Every time you buy a shamisen, God kills a kitten

[Gyrate]

Okay, actually a person kills a kitten. Or two.

A shamisen is a Japanese stringed instrument similar to a lute. According to this site (http://travel.independent.co.uk/ausandpacificrim/japan/story.jsp?story=961):

The shamisen maker was surprisingly young. His family, he said, had been making shamisens for generations. "The best shamisens are made with cat skin," he explained. "It has to be the skin of a virgin kitten which has never been mounted and has therefore not been scratched. We get it from Bangkok these days. We dry it, then stretch it until it's taut like parchment. We use dog skin for the cheaper practice shamisens. Cat skin is much smoother and softer."It's not that I wanted to start up the "killing livestock = okay, killing cats and dogs = bad" argument again, or the "Western cultural values should/should not be imposed upon other cultures" argument again, or even the "hey, these bastards are torturing cute fuzzy animals!" thing again.

Mostly, I suppose, I just wanted to say "ewwww!"

Thank you for your kind attention.

[ChiefScott]

Can you post a link where we may purchase said shamisen? I like music and hate cute fur balls so it'd be like a 2-fer deal for me.

[FairyChatMom]

hmmmm, when I play my accordion, it sounds like someone is torturing cats. I wonder what they used to make the bellows??

[astro]

Don't feel so bad, other (http://diypages.diy-auction.com//johnnysol/godkills.jpg ) things kill kittens too.

[Johnny L.A.]

DAMMIT! You "beat" be to it astro.

Oh well. Here's a larger version (http://web.mit.edu/aram/Public/godkills.jpg) if anyone's interested.

[Gyrate]

Yes, thank you for that, astro -- hence the thread title.

ChiefScott, perhaps one of our Japanese Dopers will send you one. I suspect they're not cheap, however.

And here you thought "more than one way to skin a cat" was just a figure of speech...

[OpalCat]

I think I'm going to be sick :(

[Mudshark]

Originally posted by Johnny L.A.
DAMMIT! You "beat" be to it astro.

Oh well. Here's a larger version (http://web.mit.edu/aram/Public/godkills.jpg) if anyone's interested.


According to that, I've killed nearly 6,000 kittens.

Now we must ask, what the hell are those box things with fangs in the back?

[Sublight]

He's Domo-kun! NHK(Japan's answer to PBS) created him a few years ago as their mascot.

http://cgi2.nhk.or.jp/bunken/BCRI-fr/h08-f1.html (a brief mention from NHK. Note that "BS" in this case stands for Broadcast Satellite)

http://www.tinotopia.com/domo_buying_guide.htm

http://drew.corrupt.net/domo.html (videos!)

[Johnny L.A.]

Now we must ask, what the hell are those box things with fangs in the back?
One of the methods god uses to kill kittens. ;)

[Tsubaki]

Gotta love Domo-kun.