Life in the Land of the Rising Sun

Monday, January 22, 2007

So Sad...

Our supermarket is called Seimiya,
And it has its own shopping mall.
Among the shops there is Fujiya,
A delight for one and all.

So cheery and bright was this little store,
Whose fare was pies, cookies, and cake,
Ice cream, candy, boxes of sweets galore,
Heaven that the bakers there make.

I often went there if I had an excuse,
Some little thing to celebrate.
Its cheery store front was so hard to refuse,
And we all loved whatever we ate.

It wasn't just me; all the people in town
Would go there to get sweet, little gifts,
All the wonderful things that could wipe any frown
And give any dark spirit a lift.

But alas, someone found that the top management
Had been making a horrid mistake,
Telling stores to use expired ingredients
When they made their cookies and cake.

The managers said that they saw nothing wrong;
They thought chocolate would last a long time.
But the government would not accept such a song,
And they said it would count as a crime.

It didn't stop there; the problem was far worse,
And it all seemed like someone's bad dream,
For Fujiya's past-date ingredient curse
Also included butter and cream!

The managers said, "We'll take all the blame!"
The government said, "You're damned right!"
And now there is dirt on Fujiya's name,
And in the store there is no light.

It took many decades for this chain to grow
And make everyone fall for its spark.
It took only a week for that spark to go.
Now the shop sits there, shuttered and dark.

fujiyadeath2fujiyadeath1

Corporate corruption can be such a sad thing...

12 Comments:

  • I for one won't miss that annoying Peko-chan statue in front of every store sticking out her tongue at me.

    By Blogger Pandabonium, at 8:26 PM  

  • But Panda-B, don't you know that they all have free-floating, balanced heads? It's so much fun to punch them!

    By Blogger The Moody Minstrel, at 8:53 PM  

  • ooohhh... had you ever tried any of their food? sounds like a death waiting to happen.

    i saw the movie Babel this past weekend. showed life in Japan - not sure how accurate and such... but was amazed at the youth and how crazy they can be!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:41 PM  

  • Ugh...the taste of rancid butter and sour milk is so obvious! Is this how they were caught out? What a shame.

    Where will you go now?

    By Blogger Olivia, at 11:44 PM  

  • They should move their chain to America. There isn't anything they would be charged with here. They might get a small slap-on-the-wrist fine, but they would just pay it, promise not to do it again, and keep making their substandard stuff and if it is 10 cents cheaper than the properly made stuff, they will always find enough buyers to allow them to roll in the dough (pun inflicted).

    By Blogger Don Snabulus, at 3:15 AM  

  • We often shop at 'Not Quite Right' but still check the use-by dates and don't buy their fishy products. Everything is half the price of the supermarkets.

    Anyway, the only supermarket left in the city centre is now closed due to renovations - that Westfield mob who will build a flyover. Our protest was in vain. Meanwhile many small shops that we like including a real fish shop will move away.

    Capitalism certainly is strong in Australia these days and gone are most of the small family shops.
    W.

    By Blogger Peceli and Wendy's Blog, at 11:49 AM  

  • Ack..the server ate my first reply.

    Fujiya had been using cream and butter that were up to a few days past their "use-by" date but not really rancid, so they figured it was still okay. They had also been using chocolate that was considerably older, but as I mentioned, their management insisted chocolate didn't really spoil, and the "use-by" date was only a meaningless formality. The government didn't agree.

    Apparently only stores in the Hokkaido/Northern Tohoku region were involved in the scandal. Shops in my area haven't yet been implicated, but the whole chain is still shut down for investigation. The CEO has also resigned in favor of a new one who is the first not to be a member of the Fujii family. You see, it had been more or less a family-run business since 1910.

    Fujiya was sniffed out (pardon the pun) because another confectioner was caught doing the same thing late last year. That company spilled the beans, telling the government it was a widespread practice. Now virtually every confectioner in the country is under investigation, but so far only Fujiya has been nailed.

    It's a shame. I really liked Fujiya's cake and ice cream. There aren't any other confectioners nearby, so I'll have to drive a bit to get anything.

    By Blogger The Moody Minstrel, at 1:37 PM  

  • Our supermarket is called Seimiya

    Ha...ha...ha, if i read (Seimiya) in my language PinYin that means 死未也?(not dead yet?). Actually, the shop deadly closed now. Amen.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:37 PM  

  • Actually, L.C._D., the Seimiya (清宮) supermarket is unaffected. It's still very much open. It's just the Fujiya cake shop that closed.

    "Not dead yet"...that's pretty funny! Thanks for sharing that!

    By Blogger The Moody Minstrel, at 4:49 PM  

  • Hmm...in Japanese those three Chinese characters would be read "shi matsu ya".

    By Blogger The Moody Minstrel, at 4:50 PM  

  • MM said, It's a shame. I really liked Fujiya's cake and ice cream.

    That could be why the cakes and ice cream taste so good. Soured ingredients. Kidding!

    I was told that foodstuff in cans are still good for awhile after the expiry date. It's not like you'd get food poisoning after eating canned food that has expired a week or so.

    By Blogger HappySurfer, at 6:36 PM  

  • Makes me think what could be lurking on the shelves of some of the cut-rate stores here....

    Maybe better look closer at my emergency milk buys at 7-11

    By Blogger ladybug, at 3:29 AM  

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