Random Japan

Pizza Hut Japan’s latest promotion gives “golden crust pizza” new meaning

   Rachel Tackett

Though it may not be a traditional holiday dish, pizza is often the perfect entrée for the holiday season. After all, between Christmas and New Years, there’s bound to be an opportunity to throw a party for your friends, and for those who’d rather not slave away in the kitchen for a day, pizza is often the best way to provide food to a group.

Well now Pizza Hut Japan has given us a new reason to party: in its latest promotion, the company is giving away actual gold necklaces worth nearly a thousand dollars each.

That’s right, early next year Pizza Hut will be giving away eight gold necklaces with pendants shaped like pizza slices. Now, while that may not sound like much, each necklace has an estimated value of 80,000 yen (US$770)!

STATS

41.3

Percent of married Japanese couples who say they have sex less than once a month

76

Number of high school girls arrested in a raid of massage parlors in Tokyo in January

5.1 billion

Cups of Pucchin Purin that have been sold since the custard-like snack was introduced in 1972

¥101.94 million

Average amount of assets held by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his 18 cabinet ministers

190,000

Estimated number of abandoned homes in Tokyo

230

Number of female participants at a ninja convention in Tokyo in March

HEADLINES OF THE YEAR

“20 Percent of ‘Worker’ Ants Don’t Work: Study” (Mainichi Japan, Jan 6)

“Tokyo Gov’t Employees Confused over Governor’s Demands to use Twitter” (Mainichi Japan, Jan 30)

“Man Held over Misuse of Interns” (The Yomiuri Shimbun, Feb 22)

“Businessman Suspected of Slashing up to 1,000 Tires in Effort to Meet Women” (Japan Today, Apr 22)

“Remains of Dog Given to Relatives After House Fire Turn Out to be Human” (Mainichi Japan, June 6)

“Monk Matchmaking Event Proves Hit with Ladies Looking for that Enlightened Someone” (Mainichi Japan, June 9)

“Android Teaches Japanese in Vietnam” (The Japan News, Sep 4)

“Popular ‘Ugly but Cute’ Dog Regains Health and Fur” (The Asahi Shimbun, Oct 2)

“Radiation Exposure Study Finds No Abnormality in Fukushima Bull Testis” (Mainichi Japan, Oct 9)

School Girls

To The Rescue

Astronaut Speaks

Robot Listens

Governor Takes Payoff

Resigns

Tokyo earthquake predicted to cause 95 trillion yen loss in Japan’s economy

A government report on damage that could result from a magnitude-7 earthquake below Tokyo has revealed serious vulnerabilities in the capital, the seat of most of the country’s political and economic activities.

The Central Disaster Prevention Council’s report said Japan’s economy would face severe harm in the event of a large-scale earthquake beneath the capital. That damage ranged from decline in productivity due to factory and distribution route damage, to stock and exchange market turmoil, to adverse effects on people’s everyday lives.