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Beaver - it's all the rage in Japan!
Take for instance 'Beaver,' the hottest new women's clothing store in the always hip and trendy shopping district of Shibuya in Tokyo.
Always imitated but never replicated, nothing fits as warm and as snug as a Beaver. And from what I'm told, men in Japan go absolutely hog-wild over a woman sporting Beaver. No wonder Beaver is this fall's hottest fashion accessory.
(I could go on all day, but I think you get the joke).
For more on the weird, wonderful and wacky world that is Japan, check out my feature column Big in Japan.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Justin Glow Sep 13th 2007 4:57PM
This reminds me of a men's clothing store I spotted in Bangalore called "Moustache"
RK Sep 14th 2007 12:47AM
The "Engrish" comment is vaguely racist. I believe that Beaver is spelled correctly here.
Matt Firestone Sep 14th 2007 12:42AM
The spelling is correct - but the context isn't, which is why its funny. Point taken about 'Engrish' being vaguely racist, though it's a fairly common term (www.engrish.com) that everyone seems to use without too much fuss.
RK Sep 14th 2007 12:58AM
Its tough to debate cultural humor because not everyone will find it funny. I mean I once saw a sign on a Chinese train that said "Docking station for deformed man". I thought to myself, "hmmm, what could that be?", so I opened the door and you know what it was? A handicapped bathroom. That was funny to me. They attempted to use English as well as the dictionary taught those communist workers that it could be used but gosh darn it, they just couldn't get it right.
The whole "engrish" thing just reminds me of 50's cartoons where all Asians wear conical rice paddy hats and have eyes pulled back to their ears.
I'd be surprised if the juvenile connotation of Beaver isn't the same in Japanese and they understand the statement that they are making, there are plenty of glaring examples here in the US that you could point to if you didn't know the difference. In fact, I think Maxim has a whole page dedicated to the search of hidden porn meanings.
I guess what I am trying to say is that I expect that type of humor from Maxim, not from Gadling.
Matt Firestone Sep 14th 2007 1:03AM
It is indeed tough to debate cultural humour, and you're most likely going to offend someone with an off-colour joke. Although I can certainly assure that I by no means racist (I've lived in Japan for over five years, speak Japanese and go out of my way to always play by the rules and be polite), I can certainly understand your offence to the posting.
With that said, there will certainly be more future postings on bad English in Japan and around the world on this website, so my apologies in advance if it's a bit to Maxim-like for you. As I said, you can't please anyone, but hopefully you can accept the fact that we are by no means bad people.
Earl Sep 20th 2007 9:54AM
Man, in the West you waste sooooo much time micro analysing whether something is racist or not. Every race in the world makes jokes about other races, it is light hearted and fun....what is scary is how serious all that crap is over in the west and even results in tv censorship. England was the greatest country in the world, in 100 years it has much of what has made it great. It is now known to be one of the rudest, a serious lack of cortesy in its stores or on the phone too come to it, and even Scotland and Wales do not want to be a part of it anymore. From 2/3rds of the world in its empire to not being able to hold the union together. Congratulations....great how a couple of generations can wipe out all that has taken centuries of english to build.