Comments on: Upgrades and Downgrades: Carry-on lizards, Machu Picchu, Kayak, business-traveling cats

By: shrinecastle

shrinecastle — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 02:14:27 +0000

Isn’t Nyaran great! It was my blog that was linked above, and while I’ll take credit for the explanation, I found the commercial on Japan Probe (www.japanprobe.com), an excellent source of things about Japan, and especially cute animal videos (not all travel related). (^_^)/

By: Mark Ashley

Mark Ashley — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 01:36:37 +0000

@Michele, agreed, it's an appalling case of endangered-species smuggling, and yes, this doesn't seem like the first time this man has done this. @RLee, thank you so much for the translation! A snippet of explanation:

Nyaran is a salaryman, and he's very Japanese. In this commercial, he is going on a business trip, or shucchou. Like most Japanese who travel, Nyaran takes the bullet train, or Shinkansen, and enjoys a green tea and a boxed lunch, or bento. He presents a fish-shaped business card, or meishi, to his clients and gives a presentation to sell his "beef sphere manju," or nikukyu manju. After an exhausting day, he passes out in a business hotel, the reservations of which were made through Jalan.

Nyalan's beef spheres look tasty, I must say.

By: RLee

RLee — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 01:12:36 +0000

The larger text on the cat’s calling card (meishi) said “Nyaran”, which turns out to be, as expected, the cat’s name. Googling the name gets you this site with a good explanation (see the 3rd video down)

By: Michele

Michele — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:56:28 +0000

That Fall Guide was one of the most entertaining things that I’ve read in a long time!

BYT: the lizards were geckos and skinks – about 4″ long maximum.

I’m appalled at that case and the lightness of his penalty. NZ prides itself on the protection of its native flora and fauna, and when a guy like this is caught, the book should be thrown at him as an example and deterrent to other would-be smugglers. He had been in NZ 4 times before this – once with a reptile dealer – and you can bet that those weren’t just holidays either.

Bah!

By: Budget Your Trip

Budget Your Trip — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:48:06 +0000

in the underwear??? exactly how big were those lizards?

By: Mark Ashley

Mark Ashley — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 04:30:33 +0000

Thanks, tamausagi!

That cat gets around:

the cat’s summer vacation
the cat gets ready for a big date
the cat goes to a hot spring
the cat’s introduction
the cat gets a massage
the cat goes to a traditional hotel

(via metafilter)

By: tamausagi

tamausagi — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:31:48 +0000

the cat commercial in Japanese is for Jalan, (www.jalan.net), something similar to Expedia and Orbit. Since business travel in Japan is very common, all Japanese travel booking sites will have a dedicated section for it.