-----Original Message-----
From: owner-ffml@ffml.fanfic.com [mailto:owner-ffml@ffml.fanfic.com]On
Behalf Of Miko
Sent: Monday, 21 September 1998 2:42

[snip]

Just a little oddball Japanese trivia, based on the story our friend
told us.  Can anyone confirm or deny whether any Japanese use answering
machines???  ^_^  (Probably by private mail -- this is really spam after
all).

It's shown in manga occasionally.  An example that comes to mind
is the Video Girl Ai manga IIRC.

I rather imagine that it's a part of the Westernisation of Japanese
culture... or people are simply getting used to the things.

The refusal of businessmen to use the things would be appropriate
given that they would either *be* or *need to be seen to be*
conservative, and have conservative values as a result.  Since
most manga (that we read) shows teenage protagonists, they 
might be much more likely to actually leave a message.

To get back to the original point, I think that the answering
machine segment of the story is not at all inappropriate.  Nabiki
is *exactly* the kind of person who would buy a phone with an
integrated answering machine.  However, how Akane would *feel*
about using one, however....  (I think she would leave a message,
but feel awkward about it, whereas Soun would probably not leave
a message at all, since he is of an older generation.)

--
David Eddy - Senior Consultant, Progress Software Melbourne
dje@progress.com

Screening Coordinator and Subbing Bunny, Melbourne Anime Society
My home page is at http://nabiki.newberry.edu/DEddy