Taro's Blog

When I discovered the Beatles, in my early teens, the legendary British band had already disbanded. Initially, I thought they were a comic act. Think about it. The name of the band was the Beetles (カブト虫). Their members consisted of John Lemon (レモン), Ringo (りんご) Starr, Paul McIntosh (マッキントッシュりんご), and George Harisen (張り扇). Their record label was “Apple Corp” (アップルレコード), and they sang “Strawberry Fields Forever” (「いちご畑よ、永遠に」). Or maybe I got confused with the Rutles. The existence of a Japanese comic band called Zutorubi (ずうとるび) at the time also confused me.

And there were Volkswagen Beetle (the bugs) and magic buses. Full of “Love and Peace”. Luckily, Apple Computer at the time was unknown (Apple II was not popular) in Japan. That changed when they released Macintosh in 1984, but that’s another story.

Fast forward to 2025, my son only knew Apple sells iPhones and MacBook Air. He probably doesn’t know what the Mac stands for. I will teach him that it was McCartney, not McDonald’s.