Topic: Questions for the NWR Japan crew

[Ceric]

What is the Capsule scene like?
Do drinks actually come with figurines on their bottle caps or is bottle cap figurines just a Video Game in game collection craze?
Have you ever been to one of those Pod hotels that look like sleeping in individual Submarine bunks?
What is the Craziest candy you found?
Does McDonalds actually look like the Marketing picture when you recieve it?
Do you have to clean your street?

[oohhboy]

I can answer a question or two.

Do drinks actually come with figurines on their bottle caps or is bottle cap figurines just a Video Game in game collection craze?

Yes they sometimes come with drinks, but the drink are still sealed with a normal cap. I have two myself.



I didn't go to Japan so I could go to Macdonalds, but I did go to a Japanese equivalent of fast food called Yoshinoya which has a American counterpart(California, Nevada, Arizona, and New York). In japan at least from my recollection it tastes and looks better than the pictures(Most due to the lack of touching up of pictures). I wish we had it here in NZ. I used to be able to make the beef bowl back in Japan, but I just can't get it right since leaving.

[Ceric]

I like to have some of those cap figurines.  Its a shame we don't do fun stuff like that here in the States.

[famicomplicated]

Hey guys, it's coming time again for another Famicast and again we're asking for your Japan-flavoured questions!

It could be about the Jpse eShop, new 3DS games like StarFox or something random you've always wondered about Japan in general.
We'd prefer them game-related, but as usual we'd accept the occasional (hopefully tasteful) off-topic question!

Post your questions here or send them to famicast@nintendoworldreport.com


Cheers!


J-C

[Ceric]

How many games have you bought from a Vending Machine?  How do the Prices compare?  What is the Weirdest thing you bought from a Vending Machine?

Is their Really a 4 Patty Big Mac?

How often is it that Revision versions of games get released in the Japanese Market?

Is it relatively easy to get pre-made Cos-Play outfits and accessories for Videogame Characters?

Have you seen a Sega Pico in Action?

[noname2200]

Looking forward to the new podcast! In addition to the last question I asked, is it my imagination or has there been a noticeable uptick in the popularity of "western" genres like FPS and sandbox titles and, if so, why do you think that is?

Also, is it true that some Japanese vending machines sell rhinoceros beetles? And, erm....why would they do that?

[MegaByte]

Have you ever eaten this?

[oohhboy]

Holy ****, that is a neat little eatable science trick.

[famicomplicated]

Have you ever eaten this?

The polite answer to that would be "no".

Hey, even Oldboy didn't!

[famicomplicated]

Jonnyboy117 asked these questions in the Famicast Ep 3 talkback:

If you have a significant other in Japan, is that person Japanese or a foreigner like you?
I can't answer for the other Famicast crew, but as for me: Yes, and yes, Japanese

Have you found being a foreigner an asset or hindrance in getting dates/attention?
Two very different questions! Any non-Japanese face gets some degree of attention, some might say different races of people get different kinds of attention in Japan for whatever reason.
As for getting dates, this belief that Japanese girls giggle and swoon over any white guy that comes though the gates at the airport is getting less and less relevant each passing year. Thanks to thousands of slimy douchebags coming to Japan with that very belief, Japanese girls are catching on. While that may have been true in 1990, I'd say much less so now. If you can't get dates in your home country, don't expect some magical power when you arrive in Japan!

In your relationship, has the cultural divide been a significant issue?
Not in my case. But one example I've heard from others is when the girl/boyfriend couldn't speak English every well, or at all, and when it came to the "meet the parents" situation there were problems.
But that'd be the case for any international relationship, no?

[BlackNMild2k1]

I am what i believe to be called a coco-jin <sp>. Is it true that us black people have god-tier status in Japan or is that all a myth being fed to me to make me want to go to Japan even more than I already do?

[Ceric]

I am what i believe to be called a coco-jin <sp>. Is it true that us black people have god-tier status in Japan or is that all a myth being fed to me to make me want to go to Japan even more than I already do?

From the Japanese classes that I've taken at least historically the Paler the better in Japanese culture by my understanding.  There is a whole group of more European looking Indigenous people that what we think of traditionally as Japanese went to war with and made second class citizens in there earlier history.  I find it odd that someone who is naturally of dark coloring would hold a higher slot in society.

[MegaByte]

The polite answer to that would be "no".

Hey, even Oldboy didn't!

What's the impolite answer? Actually, what Oldboy ate is different than what I linked (read the description on the video). And he actually ended up eating four of them for the filming.

[famicomplicated]

I am what i believe to be called a coco-jin <sp>. Is it true that us black people have god-tier status in Japan or is that all a myth being fed to me to make me want to go to Japan even more than I already do?

There are some girls who love koku-jin (black people) and others who prefer haku-jin (white people), the same as anywhere I guess!
I have no idea about the god-tier status you were talking about, I'm not a Japanese history buff at all.


However Ceric is onto something with the paler-the-better idea. The ideal image of beauty for a Japanese lady is to make her skin look and feel like the "white of a peeled egg" (Japanese reference, not mine)
Women often cover their skin and carry black umbrellas on sunny days to prevent any kind of suntan from occurring.
Some ladies, especially middle-aged housewives, are SO white I'd put them even beyond any basement-dwelling white person into something near to "Vampire-like" levels of white.

The polite answer to that would be "no".

Hey, even Oldboy didn't!

What's the impolite answer? Actually, what Oldboy ate is different than what I linked (read the description on the video). And he actually ended up eating four of them for the filming.

Impolite answer would be a string of expletives ending with "no".
The Oldboy thing disappointed me because he was being such a girl about it and took more than one take!

[Ceric]

I just saw a friend of mine on my G+ Stream that has nothing to do with NWR and isn't a Nintendo fan post up that Video of the Dancing Squid.

[apdude]

However Ceric is onto something with the paler-the-better idea. The ideal image of beauty for a Japanese lady is to make her skin look and feel like the "white of a peeled egg" (Japanese reference, not mine)
Women often cover their skin and carry black umbrellas on sunny days to prevent any kind of suntan from occurring.
Some ladies, especially middle-aged housewives, are SO white I'd put them even beyond any basement-dwelling white person into something near to "Vampire-like" levels of white.

I think that is an Asian thing not just Japanese because I even see that here with Asian ladies driving around wearing big visors over their faces that look like welding masks.  I saw something similar in Taiwan as well.

As a side note:

I thought that white was a color representing death in Japan.  Hence the reason our "Great White Fleet" sailing off the cost of Japan was a pretty bad PR move since it was a bad omen.  Any truth to that?

[Ceric]

However Ceric is onto something with the paler-the-better idea. The ideal image of beauty for a Japanese lady is to make her skin look and feel like the "white of a peeled egg" (Japanese reference, not mine)
Women often cover their skin and carry black umbrellas on sunny days to prevent any kind of suntan from occurring.
Some ladies, especially middle-aged housewives, are SO white I'd put them even beyond any basement-dwelling white person into something near to "Vampire-like" levels of white.

I think that is an Asian thing not just Japanese because I even see that here with Asian ladies driving around wearing big visors over their faces that look like welding masks.  I saw something similar in Taiwan as well.

As a side note:

I thought that white was a color representing death in Japan.  Hence the reason our "Great White Fleet" sailing off the cost of Japan was a pretty bad PR move since it was a bad omen.  Any truth to that?

You know I thought the white thing was another Asian thing as well.

[gypsyOtoko]

Following up on something I saw in the other thread, and copying JC:
Jonnyboy117 asked these questions in the Famicast Ep 3 talkback:

If you have a significant other in Japan, is that person Japanese or a foreigner like you?
My wife is Japanese.

Have you found being a foreigner an asset or hindrance in getting dates/attention?
It's not blatantly obvious for me, but for whatever reason after breaking up with my high school sweet heart I couldn't get anyone in the US to date me. I moved to Japan and had 2 relationships before meeting my wife. So - yep, I'd say being a foreigner helped me in Japan.

In your relationship, has the cultural divide been a significant issue?
Nope, but I'm incredibly used to Japanese culture and she's incredibly used to Western culture.

[Shaymin]

So the pricing for the next Gundam PS3 game and Ninokuni PS3 have come out - 8300 yen for Gundam, and Ninokuni at 8800 yen. Based on that, how does game pricing work in Japan? Is 6000 yen a standard with big increases for major franchises?

[TJ Spyke]

I think the standard Wii game is 5,800 yen. RPG's tend to cost more regardless of the system.

[Stogi]

The paler-the-better in Asian cultures has to do with classes and the type of work those classes would do. The darker your skin, the poorer you were, since only the poorest of people planted and harvested vegetables (mainly rice) as it is an extremely hard job. In contrast, high society either worked indoors or not at all, keeping their skin pale. The palest of those were thought to be the richest.

[famicomplicated]

As you may know, the Famicast crew are currently at TGS 2011 in full force, covering all the Nintendo games at the show. We even have an brand new member of the team, our very first Japanese Japan corespondent! (Regular forum visitors will probably be able to work out who)


So with that in mind, send us your questions for the inevitable special edition of the Famicast, what games do you want to know more about, what do you want to know about the show specifically?


We're bound to forget to talk about something, so the more questions we have the better!


JC

[oohhboy]

I have a question for the next podcast, admittedly, it's not game related.

With the majority of Nuclear power plants off-line, how has it impacted on your daily life especially during the summer? What kind of issues are going to pop up coming into Autumn and Winter?

I have seen some of the more quirky inventions like a shirt with battery powered computer fans installed in them and businesses allowing the staff to go more casual o account of the heat.

[Stardust]

So, I have a big question for the Famicast.


In America, mobile gaming has gotten quite enormous. People are enchanted by the fact that they can buy an ongoing "mini-game" so to speak for as cheap as one dollar. Just to name a few like Angrybirds, Cut-the-Rope, and Fruit ninja.


Firstly, are these mobile games (maybe not the games I mentioned but just mobile games like on a cell phone like the iphone) as popular in Japan as they are in America? And if they are, do you think that it will also "ruin the handheld gaming" as some people are led to believe? And if they are not really worth mentioning (mobile games that is) why is that for japan?


Thanks a lot if you're reading this on the show! Great job Famicast, I'll be looking forward to the next episode.

[MegaByte]

And related to that, how different did TGS feel this year? I understand there was a very significant mobile presence there this year.