Random Japan

STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

         The municipality of Nagaoka in Niigata has entered into a sister-city partnership with the Hawaiian capital of Honolulu. Which is interesting, because Nagaoka’s most famous son is Isoroku Yamamoto-commander-in-chief of the fleet that attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

   The mother of AKB48 performer Minami Takahashi-one of the group’s most popular members-was arrested for having sex with a 15-year-old boy.

   The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Consumer Agency will distribute 500,000 leaflets urging people to get rid of non-childproof cigarette lighters.

   Bottom Story of the Week: “Researchers have discovered that a wooden strip unearthed at an ancient ruins site in Ibaraki Prefecture bore a ‘kanji’ Chinese character meaning the unit for a length of cloth, which had been in use in an ancient capital in western Japan.” (via Mainichi Daily News)

stats

          580,000 Construction workers involved in the building of Tokyo Sky Tree, which was officially completed on March 4

60 Number of Japanese headed to North Korea next month to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung

   325 Eggs consumed by an average Japanese person in a year

   1 Countries whose per capita egg consumption exceeds Japan’s. Only Mexicans love their huevos more

SUFFER THE CHICKENS

         It was reported that 4.37 million chickens in northeastern Japan died following the March 11 earthquake due to disruptions in the supply of feed from overseas.

   A court in Aichi found that a municipal worker who committed suicide in 2002 was the victim of “power harassment.” Apparently, the guy’s boss would openly harangue his subordinates, and the poor fella couldn’t cope.

   A 37-year-old woman in Machida killed her 65-year-old mother “following an argument over nutritional breakfasts.”

   A research team at Tokyo University has found that people who are “surrounded by more acquaintances and tools” benefit from elevated brain functioning compared to their lonely, tool-less counterparts.

SMAP’s Takuya Kimura Caught Speeding

Obviously A Mayor Criminal Master Mind  

Twitter  

Hijacks A Bus  

A Finger Tip

For Your Thoughts

Kan hero, or irate meddler?

Jury out on if he thwarted Tepco pullout at No. 1

By REIJI YOSHIDA

Staff writer

Was he a hero who saved eastern Japan from nuclear catastrophe or an ill-tempered leader who only exacerbated the meltdown crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 plant last March?

That’s the critical question surrounding former Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who tried from Tokyo to control the unfolding crisis at the troubled nuclear plant.

On Feb. 28, a private investigation commission published a report on the Fukushima meltdowns that has unleashed media criticism against the short-tempered Kan’s “micromanagement” of the crisis response, as described in detail in the 404-page report.