A team of sociologists are planning an experiment in isolation. They send an American, a Frenchman and a Japanese man to a deserted island, and arrange to come back and pick them up in a year's time to see how they have adapted. The sociologists leave, and the three men decide to split up the tasks amongst themselves.
"I'm an engineer," says the American, "So I'll handle building a shelter." He turns to the Frenchman and says, "You French are pretty good cooks - why don't you handle the cooking?"
The Frenchman agrees, and the American turns to the Japanese man, "That leaves you to organise the supplies," he says. The Japanese man agrees and each man sets about his tasks.
A year passes, and the sociologists return to see how the men have done. They expect to find three desperate men, unhappy with having to live on the island, but instead find a huge wooden house with verandahs and porches and balconies.
The American comes to greet them, and when they express their surprise about the house he just shrugs and says, "Yeah, well, I had a lot of raw materials, so I kind of went to town and did the place up."
The team are amazed and are shown inside to the kitchen where they are greeted with the most amazing smell of delicious food. The Frenchman sees their surprise and just shrugs, "I had lots to work with," he says, "This island has loads of edible herbs and plants"
The team sit down to eat and are about to start when one of them enquires about the Japanese man.
"Oh, we don't know what happened to him," explains the American, "he ran off into the woods to sort out the supplies and hasn't been seen since." They all agree that they should find the man, and a search party is organised.
They make it about 100 yards into the woods, when the Japanese man jumps out from behind a tree and shouts: "SUPPLIES!!"