かっこ悪い(Kakkowarui… “(adj) unattractive; ugly; unstylish; uncool”).

That’s what Yuko shouted when she saw the Japanese language version of Apple’s Guided Tour of Leopard.
She wasn’t talking about the computer software itself… but the presenter of the video.

Weird that… because I had a different response to the English language version. Rather than coming across as ‘uncool’, the presenter came across as ‘smug bastard!’ ;)

That got me thinking. The Japanese image of Apple (relative to other PCs) is very different to the Western image of Apple (relative to the PC world). (Well, that’s how it appears to my western eyes)

Here in the West, Apple has this ‘cool, stylish’, ‘arty-farty’ (well to some anyway) image, but overpriced and smug.
In Japan, overpriced is something you cannot say about Mac and Apple kit. It’s seriously cheap over there. Perhaps this is because Apple is finding it harder to sell there than it does elsewhere in the main global markets (US and Europe).

In Japan, you conform! So, buying an Apple Mac seems rather ‘sticking out like a sore thumb’.
But then, Apple doesn’t seem to have this ‘style’ and ‘cool’ image either. So, in a rather contradictory way, they still seem geeky and uncool just like any other PC.