The author was not trying to be ironic about living in this concrete slum, Kanto.
Kissui.net/ July 23, 2004
I love Tokyo

Mo' crazy fear of slashers in Japan
Thu Jul 22, 6:25 AM ET
REUTERS/Madre Inc. handout
A Japanese boy models a knife-resistant coat ... released by the maker, Madre in Fukuoka...The coat, made from the same fibres used in police and military knife-proof and bullet-proof vests, is the latest product aimed at providing parental peace of mind in Japanese society horrified by a series of gruesome attacks on children.

Four counts against the traitor Charles Jenkins
Here are the four counts against Sergeant Jenkins:

- two specifications of soliciting other service members to desert, in
violation of Article 82, Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ);

- one specification of desertion, in violation of Article 85, UCMJ;

- one specification of aiding the enemy, in violation of Article 104, UCMJ;

- two specifications of encouraging disloyalty, in violation of Article 134,UCMJ.

More detail on the UCMJ see:
http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/ucmj.htm

Some kind of plea bargain seems now almost certain. He'll be charged with desertion and Japan will have to hand him over under the terms of the SOFA. Much will depend on how sick is really is... he certainly is an alcoholic chain-smoker.

One third of Japanese workers are now disposable temp slaves (the other 2/3s are just slaves)

A third of workers are part-timers, temp staff

The Japan Times, July 23
Part-time and temporary workers comprised 34.6 percent of the nation's workforce in 2003, up 7.1 percentage points from 1999, mainly due to corporate efforts to cut labor costs...
... Some 29.9 percent of the workers said they had became more discontent with their pay due to the debut of merit-based pay. Some 33.3 percent said the congenial atmosphere in their workplaces has deteriorated. ...

Topic: Media
You folks in the "Real World" aka not Japan have got it easy even if you're just a level 3 pitchfork handler. Japan Inc. only hires alien gaijin for careers as level-4-or-lower scoop shovel handlers to scrape up Japanese brain droppings.
5-Tine Manure Fork (for well-composted material)


VS
Eastern-pattern scoop shovel (scrape up the wet nasty stuff)

Climax Bargaining?
Topic: Japanese life
Summer sales are "CLIMAXING" in Shin Yokohama, hee, hee.

eel from the heat
Wednesday was Doyo-no-Ushi-no-Hi(see the IHT/Asahi: July 22, traditionally the hottest day of the year. Everyone is supposed to eat eels in the belief having live-eels helps that metabolism, accelerates perspiration, and make up for the loss of energy and renew strength in the summer heat.



So, I was just sitting around thinking how great to have live eel enema and dinner too .... http://www.stilemedia.com/?v=eels.wmv
Note: If you ain't figured out this eel enema video is not safe for work or for sane people, then you're beyond hope. Also see my old post Eat our eels. Lift our poles.

Japanese govn't fears rabid alien puppies!
Rabies fear tightens Japan puppy imports
Tokyo, Japan, Jul. 21 / UPI -- Japan is expected to ban imports of puppies and kittens less than 10 months old from countries that have had rabies outbreak...

The worst comes to Tokyo
Get ready for the new contender for the world worst film.

THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO!

TOKYO, JAPAN: US movie director Jonathan Frakes receives a bouquet from Japanese actress Masami Nagasawa before a press conference to promote their film "Thunderbirds" in Tokyo, 21 July 2004. The movie will be shown all over Japan from 07 August.
AFP /21 July 2004

The Cute Customs of Japan
Does the "C" stands for cute?

Check out this video of the Cuteness of Customs at Tokyo/Narita airport.
_________________
モ?ベッタ..."Land o' concrete" is a trademark of Taro, et al, Inc.

Japan game center fun! Catching hamsters with tongs & crane

Shop uses hamsters, turtles in crane game

(Mainichi Shimbun, Japan, July 21, 2004)
A Tokyo game center has been forced to stop giving out hamsters and small turtles as prizes after the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's animal protection center lodged a complaint, it has been learned.....
"It's against the spirit of animal protection," a Tokyo official said. "It's not acceptable that they keep hamsters in cases kept in a game box."

Badass breasts (and here's the Japanese science)
Topic: Japanese Tech

Breast augmentation: no leaking or rupture
Modern medicine offers women titanium-coated breast implants
07/15/2004 18:04
...Doctor Kotaro Yoshimura and his colleagues from the University of Tokyo are working on a principally new method of enhancement. Japanese doctors transplant adipose cells from woman's stomach or thighs. The transplantation of adipocytes is used in cosmetology for smoothing out wrinkles or scars. However, the transplantation of a large quantity of adipose tissue, which is practiced for breast enhancement, may kill a part of adipose cells due to the lack of the blood circulation. However, Dr. Yoshimura believes it is possible to avoid such side effects adding stem cells to the transplanted adipose ones. ...
The new method has more chances to gain success. It uses natural cells that will not be seized. Moreover, women will like the idea to get rid of some fat from the stomach for the benefit of their breasts.

Tripod beer photography
Topic: Japanese Tech
Now here's the right way to take pix...
Via JeanSnow

The ONLY Hawaiian food in Tokyo worth eating
The ONLY Hawaiian food in Tokyo worth eating is at Kua 'Aina , run by the ex-sumo tori, Yamato aka George Kalima.

It's 39.5C/103F in Tokyo (Why do people live here?)
Topic: Japanese life
The temperature in Tokyo hit 39.5 degrees Celsius ---that's
100.4 F and NHK Morning News says the temp never dropped below 30 C in the past 24 hours! More than 190 were hospitalized.

Mercury hits record 39.5 C in Tokyo, some 190 ill
TOKYO, July 20, Kyodo -
A heat wave hit central and eastern Japan on Tuesday....Nearly 190 people were taken to hospital with heatstroke nationwide, according to a Kyodo News survey as of 11 p.m.

Four die as heat wave hits Japan
Sydney Morning Herald,
A heat wave in Japan has killed four people, most of them elderly, and left at least 10 others in serious condition in hospital, officials said Friday. ...
Torrential rains flood buildings in Saitama Prefecture
Mainichi wrote:
SAITAMA -- Torrential rains hit northern Saitama Prefecture late Thursday, flooding seven buildings, police and a meteorological observatory said Friday.

Seperated at birth? Charles Jenkins and Ross Perot

All Harajuku goth freakazoids look the same but....

All Harajuku goth freakazoids look the same but haven't I checked out this French guy's photo site before?
Harajuku : quartier chaud de Tokyo

Dr. NakaMats' silly claim of "inventing" the floppy disk
Topic: Japanese Tech
Dr. Nakamatsu aka NakaMats makes many bold claims to fame but he prefers to be known as the inventor of the floppy disk and the CD.
What he invented was a phonograph record of fine wood could be read poorly by light sensors. IBM owns the patent for the floppy disk after it had to agree to a number of computer-related patents that Nakamatsu wildly claimed in the 1970s.
Many people have really get suckered on that floppy disk claim just like Nakamatsu?s assertion that he "invented" the fuel cell. Sheesh.
Dr. NakaMats filed a floppy disk patent claim in JAPAN only because IBM Japan farked up and forgot. Both IBM and Dictaphone companies had floppy-like disks years before the good Dr. As part of the patent settlement, IBM had to pay off old NakaMats just token ammount of yen and agree to never publically contradict Dr Fraud's claim (since Dr. NakaMats' ONLY real money maker is selling fraudulant "creativity" self-help kits).

Via ABC News' "The Wolf Files"With the floppy now standing as one of the century?s great contributions, IBM claims its scientists invented the disk in the late 1960s using in-house technology.
Inventor Soaks His Head
Big Blue admitted in the past that it has licensing agreements with the doctor but downplayed his contributions. Now, spokeswoman Laura Croker says the company line is ?No comment? on Dr. NakaMats?s claim.
?I signed a non-disclosure agreement,? says NakaMats. ?I can?t talk about it. But I invented it.?

World's smallest diamond ring for an Otaku spermatozoid engagement
Japanese firm makes world's smallest diamond ring
)Kyodo / July 17
TOKYO, Japan - Hitachi High-Technologies Corp. has produced a micro diamond ring , which can only be seen under microscope and is believed to be the world's smallest, by utilizing technology normally used to produce semiconductors. The ring, with a 0.02 millimeter diameter, bears a five billionth of a carat diamond.

Promises. promises
Magnet Hook Bra, Sabrina of Gunze Ltd
http://www.gunze.co.jp/sabrina/index.html

Back on March 3, 2004 try promised Uno-chan was "cuming soon"...heh.