Smelly sales

A Chinese restaurant has sparked controversy over its hand-made noodles.

The restaurant in Xining, northwestern China’s Qinghai province, was slammed across mainland social media for its displayed slogan “beaten wife, kneaded dough,” South China Morning Post (SCMP) reports.

The slogan refers to an old saying from the Guanzhong plains region, which goes “the more a dough is kneaded the better the noodles taste, the more a wife is beaten the more docile she gets,” according to SCMP.

On 13 April, the local market administration demanded that the eatery take down and destroy the banner that critics said rationalized domestic violence and objectified women.

In Japan, the listing on online stores of used indoor school shoes formerly owned by graduating schoolgirls also received a backlash.

The so-called “uwabaki” or JK shoes are often marked with names, class details, and small personal designs. Some worn pairs have reportedly fetched as much as 50,000 yen ($320) after repeated auctions by online shops, SCMP reports.

A report by Gendai Media pointed to a sexual interest in the shoes, including their smell, as driving demand and sales of the personal belongings of young girls. Experts described the sale by a mother of her 21-year-old daughter’s “uwakabi” used in high school as child sexual abuse.

Self-policing by second-hand trading platforms has started with Mercari, one of Japan’s largest, banning the listing of used items belonging to young women to prevent their fetishization.