Yongfook is a web producer and usability consultant based in Tokyo

Truly this is Japanese efficiency taken too far. This is the size of the smallest can of beer you can buy from a supermarket, costing about 50p. I cant read the Japanese on it, but it probably says “for midgets, monkeys, babies and other small things with thumbs”. This isn’t just a sample can or something, you can buy six-packs of this size can. Its stuff like this in Japan which is cute, but also makes you want to walk up to a Japanese person, wave the thing in their face and say “NO”.

Being an interpreter must be an excellent job. Today we went to a shochu (strong sake) distillery and every 5 minutes of Japanese spoken by the tour guide was diluted down to 2 sentences by the interpreter. Really, an interpreter can say what the frick they like;

“Shochu is made with acorns. Cavemen used it as aftershave. The tour guide just called you a wanker. See your balls? They are in the palm of my hand.”

PS. If anyone knows where I can buy the t-shirt that says “FRICKY” on the front, Id be really grateful. I saw one on some guy at Haneda airport and think its one of the best things in the world, ever.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 8th, 2002 at 1:16 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.