All to sell miso soup apparantly
May 17, 2020 12:44 PM Subscribe
Why does this commercial have a better plot than half of the shows y’all be watching? asks Dripjutsu on twitter.
Blame the laziness of modern anime or the talent of the makers of these commercials, but boy if you want ninetey seconds of heartstrings being tugged, the Marukome commercials are the stuff: Each commercial shows more family life in ninety seconds than some shows manage a whole season.
Blame the laziness of modern anime or the talent of the makers of these commercials, but boy if you want ninetey seconds of heartstrings being tugged, the Marukome commercials are the stuff: Each commercial shows more family life in ninety seconds than some shows manage a whole season.
Sincerity and humanity? What weaponized psychology is this?
posted by sensate at 1:26 PM on May 17, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by sensate at 1:26 PM on May 17, 2020 [3 favorites]
Best. You guys I have Dashi, Miso Paste, various seaweeds, tofu and a variety of mushrooms. I write this not to make you feel bad. Instead as inspiration to eat Miso Soup if you can. Every day. East Bay Berkeley Japanese grocery. Open now. On San Pablo. Very Clean. Everyone wears masks. Tokyo Fish Market. For reals.
I love this post as I slurp.
posted by pipoquinha at 1:44 PM on May 17, 2020 [10 favorites]
I love this post as I slurp.
posted by pipoquinha at 1:44 PM on May 17, 2020 [10 favorites]
But this wire mother has miso soup coming out of it faux monkey teats. Mmmmm.
posted by vorpal bunny at 1:44 PM on May 17, 2020 [9 favorites]
posted by vorpal bunny at 1:44 PM on May 17, 2020 [9 favorites]
You can be all fuck capitalism and still recognise both the craft and the humanity in these ads.
Ranting on how about ads aren't art and cooperations aren't your friends is boring and useless and everybody knows that already.
I expect more insightful criticism than that, if you do feel the need to criticise.
posted by MartinWisse at 1:47 PM on May 17, 2020 [35 favorites]
Ranting on how about ads aren't art and cooperations aren't your friends is boring and useless and everybody knows that already.
I expect more insightful criticism than that, if you do feel the need to criticise.
posted by MartinWisse at 1:47 PM on May 17, 2020 [35 favorites]
All art is commercial.
posted by Pendragon at 1:50 PM on May 17, 2020 [8 favorites]
posted by Pendragon at 1:50 PM on May 17, 2020 [8 favorites]
All art is commercial.
This. Even the Sistine Chapel.
posted by hippybear at 2:03 PM on May 17, 2020 [4 favorites]
This. Even the Sistine Chapel.
posted by hippybear at 2:03 PM on May 17, 2020 [4 favorites]
All commercial is art?
posted by seasparrow at 2:21 PM on May 17, 2020
posted by seasparrow at 2:21 PM on May 17, 2020
This is propaganda to keep women from divorcing their retired husbands so they can go on those pilgrimage coach tours.
posted by betweenthebars at 2:36 PM on May 17, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by betweenthebars at 2:36 PM on May 17, 2020 [4 favorites]
It's fascinating how the anime style makes older people look like young people with a few "older-ish" details. Also I'm fine with somebody, anybody, realizing that "saying thank you at the end of the meal is not enough".
posted by winesong at 2:38 PM on May 17, 2020 [9 favorites]
posted by winesong at 2:38 PM on May 17, 2020 [9 favorites]
“All art is commercial” sweeps aside the private work of billions of individual creators with no objective beyond personal expression or cultural preservation and pretends it simply doesn’t exist because we are presently immersed in capitalism. The decorative elements on everyday objects of [your regional indigenous people here]: are they commercial or are they not art? Choose carefully, Metafilter, there will be a purity test at the end!
That said, my only actual point of contention here is the sentence “the laziness of modern anime” when the last three years have been a virtual golden age for the medium. I don’t even mean the obvious stuff embraced by MAL snobs like A Place Further Than The Universe or mildly overrated entries like Bunnygirl Sempai: there’s more essential human condition in a hidden gem like the homelessness arc of Hinamatsuri than these commercials. If you’re angry that big budget AoT-style shounen and dogshit isekai continue to hog the spotlight and act as the gateway drug for new audiences then that’s a totally valid way to feel (although Mob season 2’s character development would like to have a word), but it doesn’t change the fact that you’re ignoring 95% of what’s good in a medium that’s firing on all cylinders right now. It’s the equivalent of writing off all cuisine as junkfood simply because there’s more of the latter than ever before: if you don’t expend the effort to find something good then you shouldn’t act surprised when you don’t find it and at the very least you shouldn’t proclaim that it doesn’t exist.
posted by Ryvar at 2:46 PM on May 17, 2020 [11 favorites]
That said, my only actual point of contention here is the sentence “the laziness of modern anime” when the last three years have been a virtual golden age for the medium. I don’t even mean the obvious stuff embraced by MAL snobs like A Place Further Than The Universe or mildly overrated entries like Bunnygirl Sempai: there’s more essential human condition in a hidden gem like the homelessness arc of Hinamatsuri than these commercials. If you’re angry that big budget AoT-style shounen and dogshit isekai continue to hog the spotlight and act as the gateway drug for new audiences then that’s a totally valid way to feel (although Mob season 2’s character development would like to have a word), but it doesn’t change the fact that you’re ignoring 95% of what’s good in a medium that’s firing on all cylinders right now. It’s the equivalent of writing off all cuisine as junkfood simply because there’s more of the latter than ever before: if you don’t expend the effort to find something good then you shouldn’t act surprised when you don’t find it and at the very least you shouldn’t proclaim that it doesn’t exist.
posted by Ryvar at 2:46 PM on May 17, 2020 [11 favorites]
I don't want to pile on, but the "laziness" comment rubs me the wrong way as well, but for a different reason. I work in animation and during my last gig my team of five animators would have to produce the same amount of animation in less than a week, including character design, prop design and fx animation. Low-budget? Absolutely. Lazy? Not a chance.
posted by giantratofsumatra at 3:29 PM on May 17, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by giantratofsumatra at 3:29 PM on May 17, 2020 [5 favorites]
The thanks before and after a meal (itadakimasu before, gochisousama after) are as rote a part of life in Japan as saying bless you when someone sneezes. It’s a reflex, for the most part. I say it, my wife says it, it’s routine.
My wife is pretty used to my cooking now, and reacts with mild surprise when other people talk about how good something I make tastes. I get it, she eats this stuff all the time, so it’s normal to her. When she surprises me by telling me something is delicious or tasty, it’s a wonderful feeling.
On the other hand, her standard answer to “what do you want for dinner?” Is almost always “I don’t know,” and especially over the last couple of months, it’s been amazing how stressful that’s gotten.
So, yes, the miso commercial speaks to me.
posted by Ghidorah at 4:18 PM on May 17, 2020 [21 favorites]
My wife is pretty used to my cooking now, and reacts with mild surprise when other people talk about how good something I make tastes. I get it, she eats this stuff all the time, so it’s normal to her. When she surprises me by telling me something is delicious or tasty, it’s a wonderful feeling.
On the other hand, her standard answer to “what do you want for dinner?” Is almost always “I don’t know,” and especially over the last couple of months, it’s been amazing how stressful that’s gotten.
So, yes, the miso commercial speaks to me.
posted by Ghidorah at 4:18 PM on May 17, 2020 [21 favorites]
"East Bay Berkeley Japanese grocery. Open now. On San Pablo. Very Clean. Everyone wears masks. Tokyo Fish Market."
@pipoquinha seconding. (I live right down the street!)
posted by mikeand1 at 4:33 PM on May 17, 2020 [1 favorite]
@pipoquinha seconding. (I live right down the street!)
posted by mikeand1 at 4:33 PM on May 17, 2020 [1 favorite]
These are sweet and effective in that I may want to buy this miso paste the next time I buy miso paste (it's possible I already bought this miso paste).
Yes, these are commercials. I understand that. But I also remember something my mom said when I said the late '90s/early '00s Volkswagen commercials made me want to buy a Volkswagen -- "maybe they appeal to you for a reason."
Look, I get all ads are targetted. I've been on Instagram enough to know that. And I'm no fan of capitalism as it is or consumerism. But I also feel like ... if a company wants to make commercials like this, well, maybe, even if it's "fake" there is something they're trying to promote. And maybe supporting that is OK, too.
posted by darksong at 5:03 PM on May 17, 2020 [4 favorites]
Yes, these are commercials. I understand that. But I also remember something my mom said when I said the late '90s/early '00s Volkswagen commercials made me want to buy a Volkswagen -- "maybe they appeal to you for a reason."
Look, I get all ads are targetted. I've been on Instagram enough to know that. And I'm no fan of capitalism as it is or consumerism. But I also feel like ... if a company wants to make commercials like this, well, maybe, even if it's "fake" there is something they're trying to promote. And maybe supporting that is OK, too.
posted by darksong at 5:03 PM on May 17, 2020 [4 favorites]
Yes, these are commercials. I understand that. But I also remember something my mom said when I said the late '90s/early '00s Volkswagen commercials made me want to buy a Volkswagen -- "maybe they appeal to you for a reason."
Yes, there definitely is a reason. Someone wants you to think about their product in a certain way that may or may not have any basis in reality. And crazily enough, marketing works! Even if you are aware of it.
These ads are nice enough, although I don't care for the schmaltzy music. Also, did you know that the best way to maintain fulfilling connections with your family is to consume instant soup together?
posted by pingu at 5:52 PM on May 17, 2020 [2 favorites]
Yes, there definitely is a reason. Someone wants you to think about their product in a certain way that may or may not have any basis in reality. And crazily enough, marketing works! Even if you are aware of it.
These ads are nice enough, although I don't care for the schmaltzy music. Also, did you know that the best way to maintain fulfilling connections with your family is to consume instant soup together?
posted by pingu at 5:52 PM on May 17, 2020 [2 favorites]
I vibe pretty hard anticapitalist in a lot of ways at this point in my life, but I also feel like "commercials are manipulative" is sort of the "pro-wrestling is fake" of capitalist discourse, insofar as: yes, that's true, but who do you think you're convincing of something at this point? We live in a world chock full of vectors of commercial and social and political manipulation, the wealth of the world is deeply invested in perpetuating an all-enveloping substrate of disingenuous messaging that everyone is simultaneously aware of and skeptical of and also unable to really remove themselves from in any meaningful, generalizable way.
Commercial media is commercial. Water is wet. At a certain point you can choose between wandering around hollering at people that they're wet or accepting that everybody else has registered the humidity index anyway but is capable of compartmentalizing off the misery long enough to enjoy a bit of artful storytelling amid it all now and then. Everybody's gonna land in their own place on that but if you're dedicated to being an evangelist about the fact that commercial art is commercial you're gonna need to accept that a shitload of people have already navigated The Good News and would like you to stop knocking on their door every time they try to have a brief partitioned-off moment of appreciation of the nice aspects of one of the million fucking things that exist, like everything, under capitalism.
posted by cortex at 6:08 PM on May 17, 2020 [15 favorites]
Commercial media is commercial. Water is wet. At a certain point you can choose between wandering around hollering at people that they're wet or accepting that everybody else has registered the humidity index anyway but is capable of compartmentalizing off the misery long enough to enjoy a bit of artful storytelling amid it all now and then. Everybody's gonna land in their own place on that but if you're dedicated to being an evangelist about the fact that commercial art is commercial you're gonna need to accept that a shitload of people have already navigated The Good News and would like you to stop knocking on their door every time they try to have a brief partitioned-off moment of appreciation of the nice aspects of one of the million fucking things that exist, like everything, under capitalism.
posted by cortex at 6:08 PM on May 17, 2020 [15 favorites]
Hmm, I was going for humor but on re-reading my comment maybe it comes off as harsh/lecture. Not here to upset anyone, sorry about that.
posted by pingu at 6:18 PM on May 17, 2020
posted by pingu at 6:18 PM on May 17, 2020
I also feel like "commercials are manipulative" is sort of the "pro-wrestling is fake" of capitalist discourse, insofar as: yes, that's true, but who do you think you're convincing of something at this point?
I'm not arguing against anything you've said. But I will say, it's worth repeating over and over because there are always young people growing up in the world, that media literacy and specifically about the manipulative nature of commercials is something people need to learn about.
And yes, maybe you've learned those lessons, but there are 10 and 15 and 20 year olds who haven't, and they need to hear those lessons. And it's better to be taught them as media literacy than be taught them by the school of hard knocks or a manipulated life.
posted by hippybear at 6:22 PM on May 17, 2020 [10 favorites]
I'm not arguing against anything you've said. But I will say, it's worth repeating over and over because there are always young people growing up in the world, that media literacy and specifically about the manipulative nature of commercials is something people need to learn about.
And yes, maybe you've learned those lessons, but there are 10 and 15 and 20 year olds who haven't, and they need to hear those lessons. And it's better to be taught them as media literacy than be taught them by the school of hard knocks or a manipulated life.
posted by hippybear at 6:22 PM on May 17, 2020 [10 favorites]
Sure, but I don't feel like the standard level of conversation on MetaFilter is "what if a tween wanders in wide-eyed", right? Like it's possible for adults to talk about this stuff in a way that doesn't presume that the speaker is the only adult in the room.
I will cop to being genuinely grumpy about this this evening and so apologize for coming on strong about it, but I think there's a lot of air between "this is a thing that some people haven't considered before at all" and "this is a thing that everyone making the error of enjoying a thing in my company needs to hear yet again".
posted by cortex at 6:28 PM on May 17, 2020 [13 favorites]
I will cop to being genuinely grumpy about this this evening and so apologize for coming on strong about it, but I think there's a lot of air between "this is a thing that some people haven't considered before at all" and "this is a thing that everyone making the error of enjoying a thing in my company needs to hear yet again".
posted by cortex at 6:28 PM on May 17, 2020 [13 favorites]
Sure, and it's possible to enjoy the art of advertising without being taken in by it, too. I think that's what this post is about? But commentary about how it's manipulative isn't an untoward part of the discussion.
I loathe advertising to the point where whether there will be commercials determines if I will watch something much of the time. But I do appreciate little bits of art. I just hate that they are so often meant to make us feel like we need a thing we didn't think about before.
posted by hippybear at 6:41 PM on May 17, 2020
I loathe advertising to the point where whether there will be commercials determines if I will watch something much of the time. But I do appreciate little bits of art. I just hate that they are so often meant to make us feel like we need a thing we didn't think about before.
posted by hippybear at 6:41 PM on May 17, 2020
Advertising appeals to emotions. Some are not so good emotions. This one appeals to better emotions. I'm fine with that.
posted by hypnogogue at 7:36 PM on May 17, 2020 [7 favorites]
posted by hypnogogue at 7:36 PM on May 17, 2020 [7 favorites]
I don’t mind that these are commercials - companies need to sell products and commercials are one way of doing that.
I appreciate that someone took the time to craft out a small story for each one that isn’t just some talking head. These provide a little bit of human interest in each vignette, something that we never get in American advertisements. While I’m not more likely to buy the products, I’m also not repulsed as I usually am with boring advertising.
posted by drivingmenuts at 7:58 PM on May 17, 2020 [1 favorite]
I appreciate that someone took the time to craft out a small story for each one that isn’t just some talking head. These provide a little bit of human interest in each vignette, something that we never get in American advertisements. While I’m not more likely to buy the products, I’m also not repulsed as I usually am with boring advertising.
posted by drivingmenuts at 7:58 PM on May 17, 2020 [1 favorite]
As astrocat said, how did all those onions get in here? I'm sitting here with my politely dying dog, closest company for years. That was lovely thank you MartinWisse, Marukome RYOTEI-NO-AJI, and my wife who made miso soup today.
posted by anadem at 8:35 PM on May 17, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by anadem at 8:35 PM on May 17, 2020 [4 favorites]
We are the commentators that the art directors with the metafilter miso-blue market in the front of their minds were hoping it’d eventually speak to. One day I aspire to talk with you all in such an indirect way.
posted by Joeruckus at 12:24 AM on May 18, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Joeruckus at 12:24 AM on May 18, 2020 [1 favorite]
Yes commercials exist to sell things, but they also have the power to reinforce or spread other messages. I haven't watched all of these yet, but so far I've watched two where the husband is responsible for chores and cooking for the household (including one where his mother is immensely proud to see him do it, and another where an old man acknowledges the work his wife did all those years), one where a father who's apparently bad at talking about feelings still finds another way to do emotional labor, one where a single working mother is thinking about the systemic difficulties of her life, and one where a Japanese woman goes off to marry a non-Japanese man and live in his country, and her father gets over his upset and travels to the other country to build a relationship with his new in-laws, who are depicted as lovely people.
Japan is famous for extreme gender inequality, rigid gender roles, and xenophobia (maybe less so against Italians of all things, but still). These commercials are tying pretty progressive values and modern developments to ideals that traditionalists and conservatives often claim as their own (home and hearth, family values, a sense of order in the world), using a gentle, humane style of animation that paints the modern world, with all its changes, in nostalgic and heartwarming hues. If an advertisement inevitably has power, it might as well be used this way.
posted by trig at 2:41 AM on May 18, 2020 [16 favorites]
Japan is famous for extreme gender inequality, rigid gender roles, and xenophobia (maybe less so against Italians of all things, but still). These commercials are tying pretty progressive values and modern developments to ideals that traditionalists and conservatives often claim as their own (home and hearth, family values, a sense of order in the world), using a gentle, humane style of animation that paints the modern world, with all its changes, in nostalgic and heartwarming hues. If an advertisement inevitably has power, it might as well be used this way.
posted by trig at 2:41 AM on May 18, 2020 [16 favorites]
Of course she says oishii when he serves her for. It's essentially law in Japan that when presented with food on television, the one being served must respond with oishii. (Exceptions can be made for weird college student throw together spicy potato chips and cheap ramen dishes, but that was exactly one time) If they really wanted to make it stand out, she'd tell him it's ok, but that he should use the right soup base this time.
No matter what the dish was, no matter who presented it, it was always "oishii!" Maybe I just wasn't watching the right "torture the comedians" shows to see non-delicious food on tv. Or maybe it's just because broadcast tv in Kyoto is limited to 10 channels, half of them NHK.
posted by Hactar at 6:30 AM on May 18, 2020
No matter what the dish was, no matter who presented it, it was always "oishii!" Maybe I just wasn't watching the right "torture the comedians" shows to see non-delicious food on tv. Or maybe it's just because broadcast tv in Kyoto is limited to 10 channels, half of them NHK.
posted by Hactar at 6:30 AM on May 18, 2020
Ads are wire mothers. Stop trying to make them love you.
from that link:
Ads are not art and they're not your friends, fuck off
I wish it wasn't so easy to agree. But there it is.
All art is commercial.
so ummm, Merzbow's in the top 40 somewhere? Please hit me up with some links. Maybe I'll move there.
I can enjoy an ad, but it doesn't follow that I have to call it art. Just as I can laugh at a joke from somebody I don't really trust.
posted by philip-random at 8:25 AM on May 18, 2020
from that link:
Ads are not art and they're not your friends, fuck off
I wish it wasn't so easy to agree. But there it is.
All art is commercial.
so ummm, Merzbow's in the top 40 somewhere? Please hit me up with some links. Maybe I'll move there.
I can enjoy an ad, but it doesn't follow that I have to call it art. Just as I can laugh at a joke from somebody I don't really trust.
posted by philip-random at 8:25 AM on May 18, 2020
Glass half empty: “Bah, capitalism is using art for evil”
Glass half full: “Ooh, art is using capitalism for good!”
posted by calmsea at 2:04 PM on May 18, 2020 [2 favorites]
Glass half full: “Ooh, art is using capitalism for good!”
posted by calmsea at 2:04 PM on May 18, 2020 [2 favorites]
The scene where they're side-by-side in bathtubs on the edge of a cliff was cut for time.
posted by bendy at 5:22 PM on May 18, 2020
posted by bendy at 5:22 PM on May 18, 2020
Just a heads up, this is roughly 1200 words trying to explain some of the cultural aspects and give some background. I did not expect to end up writing this much
Man... I hadn't really watched all of these yet, just the first one, the "Together Forever" one, and then just went through and watched them all in one go. Sure, I get it, there are a lot of people here who react to commercials like a vampire to sunlight, and a lot of times, I do too.
But, well, having just watched pretty much all of these in a row (I do not recommend that), I'm kind of amazed at how concisely these manage to capture little facets of the hardships of life in Japan in little 90 second bursts. Yes, obviously, not all of them are great, some of them are very clearly the result of a very patriarchal society with a lot of lingering issues (rampant sexism and massive inequality when it comes to emotional labor are pretty much just the start), but the ads are also commentary on those as well.
Mother and Son, this one is pretty fantastic at portraying what, for a lot of young Japanese workers, has become the standard. If you're not from a major city, you will most likely move to one because you'll make more money over the long run working for a big corporation in Tokyo than a small company closer to home, and by more money, it can mean a lifetime earnings potential difference of hundreds of thousands of dollars. This is the root of the hollowing out of the Japanese countryside, as fewer and fewer people stay near home and travel to Tokyo or other major cities for work.
Working away from Home oh, man. Tanshinfunin, or to be transferred to a position far away from one's home and family, it's not uncommon in Japan. A while back, when Mrs. Ghidorah was working for a large Japanese department store, it hung over us every year, the possibility that someone in corporate could just decide to transfer her, on a whim, to, say, Sendai (a two hour shinkansen trip from Tokyo). When we met, she was working in Chiba, close to home, then later was suddenly transferred to working in Tokyo, not a huge distance, but one that increased her daily commuting time by over an hour each day. She found herself being transferred around, until finally there was a real possibility she would be sent to France for a week to learn about the company who's merchandise she was selling. Right before that happened, she was transferred back to Chiba, despondent. And that's just the two of us. Every year, families face having to either uproot their kids from their schools for what may only be a year or two, or have a parent (yes, usually the father) end up working so far from home that commuting isn't an option. The strain this puts on families is immense, and one (of many) factor in the strained relationships that a lot of Japanese people have with their fathers, simply that, for some, their father was away from home during their early childhood.
A Midnight Snack: the patriarchy is harmful to men as well. A lot of older Japanese men were raised to believe that the stern, unapproachable father they grew up with was the ideal, that they should continue that tradition. As a society, that's slowly changing, but there are a lot of older men still crippled by the ideal instilled in them as children.
Coming to Tokyo: one of the things I poke my students with, from time to time, is, when I happen to see them eating, I tell them their bento looks great. I ask them who made it (it's always their mom), and then I ask if they said "thank you" to her for making it. Nearly all of my students (going on twenty years of teaching now) has reacted as if I said something crazy. Like, why on earth would you say thank you to someone who's just doing what they're supposed to do. Ask any Japanese mother, and the assumptions of what their role is outright staggers the mind. The mom is crying to see her son taking on a proper role in taking care of his family, something she, like a lot of women her, probably never expect their sons to do. People still act shocked when they find out I do most of the cooking in our house, and usually it gets followed up with/rationalized by the fact that I'm a foreigner, otherwise I probably wouldn't.
Being a Mother: woof, not gonna lie, this one sucks. I'm not a fan. A young girl questioning her mother's constant sacrifice, suddenly realizing that she hopes she can give up as much as her mom now that she's pregnant? There were many, many better ways to approach this, but I guess if you're wrapped up in a world where the daughter questioning her mother's sacrifice is the one who is in error, and learns the "real way of things" is the proper ending, you probably can't see them. So, so close, but failed to stick the landing, weakest of the bunch.
Miso Soup I can't be impartial. I did this. Mrs. Ghidorah and I went to her family's home (with her mom, who was perfectly happy that we were engaged, and was in on the whole thing) and told her dad were getting married/asked for his blessing. Mrs. Ghidorah's dad is only slightly more verbal than the dad in the commercial. A year after our wedding, her parents came with us to meet my family in Chicago, and yeah, it was pretty much like that, he speaks almost no English, but did the best that he could in his very gruff old Japanese man sort of way to express his happiness and love for my family.
Home Together: Single working mothers in Japan have pretty much everything stacked against them. Lower pay (because they're women), less chance of advancement (they've got a kid, and will likely be passed over for promotions because the company is looking for someone to devote every waking moment to work), and even less chance of finding employment outside of service industry jobs, all while there's a shortage in available daycare, and mountains upon mountains of work, emotional and otherwise that goes along with being a mother here. Being a single mother anywhere is a tremendous amount of work, but here? I can't even begin to imagine.
And I get it, it might seem like these commercials are reinforcing this status quo. I know I have no real evidence to show you to the contrary, but dear lord, these commercials, they don't read like that to me. They come across, to me, as a gentle acknowledgement of how shitty things can be, and how hard or seemingly impossible it can be to see any end to the fucked up shit this society forces on its members. It's a nod, and a hand on the shoulder, saying, yeah, we see your struggle, and we empathize. You're fight is real, and we're rooting for you, and, hey, while you're at it, why not take a break with a little bit of home, have a cup of miso soup.
To me, the attempt to sell miso soup has less of an impact than the message of empathy, and if they need to sell some soup (and seriously, miso soup here, for most people, is like whatever ur-comfort food you can imagine where ever you come from. It's that thing that your mom makes, whatever it is, that makes all of your problems recede, just for a little bit) to get that message across, fine with me.
posted by Ghidorah at 10:36 PM on May 18, 2020 [15 favorites]
Man... I hadn't really watched all of these yet, just the first one, the "Together Forever" one, and then just went through and watched them all in one go. Sure, I get it, there are a lot of people here who react to commercials like a vampire to sunlight, and a lot of times, I do too.
But, well, having just watched pretty much all of these in a row (I do not recommend that), I'm kind of amazed at how concisely these manage to capture little facets of the hardships of life in Japan in little 90 second bursts. Yes, obviously, not all of them are great, some of them are very clearly the result of a very patriarchal society with a lot of lingering issues (rampant sexism and massive inequality when it comes to emotional labor are pretty much just the start), but the ads are also commentary on those as well.
Mother and Son, this one is pretty fantastic at portraying what, for a lot of young Japanese workers, has become the standard. If you're not from a major city, you will most likely move to one because you'll make more money over the long run working for a big corporation in Tokyo than a small company closer to home, and by more money, it can mean a lifetime earnings potential difference of hundreds of thousands of dollars. This is the root of the hollowing out of the Japanese countryside, as fewer and fewer people stay near home and travel to Tokyo or other major cities for work.
Working away from Home oh, man. Tanshinfunin, or to be transferred to a position far away from one's home and family, it's not uncommon in Japan. A while back, when Mrs. Ghidorah was working for a large Japanese department store, it hung over us every year, the possibility that someone in corporate could just decide to transfer her, on a whim, to, say, Sendai (a two hour shinkansen trip from Tokyo). When we met, she was working in Chiba, close to home, then later was suddenly transferred to working in Tokyo, not a huge distance, but one that increased her daily commuting time by over an hour each day. She found herself being transferred around, until finally there was a real possibility she would be sent to France for a week to learn about the company who's merchandise she was selling. Right before that happened, she was transferred back to Chiba, despondent. And that's just the two of us. Every year, families face having to either uproot their kids from their schools for what may only be a year or two, or have a parent (yes, usually the father) end up working so far from home that commuting isn't an option. The strain this puts on families is immense, and one (of many) factor in the strained relationships that a lot of Japanese people have with their fathers, simply that, for some, their father was away from home during their early childhood.
A Midnight Snack: the patriarchy is harmful to men as well. A lot of older Japanese men were raised to believe that the stern, unapproachable father they grew up with was the ideal, that they should continue that tradition. As a society, that's slowly changing, but there are a lot of older men still crippled by the ideal instilled in them as children.
Coming to Tokyo: one of the things I poke my students with, from time to time, is, when I happen to see them eating, I tell them their bento looks great. I ask them who made it (it's always their mom), and then I ask if they said "thank you" to her for making it. Nearly all of my students (going on twenty years of teaching now) has reacted as if I said something crazy. Like, why on earth would you say thank you to someone who's just doing what they're supposed to do. Ask any Japanese mother, and the assumptions of what their role is outright staggers the mind. The mom is crying to see her son taking on a proper role in taking care of his family, something she, like a lot of women her, probably never expect their sons to do. People still act shocked when they find out I do most of the cooking in our house, and usually it gets followed up with/rationalized by the fact that I'm a foreigner, otherwise I probably wouldn't.
Being a Mother: woof, not gonna lie, this one sucks. I'm not a fan. A young girl questioning her mother's constant sacrifice, suddenly realizing that she hopes she can give up as much as her mom now that she's pregnant? There were many, many better ways to approach this, but I guess if you're wrapped up in a world where the daughter questioning her mother's sacrifice is the one who is in error, and learns the "real way of things" is the proper ending, you probably can't see them. So, so close, but failed to stick the landing, weakest of the bunch.
Miso Soup I can't be impartial. I did this. Mrs. Ghidorah and I went to her family's home (with her mom, who was perfectly happy that we were engaged, and was in on the whole thing) and told her dad were getting married/asked for his blessing. Mrs. Ghidorah's dad is only slightly more verbal than the dad in the commercial. A year after our wedding, her parents came with us to meet my family in Chicago, and yeah, it was pretty much like that, he speaks almost no English, but did the best that he could in his very gruff old Japanese man sort of way to express his happiness and love for my family.
Home Together: Single working mothers in Japan have pretty much everything stacked against them. Lower pay (because they're women), less chance of advancement (they've got a kid, and will likely be passed over for promotions because the company is looking for someone to devote every waking moment to work), and even less chance of finding employment outside of service industry jobs, all while there's a shortage in available daycare, and mountains upon mountains of work, emotional and otherwise that goes along with being a mother here. Being a single mother anywhere is a tremendous amount of work, but here? I can't even begin to imagine.
And I get it, it might seem like these commercials are reinforcing this status quo. I know I have no real evidence to show you to the contrary, but dear lord, these commercials, they don't read like that to me. They come across, to me, as a gentle acknowledgement of how shitty things can be, and how hard or seemingly impossible it can be to see any end to the fucked up shit this society forces on its members. It's a nod, and a hand on the shoulder, saying, yeah, we see your struggle, and we empathize. You're fight is real, and we're rooting for you, and, hey, while you're at it, why not take a break with a little bit of home, have a cup of miso soup.
To me, the attempt to sell miso soup has less of an impact than the message of empathy, and if they need to sell some soup (and seriously, miso soup here, for most people, is like whatever ur-comfort food you can imagine where ever you come from. It's that thing that your mom makes, whatever it is, that makes all of your problems recede, just for a little bit) to get that message across, fine with me.
posted by Ghidorah at 10:36 PM on May 18, 2020 [15 favorites]
That was great, Ghidorah. thanks for that.
posted by mono blanco at 7:32 AM on May 19, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by mono blanco at 7:32 AM on May 19, 2020 [1 favorite]
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