I used chatgpt for this so no idea if it’s valid.
Here is a full translation of all the Japanese text from the magazine cover. (Some phrases are stylized or old-fashioned “magazine hype,” so I’ve translated them naturally but kept the tone.)
American Police
(アメリカンポリス)
Top-right: 定価 1,800円 — “Fixed price: 1,800 yen”
Blue header: ワールド・ワイド・プレス — “World Wide Press” Wild Mook 44 — (Mook = magazine + book)
Main Yellow Text (Center-left column)
アメリカの熱気とニオイが、立派にポリスたちをもちメリットいっぱいのぞこんだ32ページ！ ページをめくるキミの手が、あつくなる！！
“A full 32 pages packed with the heat and atmosphere of America and its police! Your hands will get hot as you turn the pages!”
Middle Text Block
アメリカポリスの特殊部隊 “Special Units of the American Police”
SWAT大特集
“Special Feature: SWAT”
ロサンゼルス・ポリス アトランタ・ポリス フィラデルフィア・ポリス “Los Angeles Police Atlanta Police Philadelphia Police”
SWATを中心に、ポリスの攻撃力について迫っています。 緊迫した突入、制圧の作戦がわかる！！ “Focusing on SWAT, we explore the offensive capability of the police. Learn about high-tension entry and suppression tactics!”
極秘ファイル：SWAT攻撃マニュアル “Top-secret file: SWAT assault manual”
ビッグ・プレゼント!!
“Big Giveaway!!”
とっておきのアメリカン・ポリス・プレゼントを 抽選でドッサリ大放出！ “A massive lottery giveaway of special American police goods!”
**アメリカン・ポリスのウソ・ホンベン
BEST 218** “American Police: Truths & Lies — BEST 218”
Right-side Column
素晴らしきかなアメリカンポリスの世界 “The wonderful world of the American police”
ポリス映画・TVについて語ろう！！ ポリスの歴史を語ろう！！ 武力を伴ったポリスの権力について考える！！ そして『ワイルダー・ザーン(ザ・ソウル？)』をさぐる！！ “Let’s talk about police movies and TV!! Let’s discuss the history of the police!! Let’s consider police authority and the use of force!! And let’s explore the ‘wilder side’ of the police!!” (“ワイルダー・ザーン” seems to be a stylized or foreign phrase used for flavor.)
〈アメリカン〉ポリス 映画・TVカタログ “American Police: Movie & TV Catalog”
Bottom-right (small text)
監修 水野晴郎 “Supervised by: Haruo Mizuno” (a known Japanese film critic)
Editorial Advisor | Haruo Mizuno (repeated in English)
If you want, I can also: 📌 translate the cover into smoother natural English magazine wording 📌 identify the foods shown 📌 explain the cultural context behind this type of 80s–90s Japanese “mook” magazines
Very cool and interesting. Thanks! 😮
Law and order the Muck bang division . These are their stories dong dong
I see at least 3 different fast food chains in a single meal. Now that’s dedication
What’s the cup barely visible on the left? I’m wondering if that one explains the gigantic taco.
“Be the American the Japanese thinks you are”
“what layout would you like for your magazine?”
“Eeehhh… Just gimme the ‘benadryl’”
Ohhh. Cyber!
Damn it… Now I’m hungry…
Uhh, is no one going to ask why this is like $18??
Closer to $12 at current exchange, and a cursory search suggests some popular magazines are 1500yen per issue, so doesn’t actually seem that off.
Man it has been ages since I had to exchange, I’m shocked at how different it is, although I have to remember it’s been bloody 12 years since I left 😱
I’m old.
I’m one hypnotic frenzied writing session away from a giant winding post about how magazines gave us curated, focused cross-sections of the world around us, and how we interacted with them before the dopamine reptile brain event horizon era. I really have a lot of thoughts on this.
I don’t know if this is real and I almost don’t want to
I used to go to work by public transport for many years before smartphones where a thing. Every day I want to the store in the train station and browsed / bought magazines. It was expensive but I miss it dearly.
I tried it again a few years ago but it’s not the same. A lot of information is really available online. So I bought only niece magazines focused on medieval history or those cheap stories, everything else just wasn’t intending any more.
My wallet can taste this meal. That whole table of food was only $37.
Uh maybe like 5 bucks in 1987
So we’re not going to talk about the “wild mook” in the upper left?
Let’s talk about it. I have absolutely no idea. Is this setting like “obvious plant”?
Multiple fountain drinks weren’t enough so he called in the can of root beer for backup
That’s multitasking! You can’t even see his boot on the throat of an immigrant underneath the table.
What’s the doubled-over ketchup/avocado waffle running along the left forearm
Might be a chalupa of some kind
The McTaco 🤢
My eyes are such that I can’t tell if the script on that cardboard container is Tamil, Thai, AI, or something else.
This is made more difficult by google search continuing to suck out loud and returning results that include nicknames for people and TikTok home recipe challenges instead of historical facts on international menu items.
Even “verbatim” barely works anymore.
Anyone know what other names the McTaco may have gone by in the past?
That picture is AI. Meanwhile the magazine picture also has food on the table from Carl’s Jr, so the taco could just be from a different restaurant.
Mcdonalds has never made a taco.
Something from Red Burrito perhaps? Based solely on the Carl’s Jr stuff on the table.
You mean Green Burrito?
