April 30, 2022
A title by any other name
The anime industry in Japan now takes in as much income from overseas markets as it does from domestic distribution. One logical consequence of this international growth is that anime studios are increasingly incorporating English titles into the opening credits of original Japanese productions.
The best known example to date is probably your name. For the North American release, all they had to do was flip the font sizes.
Besides keeping publicity efforts inside and outside Japan on the same page (a constant challenge for news sites like ANN is what to call a new series announced in Japan but not officially licensed), this is a clever way for writers and artists to exert control over their content.
The most basic approach is to translate nothing and instead transliterate the original Japanese into its romaji equivalents, as with anime like Chihayafuru and Hinamatsuri and movies like Akira Kurosawa's Ran.
Taking a step up in complexity is a straightforward (if abbreviated) translation of the Japanese title. Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away is the last word in the full Japanese title, Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi. More recent examples include Sound! Euphonium and Children of the Whales.
A title can double up on the meaning by addressing one aspect in Japanese and another in English. Ghost in the Shell, which Masamune Shirow adapted from Arthur Koestler's philosophical treatise, The Ghost in the Machine, is titled "Mobile Armored Riot Police" in Japanese.
And then there's the uniquely Japanese approach that creates the English title first then transliterates it back into katakana for the Japanese title.
To be sure, it has long been common practice for Japanese distributors of Hollywood movies (especially action flicks with plots that can be summed up in a poster) to phonetically transliterate the English titles into katakana. Congratulations! You can read Japanese.
As Brian Ashcraft points out, "One thing Hollywood continually gets wrong [is that] when it tries to recreate Japan, it puts everything in Japanese, which simply isn't done in reality." English is ubiquitous in public spaces, though not necessarily the English that native speakers of the language are used to.
English is a required subject in Japan, and Japanese students are very good at mastering the subject well enough to pass the tests. But not much beyond that. The result is a working comprehension of English that is, well, quirky. The kind of quirky that can make the end results all the more striking.
I mean, it's hard to imagine even an imaginative native English copywriter coming up with titles like Made in Abyss, Angel Beats! and No Guns Life. Again, the Japanese titles simply transliterate the English into katakana.
And here's one more.
Wait a minute, what happened to the North American release?
Rifle is Beautiful is a great title. Chidori RSC is utterly opaque. It stands for "Chidori High School Rifle Shooting Club," which you would never figure out without watching it first. I initially assumed that "Chidori" was the name of the main character.
I can only imagine that Sentai Filmworks thought Rifle is Beautiful sounded like an NRA bumper sticker and wanted to avoid catching any flak about it. Because, you know, somebody might get triggered. I do understand the caution, but this series is as harmless as the rifles the girls shoot.
But especially with light novel titles growing to unwieldly lengths, tweaking the name of a series may become a simple necessity. So "A Corpse is Buried Under Sakurako's Feet" is Beautiful Bones in English, leveraging the main character's similarities to Temperance Brennan in Bones.
Star Blazers was the title attached to the first Space Battleship Yamato series for its broadcast debut in the United States in 1979. That title has now become part of the franchise name.
And speaking of the Yamato, the docudrama Yamato (「男たちの大和」) did well in Japan but brought in hardly any box office overseas. Nevertheless, the name of the battleship (the final two kanji) is repeated in big romaji characters on all the posters anyway. Because it's just way cooler that way.
The best known example to date is probably your name. For the North American release, all they had to do was flip the font sizes.
Besides keeping publicity efforts inside and outside Japan on the same page (a constant challenge for news sites like ANN is what to call a new series announced in Japan but not officially licensed), this is a clever way for writers and artists to exert control over their content.
The most basic approach is to translate nothing and instead transliterate the original Japanese into its romaji equivalents, as with anime like Chihayafuru and Hinamatsuri and movies like Akira Kurosawa's Ran.
Taking a step up in complexity is a straightforward (if abbreviated) translation of the Japanese title. Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away is the last word in the full Japanese title, Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi. More recent examples include Sound! Euphonium and Children of the Whales.
A title can double up on the meaning by addressing one aspect in Japanese and another in English. Ghost in the Shell, which Masamune Shirow adapted from Arthur Koestler's philosophical treatise, The Ghost in the Machine, is titled "Mobile Armored Riot Police" in Japanese.
And then there's the uniquely Japanese approach that creates the English title first then transliterates it back into katakana for the Japanese title.
As Brian Ashcraft points out, "One thing Hollywood continually gets wrong [is that] when it tries to recreate Japan, it puts everything in Japanese, which simply isn't done in reality." English is ubiquitous in public spaces, though not necessarily the English that native speakers of the language are used to.
English is a required subject in Japan, and Japanese students are very good at mastering the subject well enough to pass the tests. But not much beyond that. The result is a working comprehension of English that is, well, quirky. The kind of quirky that can make the end results all the more striking.
I mean, it's hard to imagine even an imaginative native English copywriter coming up with titles like Made in Abyss, Angel Beats! and No Guns Life. Again, the Japanese titles simply transliterate the English into katakana.
Wait a minute, what happened to the North American release?
Rifle is Beautiful is a great title. Chidori RSC is utterly opaque. It stands for "Chidori High School Rifle Shooting Club," which you would never figure out without watching it first. I initially assumed that "Chidori" was the name of the main character.
I can only imagine that Sentai Filmworks thought Rifle is Beautiful sounded like an NRA bumper sticker and wanted to avoid catching any flak about it. Because, you know, somebody might get triggered. I do understand the caution, but this series is as harmless as the rifles the girls shoot.
But especially with light novel titles growing to unwieldly lengths, tweaking the name of a series may become a simple necessity. So "A Corpse is Buried Under Sakurako's Feet" is Beautiful Bones in English, leveraging the main character's similarities to Temperance Brennan in Bones.
Star Blazers was the title attached to the first Space Battleship Yamato series for its broadcast debut in the United States in 1979. That title has now become part of the franchise name.
Labels: advertising, anime, business, japanese culture, language
October 17, 2019
New Twelve Kingdoms novel (more covers)
The first two volumes of Shirogane no Oka, Kuro no Tsuki ("Hills of Silver Ruins, a Pitch Black Moon") are now in bookstores (in Japan). Shinchosha has published the cover art for volumes III and IV, which go on sale November 9. Akihiro Yamada created the covers and illustrations. (Click images to enlarge.)
The books are available online at Amazon/Japan, Honto, and Rakuten.
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| 「白銀の墟玄の月」第三巻 ISBN 978-4101240640 |
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| 「白銀の墟玄の月」第四巻 ISBN 978-4101240657 |
The books are available online at Amazon/Japan, Honto, and Rakuten.
Related posts
New Twelve Kingdoms novel (title)
New Twelve Kingdoms novel (covers)
New Twelve Kingdoms novel (publication date)
New Twelve Kingdoms novel (Happy New Year!)
New Twelve Kingdoms novel (it's official!)
Squared (lined) paper
Labels: 12 kingdoms, advertising, black moon, books, business, fantasy, japan, japanese, publishing
September 02, 2019
New Twelve Kingdoms novel (covers)
Inaugurating the 40-day run-up to the October 12 launch of Shirogane no Oka, Kuro no Tsuki ("Hills of Silver Ruins, a Pitch Black Moon"), Shinchosha published the covers for the first two volumes and went live with a redesign of the official Twelve Kingdoms website. Akihiro Yamada created the covers and illustrations.
The Twelve Kingdoms Twitter account is @12koku_shincho (in Japanese).
The books are available online at Amazon/Japan, Honto, and Rakuten.
The Twelve Kingdoms Twitter account is @12koku_shincho (in Japanese).
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| 「白銀の墟玄の月」第一巻 ISBN 978-4101240626 |
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| 「白銀の墟玄の月」第二巻 ISBN 978-4101240633 |
The books are available online at Amazon/Japan, Honto, and Rakuten.
Related posts
New Twelve Kingdoms novel (title)
New Twelve Kingdoms novel (more covers)
New Twelve Kingdoms novel (publication date)
New Twelve Kingdoms novel (Happy New Year!)
New Twelve Kingdoms novel (it's official!)
Squared (lined) paper
Labels: 12 kingdoms, advertising, black moon, books, business, fantasy, japanese, publishing
August 08, 2019
New Twelve Kingdoms novel (title)
On August 1, Shinchosha announced the title of Fuyumi Ono's new Twelve Kingdoms novel: 『白銀の墟 玄の月』 (Shirogane no Oka, Kuro no Tsuki). I have tentatively translated it, "Hills of Silver Ruins, a Pitch Black Moon."
The furigana oka lends the kanji for "ruins" (墟) the meaning of "hill," which is difficult to incorporate without getting wordy. Based on the hiragana for the title (above), it would read, "[A] Silver Hill[s], [a] Black Moon."
As for the literal meaning, all that remains of most medieval castles in Japan are overgrown hills. Oda Nobunaga's magnificent Azuchi Castle was destroyed by fire after his assassination in 1582, leaving behind only the stone foundation.
Without the actual context, other than the Kingdom of Tai being in the midst of a civil war, these are the images the title brings to mind. Considering the northern climate of Tai, "silver" could also describe ruins covered with snow.
The Traditional Colors of Japan website assigns「玄」a web color of #3E1E00, closer to "maroon." But it also describes「玄」as a synonym for black and suggests that「玄」is less a traditional color than a metaphysical concept associated with the dark arts or the darkness before the dawn.
Metaphorically, "silver" and "black" could refer to the silver-haired Gyousou and Taiki, a rare "black kirin." Using the possessive particle no (の), "silver" and "black" can function as both adjectives and nouns in Japanese.
Attempting the equivalent in English would sound clunky. So at this juncture, the English version will lean more heavily on the dictionary meanings.
At the end of July, Shinchosha released a Twelve Kingdoms promotional video (in Japanese). The narrator is Ken'ichi Suzumura, who played Rakushun in the NHK anime series.
The furigana oka lends the kanji for "ruins" (墟) the meaning of "hill," which is difficult to incorporate without getting wordy. Based on the hiragana for the title (above), it would read, "[A] Silver Hill[s], [a] Black Moon."
As for the literal meaning, all that remains of most medieval castles in Japan are overgrown hills. Oda Nobunaga's magnificent Azuchi Castle was destroyed by fire after his assassination in 1582, leaving behind only the stone foundation.
Without the actual context, other than the Kingdom of Tai being in the midst of a civil war, these are the images the title brings to mind. Considering the northern climate of Tai, "silver" could also describe ruins covered with snow.
The Traditional Colors of Japan website assigns「玄」a web color of #3E1E00, closer to "maroon." But it also describes「玄」as a synonym for black and suggests that「玄」is less a traditional color than a metaphysical concept associated with the dark arts or the darkness before the dawn.
Metaphorically, "silver" and "black" could refer to the silver-haired Gyousou and Taiki, a rare "black kirin." Using the possessive particle no (の), "silver" and "black" can function as both adjectives and nouns in Japanese.
Attempting the equivalent in English would sound clunky. So at this juncture, the English version will lean more heavily on the dictionary meanings.
At the end of July, Shinchosha released a Twelve Kingdoms promotional video (in Japanese). The narrator is Ken'ichi Suzumura, who played Rakushun in the NHK anime series.
Labels: 12 kingdoms, advertising, black moon, books, business, fantasy, japanese, language, publishing
April 25, 2019
New Twelve Kingdoms novel (publication date)
On 19 April 2019, Shinchosha announced the publication dates for Fuyumi Ono's forthcoming novel. The following press release was posted on the official Twelve Kingdoms website.
Shinchosha also launched a Twitter campaign (the post is misdated on the home page) asking readers to share what they love about the Twelve Kingdoms series. Twelve (randomly selected) submissions will receive a clear file folder signed by Fuyumi Ono and illustrator Akihiro Yamada.
In Japan, "Golden Week" refers to four national holidays starting on April 29 that take place within seven days. This year, Golden Week will be extended to ten days in order to accommodate the abdication of Emperor Akihito on April 30 and the enthronement of Crown Prince Naruhito on May 1.
The latest installment in the Twelve Kingdoms series goes on sale this October!! Thank you all for being so patient! Having finalized the release date for the long awaited new novel, we wished to fill you in on the details.
The author's epic manuscript of over 2500 pages will be published in four volumes. Volumes I and II go on sale Saturday, October 12. Volumes III and IV go on sale Saturday, November 9. (Please note that these dates differ from Shinchosha's usual release schedule.)
We received the first volume from the author at the end of last year and the final volume in March. The publishing schedule has been set and we are getting everything ready to deliver them to you.
The best way to enjoy this great new saga is to start with the books already in print. Special displays are being installed in bookstores around the country leading up to the October release. Golden Week would be a great time to reread A Shadow of the Moon, A Sea of Shadows!
For those new to the Twelve Kingdoms, or read it so long ago they've lost track of the important details, don't worry! We've created a new website—"The Twelve Kingdoms in Five Minutes!"—to get you started.
Let's all look forward to the October 12, 2019 launch date together!
Shinchosha also launched a Twitter campaign (the post is misdated on the home page) asking readers to share what they love about the Twelve Kingdoms series. Twelve (randomly selected) submissions will receive a clear file folder signed by Fuyumi Ono and illustrator Akihiro Yamada.
In Japan, "Golden Week" refers to four national holidays starting on April 29 that take place within seven days. This year, Golden Week will be extended to ten days in order to accommodate the abdication of Emperor Akihito on April 30 and the enthronement of Crown Prince Naruhito on May 1.
Labels: 12 kingdoms, advertising, black moon, books, business, fantasy, japan, publishing
January 03, 2019
New Twelve Kingdoms novel (Happy New Year!)
Shinchosha posted its 2018 Year-End Greetings on December 28. A little news, a little marketing, and a nod to a big historical change the new year will bring.
I'll explain a bit more about the historic end of the Heisei next week.
We are coming to you for the last time in 2018. This year, with an enormous sense of relief, we were able to make the long hoped-for announcement that a new installment in the Twelve Kingdoms series is heading to publication. That announcement was met with a deluge of delighted voices through SNS. We thank you again for your warm messages.
The new novel is a sequel to Tasogare no Kishi, Akatsuki no Sora ("The Shore in Twilight, the Sky at Daybreak") and takes place in the Kingdom of Tai. How about reacquainting yourselves with the series during the upcoming holidays? For those of you new to the series, please take this opportunity to dive into the world of the Twelve Kingdoms and enjoy it to the fullest.
Shincho Paperbacks has now published new editions of all of the Twelve Kingdoms novels, including The Demon Child and Hisho's Birds. Available at a bookseller near you! You can find the eleven volumes on Amazon too.
Whilst coping with her long spell of ill health, Ono Sensei's unfolding Twelve Kingdoms drama turned into a massive epic! More than anything else, as we work towards the day when the book will go on sale, we pray for her continuing convalescence. Fresh information will be posted here in "Kirin News."
This is our last Year-End Greetings of the Heisei era. The New Year will also bring with it the first year of a new era, full of newborn promise. And so with that same sense of hope we shall continue to ask for and thank you for your continuing support.
Please have yourselves a Happy New Year!
I'll explain a bit more about the historic end of the Heisei next week.
Labels: 12 kingdoms, advertising, black moon, books, business, fantasy, history, japanese culture, nengou, publishing
December 13, 2018
New Twelve Kingdoms novel (it's official!)
Japanese publisher Shinchosha announced yesterday that author Fuyumi Ono has submitted her latest Twelve Kingdoms novel. As hoped for, the story takes place in the Kingdom of Tai. The draft manuscript is over 2500 pages long. The book will be published in 2019.
Here is the press release. (I didn't add any of the exclamation points but agree with them.)
Here is the press release. (I didn't add any of the exclamation points but agree with them.)
The highly anticipated new work is finally here!!!
Today, on the 12th of December ("Twelve Kingdoms Day"), we have delightful news to share. A brand new manuscript has arrived!
The long-awaited novel has turned into a massive 2500 page epic. The setting for the story is the Kingdom of Tai. We are grateful to Ono Sensei for penning such a masterpiece in this 30th year of her career. We thank all her readers for waiting so patiently.
Now commences the business of making a book, such as copyediting and the illustrations. Though a publication date hasn't yet been determined, it is certain to debut in 2019.
As promised, we are posting important updates on this website. It was still an unexpected surprise that this news arrived on "Twelve Kingdoms Day." Going forward, we will do our best to point you to accurate information in a prompt and orderly manner.
To that end, we humbly ask for your continuing support.
Labels: 12 kingdoms, advertising, black moon, books, business, fantasy, publishing, translations
January 25, 2018
Makoto Shinkai commercials
An artist has to earn a living, and the world is a better place because of it. When Makoto Shinkai and CoMix Wave aren't creating some of the most stunning animated films ever, they do ads, like for Destination Canada (formerly the Canadian Tourism Commission).
As impressive as the Destination Canada ad is, this ad for Z-kai Group is even more exquisite. As Red Veron puts it, "Makoto Shinkai and his studio can make something as monotonous as schoolwork into something great with ridiculously pretty animation and music."
The Z-kai Group "offers a wide range of educational services to develop genuine academic abilities that will be of use in the future." Though rather like Geico, it's probably more famous in Japan because of its unique and occasionally bizarre commercials.
As impressive as the Destination Canada ad is, this ad for Z-kai Group is even more exquisite. As Red Veron puts it, "Makoto Shinkai and his studio can make something as monotonous as schoolwork into something great with ridiculously pretty animation and music."
The Z-kai Group "offers a wide range of educational services to develop genuine academic abilities that will be of use in the future." Though rather like Geico, it's probably more famous in Japan because of its unique and occasionally bizarre commercials.
Labels: advertising, anime, shinkai
March 31, 2016
William Henry Harrison
The ninth president of the United States was William Henry Harrison. He died on April 4. I know this thanks to a big billboard on State Street that I've been driving by for the past couple of months.
Curiosity got the best of me and and I looked up the URL. As the Ogden Standard Examiner explains,
In short, the site is part of a marketing study for Reagan Outdoor Advertising. A pretty ingenious one. Frankly, a better experiment than most published studies in the social sciences these days.
The problem is, I remembered a billboard about William Henry Harrison because the whole history thing intrigued me. Off the top of my head, I couldn't tell you the content of any other billboard on State Street. You have to be interested in what the ad is selling to be sold on the ad.
On this point, Rush Limbaugh is exactly right when he insists that he doesn't tell his listeners what to do think. Rather, he articulates what they already believe or want to believe (an effort harder to sustain than most people imagine). Hence the popularity of both Sanders and Trump.
But now that I've got your attention, William Henry Harrison was the last U.S. president born a British subject and the first president to die in office, from pneumonia. Having served only 32 days, his term remains the shortest in the history of the Republic.
Alas, Harrison wouldn't be around to appreciate his contribution to constitutional law. But his death resulted in the "Tyler Precedent," named after his vice-president. Over a century later, the process of presidential succession was finally codified in the 25th Amendment.
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| Brett Hein/Standard-Examiner. |
Curiosity got the best of me and and I looked up the URL. As the Ogden Standard Examiner explains,
Visitors to 9thpresident.com find the methodology of the four-phase study, which, simply put, randomly surveys people asking them to name the ninth President of the United States at different intervals of time after the billboards were placed. As a control, survey participants are also asked to name the Utah Lieutenant Governor (Spencer J. Cox).
In short, the site is part of a marketing study for Reagan Outdoor Advertising. A pretty ingenious one. Frankly, a better experiment than most published studies in the social sciences these days.
The problem is, I remembered a billboard about William Henry Harrison because the whole history thing intrigued me. Off the top of my head, I couldn't tell you the content of any other billboard on State Street. You have to be interested in what the ad is selling to be sold on the ad.
On this point, Rush Limbaugh is exactly right when he insists that he doesn't tell his listeners what to do think. Rather, he articulates what they already believe or want to believe (an effort harder to sustain than most people imagine). Hence the popularity of both Sanders and Trump.
But now that I've got your attention, William Henry Harrison was the last U.S. president born a British subject and the first president to die in office, from pneumonia. Having served only 32 days, his term remains the shortest in the history of the Republic.
Alas, Harrison wouldn't be around to appreciate his contribution to constitutional law. But his death resulted in the "Tyler Precedent," named after his vice-president. Over a century later, the process of presidential succession was finally codified in the 25th Amendment.
Labels: advertising, history, law, politics
December 12, 2013
Dated celebrity endorsements
How old do you have to be to know what this group of actors has in common? Or even recognize them? And spot who is missing? Or remember when IBM made personal computers? (Click image to enlarge.)
The Personal System/2 from IBM was released in 1987. M*A*S*H premiered in the U.S. on 17 September 1972 and ended 28 February 1983. So the reference was already a bit dated, though reruns would have sustained the popularity of the series.
Maybe they thought having Harry Morgan (featured) with McLean Stevenson (not featured), and Wayne Rogers (featured) with Mike Farrell (not featured) would just be weird. Do actors hang around with the actors they replaced?
I can't remember Alan Alda doing much in the way of product endorsements and IBM probably didn't want to pay to persuade him. Ditto David Ogden Stiers, who does a lot of voice-overs for PBS. Alda was great on Scientific American Frontiers.
IBM exited the personal computer business in 2005 when it sold the division to Lenovo. That's the year I bought my ThinkPad. It still sported the IBM logo.
The Personal System/2 from IBM was released in 1987. M*A*S*H premiered in the U.S. on 17 September 1972 and ended 28 February 1983. So the reference was already a bit dated, though reruns would have sustained the popularity of the series.
Maybe they thought having Harry Morgan (featured) with McLean Stevenson (not featured), and Wayne Rogers (featured) with Mike Farrell (not featured) would just be weird. Do actors hang around with the actors they replaced?
I can't remember Alan Alda doing much in the way of product endorsements and IBM probably didn't want to pay to persuade him. Ditto David Ogden Stiers, who does a lot of voice-overs for PBS. Alda was great on Scientific American Frontiers.
IBM exited the personal computer business in 2005 when it sold the division to Lenovo. That's the year I bought my ThinkPad. It still sported the IBM logo.
Labels: advertising, computers, tech history, technology, television reviews
December 02, 2013
GITS Surface ad
Coinciding with the theatrical reboot of the Ghost in the Shell franchise in Japan, Microsoft commissioned a three minute short/Surface tie-in ad.
If you have a pressing need to kill lots of bad guys and steal computer data, the Surface is the tablet for you!
If you have a pressing need to kill lots of bad guys and steal computer data, the Surface is the tablet for you!
Labels: advertising, anime, ghost in the shell, shirow, technology
November 21, 2013
Damme good
Some action movie stars age better than others, and Jean-Claude Van Damme looks great. His amazing performance makes you forget the trucks are going backwards. Driving a big rig with that kind of precision is an impressive technological feat.
As Russ Roberts puts it on the Cafe Hayek blog:
Van Damme is one of those actors I instantly recognize, but none of his movies spring to mind. Steven Seagal, by comparison, made one memorable movie, Under Siege, which belongs in the action flick pantheon along with Die Hard and Terminator II.
One of Seagal's forgotten films, Into the Sun (2005), was also much better than Ridley Scott's similar but dreadful Black Rain (1989), despite the big Hollywood budget and Michael Douglas and the sadly wasted Ken Takakura sharing the leads.
Unlike Van Damme, Seagal has put on a lot of padding of late. Though I do admire the fact that both of these aging action movie stars (who are actual martial artists in real life) are constantly working, even if everything they do goes straight to cable.
Okay, maybe they're simply trying to maintain the lifestyle to which they've become accustomed. But for whatever reason, a work ethic is a work ethic. Good for them!
As Russ Roberts puts it on the Cafe Hayek blog:
This stunt with Van Damme advertising Volvo trucks makes me want to buy a Volvo truck and to listen to Enya. I am fighting off the former urge but will indulge the latter.
Van Damme is one of those actors I instantly recognize, but none of his movies spring to mind. Steven Seagal, by comparison, made one memorable movie, Under Siege, which belongs in the action flick pantheon along with Die Hard and Terminator II.
One of Seagal's forgotten films, Into the Sun (2005), was also much better than Ridley Scott's similar but dreadful Black Rain (1989), despite the big Hollywood budget and Michael Douglas and the sadly wasted Ken Takakura sharing the leads.
Unlike Van Damme, Seagal has put on a lot of padding of late. Though I do admire the fact that both of these aging action movie stars (who are actual martial artists in real life) are constantly working, even if everything they do goes straight to cable.
Okay, maybe they're simply trying to maintain the lifestyle to which they've become accustomed. But for whatever reason, a work ethic is a work ethic. Good for them!
Labels: advertising, movies, movies about japan, pop culture, technology
July 15, 2013
Spendthrift moments
I'm a cheapskate, but sometimes I will buy the name-brand. Bounty paper towels, for example. And Jimmy Dean Original Pork Sausage Links, mostly because they don't use soy fillers (I've got nothing against fillers, but they don't agree with me).
It doesn't hurt that they taste great. In taste tests, Cook's Country rated Jimmy Dean precooked sausage the best, even over homemade.
When it comes to rice, the store brand (Western Family) and Botan (a California brand from JFC) stay within a dime or two of each other. Nishiki is JFC's premium brand, premium enough to advertise heavily on TV Japan and charge twice as much as Botan.
The Botan is definitely better than the store brand. Out of curiosity, I sprang for a bag of Nishiki. It tasted the same as the Botan.
A rice connoisseur would blanch at the sight of my 30 year old National rice cooker. Maybe a modern model (with digitally-controlled induction heating coils) would make a difference. But I'm not upgrading anytime soon, so I'll stick with the Botan.
There are times when I prefer instant long-grain rice (laziness being one variable, "mouth-feel" another). Comparing the store brand and Minute Rice, the latter is slightly better and only slightly more expensive. And the Minute Rice box is less flimsy.
While it won't overcome pure price considerations, decent packaging can push a purchase over the top.
It doesn't hurt that they taste great. In taste tests, Cook's Country rated Jimmy Dean precooked sausage the best, even over homemade.
When it comes to rice, the store brand (Western Family) and Botan (a California brand from JFC) stay within a dime or two of each other. Nishiki is JFC's premium brand, premium enough to advertise heavily on TV Japan and charge twice as much as Botan.
The Botan is definitely better than the store brand. Out of curiosity, I sprang for a bag of Nishiki. It tasted the same as the Botan.
A rice connoisseur would blanch at the sight of my 30 year old National rice cooker. Maybe a modern model (with digitally-controlled induction heating coils) would make a difference. But I'm not upgrading anytime soon, so I'll stick with the Botan.
There are times when I prefer instant long-grain rice (laziness being one variable, "mouth-feel" another). Comparing the store brand and Minute Rice, the latter is slightly better and only slightly more expensive. And the Minute Rice box is less flimsy.
While it won't overcome pure price considerations, decent packaging can push a purchase over the top.
Labels: advertising, economics, food, personal favs, tv japan
December 29, 2011
The public bath
The public bath described here is actually a steam bath (蒸し風呂). During Japan's medieval period, the residents of the "low city" couldn't afford the cost of heating enough water to fill an actual sentô (銭湯). It's cheaper to bake rocks to create steam and dole out the hot water parsimoniously.
The sentô as a public institution reached its high water mark during mid-20th century, before people became wealthy enough to afford their own baths. A sentô's best advertising was the tall chimney rising above it, as they would burn anything they could lay their hands on to heat those massive amounts of water.
Those chimneys are giving way as well to gas-fired boilers.
"Mixed bathing" (混浴) vanished for good from the public sentô during the post-WWII Occupation. During the mid-19th century, though, U.S. Consul Townsend Harris observed that
Shogun (which, like Mr. Baseball, is a more accurate depiction of Japan than is given credit for, though often despite itself) had much fun with the fact that Europeans of the period were a dirty, smelly lot. This is one facet of Japanese culture whose commonsensical superiority remains unquestioned.
Toilets of the era were more advanced in Japan, and still are. The year-end cleaning rituals continue to this day.
The sentô as a public institution reached its high water mark during mid-20th century, before people became wealthy enough to afford their own baths. A sentô's best advertising was the tall chimney rising above it, as they would burn anything they could lay their hands on to heat those massive amounts of water.
Those chimneys are giving way as well to gas-fired boilers.
"Mixed bathing" (混浴) vanished for good from the public sentô during the post-WWII Occupation. During the mid-19th century, though, U.S. Consul Townsend Harris observed that
Everyone bathes every day . . . both sexes, old and young, enter the same [public bath] and there perform their ablutions in a state of perfect nudity. I cannot account for so indelicate a proceeding on the part of a people so generally correct.
Shogun (which, like Mr. Baseball, is a more accurate depiction of Japan than is given credit for, though often despite itself) had much fun with the fact that Europeans of the period were a dirty, smelly lot. This is one facet of Japanese culture whose commonsensical superiority remains unquestioned.
Toilets of the era were more advanced in Japan, and still are. The year-end cleaning rituals continue to this day.
Labels: advertising, history, japanese culture, onsen, serpent notes, serpent of time
June 23, 2011
This screensaver for sale
Amazon sells a Kindle model called "Kindle with Special Offers." It feeds advertising to the screensaver. My only objection to the idea is that the discount itself isn't enough, though I suspect Amazon is gathering data to justify steeper discounts in the future.
Of course, the hoity-toities who live to be offended by and and all "capitalistic" innovations will take offense (hey, then don't buy one), but this strikes me as a perfectly appropriate commercial activity.
It's the same advertising strategy employed by PBS and National Geographic (the print magazine): content framed by "a word from our sponsors" at the beginning and end. They make it work by running ads that appeal to the intellectual vanity of their audience.
Public radio and television have perfected the art of the non-ad ad. As with movie trailers, it's important to get the right balance so it doesn't become annoying and ruin the "commercial-free" spell. (On second thought, treat movie trailers as a cautionary tale.)
How many high-falutin' literary magazines don't take advertising?
In any case, what are book covers and blurbs but ads? Flipping to the end of a dull reference book I keep next to my desk, I find ten pages of promos. As long as I've been ordering books from Japan, I've been pulling out the blow-ins (and using them as bookmarks).
Advertising is information. Back in the pre-Internet computer magazine days, the ads were where the bleeding edge turned real, where the hypothetical turned into hardware. One reason I visit sites like Anime News Network is to check out the ads in rotation.
So bring it on, Amazon. Get creative. If the customer doesn't like it, you'll find out soon enough. That's what the experiment of capitalism is all about.
Of course, the hoity-toities who live to be offended by and and all "capitalistic" innovations will take offense (hey, then don't buy one), but this strikes me as a perfectly appropriate commercial activity.
It's the same advertising strategy employed by PBS and National Geographic (the print magazine): content framed by "a word from our sponsors" at the beginning and end. They make it work by running ads that appeal to the intellectual vanity of their audience.
Public radio and television have perfected the art of the non-ad ad. As with movie trailers, it's important to get the right balance so it doesn't become annoying and ruin the "commercial-free" spell. (On second thought, treat movie trailers as a cautionary tale.)
How many high-falutin' literary magazines don't take advertising?
In any case, what are book covers and blurbs but ads? Flipping to the end of a dull reference book I keep next to my desk, I find ten pages of promos. As long as I've been ordering books from Japan, I've been pulling out the blow-ins (and using them as bookmarks).
Advertising is information. Back in the pre-Internet computer magazine days, the ads were where the bleeding edge turned real, where the hypothetical turned into hardware. One reason I visit sites like Anime News Network is to check out the ads in rotation.
So bring it on, Amazon. Get creative. If the customer doesn't like it, you'll find out soon enough. That's what the experiment of capitalism is all about.
Related posts
Amazon innovates
Digital hoarders and literary snobs
Labels: advertising, books, ebooks, economics, kindle
December 02, 2010
POD your rough drafts
I have no desire to replace my decade-old HP inkjet printer. It works fine. I use it about once a month. But not for big jobs. Factor the cost of a ream of paper and a new inkjet cartridge into the fuss and bother of keeping the paper tray filled, and the dollars start to add up.
So as long as time isn't of the essence, Lulu is easier. Especially if you intend to mail the printed manuscript to somebody. Lulu will do that too. The only additional feature I'd ask for is a checkbox that says, "Use the title page as the front cover."
Amazon's CreateSpace does POD, but it channels everything toward self-publishing, and makes you buy a proof before doing anything else. For self-publishing, it's much cheaper than Lulu, but a waste if all you want is a rough draft.
You'd think that Kinkos would specialize in this kind of thing. If it does, I can't find it. Kinko's "Internet printing" options are business-oriented and pricey. When will copy centers start advertising "Espresso Book Machine on the premises"?
It'd be cool if you could send a PDF to any copy center in the country and have the printout held there for pick-up.
Though the days of this technology are numbered too. Documents I used to print and file I now print-to-PDF and back up. For longer work, creating a quick & dirty ebook--using Word RMR, for example--obviates the need for paper. I no longer print galleys for myself.
So as long as time isn't of the essence, Lulu is easier. Especially if you intend to mail the printed manuscript to somebody. Lulu will do that too. The only additional feature I'd ask for is a checkbox that says, "Use the title page as the front cover."
Amazon's CreateSpace does POD, but it channels everything toward self-publishing, and makes you buy a proof before doing anything else. For self-publishing, it's much cheaper than Lulu, but a waste if all you want is a rough draft.
You'd think that Kinkos would specialize in this kind of thing. If it does, I can't find it. Kinko's "Internet printing" options are business-oriented and pricey. When will copy centers start advertising "Espresso Book Machine on the premises"?
It'd be cool if you could send a PDF to any copy center in the country and have the printout held there for pick-up.
Though the days of this technology are numbered too. Documents I used to print and file I now print-to-PDF and back up. For longer work, creating a quick & dirty ebook--using Word RMR, for example--obviates the need for paper. I no longer print galleys for myself.
Labels: advertising, ebooks, publishing, thinking about writing
November 30, 2009
Digital hoarders and literary snobs
Jane Friedman was CEO of HarperCollins Publishers Worldwide before becoming co-founder and CEO of Open Road Integrated Media, a new company that produces and market ebooks. She discusses the future of the ebook industry in this informative lecture and Q&A at NYU.
There's little for me to disagree with, except I think it's a mistake to try and compare the digital versions of anything with the "standalone" physical (paper) product. Though Friedman's suggestion of a trade paperback pricing standard is more enlightened than treating ebooks as hardcovers.
And she says up front she's open to changing her mind if market forces so dictate.
Compare an episode of House that you can watch for "free" on broadcast TV or Hulu. You can also rent it through Netflix for around $2.00. Or pay a ten dollar premium on top of that to own the DVD. Which lots of people do, even if they'll never watch it enough times to amortize the cost.
Renting's fine with me. Pretty much the only DVDs I buy are anime titles going out of print. The scarcity threat. I'm sure at the heart of this behavior is a primitive pack-rat mentality about hoarding and possessing. We happily pay a premium for "things." Not data. Owning data is like owning smoke.
If the typical trade paperback price is $15.00, then minus the ten buck "hoarding" premium puts the price at $5.00, or more in line with mass market paperbacks, which are also not intended to be hoarded. And that's non-DRM. There's also the "sharing" premium enjoyed by books and CDs and DVDs.
My local library rents DVDs for a dollar. Books and CDs are "free" (beyond taxes, but you bought a TV to watch "free" TV). When I was growing up, any book in the house would be read by everybody in the house, and then often donated to the library to be read by hundreds more.
And when I was in college (during the late Bronze Age), there was always a kid in the dorm who had a nice stereo system, including a high-end turntable and tape deck. So if somebody you knew had an album you liked, you bought a cassette, borrowed the album and made your own mix tape.
I wonder how much of such "borrowing" goes on with physical books, CDs and DVDs, versus the typical Kindle owner or iTunes subscriber (with and without piracy factored in).
But the most brutal realization for publishers may be that digitization has shifted the value of status seeking and signaling from the content to the device. Your album collection doesn't impress as much as your MP3 player. Your bookshelf doesn't impress as much as your ebook reader.
Being infinitely reproducible at almost zero cost puts the value of hoarded digital content at close to zero. Digital pirates hoard so much because the added value of each file--both in real and psychological terms--is so low, and so they end up hoarding more than they could possible consume.
Content sharing and social networking software could address that. But making that work would require a significant rethinking of the bad unintended consequences of DRM and the good unintended consequences of technologies like text-to-speech when assessing what people are really paying for.
Even the diehards at the RIAA won't deny that pretty much the whole point of a boombox is so that other people can hear what you are listening to.
For example, combine social DRM with managed file sharing. When enabled, anybody within WiFi or Bluetooth distance could preview your stored ebooks (or your marked selections). Free advertising for the publisher while broadcasting your literary tastes and marking your social status.
This suggests a value in backlists and "classics" other than reading. I can't help rolling my eyes when people post those "favorites" lists invariably salted with the egghead titles everybody was supposed to read in college but never actually did. Or if they did, because they had to and never will again.
I cheerfully admit to being a cynical literary populist who puts a premium on "entertainment." But perhaps ebook publishers should stop treating their readers solely as consumers, and rather as status-seeking snobs at a tony cocktail party, who want their purchases to say (in part), "Look at me!"
And at the other end of the social spectrum, as introverted otaku desperate for electronically extroverted ways of sharing their obsessions with other like-minded geeks. Not to mention all those writers with their interminable works-in-progress who could now show, not just tell!
There's little for me to disagree with, except I think it's a mistake to try and compare the digital versions of anything with the "standalone" physical (paper) product. Though Friedman's suggestion of a trade paperback pricing standard is more enlightened than treating ebooks as hardcovers.
And she says up front she's open to changing her mind if market forces so dictate.
Compare an episode of House that you can watch for "free" on broadcast TV or Hulu. You can also rent it through Netflix for around $2.00. Or pay a ten dollar premium on top of that to own the DVD. Which lots of people do, even if they'll never watch it enough times to amortize the cost.
Renting's fine with me. Pretty much the only DVDs I buy are anime titles going out of print. The scarcity threat. I'm sure at the heart of this behavior is a primitive pack-rat mentality about hoarding and possessing. We happily pay a premium for "things." Not data. Owning data is like owning smoke.
If the typical trade paperback price is $15.00, then minus the ten buck "hoarding" premium puts the price at $5.00, or more in line with mass market paperbacks, which are also not intended to be hoarded. And that's non-DRM. There's also the "sharing" premium enjoyed by books and CDs and DVDs.
My local library rents DVDs for a dollar. Books and CDs are "free" (beyond taxes, but you bought a TV to watch "free" TV). When I was growing up, any book in the house would be read by everybody in the house, and then often donated to the library to be read by hundreds more.
And when I was in college (during the late Bronze Age), there was always a kid in the dorm who had a nice stereo system, including a high-end turntable and tape deck. So if somebody you knew had an album you liked, you bought a cassette, borrowed the album and made your own mix tape.
I wonder how much of such "borrowing" goes on with physical books, CDs and DVDs, versus the typical Kindle owner or iTunes subscriber (with and without piracy factored in).
But the most brutal realization for publishers may be that digitization has shifted the value of status seeking and signaling from the content to the device. Your album collection doesn't impress as much as your MP3 player. Your bookshelf doesn't impress as much as your ebook reader.
Being infinitely reproducible at almost zero cost puts the value of hoarded digital content at close to zero. Digital pirates hoard so much because the added value of each file--both in real and psychological terms--is so low, and so they end up hoarding more than they could possible consume.
Content sharing and social networking software could address that. But making that work would require a significant rethinking of the bad unintended consequences of DRM and the good unintended consequences of technologies like text-to-speech when assessing what people are really paying for.
Even the diehards at the RIAA won't deny that pretty much the whole point of a boombox is so that other people can hear what you are listening to.
For example, combine social DRM with managed file sharing. When enabled, anybody within WiFi or Bluetooth distance could preview your stored ebooks (or your marked selections). Free advertising for the publisher while broadcasting your literary tastes and marking your social status.
This suggests a value in backlists and "classics" other than reading. I can't help rolling my eyes when people post those "favorites" lists invariably salted with the egghead titles everybody was supposed to read in college but never actually did. Or if they did, because they had to and never will again.
I cheerfully admit to being a cynical literary populist who puts a premium on "entertainment." But perhaps ebook publishers should stop treating their readers solely as consumers, and rather as status-seeking snobs at a tony cocktail party, who want their purchases to say (in part), "Look at me!"
And at the other end of the social spectrum, as introverted otaku desperate for electronically extroverted ways of sharing their obsessions with other like-minded geeks. Not to mention all those writers with their interminable works-in-progress who could now show, not just tell!
Labels: advertising, books, ebooks, kindle, netflix, publishing
August 15, 2006
Festival lanterns
Click here for a nice Flash intro from a company that makes chouchin paper lanterns (提灯). Chouchin are popular this time of year, as they are given out as tchotchkes to thank the merchant sponsors of the local summer festivals.
They're also used in all kind of advertising, the early equivalent of a neon sign. You can read more about the origins of the chouchin tradition here.
[Chouchin are not] thought to bring much in the way of good fortune for the people they honor. Having a lantern on display next to that of the neighboring shop "is more about a feeling of togetherness," said Takayama. That, or the fear of being labeled a cheapskate. "It wouldn't do to be the only guy on the block who didn't pony up," Takayama acknowledged with a chuckle. "The Japanese are a people who can't say 'No.' "
They're also used in all kind of advertising, the early equivalent of a neon sign. You can read more about the origins of the chouchin tradition here.
Labels: advertising, japan