lot of fried food and are known for having good curly fries (true) and chili dogs (not as true). Here I am hugging a statue of their beloved mascot the Great Root Bear (who knew they had a mascot?!) before enjoying their signature root beer in a frosty mug:

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Unlike the A&W cans, which for some reason taste almost like Dr. Pepper (blech), the root beer at the restaurant is authentic and delicious. We also had curly fries, which were good as ever, and some fried chicken that was OK but doesn’t hold a candle to some of the awesome fried chicken you get at street vendors around Bangkok. One interesting feature of the menu is that waffles a la mode are offered along with the rest of the value meals, served with curly fries and apparently intended to be eaten as a full-fledged meal. Sounds good to me!

Google coming around

You might remember that I railed on Google’s products for being hard to use in Japan.

Well, two of my four beefs seem to be resolved. Tokyo weather is mostly accurate nowadays, and Google Calendar now sends properly-encoded notifications to Japanese mobile phones.

Now we just need stock quotes and mobile browser support, and I can almost consolidate my web services! (Except, of course, for del.icio.us and rememberthemilk.com and my bank accounts and…)

INOKIX Series Condoms(tm)

Sadly we missed this one prior to their selling out, but Japanese prophylactic major Condomania lists Inoki-brand condoms in their online catalog.

Condoms that have inherited “Inoki-ism!” Fighting condoms decorated with the Inoki ” DAAAAAAH !” pose!

” USE WITHOUT QUESTION! USE AND YOU WILL FIND OUT! ”

INOKIX 1000
12-pack ¥1,050

  • Big and bulbous at the tip
  • Plain type
  • Jelly manufacture
  • Pink color

INOKIX 2000
12-pack ¥2,100

  • Thick knob-end for sustained effect
  • Serrated to prevent falling out
  • Jelly manufacture
  • Pink and green colors

Nothing says “I’m gonna kick your ass” like a pink condom, guys.

Ambassador Schieffer: Beef trade resumption “day of celebration” … really?

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U.S. Ambassador to Japan Thomas Schieffer, right, is all smiles as he tries out beef bowl with his wife Susanne, left, at Yoshinoya in Tokyo, Monday, Sept 18, 2006. Japanese queued up before a downtown Tokyo fast-food chain on Monday as the restaurant began offering the first servings in more than two years of a popular rice dish topped with American beef. (AP Photo/Pool)

Something tells me he didn’t have to wait all night.

The US coverage of the return of US beef has something of a relieved/celebratory feel to it:

Sept. 18, 2006, 1:48AM
Japanese Line Up for American Beef

By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press

TOKYO — The U.S. Ambassador was among customers thronging a major Japanese fast-food chain Monday to savor the return of a popular rice dish topped with American beef that was off the menu for more than two years due to mad cow fears.

“It was great. It was well worth the wait,” U.S. Ambassador Thomas Schieffer said after eating Yoshinoya D&C Co.’s “beef bowl” with chopsticks.
Click to learn more…

Japan and nearby South Korea banned American beef in December 2003 because of fears about mad cow disease. Japan eased the ban in July, and South Korea earlier this month.

Mad for U.S. beef, herd heads for Tokyo eatery
POSTED: 9:22 a.m. EDT, September 18, 2006

TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) — Hundreds of people lined up at a central Tokyo restaurant on Monday to savour a dish not tasted for more than two years — “beef bowl” made with U.S. meat.

Some Japanese had even camped out overnight outside a popular branch of fast-food chain Yoshinoya, which resumed sales of its famed specialty following the July lifting of a government ban on imports of U.S. beef.

The ban was imposed in December 2003 after the discovery of the first U.S. case of mad cow disease, forcing Yoshinoya to drop its flagship dish of braised beef and onions marinated in soy sauce and laid on top of rice.

Hardcore fans had shunned the “beef bowl” when it was made with Australian beef because the meat was too lean.

As happy as I am to see Yoshinoya back in action, I don’t really see the reopening of beef trade a cause for consumers to celebrate, especially in the US. The flap over beef could have served to make the US consider whether its own testing standards were protecting consumers, but that never happened. The US government is shamelessly pro-business and the media is just not interested in covering FDA topics unless they involve a scary new drug that kills a tiny amount of people.

If you ask me (and you did) the US put way too much pressure on Japan to lift this ban in a relatively small export market (2 billion dollars a year in sales in Japan compared to 40 billion in premium revenues for US insurance companies). The dangers of mad cow are real and every country has to be careful. For the US industry to rush to political solutions (which as an industry supported by massive subsidies is their bread and butter) to the point of getting the president involved and threatening sanctions that would violate WTO rules rather than trying to reassure consumers only harms the United States’ image and makes the beef industry look bad as well. The compromise, which is basically that Japanese inspectors will be able to look around US slaughterhouses to ensure that no spinal tissue is getting into beef headed for Japan, seems satisfactory, but I would have liked to see a little more – perhaps a more constructive attitude toward testing from the American side – maybe not universal testing like Japan, but something more than self-regulation would be nice. Unfortunately, the US saw quick resumption of the status quo as more important than building consumer trust, and I think they’ll suffer for it.

Gyudon BACK at Yoshinoya for one day

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Residents of Sakae-cho, Ushiku City, Ibaraki Prefecture line up in the middle of typhoon-induced rain for this one day only offering of their flagship beef bowl “gyudon” product now that imports of US beef have resumed. Security guards were on hand to maintain order as previous limited offerings have resulted in violence from disappointed latecomers.

There are no such reports of crazed ojisan as of yet, but hopefully our correspondents in Japan will have some news for us later this evening.

According to Asahi, Yoshinoya will offer gyudon from the 1st through the 5th of October and November before restoring their flagship product in December on a daily basis for a limited number of hours per day.

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Sankei reports that some gyudon fans waited all night for their chance at luscious beef in a bowl. I’d gladly do the same. Unfortunately there are no gyudon in Thailand, not even cheap knockoff gyudon. Decent katsudon though.
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