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[umiman]

Source

Extract:

Lola is a Persian cat who works at the Ja La La Cafe in Tokyo's bustling Akihabara district. It is one of a growing number of Cat Cafes in the city which provide visitors with short but intimate encounters with professional pets. It costs about £8 ($10) an hour to spend time in a Cat Cafe.

The industry offers an enormous variety of opportunities to exchange money for company.

Very popular at the moment is the Campus Cafe, where men go to socialise with female university students. It is cheaper than the upscale hostess clubs in which businessmen and politicians drink whisky with women in kimonos, although that is a business which is in crisis because of the recession.

One specialist agency is known as Hagemashi Tai, which translates as I Want To Cheer Up Limited. It rents relatives. Actors are despatched to play the part of distant relations at weddings and funerals. For an extra fee, they will even give a speech. But the firm's services do not stop there. It can also provide temporary husbands to single mothers who want them.

There is a service for women who are about to wed too. Apparently, they can practice for married life with a hired husband, although whether this involves seduction or sock washing is not exactly clear.

And if things are not working out with a real husband, a woman considering a divorce may choose to hire a "mother" in order to discuss her marital anxieties. Mr M.O. from Shizuoka near Mount Fuji called upon the services of I Want To Cheer Up Ltd because he needed a father.

Opinion:
I don't really have an opinion on this. I honestly believe this is just economics at work, when there's a need, someone will fill it for a price. However strange and obscure it might be, that's how business works.

As for the people who use such things... well... I can think of a few times I'd have liked a temporary pet, but the $8 per hour charge is a bit much for something I can get for free, use a few times, then eat.

[mainiac]

I think it's a pretty good idea actually.  I can think of a few times in my past when I could have really used a temporary pet or someone willing to befriend me just for an hour or two.  Lots of people seek the consul of professional psychiatrists and it can be very beneficial.  But sometimes you don't need a psychiatrist but just someone to talk to or listen to or watch chase their tail.  Obviously, friends and pets are usually a good solution to this, but sometimes you need someone else.

[Il Palazzo]

Consummerist society at it's best. Or worst.

And yeah, 'cat cafe' has a different, uh, more 'meaty' meaning for DF players.

[Kagus]

The wording in the description of that cat café disturbs me.  Deeply.

Ahh, Japan...  The only place with people who manage to be more American than the Americans.

[Cthulhu]

That's epic.  Japan now rules.

I wonder if they rent Boston Terriers?

[mainiac]

Ahh, Japan...  The only place with people who manage to be more American than the Americans.

If you are American, you need to go to somewhere in the Eastern regions of Canada and order "poutine" in a restaurant.  You will then realize that no, the Canadians are actually quite capable of being more American then us.  They merely chose not to most of the time.  For me, that was a very shocking discovery.

[stummel]

I think it's a pretty good idea actually.  I can think of a few times in my past when I could have really used a temporary pet or someone willing to befriend me just for an hour or two.  Lots of people seek the consul of professional psychiatrists and it can be very beneficial.  But sometimes you don't need a psychiatrist but just someone to talk to or listen to or watch chase their tail.  Obviously, friends and pets are usually a good solution to this, but sometimes you need someone else.

lol. but you are right.

more important, pets are efficient to get women. be aware: cats aren't.

[Creamcorn]

Ahh, Japan...  The only place with people who manage to be more American than the Americans.

If you are American, you need to go to somewhere in the Eastern regions of Canada and order "poutine" in a restaurant.  You will then realize that no, the Canadians are actually quite capable of being more American then us.  They merely chose not to most of the time.  For me, that was a very shocking discovery.

Though technically I like to be called a U.S citizen, and as far as I'm concerned I am not your stereotypical U.S person; I honestly could care less for that last part.

As for the topic. When I read Lola I was like "aaahh yeah", but than I saw cat, and I thought to myself "KITTY!". Than I read the entire article, and the last sentence of it struck me as, well a little scary in my view.

" But the Japanese are prone to believe that, in the right circumstances, money can turn a stranger into a friend... at least for a couple of hours. "

Though honestly I think that's just what the author thinks, of course I could be wrong.

[umiman]

During my trip in Tokyo, I saw some pretty peculiar things. I think you can buy more *things* in places like Bangkok but Tokyo has the strangest stuff that borders on "normal".

[Aqizzar]

Ahh, Japan...  The only place with people who manage to be more American than the Americans.

What part of that is supposed to reference Americans?  That Japanese buy useless crap?  That's hardly an activity we invented, and Americans would never spend money to hang around a cat for an hour.

We buy inflatable barbecues thank you very much.

[Kagus]

Turn on the television.  Be bombarded with psychosis spawned from an unfulfilled childhood and the growing pains that still linger from times when everything was driven by honor and tradition.

Well, not so much "growing pains" as "Oh dear lord, I just drastically lowered the stock value of my company!  I mus run outside and stand naked in the crowd for an hour in order to redeem my honor.  Then I will hire a prostitute dressed up as Sailor Moon to crap on a glass table while I lie underneath it, because there's NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT".


I'd like to go to Japan some time.  It'd be interesting.  But I hear it's rather expensive...

Well, if I ever become famous, I could get a ridiculously large amount of money to pose for a couple ads.  I'm blonde, and I've got long hair for being a guy.  Hell, I'd be a sensation.


EDIT:  No, not mass-consumerism.  I was referring to the absolutely absurd and almost entirely cheese-stuffed ideas coming from that general location.  I think we started them off on it some time after the war, and they just ran with it.  And they did so in a scary-fast fashion.

Also, inflatable barbecue?  MUST.  ACQUIRE.  Hell, that's even better than the inflatable sheep sex doll.

[Creamcorn]

Ahh, Japan...  The only place with people who manage to be more American than the Americans.

What part of that is supposed to reference Americans?  That Japanese buy useless crap?  That's hardly an activity we invented, and Americans would never spend money to hang around a cat for an hour.

We buy inflatable barbecues thank you very much.

Hehe, heard of those too, also saw the original commercial for wacky waving inflatable tube men.

[Aqizzar]

EDIT:  No, not mass-consumerism.  I was referring to the absolutely absurd and almost entirely cheese-stuffed ideas coming from that general location.  I think we started them off on it some time after the war, and they just ran with it.  And they did so in a scary-fast fashion.

Ah yes, that part.  Japan learns very quickly from it's conquerors.  Ever since the 1970s the entire nation seems to have dedicated itself to staying on the cutting edge of absolute insanity.

Also, inflatable barbecue?  MUST.  ACQUIRE.  Hell, that's even better than the inflatable sheep sex doll.

So that you too can grill and eat cheeseburgers without ever leaving the pool.  I sometimes wonder about the Chinese slaves who assemble these things, if they know what it is they're building or where it's going.  Does the man who puts the decal on the box cry himself to sleep, images of fat, lazy, happy people burned into retinas?  Or does not comprehend it all, completely unaware that he lives on the same planet as people whose leading cause of death is getting too much fry oil clogged in their hearts?

[Kagus]

Wait...  It actually works?  I thought it was just an inflatable barbecue.  Not, y'know, an inflatable barbecue.

And he probably just does his job.  Hell does he care about the capitalist swine?  Sure, if you think about it, the average lifestyle stateside would be considered pure luxury to a working-class Chinese citizen, but if they're really dumb enough to buy something like an inflatable barbecue, why feel bad?

Either that or he has no idea what it even is, since I don't think there's a very strong backyard grill culture in China.


Hmm, little too much China in this Japan...   Damnit, I need to find those pictures of the robot Jesus and Russian roulette children's toys...

EDIT:  Ah, here we go.



Anybody here think they could possibly translate the writing on the box?  I don't know what style it is, but I'd really like to know what it says about that robot Jesus toy.

[Aqizzar]

How could I have forgotten about President Michael Wilson?  No discussion of Japanese Export Insanity would be complete without it.  Except as some crime against hope, it was never exported.

Believe In Your Own Justice!