Tag: Random Japan

KIDS THESE DAYS

A newspaper survey revealed that 26 percent of female high school students say using a cellphone is their favorite after-school activity, while just 11 percent of boys say so.

On the other hand, 21 percent of guys said they devote themselves to video games, but just 6 percent of girls do.

After a subway car in Nagoya was found covered in graffiti, an official with the local transportation bureau said it had been “decades” since such a thing had happened in the city.

A teenager who had been hospitalized since eating tainted beef at a yakinuku restaurant in April became the fifth person to die from an E. coli outbreak in Toyama.

Cops in Miyagi believe that a total of 89 gangsters have received quake-related welfare loans from the government despite a requirement that applicants submit a formal declaration stating they are not yakuza members.

A LIKELY STORY

A burly American golfer at Tama Hills found himself part of a unique “hole-in-one” when he fell into an eight-foot deep sinkhole that opened up beneath him on the fairway. He climbed out and finished his round, as you do.

Mountain climber Nobukazu Kuriki was forced to abandon his climb up Mount Everest-the mountain with the biggest tits in the world, as the boys from Monty Python once pointed out-just 1,000 meters from the summit when crows ate his food supply.

It was reported that Princess Mako, the oldest daughter of Prince Akishino and Princess Kiko, said on her 20th birthday that “she will try to act appropriately as an adult as she has come of age.” Where’s the fun in that? Time to party, we say.

Need proof that Japan has gone cat crazy? It may have all started with Hello Kitty, but now we have a couple who created a “cat town,” a mall operator who started a “cat idol group,” and a virtual town that elected a cat as mayor.

“Noda enjoyed loach soup in Seoul on Tuesday night,” proclaimed the headline on the Kyodo story, referring to Japan PM Yoshihiko Noda, who famously compared himself to a loach in an election speech.

A man was arrested for leaving the dead body of his dear old dad in a closet in Kanagawa. No relation to a rotting corpse found in a wooden box in a Kanagawa apartment, vacant since May. Is there a shortage of cemeteries in Kanagawa, by any chance?

SIC TRANSIT

An 82-year-old man in Osaka drove his car a distance of 1km along railway tracks on the Nara line. The man said he “panicked” when, after accidentally steering onto the tracks, the crossing gates began closing ahead of an approaching train.

A quick-thinking passenger was credited with averting a disaster when he grabbed the wheel of a tour bus whose driver fell unconscious on a highway in Hokkaido.

A government study group has recommended that air traffic controllers be banned from bringing PCs and cellphones to work to prevent the leak of “sensitive information.”

Hawaiian Airlines issued an apology after one of its planes improperly taxied onto a runway at Kansai Airport, forcing an approaching ANA cargo plane to abandon its approach a mere two minutes before it was scheduled to land.

The Metropolitan Police Department says that the increase in the number of people who commute by bicycle following the March 11 disaster is responsible for the drastic rise in bike accidents in Tokyo. There were 56 such crashes in April 2010, but 400 during the same month this year, according to the MPD.

NICE BOOBS ON THE DEAD GUY

Headline of the Week: “Autopsy shows man found dead in Nagano Prefecture had breast enlargement surgery” (via The Mainichi Daily News)

Close runner-up (via The Tokyo Reporter): “Deflation cutting hand-job prices to the bone” (on depression-induced discounts in shady massage joints… as low as ¥2,700 in some places, in case you were wondering)

A team of Japanese researchers who came up with a wasabi fire alarm, which wakes people up by releasing a cloud of wasabi mist in burning rooms, were honored with the Ig Nobel prize for chemistry by Harvard University.

The Japan Racing Association, the local overseers of horse racing here, revoked the license of a top trainer over his ties to the yakuza. Apparently the guy had been swindled out of some ¥10 million by the Yamaguchi-gumi.

The Japan Boxing Commission told the Kameda boys to avoid ties with gangsters after several top yakuza members were spotted ringside during Koki Kameda’s WBC title fight in August at the Budokan.

The owner of a bunch of sex clubs in Osaka staffed by married women was charged with evading some ¥46 million in taxes. He now faces a ¥62 million fine.

Say what? A rugby player was banned for 30 days by the union after saying to some players on a team from Iwate Prefecture, “The quake must have screwed up your minds.” The witty jab was delivered during a scrum.

New Zealand rugby legend John Kirwan stepped down as Japan’s national rugby team coach in the wake of the Brave Blossoms’ disappointing World Cup campaign, in which they failed to win a match.

THE BIG FREEZE

The first snowfall of the season was recorded on October 3 in Asahikawa, Hokkaido. It had been 113 years since snow fell so early in the year in Japan.

The Chinese government denied a request by Fuji Heavy Industries to enter into a joint venture with a midsize domestic automaker in Dalian.

Owners of Korean restaurants are up in arms over new safety guidelines that require them to cook meat “at more than 60 degrees Celsius for at least two minutes.” The regulations are in response to an E. Coli outbreak from a raw-beef dish that killed four people and sickened dozens this spring.

Headline of the Week: “Problematic Wild Goats on Kyushu Islands Put to Good Use Through Eco-weeding Project” (via The Mainichi Daily News)

YA DON’T SAY

Typhoon Roke didn’t slow down testing of a new maglev high-speed train in Yamanashi Prefecture, which apparently passed with flying colors during the storm.

Two guys who run a company in Hokkaido called alibi.com-that makes up bogus background info for people applying for loans, jobs, etc-were in trouble with Johnny Law… for making up bogus info. “Since that’s our business, we provided a false explanation,” reasoned one of the accused.

Yakult Swallows outfielder Aaron Guiel hung up the cleats after a five-year spell in Japan that saw him belt 90 home runs. Back injuries forced the former MLB player to call it a career and head back to his native Canada.

A story in The Asahi Shimbun said a 132-meter long ferry called the Yotei Maru 2, docked at a maritime museum in Odaiba, can be yours for the taking, provided you have a place to moor the vessel.

Not surprisingly, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism reported that “land prices have tumbled in the three prefectures of northeastern Japan most affected by the March 11 disaster.” Some property in Miyagi Prefecture has plummeted more than 18 percent. Now that’s a toxic market.

On the other side of the coin, a spokeswoman for the Candle House chain said that sales of candles increased about 50 percent after March 11.

Yukio Akagariyama became the first Japanese billiards player to win the World 9-Ball Championship in 13 years when he beat Ronnie Alcano of the Philippines in the final in Doha.

au will start selling Apple’s iPhone in Japan, and local cellphone producers fear the worst.

In other news from the cellphone sector, NTT DoCoMo is coming out with a phone that has a cover, or jacket, capable of “measuring bad breath, body fat and even radiation.”

A security guard working on a cash delivery truck in Saitama was shot in both knees by a man who snatched a bag from him before taking off on a motorbike. The bag reportedly contained only a few documents and no cash.

GOOD LOVIN’ GONE BAD

A 42-year-old man in Italy was charged with killing his 24-year-old girlfriend after binding her to her friend with rope after a night of clubbing. The trio was apparently “performing a Japanese sado-masochist technique known as shibari” when things went wrong and one of the girls suffocated.

A jeweler in Otsu put 14 small 0.01-carat diamonds on sale for ¥100 each to try to bring people into his store. It worked-over 20 people lined up in front of the shop before it opened.

A soccer game in the Belgian League was stopped when Japanese goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima took exception to opposing fans chanting “Kawashima, Fukushima.” An enraged Kawashima left the field in tears and later called the chants “unforgiveable.”

The lone surviving pine tree out of thousands on tsunami-hit Takata Matsubara beach in Iwate Prefecture is in failing health with dead buds, discolored pine cones, and brown leaves. Damaged roots are thought to be the cause and a hotter-than-hell summer didn’t help.

A small wooden boat with nine people on board was stopped by the Coast Guard in the Sea of Japan near the Noto Peninsula. One passenger told officers that the boat was from North Korea and they were trying to get to South Korea.

A capsule house designed in the 1960s by famed “Metabolist” architect Kisho Kurokawa was put on display in Roppongi.

Japanese teen actors Shota Sometani and Fumi Nikaido won the Marcello Mastroianni Award for best young actor and actress at the Venice International Film Festival for their work in a movie called Himizu.

Another Japanese film, Kotoko, took home the festival’s Orizzonti award for “full-length feature films that reflect new trends in international film.”

The 13-year-old son of a Japanese banker killed in the World Trade Center attacks in 2001 gave an emotional speech at the Ground Zero ceremony in New York honoring the victims on the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

Two Russian bombers buzzed Japanese airspace, prompting Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura to send a protest to Moscow through diplomatic channels.

A 24-year-old Chiba man was arrested for stealing money from the bank account of a female university student and killing her by suffocating her with a plastic bag.

YEAH, THANKS FOR THAT…

At a ceremony in Boston, the president of the Japan-America Society of New Hampshire was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette. The honor was in recognition of the man’s efforts to promote “friendly Japan-US relations by raising awareness of the 1905 Treaty of Portsmouth,” whatever that is.

Reassuring absolutely no one, newly installed Defense Minister Yasuo Ichikawa labeled himself an “amateur” when it comes to national security issues.

Meanwhile, the new justice minister “expressed reluctance” about enforcing the death penalty.

An advisory council reporting to the culture minister recommended that Japan nominate Mt Fuji and the city of Kamakura as UNESCO World Heritage sites.

One year after the Akatsuki planetary probe failed in its attempt to enter the orbit of Venus, JAXA says the spacecraft may be capable of making another try in 2015.

AND THE WINNER IS…

A Japanese director named Takahisa Zeze won an Innovation Award at the Montreal World Film Festival and captivated the crowd when he started his acceptance speech with the words, “I am Japanese. Are you doing good?”

Another attending Japanese filmmaker in Montreal, Masato Harada, was doing pretty well as his movie Chronicle of My Mother took the Special Grand Prix.

In the wake of entertainer Shinsuke Shimada’s abrupt retirement from his TV career over ties to the yakuza, one top police official noted in The Yomiuri Shimbun, “It seems many showbiz types’ first interaction with crime groups comes when they ask the gangs to solve problems for them, such as collecting unpaid appearance fees or breaking off relationships with members of the opposite sex.”

Former Japan soccer coach Zico has a new gig after the Brazilian legend was named coach of Iraq’s national team.

Meanwhile, the unfortunately named Dunga, another former Brazilian soccer star who, like Zico, once played in the J. League, was also reported to be getting a new job.

Dunga was set to take the helm of a club team in Qatar.

YEAH, THAT’LL HAPPEN

The former director of the US government’s Japan Affairs Office demanded that Kyodo News retract an article that quoted him as saying the Japanese are “masters of manipulation and extortion.”

The agriculture ministry said Japan will seek UNESCO World Heritage status for kaiseki cuisine.

The government is considering an across-the-board pay cut of 5-10 percent for nationally elected politicians. The scheme would net ¥290 billion, to be used for disaster relief.

Headline of the Week: “Mosses and Sea Slugs Offer Comfort in Difficult Times” (via The Asahi Shimbun)