Japan Probe reader Joel has made the following announcement:
Stay tuned as up and coming TV talent, me, “stars” alongside Japanese funnyman, Monkikki, and everybody’s favorite ditzy lolita, Yukorin, in a Ministry of Land-sponsored program on revitalization projects in Beppu, Niigata and Wakayama. Granted, my part will only last about 5-10 minutes tops in a 50 [...]

Judging from this story, it looks like Japanese tourism in Australia is is going to continue its decline:

A Japanese tourist has been bashed in the face, dragged into bushes and sexually assaulted in the West Australian resort town of Broome.
The attack on Saturday night was the third violent assault on tourists in the town [...]

Asashoryu was crowned champion of the Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament the other day, something that should have surprised nobody who had been keeping up with his bouts for the last week, in which he steamrolled opponent after opponent. However, the joy of his victory was soon wiped away by a controversial loss to Chiyotaikai [...]

It was announced today that Abe Shinzo had appointed Hidenao Nakagawa to be secretary-general of the Liberal Democratic party. Who is this Nakagawa fellow? Let’s see what today’s press reports said:
Mainichi Shinbun’s “Abe appoints Nakagawa as LDP secretary-general“:

Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) President Shinzo Abe appointed the party’s top policymaker, Hidenao Nakagawa, as [...]

If you watch Japanese TV, you’ve probably seen MEGUMI quite a few times. She’s always co-hosting various shows throughout the week or appearing as a guest in wacky game shows. Let’s take a look at the natural talent that made her famous.
Video 1:

Video 2:

Video 3:

Last night ＮＴＶ　aired “ニッポン人が好きな１００人の美人” (“100 People Loved by the Japanese -Beauty Edition-”), which was basically the same concept as the previous program I wrote about, only this time Japanese people ranked their favorite women (and not necessarily beautiful women). I’ve translated most of the list here, except for the 32 to 49, which were [...]

Another feat of eating by Takeru Kobayashi, reported by Crisscross:
BOSTON — Takeru Kobayashi, the world’s champion competitive eater, set a new world record by eating 41 lobster rolls in Boston on Saturday. Three and half minutes into the GoldenPalace.net World Lobster Eating Challenge, Kobayashi had already downed 22 lobster rolls and he could have stopped [...]

How to turn a generic Japanese work glove from this….

into this!! Instructions: Part 1 and Part 2.
[Link found via Zaeega]

From TV in Japan:

Recently, a golden version of the Chunichi Dragons mascot appeared(Called “Golden Doara”). He’s quite acrobatic and is far more wacky than his regular counterpart (just plain “Doara”, which changes the first letter of Koala to a “D” to make it sound like the beginning of the katakana word for Dragon). [...]

I’m not a gamer or particular interested in games or the Tokyo Game Show, but I did find this post over at Digital World Tokyo somewhat interesting (bold added for emphasis):
Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) kicked off the Tokyo Game Show with a surprise for Japanese consumers: a price cut for the yet-to-be-launched PlayStation 3 [...]

If you’re going to leave a bag with $4000 in cash in a room, you might want to lock the door. The Manager of the Chunichi Dragons didn’t:
YOKOHAMA — Kanagawa Police launched investigations on Thursday into the suspected theft of a small bag belonging to Hiromitsu Ochiai, the 52-year-old manager of the Chunichi Dragons [...]

Mainichi reports that teachers who do not stand up and face the Japanese flag during the playing of the national anthem at school ceremonies can no longer be punished:

Teachers are not obliged to stand up before the Hinomaru flag or sing the national anthem during entrance and graduation ceremonies, the Tokyo District Court ruled on [...]