The contents are instant yaki-soba, ideal as an easy after hours dish among students studying like crazy the last days before their exams. Daruma at the left is the standard symbol for effort to the bitter end and the ribbon on his head confirms it with the message "Gokaku" (合格) which means "success in examinations". Over his head it says "Ganbare jukensei" (がんばれ受験生) which means "do your best, examinees" and on his body it says "gokaku mashigura" (ごうかくまっしぐら); the same "gokaku" as before but with "mashigura" which means "full speed ahead" although here there's another trick since the two first syllables ("go" and "ma"), written in yellow, if read together mean "sesame" because this recipe also contains sesame. And over, cherry blossoms because the phrase "sakura saku" (桜咲く) i.e. "the cherries are blossoming" is an idiom for "passing an exam". All this for about 180 yen ($1.58)
(For a bigger version of this picture both in color and black and white, check my "Japan Arekore" set on Flickr).
0 comments:
Post a Comment