Baseball Bromides (Japanese baseball cards)

December 8, 2009 9:09 AM

Besuboru Bromides (Japanese Baseball Cards) from the collection of John Gall, as featured at A Journey Round My Skull. Here is an earlier essay by Gall about Japanese baseball cards.
posted by OmieWise (4 comments total)

Very cool. A few years ago I was talking with a Japanese visitor and was surprised to hear that his preference for American football made him, to use his word, a "nerd."
posted by exogenous at 9:23 AM on December 8, 2009

Bromide? So that's why the guy in Chrono Trigger wanted me to get the naga bromide. It was a trading card!

Thanks for incidentally solving a childhood mystery.
posted by demiurge at 10:58 AM on December 8, 2009

Fantastic find here, thanks!
posted by vito90 at 1:43 PM on December 8, 2009

From my understanding, in Japanese culture a "bromide" is basically any sort of celebrity photograph. It's now seen as an old-fashioned term, sort of like when my grandfather calls a milkshake a "phosphate." On the other hand, the word has also found usage in video games and otaku culture, where it usually carries the implication of pin-up/cheesecake photography.

So I'm pretty sure the guards in Chrono Trigger just wanted you to retrieve their creepy serpent-woman porn.
posted by Strange Interlude at 6:18 PM on December 8, 2009