I've seen some Japanese films, heard about some others, and read some of their "manga" (comics), and have harbored a suspicion that deep within the Japanese psyche, down where it never shows on the polite, calm, low-crime-rate surface, something is horribly, horribly wrong.

Things like this do not help.

Note the mascots. Yes, the guy on the left is a turd. "Brosz, you pervert," you say. "It's a cute little Ice Cream guy. A chocolate Ice Cream guy. Yeah, that's the ticket."

HAH! Check THIS out. Look! See the big, black flies? What do you suppose this poor guy's kids tell their friends at school when they ask what his daddy does for a living?