That's some 19th Century ingenuity there.

That vid went on waaaay too long. Yup, I got it, it's not a vending machine, it's a shop owner pulling a string.

*5 min later*

Yup, I got it, it's the shop owner pulling another string.

I'm waiting to see the soiled panties version.

Whatever you do, don't get it mixed up with the uses panty vending machine...

Tentacle burger!

Can someone who has spent any time in Japan please explain something to me? Why in the hell does every clip of Japanese TV I see have a tiny picture-in-picture inset of the people in the audience reacting to what's happening on the screen? I mean, I know Japanese culture is impenetrable, bizarre and largely nonsensical to outsiders, and I accept this. But I'm just wondering what the point of that is.

I'm gonna let the out-of-nowhere popping-up of the "Addams Family" theme song go for now.

So, it's a lunch counter with a really tiny window.

MaxxLarge: Why in the hell does every clip of Japanese TV I see have a tiny picture-in-picture inset of the people in the audience reacting to what's happening on the screen?

Same reason AFHV did the same thing, just not PiP.

MaxxLarge: Can someone who has spent any time in Japan please explain something to me? Why in the hell does every clip of Japanese TV I see have a tiny picture-in-picture inset of the people in the audience reacting to what's happening on the screen?

The Japanese are a highly societal people, the individual defers to the mores of the nation/community as a whole, while subverting their desires and opinions as an individual. The "inset box" gives the individual the "okay" to laugh or cry and gives visual cues as to how the individual should react.

I pulled that out of my arse.

I know a guy from Japan. 30-something years old, he's spent half of his life in Japan, and half in Canada, going back and forth. As a bridge between east and west he can't even tell you what the hell is up with Japan. "If you ever go to Japan, just go with it."

MaxxLarge: I'm gonna let the out-of-nowhere popping-up of the "Addams Family" theme song go for now.

Will an average Japanese citizen even understand the reference? I know that some of our TV shows have aired there, but certainly they all could not have been especially if you only count those that not only "aired" but actually had significant viewership. Or is the music motif become a meme with significance far beyond its original context?

brap: MaxxLarge: Can someone who has spent any time in Japan please explain something to me? Why in the hell does every clip of Japanese TV I see have a tiny picture-in-picture inset of the people in the audience reacting to what's happening on the screen?

The Japanese are a highly societal people, the individual defers to the mores of the nation/community as a whole, while subverting their desires and opinions as an individual. The "inset box" gives the individual the "okay" to laugh or cry and gives visual cues as to how the individual should react.

I pulled that out of my arse.


Arse or no arse, I think you're right.
Given the sheer amount of pure WTF!? on Japanese television, I'd need some sort indicator of how to deal with it.

From the responses here you'd think Japan was the meat-world equivalent of 4chan.

I want one of these at my local burger joint so they will stop complaining when i show up naked.

MaxxLarge: Can someone who has spent any time in Japan please explain something to me? Why in the hell does every clip of Japanese TV I see have a tiny picture-in-picture inset of the people in the audience reacting to what's happening on the screen? I mean, I know Japanese culture is impenetrable, bizarre and largely nonsensical to outsiders, and I accept this. But I'm just wondering what the point of that is.

I'm gonna let the out-of-nowhere popping-up of the "Addams Family" theme song go for now.

I assumed it was just like a laugh track basically.

So it's a one station Automat.

I'd love to pull together a fully automated burger and fries operation and drive McDonalds into the ground by having superior speed and consistency with near zero staffing costs.

/Still need someone to load the machines and clean.

also, this.

netweavr: From the responses here you'd think Japan was the meat-world equivalent of 4chan.

Japan is the meat-world equivalent of 4chan. And I love 'em for it. From a safe distance.

Bf+: brap: MaxxLarge: Can someone who has spent any time in Japan please explain something to me? Why in the hell does every clip of Japanese TV I see have a tiny picture-in-picture inset of the people in the audience reacting to what's happening on the screen?

The Japanese are a highly societal people, the individual defers to the mores of the nation/community as a whole, while subverting their desires and opinions as an individual. The "inset box" gives the individual the "okay" to laugh or cry and gives visual cues as to how the individual should react.

I pulled that out of my arse.


Arse or no arse, I think you're right.
Given the sheer amount of pure WTF!? on Japanese television, I'd need some sort indicator of how to deal with it.

And the thing is, it's straight up gold. You don't have to know what they're talking about and it's still highly amusing. In the morning you'll find channel after channel showing cooking shows. The chef will cut a thawed chicken breast open and the crowd moans in glee.

/2-week vacation
//cool?

MaxxLarge: Can someone who has spent any time in Japan please explain something to me? Why in the hell does every clip of Japanese TV I see have a tiny picture-in-picture inset of the people in the audience reacting to what's happening on the screen? I mean, I know Japanese culture is impenetrable, bizarre and largely nonsensical to outsiders, and I accept this. But I'm just wondering what the point of that is.

I'm gonna let the out-of-nowhere popping-up of the "Addams Family" theme song go for now.

I'd also like to know why Japanese TV always has subtitles or captions. I once asked a Japanese person and they acted like they didn't know what I was talking about.

New if they can get that automated, and working on it's own, then they are in business.

so it's a drive through?

They used to have them all over. They were called Automats. Horn and Hardart was the most famous. Lots of little windows. You stuck in a quarter and pulled out food made by someone behind the wall. People thought it was great!

I love that the video was from Youtube user "fyoudolphin". Yeah Fark you dolphin!

I prefer my burgers to have ZERO moving parts, thank you very much.

MaxxLarge: Can someone who has spent any time in Japan please explain something to me? Why in the hell does every clip of Japanese TV I see have a tiny picture-in-picture inset of the people in the audience reacting to what's happening on the screen? I mean, I know Japanese culture is impenetrable, bizarre and largely nonsensical to outsiders, and I accept this. But I'm just wondering what the point of that is.

Because maybe Japanese media and Japanese people are two completely different things, just like American media and American people.

To put it another way, a lot of Japanese people are terrified of crime in America, to the point of refusing to visit, because their impression of American cities has been shaped by TV programs and action movies. The lesson should be, don't get your facts from TV and movies.

American network executives are farkin' nuts, and Japanese network executives are just as nuts. Straitjacket-worthy nuts. When I lived in Japan I just didn't watch TV because the programming was (with few exceptions) usually as bland as it was nonsensical.

So, it's nothing to do with Japan. It's that the boardrooms of TV networks are populated with monkeys.