The Japan Times has an article up about the growing popularity of miniature pigs as housepets in Japan.   While the pigs make lovable pets, the fact that the pigs can grow to over nearly 200kg is proving to be a problem for some owners.  [ Read more about it here and a use a password [...]

Watch out, salarymen: the next time you ask that cute office lady to pluck your beard, you may be committing SEXUAL HARASSMENT!  The Scotsman has the story:
A JAPANESE man has been found guilty of sexual harassment for forcing a female work colleague to pluck his beard.
“Asking a female colleague to pluck your beard is totally [...]

Oh no! Japanese whaling! 

What exactly was the Japanese ambassador to New Zealand thinking when he accepted an invitation from New Zealand’s Conservation Minister to go on a whale watching tour?  Here’s what happened:
New Zealand is one of Japan’s strongest critics on the whaling issue and the visit came a month after Japan led an international [...]

Reported at Crisscross Japan News:
TOKYO — Rivers in Japan have been found to be contaminated with ingredients of antibiotics and medicines for humans and animals that flowed into them via sewage systems, raising concern that drug-resistant strains of bacteria might be produced, a recent scientific research shows.
Fantastic, I can’t wait until the new combination of  [...]

Is the Hard Gay fad dead yet? Apparently he’s still popular on YouTube. An episode of Hard Gay’s adventurers (with English subtitles by Bakafish), is one of the most popular videos on the site today. It is divided into four parts:

[Watch part 1 here.]
[Watch Part II here.]
[Watch Part III here.]
[Watch Part IV here.]

So, where [...]

Over at Neomarxisme, Marxy has been examining the bestselling Japanese book 国家の品格 (Diginity of a Nation), written by right-wing mathematician Masahiko Fujiwara.  The book has sold over 2 million copies and explores the following issues:
* The illusion of capitalism’s triumph
* Pride in a civilization based on emotion
* The importance of Japanese and kanji over English
* [...]

Macworld is reporting that bullet train passengers will soon be able to borrow Sony PSP’s and games for the duration of their trip:
Passengers on Japan’s high-speed “bullet train” will soon be able to play video games thanks to a service to be offered by Sony and train-operator East Japan Railway Co. (JR East).
From Oct. 1 [...]

It looks like somebody dug up this old clip from the Korea/Japan World Cup and posted it on the internet:

Video description:
Does Korean president know the very basic manner? I don’t think so… 
The Japanese poster tried his/her best to write the description in English, so that the international community could know about this event.  But [...]

While cruising YouTube this morning, I came across a music video honoring Japan’s kamikaze pilots (or ‘Special attack forces’ as they are commonly called in Japan).  It splices together scenes from an anime called ‘The Cockpit: Kamikaze Stories’, which was released in 1993.  As I had never heard of it before, the scenes of glorified [...]

Last night I saw this Japanese news report on YouTube. When I tried to access it’s url this morning, it said the video was “private” and I could not view it. It’s rather unfortunate, since it was about a somewhat interesting topic: Chinese bootleggers setting up market in Osaka!
Here’s a brief summary based [...]

Reading slashdot on a DS 
Joshua Zimmerman has posted a review of the just-released in Japan Opera web browsing package for Nintendo DS.  It features neat videos which demonstrate the powerful combination of the DS and wireless web browsing.  It really makes me which I had a few hundred dollars to blow.  [Check it out here.]

Mainichi reports that Hokkaido has finally joined the ranks of Japanese prefectures where sex change operations take place:
SAPPORO — Two people suffering from a gender identity disorder have successfully undergone sex change operations at Sapporo Medical University, marking the first such cases in Hokkaido, officials said on Tuesday.
I guess Hokkaido is a bit behind in [...]