NationStates Jolt Archive

http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/photojournal/images/2004/12/25christ267.jpg
http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/photojournal/images/2004/12/25christ340.jpg


Do they know it's Christmas? (http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/photojournal/11.html)

Subway commuters walk by an advertisement for the DVD release of Mel Gibson's "Passion" in Tokyo's Iidabashi station on Christmas Day, 2004.

The poster juxtaposes one image of a young man climbing a flight of steps and agonizing under the weight of his girlfriend's Christmas present with another image of Jesus Christ carrying his cross on his way to be crucified.

The Japanese copy reads, "Christ was killed and Christmas was born."

On Christmas Eve, generally considered the most romantic day of the year in Japan, the film was all rented out at one video rental store in the popular Roppongi Hills district as couples snuggled up to watch its explicit violence and brutal murder of Jesus.

Sucks to be the J man.

I think I might just have to start loving Japan.

That's so cute

Does sacrilege mean funny?

If so, that picture is sacrilegious as hell.

Does sacrilege mean funny?

If so, that picture is sacrilegious as hell.

sac·ri·lege n. Desecration, profanation, misuse, or theft of something sacred.
sacrilege

n : blasphemous behavior; the act of depriving something of its sacred character; "desecration of the Holy Sabbath" [syn: profanation, desecration, blasphemy]
(http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=2&q=sacrilege)

I just hope those couples renting the movie realise what they're getting...

I knew what sacrilege meant.

I just wanted to say that those pictures were funny in a colorful way.

I also realized the possibilities for wordplay with the "sacrilegious as hell" comment.

Sounds like a nice case of "exaggeration to prove a point" to me. And watching the Passion for a romantic movie? Sounds to me like those Japanese like their blood, guts, and gore a little loo much.

http://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/othrwhtmeat/5.jpg

Sounds like a nice case of "exaggeration to prove a point" to me. And watching the Passion for a romantic movie? Sounds to me like those Japanese like their blood, guts, and gore a little loo much.

Well, there is a large dose of sadomascochism in Japanese culture...

No.

Rather I'm confused what kind of message their trying to make. I think their trying to be funny.

I'm one of the most fundy christians on here, or so it seems. But I don't find anything sacriligious in that poster.

I'm one of the most fundy christians on here, or so it seems. But I don't find anything sacriligious in that poster.
I'm sorry, but I've just gotta say "no shit" to that.

Seeing as most Japanese aren't Christian anyway(they're mostly Buddhists and Shinto)...

Aw, maybe it could have been phrased a little less bluntly, but all in all, it's harmless and pretty funny. I 'm Roman Catholic, and therefore, according to evangelical Christians spawn of Hell, so I would believe that they would find it more offensive.

Dude, that guy seriously reminds me of that priest from Trigun (Wolfwood (?)) coz they both are carrying some huge cross!

Japan as a whole is not strongly religious. Less than 1% of their population are Christian. Most japanese follow buddhist and shinto teachings loosely. They wouldn't really care about such things as what Jesus' death is said to symbolise.

I thought the tagline and picture was harmlessly funny.