Fun / foon Tokyo

Thursday, February 26, 2004

Sex and the city, Shibuya style
girl 'scouting' girl

Sex and the city, Tokyo style
Shibuya, in Japan's capital, is a magnet to youth. But many fear their children falling victim to its seedier side.
Independent, UK - 26 Feb
.....scouts hover like hawks, preying on the gullible, the curious and the greedy. Usually recognisable thanks to their perma-tans and designer clothes, the male scouts can instantly size up their female prey for their sexual marketability.
"We aim for women around 18 to 20 and rank them A to D, for beautiful to ugly, and S for saiko (best)," says 20-year-old Kenichi Sato, who scouts for a strip club. "I'm on a commission. When I deliver the girls to the club, and provided they stay for a set time, I get paid ¥40,000 to ¥50,000 [£195 to £245]." ...Recently, female scouts, such as those employed by Yoshisato, have also started working the area. ...."If you're a young girl, even a fat, ugly one, the scouts will bug you," 19-year-old Emi Ishii says.
----More scout pix here....

Posted by trek/taro at 4:58 PM JST
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Japan squeaks at the Billgatus of Borg

Japan's lapdog yaps at Billgatus of Borg...
Japan watchdog raids Microsoft
Wednesday, February 25, 2004 Posted: 11:59 PM EST (0459 GMT)
...Microsoft Japan is suspected of attaching improper restrictive conditions when signing software deals with Japanese personal computer manufacturers, such as requiring that Japanese companies allow infringement of their patents.o

Posted by trek/taro at 3:43 PM JST
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Radar monitoring around-the-clock for the Yellow Peril
nipple

Yellow sand monitoring starts

NHK News / Thursday, February 26, 2004 11:23:29 AM
Japan's Environment Ministry has set up the first radar system exclusively for monitoring around-the-clock how yellow sand from China is blown to Japan. The yellow sand is blown from deserts in China in early spring....

Cytotoxicity of yellow sand in lung epithelial cells
J. Biosci. vol 28; 2003
DISCUSSION: There is a clear association between Asian dust events and enhancement of mortality. During a dust event, a 1⋅7% increase in the risk of death from all causes was observed. Specifically, the relationship between the Asian dust events and deaths from cardiovascular and respiratory causes was strong. This means that people with advanced cardiovascular and respiratory disease may be susceptible to the Asian dust events....

Posted by trek/taro at 3:23 PM JST
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"Fun, fun, fun, till her grandson takes her T-Bird away"

Japanese dinosaurs driving at 104 years old

Driver license holders 65 and older outnumber youths for 1st time
Kyodo / Thursday February 26, 9:20 AM
The number of driver license holders aged 65 and older topped that of those aged 16 to 24 for the first time in 2003, the National Police Agency (NPA) said Thursday. The agency said there were four driver license holders 100 years old or older and that the oldest was a 104-year-old man in Miyazaki Prefecture, who still drives. ....

Posted by trek/taro at 12:48 PM JST
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"Why is this Japanese engineer writing vague, false but polite instructions.

vague, false but polite

Japanese cell phone manual I've working on reads as follows:

"When you has ended with your video-phone, an image does appear depending."

That's it!
The above sentence is just floating alone in the the middle of the page like a turd in a Baptismal Font.
No explaination. No reference. Nothing.
Not unusual. Most Japanese written documents are the same: Instructions as Haiku without direct meaning. Sheesh.

The standard rationalization/apologia goes this this (which in itself is false and vague).

Aimai - ambiguity and the Japanese
Chinmoku - silence in Japanese communication
Haragei - an implicit way of communicating in Japan
Honne to tatemae - private vs. public stance in Japan
Uchi to soto - dual meanings in Japanese human relations

----"The Japanese Mind: Understanding Contemporary Japanese Culture" (Tuttle Publishing 2002, ed. by Roger J. Davies and Osamu Ikeno) essays about Japanese culture and communication.

Posted by trek/taro at 11:11 AM JST
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Japanese are given to non sequiturs
sad looking cat dressed in clothes

Yet another strange non sequitur in a Japanese news story....
Sun Feb 22,10:41 AM ET
Reuters
Hitomi, an Exotic shorthair act, wears a cow outfit during a beauty pageant at a cat park in Tokyo, February 22, 2004. Bird flu has spread to a new species in Asia, scientists said last week, reporting that two house cats in Thailand died of the same strain that has killed 22 people across the continent. REUTERS/Yuriko Nakao

Posted by trek/taro at 8:22 AM JST
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Wednesday, February 25, 2004

George Bush's Japanese TV commerial
Topic: Media
Geo. Bush's CM in Japan

This TV commerial really summarizes Japan's strangest English school, "GABA".
.これでもグループレッスンを信じますか？?Group lesson is the way to go? TV staring the Commander in Chimp, Geo. Bush!

Come now. Everyone say it: "GABA", "GABA", "GABA", "GABA", "GABA", "GABA", "GABA", "GABA", "GABA", "GABA", "GABA", "GABA", "GABA", "GABA"...

Posted by trek/taro at 1:57 PM JST
Updated: Friday, July 30, 2004 4:26 PM KDT
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Tuesday, February 24, 2004

iPod zombies stalk the 52nd floor of Roppongi Hills
iPod zombies stalk the halls of the Mori Art Museum....
iPod on Tokyo street

iPods provide museum audio-guide
Macworld UK, 24 Feb
... Tokyo's brand-new Mori Art Museum launching an audio guide service using Apple's iPod. Visitors to the museum can borrow one of 20 iPods at no charge, and listen to an audio guide of the current exhibition...

Posted by trek/taro at 11:13 AM JST
Updated: Tuesday, February 24, 2004 11:15 AM JST
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'waitresses in Japan wear their kids in a pouch'
roo pouch

This is not in the least bit true, at least for the past 60 years. If anything, Japanese women take more time off after birth than any developed county on earth.
Sometimes I gotta wonder where people get these zany ideas about Japan?
The waiting game
..few Australians choose to pursue the restaurant waiting game as a career. But professionals do exist.
The Sydney Morning Herald. / February 24, 2004 - 10:08AM
...Lela Radojkovic, manager, Restaurant Balzac...
"The burn-out rate is very high... if you're a woman, you usually quit to have babies. You can't bring your freakin' kids to the restaurant. I love what I do but I also obviously want to have kids one day - what then? I hear that some waitresses in Japan wear their kids in a pouch for the first six months, so maybe that's the go."

Posted by trek/taro at 10:54 AM JST
Updated: Tuesday, February 24, 2004 1:07 PM JST
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Hey, let's build a supercomputer after school
According to the BBC the US Armyis building a second version of Earth on computer to help it prepare for conflicts around the world.
LOOK OUT World Domination Simulator!!!

Hey, gang, let's make our own supercomputer
CNET News.com - 24 feb
... The No. 1 spot on the list is held by the Earth Simulator in Japan,
which can run at more than 35 teraflops, or 35,000 gigaflops. ... raduate course in do-it-yourself supercomputing at the University of San Francisco. On April 3, his students plan to assemble the first "flash mob supercomputer" in the school gym.
... a home-brew computer powerful enough to be added to a list of the world's 500 fastest computers,

Posted by trek/taro at 8:46 AM JST
Updated: Tuesday, February 24, 2004 8:48 AM JST
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Monday, February 23, 2004

Social Security swap agreement signed

Social welfare agreement signed

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: After years of discussion, the Japan and USA have signed an agreement that allows nationals of one country working in the other to gain credits for their social welfare contributions. ...A person working for years in Japan then returning home, would not be able to gain credit for a pension program in either country, despite having paid substantial contributions.
According to the Nikkei, the new program allows US
nationals in Japan and Japanese nationals in the USA to stay out of the host country's social welfare contribution program for 5 years, and instead contribute to their home country program. If they plan to reside in the host country for longer than 5 years, then contributions move to the program in the country of residence, and are also aggregatable once the person returns home.
Via: T E R R I E 'S T A K E -- A weekly roundup of news & information from Terrie Lloyd-- http://www.terrie.com ---General Edition Sunday, 22th February, 2004 Issue No. 267

Posted by trek/taro at 11:09 AM JST
Updated: Monday, February 23, 2004 11:13 AM JST
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Odd Princess of Japan

The Royal baby-machine balks not talks
I was watching this on NHK's Morning Show and noticed that Princess Masako wasn't talking and the clock in the upper-right of the screen is removed whenever the royals are shown. Also I've just found out that there are NO unflattering pictures of Princess Masako {雅子皇太子妃} on the Internet. I'm gonna have to fix that problem, sheesh.

Baby pressure too much for royals
AFP / February 23, 2004
JAPANESE Crown Prince Naruhito has used his 44th birthday to ask for an end to the pressure on his wife to have a second child. The Imperial Household Agency said in December that Crown Princess Masako, a 40-year-old former elite diplomat, would cancel her official duties for a few months to rest up.
Besides the stress of being crown princess, "there has been a lot of pressure on her regarding the issue of our successor", Naruhito told a news conference held prior to his birthday today..
--->Also see the very odd Princess stamps

Posted by trek/taro at 10:04 AM JST
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Sunday, February 22, 2004

Japanese "Love by Mail"
Japan?s Internet dating services: The weird and the dangerous
Tokyo Weekender / feb 20
....Men can pay a fee to have access to the mobile phone numbers of schoolgirls. Often, the male callers arrange to meet the girls, who sign up voluntarily and register their phone numbers. The Japan Internet Association (JIA), a non-governmental organization, reports that one in three high school girls own a mobile phone that has Internet functions. ...more than 30,000 Japanese men pay \500 per month for the privilege of sending romantic e-mails to a computer that responds with pre-programmed scripts. It?s called ?Love by Mail.?
The male subscribers get to choose a virtual girlfriend from a diverse lineup of women including bartenders, flight attendants, office workers and teachers. After making their selection, they begin to date these cyber gals via e-mail. When asked to explain his attraction to his virtual girlfriend.....
Another unnamed subscriber proclaims, ?I dated Hiroko (virtual name) for a while, and I have to confess I became very attached to her. It was hard sometimes to remember Hiroko wasn't real. She would argue with me and ignore me the same way as all my other girlfriends.?
See also the BBC Click Online story.

Posted by trek/taro at 10:09 PM JST
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Elvis is alive in Japan

Ladies and gentlemen - elvis pongi! - live from the rabbit hutch

Via f'ed G.com

Posted by trek/taro at 4:32 PM JST
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Cho cute Japanese

Shamlessly ripped off from the grrrreat Nekobaba site.

Posted by trek/taro at 3:51 PM JST
Updated: Sunday, February 22, 2004 3:51 PM JST
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twisto Toshio

Be sure to click on the PDFs of this twisto artist, Toshio Saeki .
It's art, so don't go whinging about it being NSF, Not Safe for Work. The artsy wallpaper is kool too Download

Posted by trek/taro at 12:58 AM JST
Updated: Sunday, February 22, 2004 12:59 AM JST
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Saturday, February 21, 2004

Have you seen a Lert?
What a farce...the Japanese police haven't clue about terror and won't know what to do if they found a terrorist since their guns are never loaded. Sheesh.
Japan raises security alert against possible terror attack - - Associated Press / Feb 21
Tokyo - Japan ordered riot police to patrol airports and guard nuclear plants and beefed up security at other key facilities nationwide, in a precaution against terror ..the alert sent a shiver through global financial markets, knocking the Japanese yen to a 10-week low against the US dollar on Friday.

Posted by trek/taro at 6:46 PM JST
Updated: Saturday, February 21, 2004 6:50 PM JST
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Alien flu invasion via wild ducks!
I've been watching the mass murder of poultry all day on Japanese TV because I'm home sick with some sort of damn flu. Arrrr. Now I'm on the lookout from those mucking ducks!

Hygiene center destroys 83 chickens from shrine amid bird flu scareTSU, Feb. 21 Kyodo ...Mie prefectural government said Saturday they have destroyed 83 pet chickens kept by a local Shinto shrine due to public concerns over bird flu, although the birds were healthy....The shrine did not want the presence of the birds to scare away visitors amid growing public fears over avian influenza, they said.

Killer bird flu hits new speciesToronto Star / Feb 21... Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan ? all keen to keep the virus from their borders ...likely spread by wild ducks....

Posted by trek/taro at 6:26 PM JST
Updated: Saturday, February 21, 2004 6:30 PM JST
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D'oh! Japanese nuke plant burns, AGAIN!

D'oh! 'Nucular' terror the Japanese Way
This is the third nookyooler fire in Japan: it must be Homer Simpson has found a job in Japan. I used to think Japan was the only country anal-retentive enough to successfully run nuke plants in terms of maintenance and quality security but this is getting laughable. The fire was caused open burning of trash next to the nuke building. Sheesh.

Fire breaks out at Japanese nuclear plant
Seattle Post Intelligencer, Feb 21
TOKYO -- A fire briefly broke out Saturday on the roof of a Japanese nuclear power plant that was shut down for regular inspections ...

Posted by trek/taro at 5:26 PM JST
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Friday, February 20, 2004

Your subway stalker: VAAM+ advertising

I never noticed this while I was in the new Minato Mirai subway but it sounds CREAPful enough for me....via the dottocomu blog:

"A glimpse of the future: interactive ads?
.....an experiment into interactive advertising in the new Minato Mirai subway linking Tokyo's Shibuya with Yokohama: it will have a system set up in a concourse tunnel that detects pedestrian movements via a brace of TV cameras and uses the information to alter the images (art, local information, and advertising) projected on the tunnel walls..."
_

Posted by trek/taro at 3:59 PM JST
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