When I first came to Japan, I loved the Naan Dog from MOS Burger. It was a wiener and some sweet-ish curry wrapped up in a piece of Indian naan. Needless to say, I was devastated when I walked into my local MOS Burger one day to find out that they no longer sold that product. A similar incident happened that summer with the Thai-style coconut curry from Matsuya. One day: delicious curry that sold really well, next day: gone. Over that summer, I watched a lot of the products (foods as well as consumer products like laundry soap and toilet paper) that I had grown accustomed to disappear. I used to joke with my friends that “the stores pull any item that is too popular with gaijins”, which is where the phenomenon of fast-disappearing products got its nickname “Gaijin Curse” within my little circle of friends.
Of course now that I know and understand Japan a bit better, I know that fast-disappearing seasonal products are a fact of life here. Even so, it’s fun to imagine corporate bean-counters watching secret camera footage and deciding to cancel products based on their sales to foreigners. “Oh crap, that Drew in Tokyo likes our fabric softener too much; time to get out of that line of business”. The Gaijin Curse is not even limited to food and consumer products! My buddy managed to Gaijin Curse an entire train: a 100% reserved-seat train whose seat fee was only 500 yen and which inexplicably skipped by many major stations to drop my buddy off at the little whistle stop where he lives.
Now, not all Gaijin Cursed products are tasty or useful. Many of them had deservedly short runs. We needn’t look any farther than Pepsi’s legendary screw-up of last summer, or this year’s equally delicious beverage. And I think that we can all agree that McDonalds had a must-miss with its Fish McDippers.
Speaking of McDonalds, I am well aware that the Gaijin Curse is not limited to Japan. I’m sure that most people are aware of the McRib sandwich, a limited-time product whose insane fans have been the subject of a Simpsons episode. This episode saw Homer tour the USA with a group of “Ribheads” as Krusty Burger tested the Ribwich in various markets across the country.
I have understood the nature of the Gaijin Curse for years. So what inspired today’s post? It seems that the worst Gaijin Curse yet is going to befall our adopted country. That’s right. This is bad. Far worse than the disappearance of any of the flavours of Kit Kat or Haagen-Dazs. Worse than the Naan Dogs, the Ume McNuggets, the fabric softener that smells like Snuggle, or the Ice Coffee ice cream balls. Prepare yourselves, ladies and gentlemen: Mr. Donut is going to take away the Danish Ring. This cannot be allowed to happen! They are going to keep those stupid Triangle Donuts. They are keeping the Pon de Matcha which I swear to God tastes like hay. They are keeping the stupid flavourless and substance-less Rich Donuts, but they are getting rid of by far the greatest donut that has ever been sold.
It must be stopped! How can we do it?! Mr. Donut must be held accountable! I am mad as hell and I am not going to take it anymore!
Or, maybe I’ll just find a different kind of donut instead.
Entries (RSS)
June 28th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
Avoid the Gaijin Curse!…
Ladies and Gentlemen, something must be done about a terrible thing that is happening to foreigners and Japanese alike. That’s right, the Danish Ring is going to be pulled from the shelves. What can be done about the Gaijin Curse?…
June 28th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
I feel bad for ya….I’d sign a petition but I can’t do it in Kanji so it probably wouldn’t count anyway!
June 28th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
I don’t know about gaijin curses (or maybe I do), but the 7-11 closest to my apartment stops selling the Van Houten cocoa that I love so much from April to October or November every year. It’s weird, no other local convenience stores do this except for that one 7-11.
June 29th, 2008 at 9:02 am
Aah yes, Van Houten Cocoa. That’s a weird one. Stores around here seem to stock it on an entirely random basis. Some weeks they carry it, some weeks they don’t. When it goes away, I’m never worried, because I know that it’ll show up again in a couple weeks.
October 8th, 2008 at 9:18 am
[...] first came across the term Gaijin Curse back in June on alpha whiskey hotel and laughed as i’d seen several items in the work konbini disappear off the shelves, from [...]