Giri obligation chocolates seen as power harassment, more Japanese companies ban practice

http://bit.ly/2TpaQQG Oona McGee

Survey results indicate that Japan’s Valentine’s Day custom of giri choco may soon become a thing of the past. 

While Valentine’s Day in many countries might spark images of red roses, romantic dinners, and lovers generally spoiling each other, here in Japan it’s a day when women give chocolate to all the men in their lives.

Boyfriends and husbands receive “honmei choco” (“true feelings choco”), while all other men receive “giri choco” (“obligation chocolate”). These days, women give out “tomo choco” (“friend chocolate”) to female friends as well.

Men who receive gifts from women on Valentine’s Day are supposed to return the favour with a small gift on White Day a month later, on 14 March. However, given that women have to lead the way on 14 February, there’s an underlying pressure to ensure that chocolates are given to all the right male colleagues and friends in their circle to save themselves from committing a faux pas and causing offence.

Needless to say, Valentine’s Day can be a stressful and expensive experience for women, making the custom of giri choco a controversial one. In recent years, famous chocolate brands have weighed in on the debate, questioning its relevance in today’s modern world, and now more and more Japanese companies are stepping in to ban the practice from offices.

This increase in companywide bans on giri choco made headlines today, following a survey which revealed that almost 40 percent of male and female office workers see the practice of giri choco as a form of power harassment.

News site ANN reported the findings today, questioning people on the streets to gauge their opinion on the matter, and visiting a workplace where giri choco has been banned for the past six years. Everyone they interviewed all showed overwhelming support for companywide bans on giri choco, saying it helps to ease unnecessary pressure on women and have a positive effect on workplace relations.

As one of the female office workers in the video mentioned, “Before the office ban, we had to worry about things like how much is appropriate to spend on each chocolate and where we draw the line in who we give the chocolates to, so it’s good that we no longer have this culture of forced giving.”

As this notion of “forced giving” or “obligation” becomes increasingly tied to feelings of power harassment, which companies are taking very seriously, it appears that more and more offices might do away with the tradition of ghiri choco in the future. Which, if this Godiva statement is anything to go by, will be something that even luxury chocolate brands can agree with.

Source: ANN via Livedoor News, Hachima Kikou
Top image: Pakutaso
Insert image: Pakutaso

Tokyo Menswear Style w/ Military Coat, Turtleneck, Skinny Jeans & Y-Strap Suede Boots

http://bit.ly/2sU1dhk

While taking a stroll along the Harajuku street one late afternoon, we came across Moon Sang-yun, whose stylish menswear street look easily caught our eye.

Moon Sang-yun stepped out in a dark blue double-breasted military coat with large tan buttons and red accents, which he wore over a black turtleneck sweatshirt, a dark grey ribbed sweater and a pair of black skinny jeans. Black suede Y-strap ankle boots, multiple ear cuffs, and multiple rings rounded out his stylish look.

Follow Moon Sang-yun on Instagram for his social media updates.

Click on any photo to enlarge it.

Tokyo Street Style

Want free all-you-can-eat sushi in Tokyo? Revolving chain wants your YouTube video in exchange

http://bit.ly/2Ru3I3w Casey Baseel

Grab your camera and your chopsticks, because Kappa Sushi is making an offer you won’t want to refuse.

As Japan’s best-loved culinary creation, sushi is already pretty awesome, but it’s somehow even cooler when it’s at a revolving sushi restaurant. Being able to see the fish before you choose what to eat, the instant gratification of grabbing it right off the conveyor belt, and the high-tech fun of the technology involved, revolving sushi is an experience that’s not to be missed in Japan.

But you know what else makes sushi great? When it’s free.

Kappa Sushi, one of Japan’s most popular revolving sushi chains, has announced that it’s now offering free all-you-can-eat sushi to people who will make YouTube videos about the experience. You’ll get a full hour to eat as much sushi as you want, and in exchange all that the restaurant asks is that you upload a video about the experience, including footage of your visit to the restaurant, within a month of the massive meal.

▼ As the promotional image shows, Kappa Sushi’s menu goes beyond just sushi, with other options including ramen and desserts.

If that sounds like a good deal to you and your stomach, the next step is to fill out the online application form, which must be submitted prior to your visit (there’s no written stipulation requiring your video to be in Japanese). Applicants who are chosen will then be contacted by Kappa Sushi to set up the specific date and time of their visit to one of the chain’s branches in Tokyo. Anyone with a YouTube channel with 100,000 or more subscribers is welcome to apply, and while that rules out some smaller content makers, but if you’ve got a moderately large online following and a big appetite, the application form can be found here.

Source: Kappa Sushi via Kai-You
Top image: Kappa Sushi
Insert image: Kappa Sushi

Ariana Grande “fixes” her 7 Rings Japanese kanji tattoo, but it still says tiny charcoal grill

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J Oona McGee

Throwing another kanji character into the mix doesn’t exactly fix the mistake.

American singer-songwriter Ariana Grande is currently at the top of the music charts in a number of different countries for her new single “7 Rings”. Inspired by the day she bought rings for her seven friends after returning her engagement ring to ex-fiancee Pete Davidson, it’s a song that’s so close to Grande’s heart she decided to get a tattoo in its honour.

Instead of saying “七つの指輪” (“nanatsu no yubiwa” or “7 Rings”), as it does in the official music video, though, Grande opted to leave out the three middle characters, leaving her with a tattoo that read “七輪” (“shichirin”) which, when read separately, translate to “7” and “wheel/circle”, but together, as she has it, they mean “Japanese charcoal grill”.

After posting a photo of her new ink on Instagram, fans pounced on her for the error, prompting Grande to delete the photo. However, it hadn’t completely disappeared from the Internet, as it soon popped up on Twitter, with side-by-side photos showing Grande’s tattoo alongside a shichirin.

Ariana Grande’s new tattoo “七輪” means Japanese style bbq grill, not 7 rings. 😭 If you want to know about 七輪, just g… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

—
*amo* (@hey__amo) January 30, 2019

Grande hit back with a reply that read:

“indeed, i left out “つの指” which should have gone in between. it hurt like f*** n still looks tight i wouldn’t have lasted one more symbol lmao. but this spot also peels a ton and won’t last so if i miss it enough, i’ll suffer thru the whole thing next time.”

Despite seeming unbothered by the tattoo fail, it looks like everyone’s comments did get under the 25-year-old’s skin in the end, as she took to Instagram to post this image on her Insta story today.

Ariana Grande says “RIP tiny charcoal grill”. #ArianaGrande #七輪 ＃七指輪 https://t.co/KmNpJ6Y8Ax

—
Oona McGee 🇯🇵🇮🇪🇦🇺 (@OonaMcGee) January 31, 2019

Alongside the image is a message from Grande which says:

“Slightly better. Thanks to my tutor for helping me fix and @kanenavasard for being a legend. And to my doctor for the lidocaine shots (no joke). RIP tiny charcoal grill. Miss u man. I actually really liked u.”

Well, in all fairness, it is slightly better, but only because the new characters she’s added distract the eye away from “shichirin” and cause confusion as you try to work out what’s going on. She hasn’t really said RIP to her tiny charcoal grill, either, as it’s still there in plain sight. Now though, instead of saying “tiny charcoal grill”, her new tattoo reads as:

“Charcoal BBQ Grill
Finger ♡”

It’s as confusing in English as it is in Japanese. Grande’s tutor – who probably wished she’d been consulted before the original tattoo session – was faced with a pretty impossible task when asked to fix the kanji to have it read closer to “7 Rings” rather than “shichirin”.

While the best solution would’ve been to get it lasered off and redone correctly on her other hand, they chose to go another route, instead adding “指” beneath the “七輪”. On its own, “指” means “finger”, but when combined with “輪” it reads as “指輪” which means “ring”.

However, given the position of the new kanji, it reads as “Shichirin Yubi” or “Charcoal Grill Finger” rather than “7 Rings”. Japanese can be read from right to left, so doing that gives us “wheel/circle”, “seven”, “♡”, “finger”. And if we read it in the traditional style of top to bottom, right to left, it reads “wheel/circle”, “♡”,  “seven”, “finger”.

Confused? Exactly. The only way it could be read as something similar to “7 Rings” is if we read it from top to bottom, left to right. That gives us “7”, “ring” and “♡”. The only problem is that neither English nor Japanese is read in that order.

So, although she has all the necessary kanji components on her palm, they’re all laid out in a mixed up, confusing, nonsensical jumble. Plus, she’s still missing the  “つの” hiragana in the middle of it all, which connects the 7 to the rings as a counter for them. Without those in between it all, it still reads “charcoal grill”.

Source: Instagram/ArianaGrande
Featured image: Twitter/@oonamcgee

How do Japanese husbands show they love their wives? Survey answers include cooking and toilets

http://bit.ly/2RpsQIJ Casey Baseel

Ten ways to say “I love you,” sometimes without saying a single word.

Japan likes turning puns into special days of observation, which is how the country got Maid Day, Twintail Day, and Good Meat Day. Then there’s January 31, which proponents in Japan say is Love Your Wife Day.

The linguistic basis is a bit of a stretch: January 31 becomes 1-31, with 1 looking similar to the letter I, which is pronounced like the Japanese word ai/”love.” 31 gets broken into its individual digits, 1/ichi and 3/san, which then lose their terminal syllables and combine to form sai, meaning “wife,” and so 1-31 becomes aisai, meaning “beloved wife.”

The sentiment, though, is much simpler: Husbands should show love and appreciation for their wives. Japanese society doesn’t always go for open and direct displays of affection, though, and so the Japan Aisaika (“Husbands who Love their Wives”) Organization partnered with florist Hibiyakadan for a survey that asked “When actions show that a husband loves his wife?”

Respondents picked five actions, with their first choice getting five points, their second four, and so on. When the points were tallied up, the researchers arranged them in order of highest average score, so let’s take a look at the top 10.

10. He cleans the toilet (average of 3.24 points)

Taking responsibility for the splashback from peeing while standing is one of the purest signs of respect and devotion.

9. He knows his wife’s favorite flower (3.31 points)

8. He buys flowers for his wife (3.32 points)

Just slightly higher in the rankings than knowing her favorite flower, which implies that even if a guy doesn’t know which kind she especially likes, a bouquet is always a nice gesture.

7. He compliments her cooking (3.33 points)

Some would argue it’d be nicer if he did some cooking himself, but we’ll get to that.

6. He notices if she changes her hairstyle (3.44 points)

5. He cooks for her (3.52 points)

4. He takes her on a date for just the two of them (3.63 points)

This might seem so obvious as to not be worth mentioning, but with working adults in Japan spending so much time doing overtime and socializing with coworkers, plus the predominance of group activities in Japanese society in general, it’s not uncommon for a married couple to go for a stretch without an actual date night unless they go to the trouble of carving time out for one in their schedules.

3. He expresses his love for her in words (3.7 points)

While Japanese couples may not say “I love you” all that often, at least when they do they have plenty of choices.

2. He says “thank you” to her (3.78 points)

1. He remembers her birthday and their wedding anniversary (3.83 points)

While it wasn’t explicitly stated, it’s safe to assume that the top pick also include the idea of “and he plans something to celebrate it,” not just that he mentions “Oh yeah, today’s your birthday.”

We should also mention a few things about the survey’s methodology. First, while the Japan Aisaika Organization has reposted the results for this year’s Love Your Wife Day, the data was originally collected in 2016. Second, while all 1,205 respondents were married people between the ages of 20 and 59, 600 of them were men, and their idea of what sort of actions show a man loves his wife may not gel exactly with what wives themselves think constitutes spousal affection, so it’d probably be a good idea not to stop at just one thing on the list if you want your wife to get the message of “I love you.”

Source: Japan Aisaika Organization (1, 2)
Top image: Pakutaso
Insert images: Pakutaso (1, 2, 3, 4)

Why can’t anime heroes dodge the attacks from angry female characters who swing hammers at them?

http://bit.ly/2DMdYkp Casey Baseel

One of the trope’s pioneers explains why the star of his hit anime can go toe-to-toe with criminals, but gets smacked around by his female partner.

One of anime’s proudest visual storytelling traditions is the hammer smash. Typically it’s a roguish male lead who finds himself on the receiving end of the gesture, as some real or imagined slight causes a female character to whip a jumbo-sized mallet out of thin air and pummel him with it.

Granted, sometimes it’s not a hammer. It might be a flail or morning star. In any case, though, it’s a bludgeoning weapon, and the guy catches it square in the face. But wait, isn’t anime also the medium in which super-agile heroes can leap, spin, and contort however necessary to dodge the attacks of the series’ bad guys? So why can’t they dodge those hammer attacks, like the one shown here?

The answer probably varies by series, but manga author/artist Tsukasa Hojo, creator of City Hunter (from which the above clip is taken) recently explained, via his Twitter account, the logic behind why his franchise’s star, athletic/pervy private eye/mercenary Ryo, is so frequently unable to get out of the way of hammers being swung by his more earnest-minded business partner Kaori.

Q.5 なぜ獠は香のハンマーを避けられないのですか？ A. 「避けられない」のではなく「避けない」のだと思います。行動にオチがつくといいますか、心のどこかで香に止めてほしいと思っているのかもしれませんね。 #シティーハンター30年目の真実

—
北条司オフィシャル (@hojo_official) January 25, 2019

“Question: Why can’t Ryo dodge Kaori’s hammer?
Answer: It’s not that he ‘can’t’ dodge it, it’s that he doesn’t dodge it. You could say it’s like the punchline for his actions, but deep down in his heart he’s probably wishing Kaori would stop hitting him.”

So at least in the case of City Hunter, the hero is getting hit because he knows it’s the natural endpoint of the chain reaction his antics set off, and not so much that he’s being caught unaware by the blow. That explanation, as well as the simmering romantic tension between Ryo and Kaori that runs throughout the series, had commenters leaving remarks such as:

“I knew it. He’s got a soft spot for Kaori.”
“He’s accepting of all of her feelings.”
“Come to think of it, I remember certain scenes in the manga where he does dodge her hammer, and pretty easily, so it’s not like he’s incapable of doing it.”
“You can’t dodge the hammer of love.”

But while Hojo’s explanation clears up one anime mystery, there’s another that’s still a headscratcher, as pointed out by another commenter:

“What I want to know is how he’s still alive after getting hit with those things.”

That’s one question me may never get the answer to, unless they decide to address the issue in the upcoming brand-new City Hunter anime movie.

Source: Twitter/@hojo_official via Hachima Kiko
Top image ©SoraNews24

Starbucks Japan unveils first sakura drink for cherry blossom season 2019

http://bit.ly/2Rv1Wzk Oona McGee

Drink the blossoms this year with a chilled cup of sakura.

Every year, there’s one thing we look forward to almost as much as the cherry blossoms, and that’s all the limited-edition sakura-themed releases that start lining the shelves. Now, Starbucks is leading the charge with a new product that looks set to be the star of any good hanami picnic basket this season: the Sakura Chocolate with Strawberry Jelly chilled cup.

While Starbucks is yet to unveil their in-store sakura Frappuccino and latte beverages for 2019, they’re kicking things off with a more readily available offering, as the chilled cup will be available at convenience stores around the country. It’ll be easy to spot as well, with its gorgeous packaging showcasing pink and gold sakura, with blue accents hinting at a brilliant spring blue sky, all playing out underneath a pretty domed pink lid.

The drink inside will be a delicious blend of creamy milk, white chocolate and sakura, with tiny strawberry-juice jelly pieces providing a sweetly tart flavour and an enjoyable textural sensation.

Sakura and strawberry has been a winning flavour combination for Starbucks releases over the past few years, but this year’s chilled cup is a world away from last year’s version, which featured the flavours of cherry blossom mixed with caramel and mixed berries.

The new Sakura Chocolate with Strawberry Jelly chilled cups will be available to purchase from convenience stores around the country at a recommended retail price of 219 yen (US$2) from 12 February.

Source, images: Starbucks Japan