
Lamb chops with lemongrass and cumin are a feast for the senses
'During the summers in Kamakura, the part of Japan where I grew up in, my grandmother would bring out a round cast-iron griddle to cook Genghis Khan Mongolian barbecue and invite the neighbors,' Sonoko Sakai writes in her cookbook 'Wafu Cooking,' a collection of recipes from around the world adapted to use Japanese ingredients or techniques. It's a style of cooking known as wafu.
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Washington Post
an hour ago
- Washington Post
Top South Korean court listens to ‘Baby Shark,' rejects copyright suit
South Korea's Supreme Court threw out a six-year copyright claim against the producers of the K-pop earworm 'Baby Shark' on Thursday, ruling that the claimant — a U.S. children's entertainer who produced a version of the track in 2011 — could not claim ownership of the catchy song.


Fast Company
3 hours ago
- Fast Company
What the Labubu craze says about the future of brand strategy
Labubu, the bug-eyed elves from Beijing, might just be the unlikeliest face of global brand disruption. But the viral figurines, sold in blind boxes across Asia, Europe, and the Americas, are helping rewrite the rules of consumer engagement and revealing what the future of global brands might look like. Their success isn't really about toys; it's about building a new kind of consumer community. Pop Mart, the brand behind Labubu, has built a business on orchestrating demand, emotion, and engagement at scale. In the first half of 2024, the company posted RMB 6.65 billion in revenue (roughly $920 million), tripled its profits year-on-year, and reached a $40 billion market capitalization, more than double that of U.S. toy giants Hasbro and Mattel combined. It recently told investors to expect a 350% year-on-year profit surge for the first half of 2025. What makes Labubu exceptional is that it represents one of China's first truly organic cultural exports. It's a phenomenon driven by its community of fans, rather than top-down orchestration. A TikTok moment Born from the imagination of Hong Kong-based illustrator Kasing Lung, the 'ugly-cute' dolls were catapulted into the spotlight after Blackpink's Lisa was spotted carrying a plush version. That moment triggered a viral TikTok surge and helped drive a 726.6% increase in Labubu-related revenue, now accounting for 25% of Pop Mart's total. What we're seeing isn't a one-off success, it's a structural shift in how cultural IP is created, scaled, and consumed globally. Chinese consumer innovation is entering a new phase, moving from platforms and hardware to emotionally resonant, creator-led IP. These fandom-driven communities bypass traditional media gatekeepers entirely. Other Chinese firms are accelerating this shift. Xiaomi, Miniso, and Heytea are part of a new generation of brands not competing on price or scale, but by building fan communities, embedding emotion, and turning cultural resonance into business strategy. The orchestration of desire Labubu's rise is no accident. Sold in 'blind boxes'—sealed packaging that hides the variant inside—it's more than clever merchandising. It's behavioral design. The randomized reward system mirrors gaming mechanics, tapping into dopamine loops and repeat engagement. Over 1.7 million TikTok videos tagged #Labubu feature unboxings. Limited editions, like the Rainbow Labubu, have fetched over $150,000 at auction. Instead of relying on loyalty programs or sales funnels, the brand creates micro-moments of surprise that make shopping feel like play. Its 66.8% gross margin reflects not just operational efficiency, but emotional value. The retail strategy—vending machines, roboshops, and immersive flagships—is designed for experience, not efficiency. In New York, teens queue outside Pop Mart's SoHo flagship not to shop, but to swap figurines, livestream unboxings, or hunt for rare Labubu variants—mimicking sneaker culture. From product to platform This emotional engagement mirrors moves by other Chinese innovators. Xiaomi, once a low-cost smartphone player, has evolved into a lifestyle platform spanning wearables, TVs, EVs, and smart home devices. Its loyal Mi Fan community is central to its success by participating in product development. This two-way relationship cuts marketing costs and builds loyalty. Online forums, feedback channels, and fan events make Xiaomi feel less like a company and more like a community. Miniso, too, has leaned into aesthetic curation and scarcity. Its co-branded collections with Sanrio, Marvel, and Coca-Cola go viral on social platforms, while its treasure-hunt store layout fuels impulse discovery. Despite affordable price points, it achieves performance that rivals luxury retailers—proving emotional design can scale. At the center of this shift is aesthetic fluency. Pop Mart's roboshops now span 25 countries, including the U.S., France, and Australia. Flagship stores in New York and Los Angeles draw Gen Z crowds reminiscent of Supreme drops. The design of Labubu—quirky, ironic, expressive—taps directly into Gen Z's appetite for memeable, imperfect symbols of self-expression. This isn't imitation. China is exporting design-native communities that speak to youth culture through visual language. Monetizing emotion at scale Chinese brands are also redefining how emotion scales. While legacy Western players rely on storytelling and identity marketing, their Chinese counterparts are building infrastructure for emotional engagement. Heytea treats each product launch—whether a limited-edition cheese tea or a regional collaboration—as an event, amplified through influencers, teaser campaigns, and fan buzz. Its minimalist, Instagrammable stores are designed for social interaction, turning queues into part of the experience. Co-branded drops with luxury names like Fendi and seasonal exclusives fuel emotional attachment. This isn't just clever marketing—it's a system that turns a beverage into a lifestyle, and a brand into a community. That same emotional infrastructure powers Labubu's rise into fandom. Rare figurines flip for 5 to 30 times their retail value on Xianyu, Alibaba's resale platform, some with blockchain verification. Police raids on counterfeit 'Lafufu' dolls signal Labubu's ascent to luxury-like status, making it a new asset class: IP with emotional and economic value, validated in real time. What Western brands can learn Some Western executives may dismiss blind boxes and roboshops as quirky or culturally niche. But under the surface lies a global truth: Consumers crave emotion, novelty, and community. Labubu's rise shows how brands can scale through visual culture that travels without translation. No slogan, no storyline, just design. It spreads like a physical meme, interpreted across cultures from Seoul to Paris. The core question is no longer 'What's the story?' It's 'What's the emotion we're scaling?' Chinese brands are showing that strategy today is built from small, orchestrated moments that add up to immersive communities. They're blurring the lines between product and platform, commerce and culture. The old playbook—position, promote, push—was built for mass marketing and one-way messaging. Today's leading brands thrive on feedback loops, cocreation, and community-driven agility. The next wave of global brands? It's tempting to view Pop Mart as a regional curiosity. That would be a mistake. Labubu may look like a viral toy, but it's also a case study in how design, emotion, and communities converge into strategic advantage. What ties these brands together is not just design or digital presence—it's the way they build and sustain fan communities. Labubu isn't a preview, it's proof. And for global brands still running on legacy logic, it's time to catch up.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Military wife says American Airlines accidentally charged her $3,600 after she flew to visit hubby on base— and refused to refund her: ‘Not very American'
This sky-high charge was hardly fare. A traveling mom says American Airlines bilked her out of more than $3000 following a ticketing error — and initially refused to refund her the money. The peeved passenger, known only as Katie, took to TikTok to tell the ticketing tale, publicly pleading for the carrier to make the situation right. 'American Airlines accidentally charged me thousands of dollars, and now they're refusing to pay me back,' the Californian claimed at the outset of her viral video, which clocked up 1.6 million views. Katie explained that her husband was in the military, and that she and her five-month-old baby had traveled to Japan to visit him there. Rather than obtain a return ticket, crafty Katie decided to book her flight back to America using airline miles gained through a credit card. 'I'm pretty savvy with using credit card points and airline miles, so I'd been checking the American Airlines site daily for an award ticket to open up,' she subsequently told the Daily Mail. 'When one finally became available, I booked it and immediately called American Airlines to add my five-month-old as a lap infant.' An airline employee informed her that she would have to pay an additional $386 fee for her baby, which she paid for over the phone. However, a receipt revealed that Katie was charged not just $386 — but also an additional $3,674 for 'a second full-price ticket under her name.' Katie called back and an American Airlines rep allegedly assured her that she would be refunded the $3,674.11 within a week. Upon check-in at Okinawa Airport, a Japanese gate agent was 'confused' by the fact that there were two tickets in Katie's name — the one purchased with credit card points and the $3,674 one processed in error. 'I had two tickets in my name, on the same flight, under the same confirmation code,' the mom said. Despite the gate agent 'assuring' the mom that she was using the award ticket, a refund never came through when she arrived back in the US. At home, Katie claims she spent close to '50 hours' on hold with various American Airlines staff who were unable to resolve the situation. After weeks of chasing up the airline, she was purportedly informed that she was ineligible for a refund because the Japanese gate agent had checked her in with the erroneous $3,674 ticket. 'I had this huge weight on my chest knowing a massive corporation had taken thousands of dollars from me, and it would keep me up at night,' Katie said — but saying she turned to TikTok in a last-ditch effort to try and get her money back. The public pleading worked — with the mom's video instantly going viral and eventually attracting American Airlines' attention. 'Boosting this for you! Never flying American Airlines after hearing about this,' one supporter vowed. 'You deserve your money back.' 'Not very 'American' of American Airlines to do this to a military mom who was traveling solo,' another said. Soon after, Katie received a call from the airline saying she would be getting a refund for the charge as well as a 7,500-mile bonus as an 'apology.' The 'vindicated' mom said it spoke to the power of social media to pressure companies into acting ethically. 'It's incredibly disappointing that such a large corporation can fail its customers this badly,' she stated. American Airlines told The Post in a statement: 'Our team has been in touch with this customer and offered her an apology, refunded her in full and offered her a gesture of goodwill.' Solve the daily Crossword