Foreign Residents Choose Cool Japan

by **Mulboyne** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 11:24 am

[YT]HNg6odRnqUs[/YT]

Mitsubishi Research decided to ask foreign residents of Japan for their favourite items representing "Cool Japan". Here are the finalists.

by **Taro Toporific** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 11:41 am

Mulboyne wrote:Mitsubishi Research decided to ask foreign residents of Japan for their favourite items representing "Cool Japan". Here are the finalists.

And, here is a ringer among those finalists...

Notice the parsimonious amount of catsup/mustard that was incongruously
lauded as a, "considerate take-out sauce pack."

by **wagyl** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 11:55 am

Sorry, it started to lose me at "Announce (sic) of Finalists," but the inclusion of both Japanese confectionary and wagashi sealed the deal. Waste of time.

by **Yokohammer** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 12:44 pm

wagyl wrote:Sorry, it started to lose me at "Announce (sic) of Finalists," but the inclusion of both Japanese confectionary and wagashi sealed the deal. Waste of time.

The confection redundancy kind of confused me too.
Apparently someone isn't thinking this through very thoroughly.

by **tone** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 1:29 pm

its really funny. i mean, yeah there are a few bits of cool. some of the clothing on offer in harajuku i wish was available elsewhere...

but its crazy how that image has spread. in my field of design, and i know in architecture, people outside of here have this image of quality and alof cool designers. like just seeing a japanese name on a list of designers looks cool.

at least where im from, the image of japan is a lot cooler than what i see on a daily basis... let me tell you

then guess what, it tends to be concept-less, abstract for abstract sake creative posturing. a.. lot.. of.. the... time...

by **Coligny** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 2:27 pm

tone wrote:its really funny. i mean, yeah there are a few bits of cool. some of the clothing on offer in harajuku i wish was available elsewhere...

Try goodwill or you local salvation army reject binz...

by **tone** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 3:43 pm

speaking of that - is there any goodwill or that kind of used store here? all i find are overpriced flea market and ripoff "recycle stores" trying to get pretty decent prices for their crap

by **Dreamy_Peach** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 4:46 pm

by **Dreamy_Peach** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 4:50 pm

The "announce of finalists" [sic] kind of suggests to me that not many "cool people" took part in the voting.

Tyler Brule, who has a special vision function to only see cool well dressed people, certainly didn't participate in this exercise.

by **Screwed-down Hairdo** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 4:53 pm

The only thing about Japan I wish was cool but is showing no signs of becoming so is the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor...

BTW, there are shitloads of cheap secondhand stores in the Tokyo suburbs.

by **tone** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 5:05 pm

Screwed-down Hairdo wrote:The only thing about Japan I wish was cool but is showing no signs of becoming so is the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor...

BTW, there are shitloads of cheap secondhand stores in the Tokyo suburbs.

gold x2

by **GomiGirl** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 5:34 pm

tone wrote:speaking of that - is there any goodwill or that kind of used store here? all i find are overpriced flea market and ripoff "recycle stores" trying to get pretty decent prices for their crap

Salvation Army:
http://www.salvationarmy.or.jp/index_english.html

by **Mike Oxlong** » Sat Jan 07, 2012 12:40 pm

Takashi Murakami rips apart Cool Japan and everyone involved

by **Samurai_Jerk** » Sat Jan 07, 2012 12:58 pm

by **Yokohammer** » Sat Jan 07, 2012 3:25 pm

Had a similar experience many years ago with Sophia University. They advertised in the newspaper (Japan Times, I think it was) that they wanted English language books for their library. "Anyone who has books they want to donate please call!" type thing. I had around 50 or 60 books on art, design, architecture, history ... the sort of thing that would be ideal for a university library ... all of which were in very good condition, many of them hardcovers. So I called, but the guy who answered hemmed and hawed, acted like I was somehow imposing on his valuable time, and finally said, "well, make up a list of the books you have and fax it to us, and we'll think about it." So of course I just hung up and kept the books. Still have many of them, even.

by **canman** » Sat Jan 07, 2012 5:10 pm

Yokohammer, I had a similar experience here with the local library. I was cleaning up and had two big boxes full of English books, and all of them in good shape, I didn't want to throw them away, and so I contacted the local library, which has a total of 6 English books in their possession, 5 being Harry Potter books, the other surprisingly is Dante's Inferno(perhaps Hachinohe is a type of hell). Anyway, after a lot of back and forth and talking to 4 different people, they told me that they didn't want to use used books, that perhaps patrons would feel uncomfortable reading used books. WTF, that is what library books are, they are used after the first person borrows and reads it.
Then I thought, well there are a bunch of jet teachers that are here, and maybe they would appreciate a book exchange, so I contacted the local CIR, and the lazy witch didn't want anything to do with it. So in my attic they sit.

by **Mike Oxlong** » Sat Jan 07, 2012 5:36 pm

Same deal with the prefectural library here. An academic friend who retired here had crates of books he no longer needed, and sought to donate them. He was summarily turned away. Said library has a smaller English collection than the nearest local foreign-owned bar's book exchange corner.

by **dimwit** » Sat Jan 07, 2012 8:21 pm

Most community libraries actually have a budget to purchase English books but tend to have a limited amount of space allocated to them, this is why many libraries will give away old English books as they no longer have shelving space for them.

by **Ganma** » Mon Jan 09, 2012 4:06 am

Have no fear people, Book Off will take those pesky books off your hands...and pay for them! :cool:

by **omae mona** » Mon Jan 09, 2012 8:01 am

Ganma wrote:Have no fear people, Book Off will take those pesky books off your hands...and pay for them!

That's true. I was there 2 days ago. Unloaded 21 books. Got 700 yen. Woot!

by **Greji** » Wed Jan 11, 2012 5:20 pm

omae mona wrote:That's true. I was there 2 days ago. Unloaded 21 books. Got 700 yen. Woot!

Quite a few of the book stores will give you a price (very minimum) for your old books. Old what's her name sells everything she reads.....
:cool:

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