Who is my boss?

On the train today, I noticed a new ad for DoCoMo, one of the main cell-phone service providers in Japan (and probably the biggest).

This poster had a picture of Darth Vader of “Star Wars” pointing and asking “Who is my boss?“.

The ad doesn’t say much more than that, so I was wondering what it was about. Will DoCoMo be releasing a new “Darth Vader” themed phone? And what does it mean by “who is my boss?”?

So I checked the website and it doesn’t tell much either.
But the site has an interesting application…you can enter your name on the site (but it must be entered in Japanese カタカナ (katakana)) and then it will show a movie of Darth Vader walking around Tokyo saying how he’s searching for his “boss” and then he encounters billboards and flyers with a picture of himself and the name you entered on it (but the name is shown written in alphabet letters even though it requires you enter your name is Japanese characters).
And then Darth Vader will say your name and then tell you that you’re not his boss.
When I did it, it said that I wasn’t his boss and that his boss is more 「美しい」 (“beautiful”) than me!

At the end it has a countdown til 2010 May 11 (Japan time) which is the day that Darth Vader’s “boss” will be revealed.

Darth Vader searching for his "boss" in Tokyo

Darth Vader saw a billboard that said that I ("Tokyo Five") am his boss!

On 2010 May 11, DoCoMo will reveal who Darth Vader's boss is.

Read my other “Darth Vader in Japan”-related posts:
The “Star Wars Convention Japan”,
Star Wars chopsticks,
the Star Wars Pachinko machine, and
my Star Wars postal stamps.

Tom Cruise was Japanese, U.S. may get Japanese phones, and a feline station-master…

Have you heard about any of these news stories in Japan?

◎ The wife of the Japanese Prime-Minister-elect, Miyuki Hatoyama, seems to be a bit eccentric.
She has been quoted as saying that she was abducted by aliens and taken into their triangular UFO for a trip to the planet Venus…which she described as rich with green foliage!
She also said that she and her husband eat some of the sun every morning for energy!
And that she met the famous American actor Tom Cruise in another life when he was Japanese!

◎ DoCoMo, the most prominent cellular-phone provider in Japan (and the one that my family uses), plans to begin selling their cell-phones in America. As well as offering many of the services that they provide in Japan, such as their “I-mode” internet service. It’s not clear yet if they plan to offer their cell-phone wallet service which is extremely popular in Japan to pay for everything from vending machines to groceries to fast-food to train fares.

The key-pad of a Japanese "DoCoMo" cell-phone.

◎ A small train line in a small town near Osaka, Japan was in danger of closing down until the media in Japan reported that a cat that had been hanging around the area was “hired” as the new 駅長 (station master).
The cat’s name is 「たま」 (Tama) and she gets paid with cat-food by the train line.
I remember when this story was on TV here about two years ago.
It’s seems that the tactic worked…people are coming from all over Japan to ride the train and see 「たま」 (Tama), the 駅長 (station master).
All the new customers are good for business and have kept the train line from closing down…but it created a new problem—where to put the cars from all the customers that drive to the station from around Japan.
The train station that the cat works at, 喜志駅 (Kishi Station), doesn’t have any car parking spaces near it.

Tama the feline station-master

I-phone

Do you know the I-phone by Apple Inc.? Do you have one?

Well, the I-phone just went on sale in Japan today? On TV, I saw that there was a line of people waiting to buy one.

I think they just bought it for the the novelty of having a foreign cellular phone. Because Japanese 携帯電話 (cell-phones) can do everything that the I-phone can…plus much more!

For example, with a Japanese cell-phone, you can download music like a I-pod, take photos and video, surf the internet, and send and receive email like the I-phone…but unlike the I-phone, with a Japanese cell-phone you can also watch TV, make purchases like a credit card, pay for public transportation, buy a drink from a vending machine, and prevent other people from using your phone with a fingerprint scanner.

Personally though, I don’t need any of those fancy extras…I only use my cell-phone to send and receive emails and the internet to check the train schedule. Like most people in Japan, I seldom use the telephone function of my cell-phone.

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My oldest daughter had a 漢字 (Japanese Kanji character) test today.

She said it was difficult. I’m sure she did well.

And on Sunday, she will have an English oral exam. I’m sure she’ll do well on this, too!