Mr. President….Please…

Posted by Yo

Just like ordinary boys everywhere, I too have been collecting many things. Starting from acorn nuts from the mountain and baseball cards of my favorite teams, I did collect many kinds of things. But most of them do not belong to me any more. I am totally convinced by the Buddhism philosophy: Form is empty. Matter is void. Or all is vanity. Yet I still collect things, keep collecting things. I really don’t know why. That is probably because I want to share the greatness of those things with my Huckleberry-Finn-like friends.

Anyway, what I am collecting for the recent 5 years is mainly two things. 1. Vintage Braun products, such as radios, clocks, and calculators, designed by Dieter Rams who is my favorite designer. 2. Japanese Shunga (erotic) prints from the end of the Edo period and the Meiji period which is approximately 150 to 200 years ago.

Here is the latest addition to my Shunga collection. I got it from a Canadian collector. By looking at the man’s western suit and haircut as well as the modern sofa, this is obviously from the Meiji period or even later, the Taisho period. The lady, who is very busy, says “Mr. President, please give me a bonus….ahhhh…” And the man, so called President, says “Oh…Okay….Life isn’t easy….”

Yes, Japanese are sexually retorted. I have to accept that is our dark side (or bright side, Who knows?). And you can see here our ancestors show their “retortion” more than 100 years ago.

Lastly but not least importantly, not every single Japanese is sexually retorted. I believe most of them are pretty normal. But the retorted ones are not a few. That’s all I can say.

Me? You tell me.

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