The Claw is our Master －かぎ爪はご主人様です－

“The claw is our master.  The claw chooses who will go and who will stay.” 

“I have been chosen! Farewell, my friends.  I go on to a better place.”

Spoken by alien shaped toys in a claw machine, from the 1995 film, Toy Story

 

There was an interesting story from Hong Kong this week.  Regulators there have promised to introduce tighter regulations on the use of claw machines, after growing customer complaints were received. 

Claw machines are found in video game arcades, or indoor amusement spots for children.  The machine contains a lot of prizes, and players have to pay money to get a chance to manipulate a claw above one of the prizes, and to try to grab it and drop it into a hole. 

But with improved ability to programme the machines, have manufacturers been making things too difficult for customers to win?  The claw can be programmed to deliberately loosen its grip as it approaches the hole, or only to let a customer win a prize after they had spent a lot of money. 

One Hong Konger complained that he had spent more than the equivalent of 50 Pounds in 45 minutes, trying to catch the prize of a waffle maker.  But the claw kept dropping it, and he left with only a few trinkets. 

With everyone shopping on-line nowadays, could shops tap into the demand for people to pick up products with a claw?  I am going to move to Hong Kong and open up a shop selling waffle makers for 50 pounds.  You can’t have it delivered to your door by Amazon.  You have to go to the store and pick it out using a claw machine.  But there will be no nasty programming to make the task impossible, and everyone will be a winner.

 

Vocabulary:

a trinket – a small ornament or item of jewellery that is of little value

[eg., the souvenir stall sold trinkets such as miniature models of Tokyo Tower.]

 

Strange Convenience －不思議な便利さ－

Strange things are happening in convenience stores in Nerima. 

One of my students recently told me that she keeps a “convenience store notebook”.  For the last six years, since 2018, she has been taking a memo of her experiences in visiting various convenience stores around Nerima.  She marks the attitude of the staff towards her with a circle for good and a cross for unacceptable.  She also marks their toilet facilities with an A, B, or C. 

I told her that she could perhaps sell this information to the different companies.  I am sure that Lawson and Family Mart would be interested to know which staff members failed to live up to standard. 

A different student of mine told me that she recently went on a “Lawson crawl”.  This was after I had taught her the expression “pub crawl”.  In a pub crawl, someone visits many different pubs one after the other in the same night of drinking.  My student told me that she had visited as many branches of Lawson as she could find in the same evening. 

Apparently, my student’s friend had recommended a special offer available in some limited branches of Lawson.  They were selling frozen tarts, and also a lemon flavored alcoholic drink with a slice of real lemon. 

When my student eventually found a store selling these products she shouted out loud, “Yatta!” [“I’ve done it!] 

I think she had been sampling the lemon flavored alcohol even without the real lemon several times before she found exactly what she wanted. 

What is it about convenience stores that seems to encourage strange behaviour?

 

A Magical Christmas －魔術的なクリスマス－

My son is now eight years old, and is looking forward to Christmas.  But he is getting quite inquisitive about how the process of present giving works.  Here is a conversation my wife and I had with him recently. 

My son:  Is Santa Claus real? 

My wife:  I think so. 

My son: Where does he live? 

My wife: I think it is in Finland. 

My son: Is he a human?

 

My wife: No

Me [simultaneously]: Yes

 

Me: Well, we don’t really know what he is. 

My son: What do scientists believe he is? 

[Pause] 

My wife: I think he is a kind of magic person, a bit like a god. 

My son: Or maybe it’s more than one person. 

Me: Yes.  It could be like a secret organisation of people, who help Santa to put presents in houses all over the world.

 

My son [skeptically]: And he always comes in through the chimney?

Me: He also uses windows… Um…  By the way, if you had one magic power, like invisibility or the power to fly, what magic power would you like? 

Wishing you all a magical Christmas.

 

Vocabulary:

simultaneously – of two or more events, happening at the same time

[e.g., The two football matches are being played simultaneously.  So we will let you know what is happening in both matches.]

skeptically – with an attitude of doubt

[e.g., Investors have reacted skeptically to the company’s claims that they will be able to double their profits next year.]