Posts by linger
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
similar as in "he's not a divine leader, he's just a very naughty boy"?
-
when he claimed that he was feeling something from the thyme
those were high and heady thymes. not like your modern thymes.
-
dramatic reduction in diary consumption
... because of all those bloggers, obviously.
-
Ah well, while I seem to have the thread to myself...
Across the grounds from the beer stall at the NZ trade fair was the Boysenberry stall. I was slightly baffled as to why this was separate from NZ Berry Fruit, though subsequent events suggest this may have been a wise distancing move. Some of the marketing ideas at the fair itself were good: for example, the 100ml free sample bottles of boysenberry juice -- perfect for those attending with children, and also fitting nicely into the Japanese traditional "omiyage" (souvenir) mould.But the only NZ boysenberry products that I've subsequently seen on the mass market in Japan -- a range of cakes -- would appear to have been dismal failures. I.e., when I see them, they're being sold at a steep discount just before their expiry date; and then I never see them again.
The problems involved were easily predictable. Boysenberry products face an uphill struggle in the Japanese mass market, which (for food items at least) is highly conservative. How conservative? In most Japanese supermarkets, there are only two flavours of berry products: strawberry, and blueberry. (Raspberry jam is only available as a European import; you can find it at some department stores, but not at the typical local supermarket.) Most Japanese don't know what even a blackberry is, or what it should taste like; so for boysenberries, Japanese consumers have no point of reference at all. And for the most part, if a consumer doesn't know how something should taste, they will not ever buy it.
Problem number one in this regard is that fresh boysenberries are not visible or available for sale in Japan. Hence there can be no point of reference, no flavour reference, no smell reference, for any product using the fruit. (Handing out juice samples was a good idea, but one trade fair reaching at most several thousand Tokyo residents out of 20 million is hardly going to create any critical mass of demand at any single supermarket.)
Problem number two is the type of product chosen for this marketing blitz -- boysenberry-flavoured sponge cakes of various types, in the Bourbon "International" range.
I can't really fault the advertising on the package. The berry fruit is prominently displayed -- as it should be (but remember, it's an unidentified object to these consumers, who above all, can't smell the picture). So is the NZ landscape. Well, fair enough, if it identifies them as coming from NZ... though one wouldn't normally expect to find boysenberries growing on Mitre Peak.
But both images set up unrealistic expectations which can only be disappointed by the actual cake: small portions of a rather plain and crumbly sponge, with thin (and weakly flavoured) layers of boysenberry jam. I don't know the actual preservative content; but to put it bluntly, they do not taste full of natural goodness. (Some of the cakes in the range also have a pale purple icing; these actually work a little better, possibly because they're less easily misidentified as "natural".)Problem number three results from the packaging. It has to be airtight to ensure a long shelf life (which, again, means no smell). Moreover, *every* *slice* must be individually encased in airtight plastic foil (because that is how everything is presented in Japan; every biscuit in a pack, every square of chocolate, is always individually wrapped). Also, the foil must be easily tearable for easy access. But ... how can anyone tear open a plastic foil wrapping without doing serious damage to a fragile sponge cake, the layers of which are only loosely connected to each other to begin with? Gentle reader, you would need to be considerably more gentle than I to avoid being confronted with an unrecognisable crumbly mess.
Thus one is left with a product that, in appearance, texture, and flavour, utterly fails to meet expectations... and which is prominently associated with New Zealand. Not a good look.
-
<rant>
And then there's wine. Dammit, why is it that the only NZ wine available in my neighbourhood is that frankly awful Monkey Bay plonk? (And the price that's retailing at is simply obscene... 1400 yen per bottle!?) Any Aussie wine I can get here is not only better value for money, but simply better, and it really pains me to admit that.
</rant> -
$75 a dozen for takeaway beers!
Yeah, it's enough to drive you to drink... happoshu (the near-beers that are the only alcohol available in Japan under 600 yen for a half-dozen cans. Some of them are actually drinkable).
-
People are only half-joking when they refer to Tokyo as "the Eastern Capital".
Eh? Isn't that exactly what "Tokyo" means in Japanese?
(From comparison with the previous, more westerly, capital of Kyoto.) -
Before someone points out "hang on, Tui's been around since 1889": at the time I first came to Japan, I was not a great beer drinker. Nor even a coffee drinker. After a week of endless departmental staff meetings in Japanese, I saw the need for coffee. After a month, I saw the need for beer...
-
At the NZ trade fair at Roppongi Hills last November, there were exactly three beers available as bottle sales: Tui, Monteith's Black and Monteith's New Zealand Lager. Going in to the trade fair as a homesick Kiwi, I made a point of buying several bottles of each (even at 500 yen per bottle ... i.e. twice the price of the local brands). I've been away for long enough that I had never had a chance to sample Tui before, let alone the Monteiths, so didn't start with any specific expectations other than hoping for the best. Having tried all three, both at room temperature and straight from the fridge -- I don't think I would ever buy Tui again, but both Monteiths were at least comparable with Asahi Super Dry or Kirin Ichiban, and I'd have no hesitation getting more of either provided they were equivalent in price.
-
Steven, that study reveals a correlation -- which as we all know, is not the same as causation. So what could be the possible types of causal connection here?
(i) People get put in prison because they're mentally ill?
I sincerely hope that isn't generally the case; if true, that wouldn't just be sad, it'd be deeply disturbing. But it's probably more likely that prison inmates are there more immediately because they have been convicted of some crime. Of course, that just pushes the causal search back a step.(ii) Some types of mental illness increase the likelihood of committing some types of crime?Maybe, in some specific instances, but anyone would have to be very cautious about predicting any general effect across all types of illness, and even more so about generalising across all types of crime. (It's interesting that the more typical Hollywood fiction, of a criminal pleading insanity to "get away with it", is both directly opposed to any such conclusion, yet relies on it for any chance of success.)
(iii) There is some common cause between mental illness and crime?
Possibly: e.g. history of abuse; trauma; drug abuse (seen here as a cause of mental illness).(iv) There is some interaction between our definitions of "mental illness" and "crime"?
Probably true to some extent (i.e., some symptoms of mental illness are more likely to be seen as criminal behaviour). It may be a bit counterintuitive, but while still "sad", this is perhaps the most hopeful possibility, because it is the most easily addressed. We could as a society agree to look at the intersection between "crime" and "mental illness", and change our definitions of what is criminal behaviour -- as opposed to symptoms of illness -- or of the type of treatment appropriate for such behaviour. I'd hope suicide attempts should lead to therapy rather than incarceration. Much drug abuse (in various forms) may also belong in this category, as a symptom -- or in some cases an attempt at palliation -- of illness.