Tag: Japan

THIS ONE TAKES THE CAKE

The Tokyo Midtown complex marked its three-year anniversary with a 6m-high strawberry cream sponge cake called “Smile Cake, Happy Cake.”

If you like a little intrigue with your museums, a Japanese Imperial Army spy research center in Kawasaki was reopened “as a museum on spying and subversive activities.” Among the cool things on display are designs for balloon bombs that were planned for use against the US, and stuff to make biological and chemical weapons.

It was reported that the Chinese factory worker at the center of the poisoned gyoza scandal committed the crime because he was miffed at not getting a full-time position and also because his wife was not paid a bonus. So poison your boss’s gyoza, dude!

Which leads to our Headline of the Week, courtesy of The Asahi Shimbun: “Dumpling suspect ‘a quiet, kind child.'”

Runner-up, also from the Asahi: “For the record: I ate soy-glazed ‘dango'” (from a story on Cabinet ministers’ Twitter messages).

Kazuhiro Mori became the first Japanese in 17 years to win a medal at the Track Cycling World Championships when he finished third in the men’s scratch race in Copenhagen.

OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK

It was noted that after six months in office, Justice Minister Keiko Chiba has failed to authorize a single execution of a death-row prisoner.

The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare is organizing an 8,000km boat cruise for relatives of servicemen who were killed at sea during World War II.

A 40-year-old Russian sailor was awarded ¥500,000 by a court in Hokkaido for emotional distress resulting from a 1997 sting operation in which he was busted for trading a gun for a used car.

It was revealed that the Tokyo Medical Examiner’s Office “mixed up the bodies of two elderly men and conducted an autopsy on a man who didn’t need one.”

The Japan Mint is selling newly pressed ¥1,000 coins featuring the likeness of 19th-century samurai Ryoma Sakamoto for ¥6,000 apiece. Hey, hang on a minute…

GO FIGURE

Estimating the cost of competing at the elite level at ¥20 million a year, two-time Olympic figure skater Fumie Suguri made a public plea for sponsorship funding.

In other news from the ice, the future of Japanese figure skating looks to be secure after Yuzuru Hanyu and Kanako Murakami won the men’s and women’s world junior titles.

Disgraced sumo wrestler Asashoryu held a press conference in his native Mongolia, telling reporters he “didn’t commit any violent acts” after all, despite retiring last month after being accused of beating up a man outside a bar in a drunken rage.

Urawa Reds soccer team officials launched “Project Eagle,” unleashing a few birds of prey to chase pesky ducks away from their training field. The ducks, it seems, were leaving plenty of droppings and feathers on the pitch.

Teenage golf phenom Ryo Ishikawa skipped a US PGA Tour event so that he could attend his high school graduation ceremony.

A new museum is opening this summer at Yahoo Dome in Fukuoka to honor the life and times of baseball legend Sadaharu Oh, who still holds the all-time home run record of 868 (no asterisk required).

A gold medal from the first modern Olympic Games held in Athens in 1896 was stolen from a Tokyo museum.

YOU MUST BE HIGH

A research group led by a professor of neurophysiology at the University of Tokyo claims to have identified a chemical in the brain that “creates effects similar to those of marijuana.” The scientists say their findings could eventually help people lose weight, which makes us wonder what they’ve been smoking.

A new book called The Great Tokyo Air Raid: Records of Korean Victims, Part III is being described as the “first comprehensive study of the damage done to Korean residents in wartime Tokyo.” We suppose parts I and II were about the fun that the Koreans had during the war.

The newly established Consumer Affairs Agency is mulling whether to cancel an information hotline that was intended to combat a rise in food mislabeling scandals. The agency said that most of the calls “were general consultations or complaints, such as being tricked into buying an expensive item.”

It was revealed that the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties allowed a museum in Niigata to display 14 Buddhist statues designated as national treasures even though an earlier exhibit was riddled with “spiders and other bugs.”

THE LADIES’ SECTION

Japan Airlines announced that it would disband its powerhouse women’s basketball team, known as the Rabbits, after the 2010-11 season due to its financial woes.

A 13-year-old girl in Kagoshima diagnosed with gender identity disorder will be allowed to attend school as a boy starting in April.

A retired Japanese diplomat was acquitted by an Athens court for the murder of his daughter in 2008, but his Greek wife was sentenced to life in prison for the crime.

A judge in Nara tossed out a lawsuit by the family of a 32-year-old woman who died during childbirth after being turned away by 19 hospitals.

The owner of a ryokan in Shizuoka has converted part of her facility into a museum to memorialize an incident 42 years ago in which a desperate Japanese-Korean man holed up in the inn for five days after killing two yakuza.

BUSTED!

Police in Nagoya arrested a 57-year-old motorist who tooled along with a motorcycle gang as it obstructed traffic, ignored red lights, and otherwise behaved badly. “I used to be a member of a biker gang a long time ago, and I couldn’t help but drive together with them,” the man was quoted as saying.

In Kitakyushu, a 34-year-old man was arrested for ramming his car into a bosozoku gang and killing an 18-year-old motorcyclist.

A 52-year-old doctor in Shinjuku who was busted for selling over 300,000 tablets of prescription tranquilizer to a gangster reportedely said “I thought I would be attacked if I refused.”

A 43-year-old executive at a cosmetics company was arrested for stalking his ex-girlfriend after he sent emails “threatening to publish humiliating photos of her online.”

The National Tax Agency demanded ¥800 million in back taxes and penalties from the Japanese arm of Credit Suisse Securities after discovering that about 100 employees failed to declare some ¥2 billion.

A Japanese executive at Citibank in Tokyo was accused of dodging ¥30 million in income taxes by “pretending to live overseas.”

THE LOVE BUG

An Akita Prefecture company marked Valentine’s Day with a line of cakes and candies shaped like rhinoceros beetles. Sweets maker Komatsu Honten said the little buggers sell out during their limited run each year.

While there wasn’t any worm-shaped candy inside, apples imprinted with hearts and love messages did big business for the Caloria Japan Company in Aomori Prefecture in the weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day.

A Miyagi couple injected some spice into their marriage, getting arrested for separate crimes on the same day. The husband was nabbed for stealing a game console from a truck, while his wife was taken into custody for allegedly embezzling funds from her employer.

Versatile winter meal oden still has a prominent place in the hearts of many Japanese, ranked as the nation’s favorite one-pot dish in a survey by Kibun Foods Inc

HOLY SMOKES!

White ash and steam could be seen spewing from the sea when an underwater volcano known as Fukutokuoka no Ba erupted just north of Iwo Jima.

In Hiroshima, the municipal government announced plans to re-examine the effects of the radioactive “black rain” that fell on the city after the atomic bombing in 1945.

Over 240 babies took part in a traditional “crying sumo” tournament at a temple in Nagasaki. The little gaffers faced off two at a time, and the first one to bawl was declared the winner.

A 25-year-old unemployed man in Kanagawa Prefecture is in hot water-both with the cops and on the home front-after falsely claiming that he’d been mugged and robbed of over ¥400,000. He didn’t want his wife to find out that he had no money or job.

Believe it or not, police sent nearly 40 cop cars and 140 officers to track down the culprits in the alleged robbery mentioned above, perhaps because the bogus victim said the muggers were “two foreign-looking men.”

Eleven-year-old elementary school student Rina Fujisawa recently passed a qualifying exam to become the youngest-ever professional Go player.

IT’S ABOUT TIME

It was reported that the National Police Agency is considering measures aimed at regulating the sales of DVDs, books and magazines that feature “junior idols”-underage models who strike sexually suggestive poses.

An NPO called the DoggyBag Committee found that 90 percent of Japanese approve of taking home leftovers from restaurants. Doggy bags are illegal in Japan due to fears over hygiene.

Nippon Professional Baseball, the sport’s governing body, said that Japan would follow the “universal count” when it comes to balls and strikes. In other words, no more “2 and 3” counts.

A consortium of 24 Japanese architectural firms has developed a new type of earthquake-proof shelter known as the j.Pod, which is “strong enough to withstand the collapse of a 10-ton second-floor room.”

7-Eleven became the first conbini chain in Japan to offer official city services like issuing residence and personal seal certification.

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said it plans to establish safety guidelines for robots, including “crash tests, emergency brake tests and experiments to assess the effects that heat and humidity can have on a robot’s performance.”

LIGHTS OUT

In recognition of the fact that employees “feel uncomfortable about leaving the office when their colleagues are still working,” officials at Shiseido’s Ginza HQ have started turning off lights in their building at 10pm. Anyone still toiling away at that hour “must submit a written apology to their superiors, explaining the reason why they had to stay at the office until late.”

The ticket reservation website of the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space in Ikebukuro was shut down by the so-called Gumblar computer virus.

Toyama is set to become the first city in Japan to use an electric-powered bus on a regular route. The vehicle, manufactured by Hino Motors and operated by the Hokuriku Electric Power Co, produces just one-third of the CO2 of a standard diesel bus.

Waseda University was forced to cough up ¥90 million because wind turbines it helped install at 19 elementary and junior high schools in Ibaraki failed to generate the promised amount of electricity.

7-Eleven unveiled a store in Kyoto that has solar panels and a charger for electric vehicles.

Prime Minister Hatoyama withdrew his support of a proposed bill to videotape police interrogations, saying it “could be deemed as criticism of public prosecutors.”

The Agency for Cultural Affairs said it is interested in relaxing media rules pertaining to the principle of “fair use.” The move has been met with opposition by publishing industry groups, though Reg Dunlap gives it a big thumbs-up.

WHATEVER FLOATS YOUR BOAT

A 52-year-old man who was offered a job as a school principal in Yokohama was later found to have a criminal record-for snapping pics of a woman’s cleavage on a bus. The man, whose cellphone was found to contain dozens of such images, said it was just his hobby, but he did turn down the teaching job “for personal reasons.”

A 52-year-old Nagoya municipal worker was acquitted of groping a 28-year-old woman on a local train. The woman said the ojisan rubbed his leg against hers, but cops were unable to find any fiber from the accused on the alleged victim’s clothes.

A group of 1,200 companies that goes by the catchy name The Japan Stone Industry Association has entered a project with researchers from Kyushu University to try to make headstones at gravesites sturdier in the event of an earthquake.

In Kyoto, a small dog named Boo is attracting his share of tourists after being dressed up in ninja gear, complete with a small sword.