Anabu-kin-chan

My, Grandma, what big testicles you have!

Long Version	Short Version

anabu_long.mov - anabu_short.mov - Japanese Anabuki movie page

From: nick@alexa.com (Nick Chaffee)
To: "'alex@stinky.com'" 
Subject: RE: Odd advertisement
Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2000 10:02:55 -0700

It's an ad for a construction company that builds "mansions", or large concrete-block style apartment buildings. The theme is Little Red Riding Hood. It seems (although I can't be positive) that the name for her in Japan is accidentally similar to the name of the company. (Company is Anabuki, LRRH is called Anabu-something.) It's possible, though, that they modified the name to make the ad plausible/cute. [A friend says it is called Ookami to Akazukin (wolf and red hood) in Japanese, I think."] The product they're advertising is a particular kind of Mansion, named "Saabasu Mansion." It could mean something, but I don't know what.

Text of the ad (long version):

Announcer: The new campaign girl for Anabuki Builders is the girl you know so well...Anabu-kin-chan! (Little Red Riding Hood!)

Announcer: What's this? All the animals of the forest are here, too! All together, let's read with spirit. 1...2...

Chorus of girls' voices: Anabu-kin-chan!

Anabu-kin-chan: Hai! (=I'm ready!)

Singing:
It makes your dreams expand and grow, Saabasu Mansion
It makes your hopes expand and grow, Saabasu Mansion
It also makes your chest expand, expand, expand...

Anabu-kin-chan, seeing enormous expanded raccoon testicles: Wow!

Anabu-kin-chan: Saabasu Mansion

2nd announcer: Anabuki Builders

From: mercedes@yin.interaccess.com                                                  
Date: 21 Oct 2000 16:17:48 -0500
To: alex@stinky.com
Subject: anabu-kin-chan

I dunno if anyone has sent this to you yet -- apparently that animal isn't a raccoon, but a 'tanuki', which is a raccoon dog native to Japan. In folklore the tanuki is said to have large testicles...

http://www.harapan.co.jp/english/JPImage_e/tanuki.htm:

"Sometimes you see Tanuki dolls with a bottle of Sake, Japanese rice wine. This Tanuki wares cloth, but usually this kind of statue is naked, and... Tanuki is famous for big balls. Senjojiki, literally means a thousand Tatami space is a word to indicate its size. In Takahata Isao's animation movie "Tanuki Ponpoko" is based on various legends of Tanuki. The story is struggle of Tanuki against human being, who developed Tanuki's mountains into huge residential site. Finally Tanuki lose and those who can disguise lived as human-being ever after... You can see Tanuki utilizes his balls as parachute for desperate suicide attack and a big treasure ship to send out those Tanuki who can't disguise as human-being... As refereed in Ponpoko, in Kagawa in Shikoku Island, A Tanuki named Kincho is very famous."

-erin