douda akaruku nattarou

"Dou da, akaruku nattarou" ("There, that's brighter, isn't it?") is a dialog caption from a satirical cartoon from about 1928.

While the man in the cartoon is unnamed, he's apparently modeled after Tadasaburō Yamamoto, a businessman from humble roots who grew very successful in the late 19th/early 20th century. He was known for flaunting his enormous wealth.

One night, Yamamoto was leaving after an extravagant meal at a restaurant in Hakodate, when he saw a geisha searching around in the foyer for her shoes, having trouble because of the darkness. He therefore pulled out a ¥100 bill (now worth about ¥1 million, allowing for inflation) and lit it to brighten the area. The incident became famous as an anecdote of nouveau riche behavior.

Years later, an artist named Kunibo Wada heard of the incident and drew a satirical cartoon depicting the situation, entitled "The Age of Nouveau Riche Splendor". The cartoon appears in current Japanese history textbooks and so has some slight fame among the public. It had gained a similar level of popularity as a motif for ASCII art and gag images.