Japanese JR Ad: Your opinion please.

[ArmandV]

The train is obviously in the foreground and passing the buildings (one is already being passed by). I find nothing objectionable about it. It would be a different story if the camera were positioned on top of the train looking forward and the nose of the train is aimed at the buildings.

 

[mad pierrot]

HAhahahahahaa

Man, I was wa-a-a-a-y off.




The first thing that came to my mind was, "Gee, does that look kinda phallic?"

 

[Mike Cash]

I never said that anywhere. The purpose of this thread (again) is to see how (if possible on a forum board) the thoughts of this ad are seperated.

And this is exactly what this poll was here to test. Nothing more than that.

Okey-dokey.

Put me down for "didn't make the connection". I can see how others did make the connection, though.

 

[Davey]

lol funny thread, heaps of attention in one day!

guess we are taking things to serious sometimes hahahaha

 

[ArmandV]

Man, I was wa-a-a-a-y off.
The first thing that came to my mind was, "Gee, does that look kinda phallic?"

Hmmm, I didn't think of that. But I do see your point (no pun intended).

 

[Elizabeth]

Its the Tokyo Goverment Building its soposed to transform into a robot and protect Tokyo. or so some Japanese think.
the train really doesnt bother me at all.

Robotic/animated/cartoon-like are all good descriptions. That's why I couldn't stop looking into its "eyes" on the screen of the buildings staring at that thing in the sky like it had never seen a flying train.

 

[Numark]

oh come on! I can definatley see how it could be taken that way, but heres my two cents.

I'm an american and I am damn sicka 9/11. seriously, so our sh*t got bombed. welcome to the lives of the rest of the world and stop crying your pants off about it, this "tragedy" means absolutely nothing on a world scale, so don't expect others to tread lightly whenever anything has a possible reference to 9/11.

 

[Mike Cash]

Such ignorance is more to be pitied than censured.

 

[breez]

Man, I was wa-a-a-a-y off.
The first thing that came to my mind was, "Gee, does that look kinda phallic?"

Haha, same here! Voted for "not disturbing" anyway.

 

[Elizabeth]

oh come on! I can definatley see how it could be taken that way, but heres my two cents.
I'm an american and I am damn sicka 9/11. seriously, so our sh*t got bombed. welcome to the lives of the rest of the world and stop crying your pants off about it, this "tragedy" means absolutely nothing on a world scale, so don't expect others to tread lightly whenever anything has a possible reference to 9/11.

Absolutely most of the rest of the world has their problems more pressing than 9/11 was for America. It certainly has had major consequences on the world stage that are being played out every day, you'd have to be living under a rock not to notice that. And if overly 'sensitive' means not making an ad campaign depicting terrorism, that looks like a pretty smart business decision from my perspective. You obviously have very little insight into the nationalistic feelings this would have brought out in the Japanese had it actually happened to the two buildings in Shinjuku.

Not that this was necessarily the same ignorance Mike had in mind...I'm sure there's still a sufficient amount more that could be added.

 

[Grandpa Frank]

I think.....

the ad designers were being clever. You want people to notice your ad , talk about it, and maybe remember it. Seems like it worked?

Frank

 

[Davey]

well, it's working for people who are thinking a little bit too far....

 

[inertia]

I'm an American from New York City, and was living there on 9/11. My initial impression of the poster: that the train was simply zooming past the buildings on the way somewhere. Trying to find something "wrong" with the image, I thought it might be a little phallic. But I see absolutely no visual resemblance to the images of the planes hitting the Twin Towers. The proportion of train size to building size is completely different.

 

[Mars Man]

Firstly, I voted along with the largest group. Secondly, this is exactly the kind of material psychiatrists and psychologists use in determining brain states. Thirdly how I see it:

ﾂ湘ｦ窶堙ｨﾂ最ｾ窶堙?窶堋､ﾂ！ﾂ ﾂ Well, the Japanese suggests that we get on it and ride it into some location. Of course this is phallic in sub-conscious sublimity. Most every male brain wants to 'mount' and 'ride'. So you guys that saw the phallic first, are real he men !!

NO...really I'm just in a crazy mood this morning...that's what happens when one attempts to answer to ELECTRIC JAPAN first thing in the morning before looking at any other posts. . .

Mike was right on. Frank was too. And a number of other posts were on the money too. I have enjoyed reading all the comments. Regardless of associations or patterns that ones brain fires up originally, thinking, analyzing is important. The ad is fine.

 

[misa.j]

I am disturbed by the ad. There is no way something like that poster can be hanging on trains in the US. It brings the image I saw on TV right back to me.

9/11 is not past for some people. I think the ad is offensive and extremely wrong.

 

[Emoni]

I'm an American from New York City, and was living there on 9/11. But I see absolutely no visual resemblance to the images of the planes hitting the Twin Towers.

This post I almost find hard to believe... I can't see a poster like this being put in New York and lasting a day without many many complaints. To say there is "absolutely NO visual resemblance" is really stretching it, even if you voted that the image was mostly acceptable.

Results are interesting, and friend of mine has asked a few other Japanese friends of his and they are seeing the similarities right away. I expected it actually to be reverse between Japan and outsiders and what their reactions to the pictures. It is a bit confusing to me why people are focusing on small details rather than just the overall image.

 

[Nicky]

I don't see anything wrong with the poster. Before reading the replies I didn't see any resemblance to 9/11.

 

[The7thSamurai]

Typical "the world revolves around America" thinking. The ad is in Japan, which, last time I checked, wasn't a part of America, so who cares? You could take just about any image and associate it with some shocking event in world history.

The ad is a non-issue. Why you would bother to make a post about it in the first place, however, is quite an issue. Maybe we should redirect the course of this post to how the American national psyche affects the overall direction of American foreign policy?

 

[Davey]

The ad is a non-issue. Why you would bother to make a post about it in the first place, however, is quite an issue. Maybe we should redirect the course of this post to how the American national psyche affects the overall direction of American foreign policy?

LoL, I was thinking about that too

 

[nice gaijin]

I think you're being awfully harsh on the OP; the symbolism is there if you are open to notice it. The images of those planes flying into the WTC have been engrained in the memories of those unfortunate enough to be in front of a TV to witness the events live or in the countless replays thereafter. I suppose it's possible to see that image in any number of places, but when I saw this ad it immediately came to mind. The angle and scale might not be right, but the basic elements are there, and at first glance, they were glaring [to me].

I would expect a "world revolves around America" mindset to be accompanied by a sense of outrage, which I can't say I'm experiencing. I have, however, witnessed this sense of outrage when I showed it to a few Japanese friends who immediately saw the anomaly in question, none of whom were in the US when the attacks happened; I certainly wouldn't call their views America-centric. I'm more than willing to bet that not only wasn't the ad made to spark debate, but that it is a completely unintended message. One might expect the intended audience of Japanese citizens to completely overlook the accidentally encoded symbol, as did the advertisement's designers, but interestingly enough, the ratio of Japanese citizens seeing said symbol in the ad is much higher than that of non-Japanese citizens. I think that is what makes this thread interesting, and it has nothing to do with the American psyche, nor its foreign policy.

 

[mad pierrot]

Let's look at it this way: people who have experienced traumatic events will tend to associate familiar feelings when faced with something similiar. 9-11 was a seriously traumatic event. So, while the JR poster might not mean much to some of us, it obviously has BIG implications for someone tramatized by those events.

Can you imagine a tourist poster for auschwitz showing a blonde haired cook putting some bread in an oven? Not exactly the same, but you get my point.

 

[Emoni]

Typical "the world revolves around America" thinking. The ad is in Japan, which, last time I checked, wasn't a part of America, so who cares? You could take just about any image and associate it with some shocking event in world history.

The ad is a non-issue. Why you would bother to make a post about it in the first place, however, is quite an issue. Maybe we should redirect the course of this post to how the American national psyche affects the overall direction of American foreign policy?

Wow, where are you getting this from? To imply me and this post is somehow a representation of nationalistism... entirely deviates from the topic of this post. My area of study actually IS Japan, so I find material and posters like this very interesting when it is related to the current travel and trade relations between America and Japan.

Let me state, yet again, the purpose of this post was to rate the difference between Non-Japanese, and Japanese seeing the relation or similarity in the poster to the 9/11 events. Nothing else.

As Nice Gaijin stated, the difference between American's seeing the similarity and Japanese seeing the similarity has proven to be a bit of a surprise. Both me and Nice Gaijin know a decent number of friends who are Japanese. Both who have been to America and those who have not. Most Japanese quickly see the similarity, and actually have personally emailed JR to warn them. Also be aware that JR is currently running a strong campaign to bring Americans to visit Japan, and the regions that they have this poster up! Of course not everyone is going to see the similarties, but for some people the similarity is very strong (although clearly not on purpose). Still this is very ironic.

Mad Pierrot made a very good point that it does matter the background of those who view the poster. However, what I find interesting (and something that completely shoots a hole in the entire mention of nationalistic American posters) is the fact that of those I have heard from, Japanese people are seeing the similarity much more than Americans. Of course, many Americans still see it as well. The ratio is different though, and many more do not see it than I expected.

Still, I wonder how this got out of JR's office. Especially with such a focus now to bring in Americans.

Why you would bother to make a post about it in the first place, however, is quite an issue. Maybe we should redirect the course of this post to how the American national psyche affects the overall direction of American foreign policy?

LoL, I was thinking about that too

On a side note, I do have to say I'm very disapointed to see a JRef Moderator posting mostly snide side comments, and supporting this sort of reply to a post that was made seriously and sincerely. Then going further to support that everyone divert and highjack the thread to an entirely more extreme topic of nationalism.

 

[Davey]

On a side note, I do have to say I'm very disapointed to see a JRef Moderator posting mostly snide side comments, and supporting this sort of reply to a post that was made seriously and sincerely. Then going further to support that everyone divert and highjack the thread to an entirely more extreme topic of nationalism.

to bad you feel disapointed to see this, in my opinion and I think together with a lot of people *see poll result* you take this add to serious. And I did had some side comments*beside my non-side comments*, and sorry if that disapointed you!

last post in this thread.

 

[Emoni]

... I posted a poll on the Internet. Not sure how that is taking an issue far too seriously. That wasn't even part of the poll either. Again, I was only interested how the results would be split between nationalities. That is the purpose of this poll.

Can we go back to the actual topic now? No more snide or trolling comments and telling posters they shouldn't bother posting or support for changing the topic mid-thread, and instead keep the actual discussion on topic?

It was actually interesting for a while with some of the results that were showing up.

 

[The7thSamurai]

I have no problem with Americans seeing the poster in this way, but to claim that it's "shocking" or "insensitive" or whatever is arrogant and mildly insulting.

And you arguement about JR trying to boost American tourists is also irrelevant. This poster has nothing to do with that campaign, nor is it in English, nor will any tourist likely understand the meaning of it.