Pretz, Pocky and Mikado 百力滋と帝

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

A coworker of mine who went to China on business gave me Pretz he had bought at a Chinese airport. This may not look strange to you, but is strange to me, who is Japanese, because of no Japanese on the package. These Chinese characters (which sounds strange, too because they are also used in Japan) aren't Japanese, but Chinese. The product name (Pretz or 百力滋) and the company's name (Glico or 格力高) in Japanese are "プリッツ" and "グリコ" respectively. I have never imagined that daily Japanese snacks are called differently in other countries. I also found on the Internet that the company's another product, Pocky (ポッキー), was sold under the name of "Mikado" in Europe.

By the way, does anyone remember that Louis Litt on Suits fought a coworker over the ownership of a cat, named Mikado. Mikado, meaning Emperor, seems a favorite Japanese word in the U.S. and Europe. 

同僚から中国みやげでもらったプリッツの箱を見てびっくり。プリッツって百力滋、グリコって格力高っていうのね。しかもポッキーはヨーロッパでは Mikado っていう名前で売られているんですって。日本のお菓子が海外では違う名前で売られているなんて考えもしなかった。  ちなみに、米国ドラマの Suits で、ルイスがミカドという名前の猫の所有権をめぐって同僚と大喧嘩していたエピソードを思いだした。欧米人ってミカド好きなのね。