I Don’t Want Your Plates – Talking About Toilets – Mr Blobby Contest – Be Careful of That Cute Thing – My Roof Has An Extra Roof – More Marketing Fails
I Don’t Want Your Plates
I mentioned that there is a Take Your Own Trash culture here, and also – except in a formally-served restaurant – a Clear Your Own Table habit. Last night’s restaurant has this robo-platform wandering around in a helpful way although some unfortunate mis-adjustment of its proximity sensors mean that every time you manage to get near, it scurries away just as you start to land your plates.
Talking About Toilets
…as we tourists often do in Japan, the latest feature is one where the lid helpfully opens as you approach. Putting me in mind, and I really wish it hadn’t, of the sales brochure for Genuine People Personality doors in the Hitchhiker’s Guide:
“It is their pleasure to open for you, and their satisfaction to close again with the knowledge of a job well done.”
Mr Blobby Contest
We are suggesting competitions to our fellow travellers, to while away those long periods sat behind a kei-car doing exactly 37kph down a 50kph limit-no-overtaking road. The latest is the Mr Blobby Contest – prizes for the house with the most topiary in the front garden. Taking snaps while going along in the Mini usually results in poorly-focused badly-framed pictures, so apologies for the fly squash on the left of this one. Hopefully the open-top crews will do better.
Be Careful Of That Cute Thing
Is the epitome of Japanese-ness combining safety-consciousness with cuteness?
My Roof Has An Extra Roof
In Hokkaido the buildings had very prosaic sloping roofs. As we move southwards and maybe into richer areas, householders have been investing in shiny tiles and traditional styles. We wonder if it is a status symbol to have the most complicated roof.
More Marketing Fails
1. Even if I did want to eat Ice Cream Melon Bread, why would I compromise on this one?
2. The French for pastry (choux) is not the same as the word for cabbage (chou).
