Uncommon rudeness

I'm currently living in a rather quiet part of Kyoto. I live next to a little shopping arcade mostly frequented by older people. So I was surprised to see this lime green Lamborghini revving it's engine loudly at an intersection. The driver was a young Japanese man. After the car in front of him moved out of the way he floored it down this narrow 1 lane road. People had to rush to get out of the way and I could still hear him accelerating far off in the distance. This is not something you see very often anywhere in Japan.

old man clothing

The neighborhood I'm currently living in has a relatively old population. Most of the shops cater to older people including the clothing stores. I find it interesting that the sort of clothing worn by older menhere is very similar to the sort of clothing old men in America wear. I could easily imagine my grandfather wearing most of the clothing pictured above. Feel free to comment if you have any thoughts on why this might be.

Pepsi Strong

I've been seeing Pepsi strong for sale in many convenience stores. Apparently, before it came out there were a series of epic commercials featuring Jude Law relating the drink to a strong demon. [ link] Today I decided to try it. I did a little research, supposedly the main difference between this and regular Pepsi is that Pepsi strong has 5X the gas volume (GV). To contain the gas they had to design a new, reinforced bottle. After all this hype I was expecting this Pepsi to be pretty impressive. I was expecting the bottle to depressurize violently when I opened it. It did not. The taste was also pretty much identical to regular Pepsi, it might have been a little be more fizzy, but not by much.

I should probably make a playlist of all the products I've been disappointed by in Japan. :) There's tons of great food to be found here, but I often gravitate towards things with flashy advertising. I will probably never learn my lesson, they're just so good at making products seem interesting here.

Non-controversial sign

The sign reads "lower back stress began when we started walking on two feet" It's an advertisement for an orthopedic surgeon. It would appear that belief in evolution is not controversial in Japan.

Construction for the Curious

Since I arrived here, the pillars at Shinsaibashi station in Osaka have been under construction. They do a good job keeping the work out of people's way. I was wondering what they could be doing to be under construction for this long. I didn't have to wonder for long. On the side of the scaffolding they provide a description of the work being performed, it's purpose, and how long the work will take.

Questionable Health Claims

A lot of advertising is aimed at Japan's aging population and a lot of it addresses health concerns. Some of these ads make claims I have a hard time believing. This sign reads: "21st century futon, manages your health while you sleep." Could it be that simple?

Mixing east and west for decades

Far before World War II Japan had already begun integrating western-style architectural designs into its buildings. This old factory is an interesting example. The wooden building on the left is somewhat western-inspired, but has a traditional Japanese tiled roof. The dark wood siding with a white border on top is a common architectural motif I've only seen in Japan.



The brick building on the right looks like it could have come directly from my hometown in America, but if you look closely you can the roof, especially the top, is very traditional Japanese.