Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Peri Peri

My new favorite song.



This is a keychain toy that mimics the sound and feeling of pulling the tab on a cardboard box or envelope.

The song has a lot of onomatopoeic words, which are particularly Japanese. For example, it rhymes "peri-peri," the name of the product (after the sound of opening a box tear strip) with "doki-doki" which is the canonical sound effect word for a pounding heart. In the Kansai airport on the way home I bought some cider soda that said "With KiraKira Sparkle" which was ironic because "kira-kira" is the canonical sound effect for sparkling (like light reflecting on water). Yes, they have a "sound effect" for something that's not a sound.

I found this video while Christmas shopping, but while in Japan I did buy the sibling product, Bandai Mugen Edamame, which is a rubbery soybean pod that you can pop the beans out of over and over again. You can find these wondrous things and many more at Strapya World, (http://www.strapya-world.com).

More and better Japan stories are in my brain for you, but I had to start on Christmas cleaning and such and I got distracted. That part might be getting under control now.