Japan: November 2007 Archives

First off, I want to give credit where credit is due. Most of the translations below came from this thread on Dogster. The person who was nice enough to post them is not a member of Dogster, so I couldn't send them a message to ask for permission to include the translations here. However, I hope they won't mind if I share the transcripts to these funny shiba commercials with you guys. Also, I would never have known about this thread, if it wasn't for our authority on all things Japanese, Blue (who also provided translations for all of the commercials that had not already been transcribed).

According to the person who did the translations on Dogster, the funniest part of these ads is the extremely unorthodox casting. The mother and daughter are normal looking Japanese people, but the dad is the cream shiba, and the son is the black guy. This is not meant to imply that a Japanese family adopted a black son, it's just super silly casting that is meant to be absurd.

The name of the cellular phone plan being advertised is "White Family 24," and the name of the service provider is SoftBank.

Characters
Father: Cream Shiba
Mother
Daughter: Aya
Son

On to the commercials...

---

White Family - Part 1

***At the service counter of SoftBank.***

Male customer: What is "White Family 24"?

Aya: If you join, domestic calling to your family members is free 24 hours a day.

***Aya comes home tired from work.***

Mother: Hey, Aya.

Aya: Mmm?

Mother: What is "White Family 24"?

Aya: I don't wanna talk about my job at home.

Son: I'd like to know, too.

Aya: Bro, too? I thought you said you would be home late today.

Son: I didn't hear that.

Aya: What are you saying?

Father (Cream Shiba): I want to know, too.

Aya: Dad, too?

Mother: You do not have to know.

Father: How come?

Son: [laughs out loud.]

Father: What is so funny?

Son: I'm sorry, dad.

Mother: So what is it, "WhiteFamily 24"?

Daughter: What?

Male voiceover: Free domestic calling to family members. Softbank.

Contextual Note: The mother and daughter treat the father (who talks and acts like a tyrant) like nothing, only the son is obedient.

---

White Family - Part 2

Doesn't include any shibas.

---

White Family - Part 3

***At the service counter of SoftBank.***

Aya: Thank you very much!

Next customer, please. Thank for your waiting.

Son: Aya.

Aya: Bro!

Son: Aya, I have something to ask you.

Aya: What is it (you have to come here for that)?

Son: Can I ask just one thing?

Aya: So, what is it?

Son: What is "White Kazoku(means family) 24"?

Aya: That means, if you join this calling plan, you can call your family members for free 24 hours a day, if it is within our country. Isn't that awesome?

Son: That is great! But, why so? I don't understand.

Aya: Why? I don't know why, either. I don't even know why my father is a dog.

Father: Everything has a reason.

Aya: A reason? What is the reason, dad?

Father: You are still too young to understand!

Male voiceover: Domestic calling to your family members is free 24 hours a day. SoftBank.

---

White Family - Part 4

The pink cell phone rings and Aya picks up.

Aya: Yes, mom, what is it?

Mother: Do you know where my dorayaki is (a traditional Japanese pastry made from sweet red bean sauce that is sandwiched between two small pancakes)?

Aya: Maybe bro knows, or ate it.

Mother: Yeah, maybe so. I will ask him.

Mother: Hello.

Son: I don't know.

Mother: What? I haven't said anything, yet. Oh dear, everybody is here (I didn't realize that).

Aya: Yeah.

***Mother talks to father. ***

Mother: Do you know where my dorayaki....

Father: [walks away]

Mother: Where are you going?

***Mother chases him.***

***Father enters his study.***

Father: I am in trouble.

***Mother bangs on the door. ***

Mother: Open this door now!

***Mother calls him.***

Mother: My dorayaki!

Father: I ate it.

Contextual Note: Even though the father talks and acts like the boss of the family, the mother and daughter do not treat him that way.

---

White Family - Part 5

***Two white poodles are in the park.***

Female poodle (Shiroko): Shiro (which means white in Japanese), phone me more.

Male poodle (Shiro): Yes, I will definitely do that, Shiroko (the female version of the name Shiro).

Shiroko & Shiro: We are Shiro and Shiroko, double white.

Shiro: It's very economical.

Shiroko: Yes!

Male voiceover: More economical. Double White (the name of the calling plan).

The family members are watching the TV at their home.

Aya: This ad doesn't mention that you can get 50% off with Double White, even when you call someone who has another provider.

Mother: Is that so?

Son: I didn't know that.

Aya: This ad is no good.

Father: Do not say, "No good."

Mother & Aya: How come?

Father: These dogs are doing their best.

Aya: How can you tell?

Father: How? I can tell because I look deep deep into their eyes.

Male voiceover: 50% off with Double White. SoftBank.

Contextual Note: It is so ridiculous that the shiba sounds like a typical traditional stubborn Japanese dad, which is very rare recently.

---

White Family - Part 6

***Five dogs are having a talk in the park.***

Dalmatian: How is the number of applicants for our cell service increasing?

One of the dogs: SoftBank was number one, even in July.

Dalmatian: What? July again?

Father: Finally, it's happening!

***Mother and Aya are having a cup of tea at their Tokyo middle to upper middle class home.***

Aya: Mom, what dad is doing?

Mother: He is in a business meeting.

Male voiceover: The number of applicants has been number one in the industry for the last three months. SoftBank.

---

White Family - Part 7

Thanks to Blue, we now have a transcript for Part 7!

***Five dogs are having a talk in the park.***

One of the dogs: Unbelievable, isn't it?

One of the dogs: Unbelievable, indeed!

Lab: Unbelievable, indeed!

French Bulldog: The number of applicants for the cell service...

Dalmatian: SoftBank was number one again for the last month.

Father: It's happening!

***Mother and Aya are having a cup of tea at their Tokyo middle to upper middle class home.***

Aya: Mom, what is dad doing?

Mother: He is in a business meeting.

Male voiceover: The number of applicants has been number one in the industry for the last four months in a row. SoftBank.

Contextual Information: This is obviously an updated version of Part 6. However, their family home appears to belong to more middle class. The fact that their father has his own study makes them upper middle class considering the housing condition in Tokyo.

---

White Family - Part 8

***Son is on the phone and walking through a busy Tokyo street. Unlike New York, or any other big cities in the US, Tokyo has big streets and small alleyways filled with lots of small stores.***

***Son arrives at a very expensive Chinese restaurant. His family is waiting for him. ***

Son: Sorry for being late.

Father: Yeah, late.

Mother: Use your phone when you think you're running late.

Aya: It's free to make a call to family members with "White Family 24."

Son: I have been on the phone for some other business.

Father: You cannot have other business!

Son: Understand, dad.

Male voiceover: White Family 24

---

White Family - Part 9

***At a business meeting of SoftBank's rival corporation.

Male voice: What did Softbank start?

Young employee: It is a new project to make a calling plan where members can make free calls to their friends.

Male voice: Wow, they are doing a good one.

Senior employee: Hey you, are you listening?

Son: Sorry, I wasn't.

***At their home.***

Son: [big sigh]

Aya: That's no good, bro. You should try to be more passionate about your work. Don't you agree, dad?

Father: That is no good!

Male voiceover: New project started. SoftBank.

---

White Family - Part 10

Thanks to Blue, we now also have a transcript for Part 10!

***Mother and Aya (with her new shorter haircut) are walking in the park with the father. They are startled to see their son is walking with an unknown girl.***

Aya: Bro!

Son: Everybody together, I have not heard about that.

Aya: What are you saying?

Father: Oh, the discovery!

Mother: Who is she?

Aya: Gee, isn't she your girlfriend?

Son: Not yet.

Unknown girl: Tada-no-tomodachi-desu (I'm just his friend).
(In this sentence, "tada" means "just.")

Mother: Just?

Aya: Does "just" mean that you are from Ameriya?
(I do not know what Ameriya means. Probably the company the son works for, the competitor of SoftBank?)

Unknown girl: Yes, Tada-Tomo.
(She abbreviates Tada-no-Tomodachi to Tada-Tomo. The young generation of Japanese loves to abbreviate the words.)

Father: Do not abbreviate the words thoughtlessly!

Unknown girl: Wow, you speak! How cute!

Father: Oh, really?

Mother: You!
(She realized that his attitude was suddenly softened by the remark and petting from this girl.)

Aya: But making new friends is wonderful, isn't it?

Unknown girl: Huh?

Aya: Let's put our hands onto each other's like this.

Male voiceover: Let's expand the circle of Tada-Tomo. SoftBank.

Contextual Information: "Tada-Tomo" seems like SoftBank's new slogan. Tada means "just" but also means "free" (no charge). So, "Tada-Tomo" means the friends you can call for free (if you join the plan from SoftBank).

---

White Family - Part 11

With many thanks to Blue, we now have a transcript for Part 11.

***At their home.***

Mother: Writing a slogan (for the ad)?

Aya: Yeah, for the promotion to get more Tada-Tomo.

***The subtitle says, "Tada-Tomo: Friends you can call for free."***

Mother: Mmmm, a slogan.

Aya: How about it, bro?

Son (wearing a headband that says, "getting an idea"): That sounds hard.

Aya: Dad, do you have any?

***Father is just eating.***

Aya: Geeeeee.

Son: Oh, how about this, "Yosogai-no..."
(This actor has become quite famous in Japan because of these ads and is nicknamed "Yoso-guy," as yosogai means "unexpectedly." I guess this nickname came from this silly casting.)

Father: No, no, no good!

Aya: (sigh) Is there any slogan writer?

Mother: How about asking Uncle Shinone?

Aya: Ahhh!

***Aya is on the bullet train and eating Ekiben (Eki-Ben).***
(Eki means station and Ben is the abbreviation of bento, which is a box-lunch. All of the major stations in Japan have their own box lunch featuring their regional specialities and delicacies. They are cooked and arranged in such a neat way in small containers. One of the joys of traveling through the Japanese countryside is tasting these Eki-Bens.)

Aya: I wonder if Uncle is doing fine.

***Aya is running to...***

Aya: Uncle!

Uncle (beluga whale, another case of the super silly casting): Aya, you are all grown up.

Aya: Do you have any good slogans, uncle?

Uncle: Wa, wa, wa (means circle or ring).

Aya: Wa, I see. Wa of Tada-Tomo.

***At their home.***

Mother: Wa, he said.

Father: Uncle, you really beat me (I have nothing but a praise for you).

Male voiceover: The circle of Tada-Tomo.

These are the last of the dog-related pictures from Japan. There aren't any shibas in them, but I hope you enjoy them anyway.

All I can say is, Yoshi & Tsuki are so lucky that I didn't see these until my last day in Japan, at which point I was preoccupied with worrying about whether or not we were going to have room in our luggage to get everything home that we had already bought. In case it's hard to tell, these are geisha wigs, kimono, and happi for dogs.

This was a sign at Shiba Park. I found the little illustration really hilarious for some reason.

...so much so, that I had to get a close-up.

This dog looks Akita-ish to me, but I have no idea what the sign says.

A sign at a restaurant at Decks.

A pet shop in Kabuki-cho (the red-light district).

They put pictures of all of the available puppies in the front window, which I thought was very clever. That way, if the puppies are sleeping, you can still see what they all look like.

Each puppy had a cute, little bed with a matching toy strawberry.

This little wildman made fast friends with my husband. He'd bark like crazy if you stopped paying attention to him. I'm sure he's back in Tokyo driving someone nuts right now.

Not all of the puppies were quite so wild.

And, as cute as they were, the beds did not seem to be a big hit.

Well, that's it, the last of the Japan pictures. I hope you've enjoyed them.

As best I can tell, these are little signs that tell you to keep your dog on a leash. These were posted all around a mall called Yebisu Garden Place, located in the Ebisu section of Tokyo.

Edit: Upon further consideration, the one above could actually be a kai ken, rather than a shiba.

These next signs were posted at the Senso-ji Temple. I'm not sure what they mean, but if anyone knows, I'd love to find out.

These first pictures are from a ubiquitous ad campaign for Softbank, which is a cell phone store that is equivalent to something like Cingular in the United States.

This was in a dog boutique called Dog Dept. What was funny about this store is that it claimed to be based in Santa Monica, California, but it's actually based in Japan. In the same way that Americans think Japanese stuff is cool, there seems to be a certain coolness to having American stuff in Japan, so some stores try to go for an American feel or style.

My memory is fading a bit here, but this was displayed by either a pet food or veterinary pharmaceutical company at World Animal Day. This is a day set aside to give thanks to animals, which I thought was a sweet idea.

This was from one of the ubiquitous photo printing stores. I can't believe that I have used the word ubiquitous twice in one post, but there's no other word to describe HOW MANY places you can have photos printed in Tokyo. They're as common as Starbucks. Really.

This was in the store guide outside of Decks, in Odaiba. It may be an ad for Puppy* the World, but I honestly can't tell.

This was from an ad for label makers, which my husband saw in the Akihabara section of Tokyo.

Here's where the memory really fades. I have no idea what this is for, or where it's from. But, there's a shiba in it, and it seems to be an ad, so it gets put in the blog.

Okay, a brief departure from the shibas in Japan theme. Here are two sightings of kai ken in their native land.

Perhaps ironically, we saw this kai in Shiba Park.

Sadly, I found this poster lying on the ground near Shinjuku Central Park. I'm guessing it's for a lost kai, but I can't really tell for sure.

This is from an arcade game called Wantame Music Channel. It's available for the Nintendo DS, but it's all in Japanese, which we figured would make it pretty hard to play.

Here's a YouTube video of the arcade version.

The rest of these are from an arcade game called Taiko Drum Master, or Taiko no Tatsujin. My husband and I were addicted to this game, even before we got to the screen with the dancing shibas. It has been released in North America for the PS2, but it must have been a while ago, because not many on-line retailers carry it.

I'll start the entry with the one thing that I really regret not buying. I just couldn't figure out how to get this home without it getting ruined, and shipping things was going to be complicated and expensive, so I left it behind.

Another cute thing that I figured would get broken in my luggage.

These keychains had little flashing lights on them, hence the name, Twinky.

A different view of the Twinkies.

This shiba cell phone strap was found, of all places, in the gift shop on the 45th floor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building.

You can even get shiba items in vending machines (known as gashapon)! This is no ordinary shiba, of course, this is Shiba Wanko.

This is a display of Shiba Wanko figures. These are sold as collectibles in Japan, and come in various series. In Japan, the boxes are sealed, so that you cannot see which item from the series you are purchasing (sort of like the collectible card games that are sold in the U.S. -- you don't know what cards you are getting until you open the package). My assumption is that in Japan you are meant to trade these figures with friends and other collectors, and you help each other to obtain the complete set.

However, there are also stores in Japan that make money by opening the boxes, and then selling the figures in plastic, so that you can see which figure you are purchasing. This allows you to easily complete your set, without purchasing duplicates or finding people with which to trade. J-list has some of these figures for sale, if you're interested.

A display of Shiba Wanko plush toys.

Yet another plush shiba. Maybe I regret not buying this one a little bit.

This plush shiba was almost life-size! In fact, it probably was Tsuki-size.

This shiba was animatronic.

A shiba statue at Puppy* the World.

This T-shirt was also at Puppy* the World.

This one, too.

Another shiba statue. Too bad I couldn't manage to get its ears in the picture.

And, finally, the insane amount of shiba stuff that I brought home. This was taken on our last night in Tokyo, as we were trying to figure out how we were going to get everything back with us. In the end, we had to buy an extra suitcase!

This is the entry where I post pictures of *real* shibas living in Japan. These aren't the only shibas that we saw, but they are the only ones that we managed to take pictures of.

We saw this shiba-ish dog at Kumano Jinja (a shrine), which is located in Shinjuku Central Park. It seemed like he lived there. He certainly wasn't too keen on having us skulking around.

Coincidentally, we saw this shiba just outside of Shiba Park. I actually ran down a crowded street chasing this poor woman, just so that I could get this crappy picture of her dog. Oh, and a Japanese colleague told me that Shiba Park has nothing to do with shiba inu. In this context, the word shiba means lawn. She said the written character is different than the one for shiba inu.

These three shibas were outside a store called Puppy* the World. I don't know why there's an asterisk after the word puppy, but there is.

Puppy* the World was kind of a strange place, and was actually two stores. One was just a dog boutique, but the other was a place where you could rent a room to bathe your dog, or you could RENT A DOG! I know these businesses are beginning to appear in the U.S. now, but ick, what a terrible idea. Poor dogs. Puppy* the World was located at a mall called Decks, in the Odaiba section of Tokyo.

This hardworking shiba-ish little lady was helping to advertise the Save Animals Love Animals (SALA) Network. I don't know if she was looking for a home, or if she belonged to one of the rescue workers, but we couldn't resist stopping to say hello.

Here is a sign for the SALA Network that contains a very shiba-ish looking face. Fair Warning: Their site contains some very sad pictures of shibas and other dogs, so you may not want to explore.

Since we're on the topic if animal rescue organizations, here's a sign for the Japan Rescue Association, which also had some shibas and akitas looking for homes.

Okay, time for some happier pictures...

This sweet little lady was out for a walk with her dad at the Senso-ji Temple (also known as Asakusa Kannon), located in the Asakusa section of Tokyo.

Her dad was nice enough to let us stop and say hello, so we were able to get a few pictures of this happy girl.

The shibas in Japan are so advanced that they even have their own post office and fire station. It's only a matter of time until it happens here.

Here's the second installment of the Shibas in Japan series! This one focuses on shibas in the movies.

This is an advertisement for Sword of the Stranger.

Here's a close-up of the shiba warrior.

And, another one from a different movie poster for the same movie.

Here's a trailer (in Japanese, of course).

This is a poster for A Tale of Mari and Three Puppies. WARNING: Cuteness overload if you follow the link.

And, a different poster for the same movie.

Here's the trailer, and here's a synopsis of Mari's story.

If you go here, you can download a cute little coloring page of Mari and her puppies.

And, if you go here, you can download a cute little memo page of Mari and her puppies.

Finally, if you go here, you can download shiba puppy wallpaper for your computer desktop.

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to attend a couple of conferences in Tokyo. Fortunately, my work involves animals, so even when I was working, I was on the lookout for shibas. Here are some shibas that appeared in the literature that I picked up at the conferences.

This is from a brochure for Hill's b/d prescription diet, which is purported to "fight age-related behavioral changes in older dogs." The brochure was distributed by Hill's Japan

This is from a brochure for the Teikyo University of Science and Technology. I'm guessing here, but I think it may be more specifically for their Child Science and Education Curriculum, which seems to include a lot of animals.

This is probably my favorite shiba thing from the conference. It's a body condition chart for veterinarians. It was distributed by the Pet Food Institute, which is based in Washington, DC. They include a local Japanese phone number on the back, so maybe they have an office in Japan?

This is sort of how Yoshi looks...

...but this is how he'd like to look.

This is from a booklet published by the Ministry of the Environment. It's all about animal breeding restrictions. Can you spot the shiba?

Here's the dog page from the same booklet. Some of them are at least shiba-ish, if not actually shibas. The full brochure can be viewed here. The bunny illustrations are definitely worth seeing.

And, last but not least, especially in terms of cuteness, is this ad for a veterinary pharmaceutical company called Zenoaq