Engrish Brog
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Do you see a ghost in this photo? 

(Click on photo to see arrow pointing to ghost)

This is my “Hiroshima Ghost Photo”. Japanese are really into seeing ghosts in photographs (there is even a word for it: 心霊写真) – which many believe are real manifestations caught on film. 

I went on my own once to Hiroshima way back when and like many people I went to the memorial and took photos of this famous “Genbaku Dome” – the only large structure left standing after the atomic bomb hit. 

I was a poor student teaching English on the side at the time, and upon my return to Tokyo I showed photos to my Jr. High School students and they immediately saw a GHOST in this particular picture and started freaking out. Since that time I would show this photo to various Japanese to see if they would freak out too. Quite a few people do. 

You be the judge. Right in the middle of the photo under the dome structure you can see an outline of what looks like a face with long black hair around it – presumably a girl. Freak you out at all? 

Goes without saying that I did not photoshop this picture. 

UPDATE:  A friend of mine in Hiroshima told me: “Believe it or not, the Genbaku Dome is actually under restoration now. There’s a whole latticework of platforms around it. It’s strange to think of restoration of something that was meant to NOT be restored.”

UPDATE 2:  Some people have mentioned that they cannot see it so I made another photo with an arrow – just click on the above photo to see it.

For a limited time ALL shirts at Engrish.com are on sale from $12.95 to $14.95. 
Offer is open to everyone – no coupons are necessary to obtain the discount.

For those of you in the US thinking of purchasing items for Valentine’s Day, we recommend placing your order by this Friday, but you might be OK as late as next Tuesday.

LET’S SHOPPING FOR YOU TO SATISFY HERE!

Here’s a cute version of Hey Jude as sung by a talented young Korean boy: 

Another fabulous DVD bootleg – this time of the Family Guy. The DVD was found in Vietnam, but likely manufactured in China. 

Photo courtesy of Christian Oppermann.

This photo has been floating around the internet for a little while. The words are out of order so it kinda qualifies as Engrish… 

Brought to my attention by Emily Ash

On one Japanese TV show, Obama does some cheesy magic and one pretty cool card trick with a lemon.

Note: The Japanese love Obama so I believe that this TV show was not meant to be mean spirited or racist (although some people might deem it a bit insensitive?).

Found by way of the excellent blog Japan Probe.

Check out this photo of a Fuji Film throwaway camera. Cute model and all, but wait – is she flipping me off?  It’s as if Fuji Film were saying: “F*CK Everyone, Everyday, Everywhere!”.

Photo courtesy of Chris Weigand

In doing research for yesterday’s entry about “Fever Star Wars” pachinko, I ran across these funny videos from Japanese tv. They have been up on Youtube for a while, but it is worth a look if you haven’t seen them before (only 30 seconds each).  
Round 1:

Round 2:

Not sure how Sankyo, a pachinko (= semi-gambling) company, was able to obtain a Star Wars licensing agreement with Lucas – I am guessing it was lots of $$. They call the new line of machines “Fever Star Wars”, and there is a whole commercial campaign around it. All the commercials have that quirky Japan sensibility, and are themed around Vader invading Japan with a brief introduction of the pachinko machine at the end. 

In this first commercial, Vader and his crew are “invading” Japan with a tour guide (the words at the beginning say: “Darth Vader is invading Japan!”). Vader gets a bit nervous when Japanese tourists surround him at a famous spot, but the tour guide keeps him in check:

This next video is a New Years setting at a temple. On New Years Eve, it is customary for Japanese to go to a local temple and ring the large temple bell.  Except here the temple bell morphs into Vader!  Let’s Pachinko! 

This one is pretty cool with lots of Vader hats on an assembly line and the tag line: “a new attack starts from here — Fever Star Wars!”. 

Pachinko is more widely played than ever in Japan and now has less stigma than before, but it is still a form of gambling. The object is to obtain as many balls as you can, which can be used for prizes – or exchanged for money.  I don’t think Lucas would license Star Wars to a manufacturer of slot machines, but who knows? 

Here is a close up of an actual Fever Star Wars pachinko machine. This shot shows the videos you get when you hit a “jackpot” so to speak (warning: this video is loud like an actual pachinko parlor).

For more video and web entertainment you can go to Sankyo’s site here. 

The Rare Mono shop comes through with the newest in USB technology: the USB Boob Warmer (they call it the “USB Bust Beauty Pad”). Just plug it in and slip in the pads for nice warm booby action. 

The theory (or rumor) is that warming up your boobs can help make them perkier. But they admit on the website:

“well, the truth is not clear, but wouldn’t it be great if it were true? That’s why we named it what we did (the “bust beauty pad”). I mean this is the age of men’s bras so why not invest in this rare item?”

They include a sample photo to show how to set it up: 

Here’s what you get: 2 sets of pads along with a USB cable. Retails on the website for ¥1,980 (about US$20 at today’s exchange rate). 

USB power isn’t that strong so I am guessing that you don’t have to worry about overheating.