Rickshaw Rally!

January 9, 2004 4:23 PM

Rickshaw Rally! From the same people who brought you "Dispel the Darkness".
posted by mr_roboto (10 comments total)

Protest sites, and a Baptist response.
posted by mr_roboto at 4:44 PM on January 9, 2004

The theme for VBS 2004 is Far-out Far East Rickshaw Rally--Racing to the Son.
They don't know how accurate the title is, considering, as we all know, Jesus was buried in Japan.
FYI, rickshaws, jinrikisha in Japanese, are in service in the many tourist areas of Kyoto. They are typically pulled by college student part-timers making some extra cash, scrappy female ones, too. I've never been in one, don't want to feel colonial, but they always try to talk me into it, even though I'm big.
posted by planetkyoto at 5:08 PM on January 9, 2004

That was certainly an unfortunate name for that game.

I saw one or two rickshaws in Thailand but they were actively outnumbered by tuk-tuks (Three wheeled motorcycle taxi things .)
posted by konolia at 5:54 PM on January 9, 2004

I'm living in Tokyo with my wife (who is Japanese), and personally, I don't find anything particularly offensive about the images presented. Except maybe that font. Sure, it is a little tacky, and they couldn't seem to find any Asian kids, but I really don't think it is worth protesting.
If it was red, white and blue and showed a McDonalds bag instead of a takeout box, and hotdogs in place of sushi, I don't think I'd be very offended. Even swapping the rickshaws for SUVs wouldn't get under my skin.

Now, the whole Christian indoctrination thing - that creeps me out a bit, but to each his own.
posted by bashos_frog at 8:14 PM on January 9, 2004

WTF?

That is all
posted by Windopaene at 8:39 PM on January 9, 2004

Excuse my ignorance, but is this really a giant blowfish kite?

I want one!
posted by sebas at 1:35 AM on January 10, 2004

It is actually a carp (koi), not a blowfish (fugu). It is also more of a banner than a kite. They are flown on Children's day, in households with boys (it used to be a boy's festival). There is also a song.

There is also a Girl's day in March, but there are dolls, not banners on that day.
posted by bashos_frog at 2:15 AM on January 10, 2004

If you really want one let me know. (contact info on site in profile). Maybe I can help. But I'm sure you can find them in larger cities in the US, too.
posted by bashos_frog at 2:18 AM on January 10, 2004

Thanks bashos_frog, much appreciated!

I'll try to find one here in Switzerland, but the lack of any decent size asian community here will probably not help in finding any.

I'm not sure if I want one enough to warrant the postage.
posted by sebas at 2:21 AM on January 10, 2004

Two odd associations about the site.

Lifeway, the company creating Rickshaw Rally, has the motto "Biblical Solutions for Life". I've always associated the use of the word "solutions" this way with software marketing - often bad software marketing. Has it really crept into the world of marketing so much as to make it to sunday school?

Also, when I was in college, we were going to name our band Vacation Bible School. We ended up naming it The Rortys instead.
posted by borkus at 4:08 AM on January 10, 2004