Seriously Japan, really???

I just watched ダーリングは外国人 and a terrible commercial for a smartphone in japan. Both of which had a black dude (黒人) that I've seen in on ultra wifi posters in various train stations. Well, I made the mistake of asking why he was in those commercials/movie...and nobody can freakin tell me.

Does nobody else see whats odd about this picture??

 I'll give you a hint, it has nothing to do with the robot

Seriously though, Japan is not too big on asking questions, so it would not surprise me if this dude just showed up the day they were filming this commercial and nobody wanted to tell him to get out of the way of the camera.

Anyway, besides this mysterious black dude, the movie ダーリングは外国人 was okay, for a Japanese movie.  The first 30 minutes were kind of interesting, and I could definitely relate to a lot of the experiences.  It seems like every gaijin in Japan has a problem speaking Japanese.  Not because it's hard to speak it, but because as soon as you open your mouth people expect to hear English.  Even if you're the most fluent gaijin in Japan, nobody will 'hear' your Japanese.  Its a really weird phenomenon and this movie opens with this sort of exchange within the first 5 minutes.

The movie is based on a manga (or an Anime?), so throughout the movie they show little cartoon clips that look like this.  To keep the mood light, they also show brief clips of interracial couples (Japanese women and some kind of foreigner) who share little stories about their relationship.  That's a cute idea, except EVERY gaijin was a total goober.  The main character Tony was the only one who represented us gaijin in a good light. 

Like I said, the first 30 minutes were kind of interesting, then the movie kind of drags on, so don't feel bad if you fall asleep, I certainly did!

So if you're a cool gaijin in Japan, give this movie a try, and then go out and continue to be awesome to offset some of the damage caused by this movie. 

Expensive 'cultural' experience

I had intended to make my next post about something a little more cultural, but I had the opportunity to attend a watered down mizu shoubai 'event' in Umeda, Osaka (no pun intended). This past Friday some friends and I payed a visit to a bunny bar. This is on the lower end (financially) of mizu shoubai but was nevertheless an interesting cultural experience.

We were lured in to this fine establishment by a sweet talking Japanese girl who appeared to be no older than 18. I was a little wary at first because the bunny bar concept was still new to me.
A Bunny Bar, is not the kind of thing you see a lot of in America. I think the closest comparison is Hooters, but the atmosphere is completely different. The atmosphere inside the bar was hardly sexual, except for the outfits of course. The women seemed genuinely friendly and never really forced us to drink. The girls would ask lots of questions and always smile. We were essentially paying more to drink at this bar because the women were made to talk to us. I guess I dont really see the harm in this kind of business, but I still don't quite see the need for this kind of business. I think the fact that I am a foreigner makes it easy for me to remove myself from the situation. Long story short, we actually managed to leave the bar after spending only 3000yen, not too bad.

Upon coming to japan I found the whole idea of mizu shoubai and the trillions of yen a year sex industry very interesting. How did this phenomenon come about and why is there a need for it? Is there so much stress in Japanese society that this is not only needed, but common place??
Hopefully I will have some answers in the near future.


If you are interested, there is a great documentary about host clubs in Osaka entitled The Great Happiness Space

http://www.thegreathappinessspace.com/