Archive for June, 2006

Kanji = the language of the bible?

I recently came across an interesting website that the combinations of various characters and radicals in Chinese characters reveals something amazing: the ancient Chinese people knoew about the bible and worshipped the same God that the Jews did.

Here is an example of some of the amazing evidence found in the dramatic flash animation.  To write ‘naked’, you combine characters meaning ‘fruit’ and ‘man’!  Proof of that the ancient Chinese knew of the Garden of Eden!!

The author takes a lot of liberty in his/her interpretations of the meanings of various characters.  The flash animation also relies on the English translation of the Bible, which may not exactly match the ancient form of the biblical stories that would have been available thousands of years ago.  So what do you think: truth, creativity, or just plain bullshit?

mmmm…kimchi pis!

So you think you know a lot about drinking pis, do you?

Ever had kimchi flavored Coolpis?*  Looks great, doesn’t it?

*Coolpis is an unlicensed South Korean rip-off of the Japanese drink Calpis.  Sadly, Calpis does not come in a kimchi flavor.  I guess some original ideas do spring from theft…

IKEA to bring about a restructuring of Japan

Japanese artist’s drawing of a vessel bringing IKEA furniture to Japan 

The world’s leading source on Japan news, Fibretofurniture.com, is reporting amazing news today:

Japan : Advent of Ikea Furniture to open passage to the world!

Experts are comparing the arrival of the leading International furniture brand, Ikea, in Japan to that of US Commodore Matthew Perry’s ‘black ships’ in 1853 when the 200 year old isolation of the country ended.

However, it is also viewed by some as an opportunity to spread out and make their presence known to the world.

Ikea opened its first directly operated store in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, just east of Tokyo, covering a floor space of 40,000 square meters.

Swedish furniture house, Ikea offers wide range of styles and home furnishings and boasts reasonable prices.

If the experts consulted when the above article was written are to be trusted, IKEA is going to bring major changes to Japanese society.   Japan’s closed-off furniture economy, which remains in the feudal ages, will be overthrown by reformers.  Of course, such reforms will not be possible without lots of assassinations and possibly even open warfare.  Yes, the coming of IKEA to Japan is an event that will bring great turmoil to this land!

Mino Monta is a rich, rich man

I noticed the following story on Japan Zone today:

But the undisputed champion is Mino Monta (61), and it’s now official. The latest issue of Forbes magazine mentions Mino in an article related to its annual Celebrity 100. The local media has picked this up as though he were the first Japanese to appear in the list of the world’s top stars. Of course, he doesn’t enjoy anywhere near the global celebrity status of Tom Cruise, Tiger Woods or even fellow countryman Watanabe Ken. But his incredibly gruelling schedule, that sees him working ten regular shows and has him on air a whopping 35 hours a week, makes him the country’s highest-paid TV star. Forbes reports his annual income as $10 million, though that is probably just for the regular shows and doesn’t include book royalties and TV commercials.

Wow, so it seems that Mino Monta, AKA “the Japanese Regis Philbin”, is doing a lot better than the real Regis.  Maybe it has something to do with the fact that Mino Monta’s morning show, and even his “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” are pretty popular?  Personally, I think he kind of sucks, and I watch FTV’s morning  show (Mezamashi TV) instead.  But I guess there are a lot of Mino Monta fans out there, sipping their Mino Monta beers and watching his TV shows….

Kim Jong-Il’s son: “A nice guy”

A recent Japanese TV report (NTV) on North Korea touched on the issue of Kim Jong-Il‘s sons, with specific focus on Kim Jong-chul, the apparent successor to Kim Jong-Il. Here are some highlights from the video clips (1 & 2):

Kim Jong-chul is pretty young. The above photo shows him with his daddy in 1981. He was sent to an international school in Switzerland under a fake name, where he had a western education. The TV program interviews his former classmates:

This American guy says that he can’t believe Jong-Chul is evil. He recalls that Kim Jong-Chul was a “nice guy”.

Another classmate talks about how Kim was a member of the school’s basketball team. Kim really liked the NBA and may have even dreamed about playing professional baseketball in America. The classmate recalls that he as a very good team player.

The report moves on to talk about Kim Jong-Un, Kim Jong-il’s third son, who remains a mystery to the west. There are no known photographs of him, so he is represented by a blue person-thing in the TV report.

The reporters manage to find a man who had access to the inner circle of North Korean leadership. He agrees to describe Kim Jong-Un to some police sketch artists.

Here he is! Kim Jong-Un! Didn’t I see him on the street yesterday?

There is a bunch of other information in the reports, some of which I don’t understand, and some of which I didn’t think was interesting enough to mention (such as a description of the current missile crisis). If you can understand Japanese, you should watch the clips and see the full report.  You might also want to read about Kim Jong-Chul’s latest trip to see Eric Clapton concerts in Germany.

Octopus and Jelly Fish

A lot of news outlets seemed to have picked up an article on the international expansion of takoyaki restaurants.  Here is an execerpt from Mainichi’s version:

If Morio Sase has his way, hungry teenagers around the world will soon be snacking on something more exotic than McDonald’s hamburgers: takoyaki, or octopus dumplings.

With already over 350 takeout stores in Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan, Sase’s Gindaco chain is one of a barrage of fast-food companies bringing lowbrow Japanese chow to overseas markets. Its first U.S. store is scheduled to open in Los Angeles in 2007, and it hopes to open 20 stores in California by 2010.

“When I was a small boy, it was street food that made me feel good and warm inside,” Sase said at a recent interview at the Tokyo headquarters of HotLand Corp., which runs Gindaco.

Hand-grilled in iron molds by cooks behind a large display window, the octopus dumplings are made from wheat flour paste mixed with fish stock, spring onions and boiled octopus chunks, and drizzled with a sweet sauce, dried bonito flakes and seaweed.

So the accepted translation of takoyaki is “octopus dumplings”?  I still prefer to call them “octopus balls”.

In other seafood news, giant jellyfish are menacing the Sea of Japan.  Some experts are claiming that the jelly fish invasion is coming from China, where water pollution is driving the vile creatures out.  I knew it was China’s fault!!