A skirt that transforms into a Coke machine to help women evade muggers? Whatever next?

Earlier in the year I wrote a piece about deodorant in Japan called The Axe Effect. In it I talked about the launch of Axe in Japan and I included some Japanese Axe TV commercials I found on YouTube. Since then, a load more have appeared so I thought I’d include three of the more interesting ones here:

Mobbed By Geisha
A continuation of the earlier viral videos I mentioned in The Axe Effect.

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Space Tarako

To kick off this series here’s a classic TV ad for Kyūpii Tarako Pasta Sauce.

The Product: According to Wikipedia tarako is salted Alaska Pollock roe. I’m not sure, but since the word tara means ‘cod’ in Japanese it may be used to refer to the eggs of a number of different white fish. Whichever fish they come from, tarako are basically red fish-egg sacs that are something akin to the fish version of oviducts (fallopian tubes). Not the most appetising of foods when you think about it! (more…)

3 Japanese Toilet Videos

Japanese Toilet Training

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The Launch of Axe Deodorant in Japan

For more Axe commercials, see below. Also, three more ads can be found here.

One of the downsides of living in Japan for me has been the unavailability of good deodorant, particularly during the extremely humid summer months when temperatures soar to around 35c. The handful of Japanese deodorants that are available - such as those in Mandom’s Gatsby range, if the word ‘range’ can actually be used for such a limited selection - are a waste of time, being little more than lightly-scented air. Because of this, I’ve had to resort to stocking up on large quantities of deodorant when on overseas trips, something which has in the past resulted in some alarmed looks on the faces of shop clerks when I’ve done this during winter.
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Not content with just depicting acts of unprovoked violence, this bizarrely-titled episode encourages underage drinking too! Here’s 火事とケンカは森の花 (Fire and Arguments are Flowers of the Forest), which also adds firearms violations to Takora’s lengthy rap sheet.

Following my earlier post about Kure Kure Takora (Gimme Gimme Octopus) I’m going to put some of the best episodes from YouTube on this site. By ‘best’, of course, I mean the most bizarre, perplexing and/or violent episodes. Here’s episode 100, タコラ人形の巻 (The Takora Doll Episode), which features plenty of voodoo doll-style Takora abuse. Enjoy…

I must introduce this style of English language teaching into my lessons! (minus the skintight lycra of course)