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Media Create Sales: November 15-21

Okay last post on this subject by me(at the very least this shows mehdi_san isn't completely naive in his questioning) But this is a gaming and line related(ps3) article!
Written by one of the foremost foreign Japanese media researchers. Basically states due to Japan's unique centralized consumer media message, you had fads that created lines for almost anything(however this trend is losing it's traction as shown with) the ps3 launch

It is no longer fun to wait in line.



Ever since I first lived in Tokyo back in 1998, the concept of lines/queues has always been inextricably central to my understanding of Japanese consumer culture.....
A Bathing Ape's Busy Work Shop Harajuku with hundreds of Japanese youth to buy an $80 red-and-white border shirt with a small Ape face tag on the sleeve. Three hours for a single piece of clothing?

Sure, there are lines often in the U.S. for certain consumer goods (Tickle-Me-Elmos at Christmas et. al), but there seems to be such fundamental dissent against the idea in such a efficiency-obsessed, competitive society, leading to pushing-and-shoving, sour attitudes, and verbal sparring........ On that fateful August day in Harajuku, the kids lining up failed to show any signs of discontent or annoyance. I can't remember much excitement on their faces, but I instantly became intrigued by their pleasant resignation to the situation.

The Japanese line (行列 in local parlance) has always been an accepted part of the consumer landscape

the Japanese line up for access to exclusive products - most often fashion goods made intentionally rare by producer intention. Often though, the centralization of the media system and the obsessive adherence to the media message by consumers mean that some stores with no structure in place to deal with a mysterious massing of customers start getting hundreds of people one morning in search of their cream puffs

There was something "Japanese" about the cold social harmony of peaceful queuing, but when the stakes get this high, propriety and innocence will be pushed aside by the sinister forces festering underneath. Blame foreigners or globalization or the yakuza or capitalism in toto but the Japan-style queue is probably facing demise.
The ubiquity of lines in Japan, however, transformed the occurrence from commerce malfunction to visual sign of success. The Ape lines in Tokyo may have been a nightmare for the staff, but the queue started looming so large in the Ape legend that I caught the Osaka store in 2000 clearly limiting customer entry to two in the store at a time to create a conspicuous backup.
 

cvxfreak

Member
gerg said:
And both countries drive on the left! It gets strangerer and strangerer.
Both are islands and people from both have bad teeth and they were partners in the Anglo-Japanese Alliance.

Doomed.
 

gerg

Member
cvxfreak said:
Both are islands and people from both have bad teeth and they were partners in the Anglo-Japanese Alliance.

On that note, I'm consistently stunned (and appalled) by just how terrible some Japanese people's teeth are. What's up with that?
 
cvxfreak said:
Both are islands and people from both have bad teeth and they were partners in the Anglo-Japanese Alliance.

Doomed.

Oh my turn!

Both had Knight/Samurai style gentlemen warrior classes. If you trace both the religions back they both back in the day were pagan-style spirits are everywhere type.

gerg said:
On that note, I'm consistently stunned (and appalled) by just how terrible some Japanese people's teeth are. What's up with that?

Just a note: Japanese national health insurance pays for cleaning 4 times a year.
 

Michan

Member
cvxfreak said:
Both are islands and people from both have bad teeth and they were partners in the Anglo-Japanese Alliance.

Doomed.
They also both have redundant monarchies, are on the far reaches of their respective continents, and share the superior ICO boxart.

Oh, and they both eat lots of fish.
 

KingDizzi

Banned
gerg said:
On that note, I'm consistently stunned (and appalled) by just how terrible some Japanese people's teeth are. What's up with that?

Well clearly they don't have access to great dentists such as me, a British dentist!
Well they can come to me in 4 years, still got a lot of uni to go :p Got a few people in my class whom are foreign Japanese students and they have gorgeous teeth, what about that :O

So about that MH, pretty big lines eh? Not seen anything like that for a long time if memory serves, got the memory of a goldfish though.
 

gerg

Member
BishopLamont said:
They don't brush em? :lol

FINALFANTASYDOG said:
Just a note: Japanese national health insurance pays for cleaning 4 times a year.

It's not that they're not necessarily clean. It's the number of people I see with one tooth is growing front of another, or something similar.
 
Well, at least with MHP3 we know it isn't undershipped because PSP software production slots are all allocated. Now seriously, it must be getting restocked daily and/or a colossus one on the weekend.

In completely unrelated news, February is now 1 title fuller thanks to WKC Portable hitting February 3rd.
 
gerg said:
It's not that they're not necessarily clean. It's the number of people I see with one tooth is growing front of another, or something similar.
Ah the fang teeths you mean, my sister has em, we're asian but not japanese. Asian genetics I suppose? I never see any non-asians have em.

KingDizzi said:
Well clearly they don't have access to great dentists such as me, a British dentist!
Well they can come to me in 4 years, still got a lot of uni to go :p Got a few people in my class whom are foreign Japanese students and they have gorgeous teeth, what about that :O

So about that MH, pretty big lines eh? Not seen anything like that for a long time if memory serves, got the memory of a goldfish though.
Do they pay you extra for being a dentist there? :lol
 

mehdi_san

Member
Awesome thread :lol And thanks FINALFANTASYDOG for the 2 articles, it was an interesting read. My favorite part was this one:
In an article published in The Japan Times in summer 2007, a Japanese woman confessed that she enjoyed queuing outside shops and restaurants and that she usually joins the line before asking the person in front of her what kind of product is sold
Isn't this hilarious? Can you imagine the situation? I guess there she finds excitement in the mystery. Kinda like Russian roulette!
 

Dragon

Banned
I've waited in a half n hour line at 3:30 AM in Philly to get a cheesesteak. It's not only the Japanese that are crazy about lines :lol
 

Zoe

Member
gerg said:
It's not that they're not necessarily clean. It's the number of people I see with one tooth is growing front of another, or something similar.

I see a lot of the black teeth here :lol

Teeth growing out of place I think is due to small mouths. Though for some reason lately it's been a trend for celebrities to correct their teeth, even if they're already well into their 20's.
 

Chris1964

Sales-Age Genius
Famitsu top 10 {22/11/10 - 28/11/10}

01. / 00. [PS3] Gran Turismo 5 (SCE) {25/11/10}
02. / 00. [NDS] Super Robot Wars L (Bandai Namco) {25/11/10}
03. / 00. [WII] Mario Sports Mix (Nintendo) {25/11/10}
04. / 04. [WII] Super Mario All-Stars (Nintendo) {21/10/10}
05. / 06. [NDS] Pokemon Black / White (Pokemon Co.) {18/09/10}
06. / 00. [PSP] Dangan-Ronpa (Spike) {25/11/10}
07. / 02. [NDS] Super Fossil Fighters (Nintendo) {18/11/10}
08. / 10. [WII] Wii Party (Nintendo) {08/07/10}
09. / 01. [PS3] Call of Duty: Black Ops (Subtitled Edition) (Square Enix) {18/11/10}
10. / 00. [NDS] Power Pro Kun Pocket 13 (Konami) {25/11/10}
 

cvxfreak

Member
Chris1964 said:
Famitsu top 10 {22/11/10 - 28/11/10}

01. / 00. [PS3] Gran Turismo 5 (SCE) {25/11/10}
02. / 00. [NDS] Super Robot Wars L (Bandai Namco) {25/11/10}
03. / 00. [WII] Mario Sports Mix (Nintendo) {25/11/10}
04. / 04. [WII] Super Mario All-Stars (Nintendo) {21/10/10}
05. / 04. [WII] Super Mario All-Stars (Nintendo) {21/10/10}

06. / 00. [PSP] Dangan-Ronpa (Spike) {25/11/10}
07. / 02. [NDS] Super Fossil Fighters (Nintendo) {18/11/10}
08. / 10. [WII] Wii Party (Nintendo) {08/07/10}
09. / 01. [PS3] Call of Duty: Black Ops (Subtitled Edition) (Square Enix) {18/11/10}
10. / 00. [NDS] Power Pro Kun Pocket 13 (Konami) {25/11/10}

:lol
 

Chris1964

Sales-Age Genius
I have automated almost everything. The new thread will be be posted less than 10 minutes after the numbers go up
sorry, I'm not cheesemeister to post it at the same time
 

Kenka

Member
Chris1964 said:
Famitsu top 10 {22/11/10 - 28/11/10}

01. / 00. [PS3] Gran Turismo 5 (SCE) {25/11/10}
02. / 00. [NDS] Super Robot Wars L (Bandai Namco) {25/11/10}
03. / 00. [WII] Mario Sports Mix (Nintendo) {25/11/10}
04. / 04. [WII] Super Mario All-Stars (Nintendo) {21/10/10}
05. / 06. [NDS] Pokemon Black / White (Pokemon Co.) {18/09/10}
06. / 00. [PSP] Dangan-Ronpa (Spike) {25/11/10}
07. / 02. [NDS] Super Fossil Fighters (Nintendo) {18/11/10}
08. / 10. [WII] Wii Party (Nintendo) {08/07/10}
09. / 01. [PS3] Call of Duty: Black Ops (Subtitled Edition) (Square Enix) {18/11/10}


10. / 00. [NDS] Power Pro Kun Pocket 13 (Konami) {25/11/10}

Why so low.

edit : why can't you use color in this forum !
 

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
Kenka said:
edit : why can't you use color in this forum !

1779zd.gif
 
duckroll said:
I can answer this question: Yes. Here in Singapore, a few years back there was a new donut shop which opened in the city area called Donut Factory. It got really good word of mouth, and there was always a huge queue for it, even months after it opened. People would queue for hours after work just for a box of donuts. It only got better after they opened more outlets, and people eventually got tired of the donut trend.

Come on duckroll, no talk of queueing in Singapore is complete without mentioning Hello Kitty!
 

Fafalada

Fafracer forever
duckroll said:
Yes. Here in Singapore, a few years back there was a new donut shop which opened in the city area called Donut Factory.
Edit:
Ok I just wrote a huge post about nothing - Donut Factory is the place I can't stand. I was thinking it was Donut Plant that opened here and was getting all excited about it :(.

Back on topic, queuing for Donuts seems to be all-around asia thing - KrispyKreme still has queues in Seoul 2 years after it opened in some branches...
 

cvxfreak

Member
Good debut for GT5 and right in line with my expectations. But whether it can sell 1 million or not is still unclear at this point. Its debut was lower than MH3 and MGS4.
 

Elios83

Member
Nice debut for GT5, a bit short of what I expected (500k for the game and 80k for the PS3) but got pretty close to it.
Next week will be really interesting, we have the MHP3 launch, Tales of Graces on PS3 and of course we have to see what kind of legs GT5 has and if Wii will continue to rise as we get close to Xstmas.
 
Fafalada said:
Edit:
Ok I just wrote a huge post about nothing - Donut Factory is the place I can't stand. I was thinking it was Donut Plant that opened here and was getting all excited about it :(.

Back on topic, queuing for Donuts seems to be all-around asia thing - KrispyKreme still has queues in Seoul 2 years after it opened in some branches...
Same as krispy kreme in Thailand. I didn't know KK had a presence in Asia until recently.

The big thing in dc and some other major cities in the US is lining up for cupcakes. It's surprising to see a line around the block for cupcakes when a store down the street is empty and you could just buy a full cake and walk out the door.
 

cvxfreak

Member
Pureauthor said:
What makes it different from... you know, normal bubble tea?

I would like to know this too... I love bubble tea! Going to Singapore right after Christmas, so I'd like to try it out. :D
 
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