Why was this shop so popular?
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- Опубликовано: 29 авг 2024
- Hannah Witton, Mike Boyd and Geoff Marshall discuss a question about a surprisingly successful shop.
LATERAL is a weekly podcast about interesting questions and even more interesting answers, hosted by Tom Scott. For business enquiries, contestant appearances or question submissions, visit www.lateralcas...
GUESTS:
Hannah Witton: @hannahwitton, / hannahwitton
Mike Boyd: @MikeBoyd
Geoff Marshall: @geofftech2, / geofftech
HOST: Tom Scott.
QUESTION PRODUCER: David Bodycombe.
RECORDED AT: The Podcast Studios, Dublin.
EDITED BY: Julie Hassett.
GRAPHICS: Chris Hanel at Support Class. Assistant: Dillon Pentz.
MUSIC: Karl-Ola Kjellholm ('Private Detective'/'Agrumes', courtesy of epidemicsound.com).
FORMAT: Pad 26 Limited/Labyrinth Games Ltd.
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: David Bodycombe and Tom Scott.
© Pad 26 Limited (www.pad26.com) / Labyrinth Games Ltd. 2023.
Darn. My guess was umbrellas and the two kiosks were near a train station. People getting on didn't need them but those getting off did.
If only people in Japan think as logically as you do!
Well, if you ever want to make a living in Japan now you know what to do! 😂
i was going to say something about train tickets but we were on the same track
That is pretty clever though
Initial thoughts: two kiosks opposite the street selling transport passes (bus, metro, train, etc.), near a leaf (end/border of network). One kiosk is on the side that goes toward the core of the city. So people would renew/buy their pass before going to work.
My initial thought was it was going to be umbrellas, and only one shop is in a position by an awning or something to shield you from the rain, so everyone lines up at the kiosk where they can stay dry while they wait. But then I realized that probably wouldn't fit with the "once every few months" part (I can't say I'm an expert on weather in Japan, but I'd assume it rains more often than that, lol)
My guess was similar, except that I figured that one of the kiosks was inside the fare-paid area of a transit station while the other was not. (As for why 'every few months'? I've never been to Japan, but in some places, transit passes are sold seasonally, e.g. valid for January through March, or April through June. This causes a run on the ticket-sellers at the start of every 3rd month, as all the passes expire and need to be replaced.)
my initial thought was umbrella's and 1 of the kiosks is in a part of the road that is hard to get to when it's raining because of puddles.
i would totally go to the other kiosk out of the fallacy that its bad luck would even out eventually.
But once there got to be a queue, I would think that half of the people would start trotting across the street rather than wait.
My first guess was that these were two newsstands, and the creator of a popular manga owned one -- when a new issue came out both would have it but you'd want to get it from (and maybe have it signed by) the author.
It wouldn't quite be a kiosk, but the ticket booth in front of the Kokugikan (main sumo arena in the Ryogoku region of Tokyo), would frequently have the coach of Shikoroyama Stable (former Sekiwake Terao, an extremely popular wrestler from the 80s) stationed there and selling tickets. People would wait in a huge line for a chance to buy a ticket from him rather than other windows with much smaller wait times.
Incidentally, he passed away just a few days ago, RIP.
My idea was along similar lines. One of the kiosks just had a different salesperson every so often which was popular, like a nephew helping his uncle or subbing in uncle's holidays who is somewhat famous or similar.
Kiosks here are like small konbini (the Japanese implementation of convenience stores). Generally, they carry some newspapers, phone cards, maybe cigarettes, some snacks, some drinks. They're often not very big, maybe like a tollbooth, 2 meters by 2 meters.
As for owning a car - you can always rent parking space. The problem is that that's going to be *expensive*. And a lot of apartment and office buildings have underground parking. The real reason for not owning a car in large cities is that the streets are incredibly congested during rush hours, and the subways are a lot faster for getting between points.
My original thought was that while they both sold the same thing, the two kiosks didn't both have signage in the same language or people running the kiosk who could speak all of the same languages. So every few months whenever vacations happen, one shop becomes much more popular because all the tourists from, say, English-speaking countries, need to buy an umbrella or a transit pass or whatever, and they all cue up beside the kiosk with signs they can read
I thought it was about that shop where a dog (shiba inu?) was sometimes standing in for the owner. And people were queuing because who wouldn't want to buy your stuff from a cute dog rather than a boring human.
My guess: the kiosks were selling public transit passes. I figured one of the kiosks was inside the fare-paid area of a transit station while the other was not, thus explaining the difference in numbers. As for why 'every few months'? I've never been to Japan, but in some places, transit passes are sold seasonally, e.g. valid for January through March, or April through June, etc.. This causes a run on the ticket-sellers at the start of every 3rd month, as all the passes expire and need to be replaced.
I never understood why people would buy lottery tickets until I watched an episode of The Rookie. They were talking about being really down and having that ticket might give you hope.
Then it clicked.
Re: Japanese parking. As far as personal vehicles go, yes, in order to purchase and own a "white plate" vehicle in your own name, you need a 'proof of parking' certificate which are issued and regulated by the police. 'Kei' yellow plate cars and all registered commercial vehicles are exempt from providing a proof of parking, but there are still very few, if any places in Japan that allow on-street parking. So yes, generally correct.
I think more people know people who've won the lottery than they think. I used to work in casinos and a few players had won the lottery and had it recorded by the casino as part of their enhanced due diligence. Not one of them ever mentioned it to other players though, they all pretended they never won.
My guess was baseball tickets, baseball is popular in Japan, the tickets are sold in kiosks near the stadium, and home/away would explain one being more popular than the other(home means you're more likely to buy on the day rather than online in advance since travelling to a stadium only to not get in would be terrible).
The right answer surprised me, I knew gambling was popular in Japan, but I didn't think the lottery or scratch cards would be a very Japanese thing.
How "two stores selling identical things in japan, but one is more popular" didn't get "superstition and ritual" immediately is beyond me.
I was screaming "it has the unlucky house number" from the get go.
I once saw a convenience store in San Francisco that advertised itself as a "lucky spot" to buy lottery tickets, because they had (allegedly) sold an above-average number of winning tickets. I don't know how big of an impact it has on their sales, though.
Human psychology and superstition is both fascinating and a little depressing. People associate the most arbitrary and random things with the ability to influence one's luck, and it's so obviously complete nonsense. That said, I do believe that having faith in a superstition can put one in the right frame of mind to promote the chances of success, e.g. I'm going to play well in the game because I have my lucky boots on - positive reinforcement.
my guess is public transport tickets and that there is some sort of an event that happens regularly and one kiosk is near a stop taking people towards the place where the event occurs
This seems like a good example of correlation versus causation.
I was initially thinking something along the lines of superstition and/or lucky numbers, but that one had an address composed of lucky numbers while the other had an "unlucky" address. But that they sold candy or similar, not lotto tickets.
I love how Mike is on about the kiosks not sellin what he wants; when its clear as day at this pt that neither him nor the other two answerers have a clue what variety some kiosks offer xD
My initial guess was half there - I was thinking one kiosk was in a different region so they were the closest place that sold a certain ticket that had a bigger jackpot.
Just to add info to the "Know people who have won lotto" list - I've known over 20 people who have won the major prize in an Australian lotto. Though this isn't as strange as it sounds as they were all a part of the same syndicate, so they all won with the same ticket.
Tom speaking in Scotish accent is something I need an hour of
I thought perhaps one kiosk was for suppliers and the other for customers - like one sold in bulk and the other sold for individuals. 🙂
So, since I haven't read my guesses here already, I will provide them.
My first guess had to do with Maids.
Maybe the two Kiosks just where selling food aswell and one sells food that was prepared by a Maid, lilke in a Maid Cafe and therefore all the weebs go to this Kiosk to buy the food.
Just like some people prefer the Maid Cafes for their 'service' over regular ones.
Then when they gave the hint, that it has to do with seasonal stuff or stuff that happens all 3-6 months in a year, I was thinking about an idol or sth. coming to one of the kiosks to sign magazines or something.
And near the end, when they talked about gambling, I first thought of some gacha stuff, like these capsule toys or somethig.
And that one Kiosk migth be a bit more popular, since they might be both on the same street, but one is in akihabara and the other one isn't.
Well turns out it all was wrong.
In the end I even thought it might have to do with feng shui and the positons of the shops.
3:52 I refuse thi believe this being released today is just a coincidence
This is why we need full episodes uploaded…
5:21 wait what? Tom has greenscreen? I didnt realise that is a green screen
It's Tom's greenscreen, of course it is perfectly keyed and lit so it doesn't look like a greenscreen :P
That doesn't look green screen. It looks more like they've covered something with a coloured block but haven't adjusted it when he moved his head
FYI, "Gentleman's Agreement" has negative connotations in the USA. One of them had Japan agree not to allow their citizens to come to the USA when USA laws forbade their entry. The other is a movie starring Gregory Peck that dealt with anti-Semitism in the 1940s.
Clocks don't change in Japan, Tom...
Not with that attitude
They have no daylight savings time.
@@lucaselvisas it should be!
@@SuicVnot with that latitude
@@Volt64boltyep we have to be special and change our clocks pointlessly tho lmO
Yay, the first one I got right the very first second without actually knowing the answer. It's one of those staple things that are still bought at kiosks in my country.
2:10 I always see phone/phone case kiosks, that's the first thing I think of when I think "kiosk"
My first guess was that one was cheaper but I'd have never guessed the right answer
Ohh Geoff has a little Lateral tube roundel in the background. How very on brand for him 😄
I'm surprised the guy who knows 2 people who have 'won' the lottery took so long. That was one of my initial guesses. I assumed one kiosk had had more winning tickets, hence being more popular, but I couldn't work out why it would be busier every few months. I know you get rollovers in the UK lottery, but I think they usually get won every few weeks.
I thought it would be like, kiosk number 11 or 7 or 3 or whatever which is a lucky or unlucky number.
My guess was, given who asked this question:
Were they both selling porn magazines, and the more popular kiosk of the two was discretely hidden away in a back alley or something so bashful japanese people would not be seen buying porn.
My guess is this has something to do with gambling, like how pachinko parlors can't legally give you money as a reward.
I don’t even play the lottery and I got this one right away.
my first guess was "a cat lives in the popular one"
I was thinking mochi because of the show Tamako Market
👍
This one was fun.
Initial guess: One is sometimes run by a dog
they cut out them talking about the lateral sign :(
I couldn’t concentrate after I looked at Hannah’s third shelf on the left…
Ok a quick google into what kind of content she makes and I now understand.
One is a Maid Kiosk for that portion of time. :p
This reminds me of one of the things you can do in Persona 5/Royal - as a 16/17yo MC (Joker's birthday isn't given, but he's in second-to-last year of high school) - is buy a lottery ticket at a kiosk just outside Shibuya Station (the central hub for your travel destinations and the entrance to Mementos) for RNG to get extra cash to help with your adventures. XD
I wouldn't be surprised if you could buy lottery tickets in some Like A Dragon/Yakuza games, although I guess you could just find an underground gambling den instead and have better odds 🤷♀️
4:23 This part must be so weird for people who haven’t seen the full episode
This time I guessed it before the panel.
I thought it was on a ski slope and people wanted to buy food on the bottom.
At the very start my thought was lotto one is lucky one isn't.
I thought Coffeezilla was on this episode.
Deep-fried lottery ticket.
Unless the lottery is rigged, all tickets of the same series should have equal probability of winning. Even if one store sells 1000 and there is a chance 1 person would win and the other store sells only 10 tickets, there would be a chance 0.01 person would win - it is highly probably that for the first few years there might not be a single winner, but as long as the lottery is not rigged, in course of time things will average out and the percentage of winners will be the same for both the kiosks. In any case, the odds of an individual winning the ticket will not be affected by the store from where they buy it, unless of course if they are being sold fake tickets, which I don't think is the case here. So, what I learned from this video is that if you are in Japan, the odds that you will meet a person who understands probability is very low.
I don't think I'll ever win, so I don't buy them. And guess waht? I was right, I've never won!! ...🤔
My guess: Dog selling cigarettes.
May I know why wasn't the whole question revealed to each participant in writing once it's been read out?
Seems inefficient to have the host repeat the question multiple times which is inevitable.
I'd imagine it's because the show is originally aired in a podcast format - it helps listeners, more than anything.
@@coolnecromancer1 Makes sense, and that's why the host does read out the question twice at the beginning, which I think is sufficient for audio listeners?
Just a bit frustrating to hear the participants asks the host to confirm parts of the question or ask specific terms used in the question.
Why should everything be written and given. That spoils the fun of the show. Listening is one of the skills the participants are tested on. If the aim is just to see who has the best information, the entire process can be done in email and a study report uploaded as a text file. Even though the host repeats the question twice in the beginning the participants and the lister may fail to pick up parts of it or get distracted. The show is as much a test of listening comprehension as it is of participant's knowledge and thinking skills. If you find this boring, maybe you should not be watching RUclips videos, go read an academic journal where everything is given directly without any such unnecessary repetition!
@@DelfinaKS Thank you for your essay.
It's part of the show. Often wording in questions is deliberately misleading and it would be much easier to realise the wording is "weird" when you have the question in front of you. Adding another layer of separation makes questions harder and show more interesting.
Mmmm... Self-fulfilling prophecies.
Freshly worn underwear?