People and Places

In this photograph, two Buddhist priests stand. One of the priests stand in profile, while the other stands at an angle toward the camera. This priest's eyes still do not face the camera, and are averted. They both hold prayer beads. The priest in profile is shown wearing brown colored robes, while the other priest wears green robes. Neither of them wear particularly bright colors most likely because they are religious figures. The only bright color comes from one of the priest's prayer beads. Also only on etch priest's shoes in shown, while the other's robes cover his.
This photo is the village of Hakoni on the lake of Hakoni. In the picture is the main road of the village that is lined with shops and houses. The street goes for a while, almost with the camera facing downhill on the street. With the angle, this shows how large a village Hakoni really is. The signs on the entrances to buildings most likely read what type of stores they are. In the middle of the street, there seems to be four men. Two of those men are carrying a portable temple to a god. While the other two are just observing them. All four seem to be facing the photographer. Also the people in the buildings either are engaged in their own business or facing the photographer.

Source

In this image, which is set in the new international port of Yokohama is the small armies of countries who gained trade entry to Japan. The countries that are shown are: England, France, the Netherlands, Russia, America, and China. China is the only country without a flag or army that is shown. The presence of the armies in the picture gives the thought that these countries were invading Japan, but rather it was more to most likely protect the citizens of the countries. The boats in the foreground also give the impression that more people are coming to Japan to trade for their countries. The difference in the uniforms is rather obvious with the colors of the uniforms.

The words on the picture also tie together the countries and who they are. I am not sure if the words near each corner of the page are the names of the countries or the commander of the brigade. There is also one phase that is constantly around the page. In the white box in the picture, the same is given many times over. Over all I think this an interesting image of the six countries that traded with Japan and helped to make Yokohama an international city.

This is an advertisement for a new hamburger at McDonald's in Japan. This burger, the Texas 2, was a next evolution of McDonald's original, Texas burger. The denotative meaning behind this advertisement was that people can enjoy the taste of America, but unlike any burger before it, specially Texas. By McDonald's expressing that this burger is American, but even better by it being "Texan", it creates an image of exoticism in the Japanese culture. The connotative meaning is that if you enjoy this burger, you will become more American/Western and know what it means to enjoy American but especially "Texan" cuisine.

The Texan 2 burger and it's predecessor were part of a campaign by McDonald's to showcase differing parts of America. Other creations included burgers from, Hawaii, New York, and Idaho. Apart from Idaho, these regions represented areas of the country that the Japanese may have known before. However, the Texan burger introduced Japanese society to a possibly unknown region of the United States. The biggest ingredient added to this burger to differentiate it from other burgers, is the chili. The chili represents the essence of the western United States. Chili was born out of the desperation of adventuring Americans and has become a a nation-wide comfort food. The inclusion of the chili gives new flavors that most Japanese have never experienced before in a form that is accustomed to and pleasing to the eye. The Texas 2 burger gives the customer another but different taste of America, and draws to the consumer closer to thinking "I am more Western now. I've experienced a taste of something only found in America".