Japan is a bit behind the rest of the world when it comes to how illicit drugs are dealt with. Having narcotics investigators arrested for drug possession isn’t a great start, and neither is potentially mistaking little girls’ candy for cocaine.
But sometimes Japan goes so far off the deep end in dealing with drugs that we can’t help but stare, chuckle, and wonder what the heck they were thinking, like the above poster Japanese Twitter user @thisi2internet found.
How to Say No to Drugs
Use our SUTEKI (wonderful) method to say no:
Slurp udon instead of slurping drugs
Use caution when picking what you consume, like choosing good tempura
Take some udon instead of taking drugs
Eat the udon happily
Kindly go home after you’re done eating
Instead of another white powder, have some wheat flour
If you’re at a loss for what to think… we don’t blame you. The poster makes about as much sense in translation as it does in the original. We have so many questions: who is the audience here? Who could this possibly benefit? Why do you have to go home after eating? And what the heck are “T” and “E” all about?
I suppose it kind of makes sense, since the prefecture this posture is from (Kagawa Prefecture) is famous for its udon, especially sanuki udon, a special type of flat noodle. But that’s about where the sense stops and the udon begins.
Japanese netizens similarly had their noodles befuddled:
“I think whoever made this was on drugs.”
“Better to be addicted to udon, I guess?”
“If you start huffing wheat flour, you’re done for.”
“As a resident of Kagawa Prefecture, I apologize.”
One other person pointed out that this poster was the result of a competition to decide what each letter should stand for in the SUTEKI method.
That means either this was the best anyone could come up with, or only one person entered and they had to go with whatever they sent in.
And someone else made a very astute discovery on the poster itself. “He is one-hundred percent taking that shrimp from someone else’s plate lol.”
At the end of the day, while the poster is funny, drug addiction definitely isn’t, and the fact that this is an official poster put out by the prefecture is disappointing. Telling an addict or someone potentially falling into drug use to just eat udon instead is about as effective as telling them to “just say no.”
Source: Twitter/@thisi2internet via My Game News Flash, Hachima Kiko
Read more stories from SoraNews24.
-- Internet commenters wonder what drugs this kid was on when he drew this anti-drug poster
-- Japanese ad campaign shows how to stop babies crying – by slurping udon noodles
-- Japanese cafe creates the ultimate edible pun: udon-uts 【Pics】
- External Link
- https://soranews24.com/2019/03/10/hilarious-japanese-anti-drug-poster-tells-would-be-addicts-to-just-eat-udon-instead/
47 Comments
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Chip Star
“As a resident of Kagawa Prefecture, I apologize.”
Brilliant.
SaikoPhysco
Too many of these anti-drug signs are pointed at the user, when they should be pointed at the Parents. A solid family foundation will keep kids away from drugs much more than anything else.
zones2surf
Nothing like promoting your meibutsu by suggesting it as an alternative to doing drugs!!
Kagawa-ken: Our udon is the cure for drug addiction!!!
SMDH
Strangerland
The translation is actually a pretty good job at translating something somewhat untranslatable.
Maria
Thus showing how little understanding they have of addiction. It would be funny if it weren't shocking miseducation.
Bugle Boy of Company B
slaps forehead Oh, so THAT'S how I beat my addition!!
jcapan
I don't like what he's doing with his noodle.
Ostap Bender
Choose life. Choose your friends.
Joel Tucci
They should have gone with ramen, much more addictive
Aly Rustom
How to Say No to Drugs
Use our SUTEKI (wonderful) method to say no:
Slurp udon instead of slurping drugs
Use caution when picking what you consume, like choosing good tempura
Take some udon instead of taking drugs
Eat the udon happily
Kindly go home after you’re done eating
Instead of another white powder, have some wheat flour
does it work for smoking as well? Can we ask the smokers to eat udon instead of smoking?
papigiulio
You know whats even more hilarious? The amount of wasted money that went into creating this poster. Meetings, nomikais, design agency, printing the posters etc. I'm sure this was an idea that was brought up during a nomikai, because no sober person would be able to come up with this.
gogogo
Drug addiction can be a serious problem, making a joke of it is not going to help at all. How about putting money into clinics and rehabilitation?
Vernon Watts
Scary medical thing about living in Japan is the almost non-existent use of opioid pain medication. Only two instances of medical opioid use is immediately after a traumatic injury and the subsequent surgery or terminal cancer. All other injuries are treated with ineffective pain medication; that's why so many people here turn to alcohol in the hopes of alleviating pain...
AgentX
Yep. How about drink excessively while slurping udon in a smoke-filled room..?
The Japanese are experts at "doing" so much while completely ignoring the root of all problems.
IloveCoffee
I don't understand what is the point of an anti-drug poster if drugs are already illegal? This would've made more sense if drugs were legal, which they should be. What i do to my own body is not of your business, as long as i am not harming anybody else, i should be free to harm myself as i please. If you want to prevent people from harming themselves, then you should make sugar illegal, alcohol illegal, even crossing the street should be illegal.
Deadforgood
Its odd how Japan demonizes drugs but advocates drinking until vomiting your udon all over the street and passing out on the curb. I'm not sure how many people die from alcohol each year in Japan, but I am confident that the number is higher than illegal drugs.
oldman_13
That's just about useful an advice as a former first lady telling people to just say no when it comes to drugs. We all know how 'well' that turned out, huh?
geronimo2006
Agreed Deadforgood. Japan has way bigger problems with alcohol, smoking, overwork and pachinko than illegal drugs.
Mocheake
They obviously didn't use their noodle when putting this together.
Strangerland
I don't think the person was purposefully making a joke of it. I think it was just a naive but honest thought from someone who probably really (fortunately) does not understand drug addiction.
Strangerland
I don't think that anyone is advocating that. Also, I'm not understanding who 'Japan' refers to - the government? The people?
Deadforgood
To clarify, I am referring to the government. And the Japanese society does advocate excessive drinking over drug abuse. Which is why you have advertisements for alcohol on every train, every commercial break, almost every bus, etc.
I really don't like bashing Japan, but one of the things they really don't do right is social cleanliness with things like smoking, drinking, and public behavior (when drunk). Allowing smoking indoors is absolutely unacceptable and there is really no reason to drink until you vomit or pass out on the street/train unless you have an alcohol problem, which I see far too often. I guess all I'm saying is, a lot more people probably die from alcohol or tobacco related causes that illegal drugs and the government doesn't seem to do much about it and would rather push an anti-drug image. Maybe its because Japan has an aged demographic, a majority of old men in power who would rather keep their nostalgic customs rather than look to improve Japan's future.
Ricky Kaminski13
You can just feel the level of deep knowledge, cutting edge scientific research and sophistication it must have taken to come up with this gem of a campaign. Gotta love them bureaucrats. They will save us all! ( from taking officials seriously that is )
kohakuebisu
An anti drug poster, presumably paid for by an anti drugs budget, that mostly just promotes Sanuki udon noodles.
Belittling drug addiction so you can promote a regional product. No wonders that person from Kagawa is embarrassed. I think that's actually worse than "just say no". "Just say no" was simply naive and ignored the societal factors driving addiction. This udon thing treats addiction as less important than selling a few more noodles.
Kenji Fujimori
Yakuza distribute meth, coccaine and every other narcotic imaginable in Japan, the gov turns a blind eye. Have you ever seen any anti-yakuza related posters around? of course not, cause the yakz would storm in the gov buildings causing trouble.
Kenji Fujimori
Yakuza are the ones distributing it to kids via teenagers associated to the yakuza for distribution, how else is it now reaching schools etc here. That is the REALITY.
Deadforgood
Actually, yes. Everywhere. They just call it 暴力団体 but that means the same thing as yakuza. It's in contracts, its on every police box, its in stations sometimes, onsens, pools, etc. You are right about the gov turning a blind eye though to a lot of the stuff they do.
smithinjapan
The Netizen comebacks are great on this one.
Toasted Heretic
Interesting. Any links or evidence to back up your statement?
Drugs should be legalized. Cut out the dealers and cartels, slap a tax on it and generate income.
bullfighter
I didn’t know there was one single way the rest of the world did it. A number of countries in Asia including China have the death penalty for dealing and very long jail sentences for possession. Since Japan does not have the death penalty for dealing, I suppose you could say it lags the more advanced Asian countries.
Yes, many times. They are quite common although they are typically text only rather than a cartoon with text.
Richardson
I imagine a "would-be addict" is just a step away from being an OD-Wannabe
Toasted Heretic
Addiction comes in a myriad of forms and not just substance abuse. Nobody wants to be an addict, be it porn, internet, alcohol, drugs etc. And not all addicts OD. Some are functioning addicts, some can go off the rails.
Obviously, people who enjoy the occasional smoke/drink etc are not addicts. Everything in moderation.
nandakandamanda
This article misses out the Koshi part of "Suteki na koshi" where to any Udon afficionado the real meaning lies.
The 'koshi' is what makes or breaks the consistency and taste of Udon, like the firmness of spaghetti noodles.
But 'koshi' also means backbone, i.e. guts or bravery. The message is 'Have some backbone!' On the left of the poster you see the youngster saying "NO!", and the other speech bubble says "Have the wonderful backbone to refuse drugs".
The whole thing is word-play, perhaps completely out of the ballpark, yes, but there is a dash of reason to the rhyme, hidden in there after all.
Goodlucktoyou
Hate drugs. Anything is better than nothing.
factchecker
What a childish response to a serious problem.
Bugle Boy of Company B
Worked for me.
Luddite
The stupid in this is so strong, it burns.
kurisupisu
Whoever put together this poster has absolutely no idea!
Strangerland
I envy them.
JeffLee
I dont think it's odd. I'm from Canada, where the authorities really need to "demonize" narcotics instead of supporting or justifying them. The nation's junkies are exacting an enormous toll on Canadian society, a problem that Japan, with its safe, clean people and streets, is blissfully free from.
AgentX
Exactly this.