Photographs from a small group of islands
Japanese snack maker Meiji has recently released its latest comically named chocolate product, Panky.
Yet despite Mao Inoue appearing in the promotional campaign, there’s hardly even a hint of any ‘hanky’.
A wasted opportunity if ever there was one, with the somewhat bizarre accompanying commercial offering little in the way of compensation.
With food-related programmes dominating Japanese television, it’s very easy for the viewer to be left slavering at the sight of the succulent snacks on display or, on occasion, the saucy delights of those sometimes serving up the samples.
The only problem is that all this food-based frivolity can leave the practice of preparing dinner seem all the more mundane, with no fancy dishes or flirty females to fire the imagination. Yet for the cost of only 1,980 yen (17 dollars), any dinnertime disappointments can be easily eradicated — this breast-boasting apron effortlessly putting a morsel of merriment back into meal times.
Perhaps.
“It appears obvious there is almost no market for whale meat, so if the Japanese government will not listen to the conservation argument to stop whaling, perhaps Iceland’s official recognition that there’s no market for the meat could finally encourage Japan to stop its expanded ‘scientific’ whaling program.”
New Zealand Conservation Minister John Carter disputing the supposed demand for whale meat.
The market for whale meat in Japan is probably nowhere near the size so-called ‘scientists’ may suggest, although Mr Carter’s claims that there’s almost none is equally suspect. It’s true that schoolchildren in certain areas are being lumbered with the stuff whether they like it or not, but on the other hand, some people do seem to buy it simply because they want to.
Plus to try and increase interest and tempt those willing to give it a whirl, whale is now available in cute little cans.
And for those after something fresher, supermarkets seem to have finally sussed that presentation could be a powerful tool in boosting whale sales. This for example doesn’t look especially appetising.
But with the addition of a bit of green and a lovely little flower, the minke below is much more appealing.
Maybe.
The Japanese fondness for fads is fairly well documented, with products, places and even people receiving the sometimes dubious merits of en masse mania due to their ‘newness’ or massive media hype.
A perfect example perhaps was the opening last December of a Krispy Kreme outlet in Tokyo’s Shinjuku district. An event that took even the keenest of fad followers by surprise, with huge numbers of people standing in line for hours on end just to get hold of some of the shop’s presumably delectable donuts.
Yet more than eight months later, people are amazingly still at it, with the eatery boldly fending of the usual fickleness of Japanese consumers. Even on a mid-week August afternoon there are large numbers of punters patiently waiting outside in the far from comfortable temperatures just to get their hands on the sweet snacks inside.
And it’s not a wee wait and then back to the office or wherever to gorge on the goods either, as there’s now a theme park-style sign letting customers know just how long they’ll be in line for. A mere hour it seems being a small price to pay for some sugary satisfaction.
Now by all means call me an old curmudgeon as far as creamy treats are concerned, but isn’t this willingness to wait at least an hour for something as dull as a donut something to worry about?
Japanese ladies it would seem are definitely getting bigger in the breast department, as not only does the recently coined phrase ‘bon-kyu-bon’ (big-small-big) apparently confirm this new physique, but one or two undulations are apparently becoming so curvaceous that they are somewhat unflatteringly being compared to cows’ udders.
Not that the whole female population has suddenly become big and bouncy of course, although for those looking for a bust-boost of sorts, one enterprising Japanese company has been successfully selling F Cup Cookies — an edible enlarger that needs little in the way of explanation.
However not content with only light snacks, the same manufacturer is now offering a similar type of transformation in tea form.
But with both products promising considerable to say the least cup sizes, one can only wonder at what a tendency towards afternoon treats of tea and biscuits could produce. In fact, it may (or indeed may not) be such a fondness that explains the far from natural forms of the rather freakish-looking but unfathomably famous Kano sisters.
Arguably giving the phrase ‘tea for two’ a whole new meaning.
Even when there’s only one of them present.
