Best of Japan Probe 2007 – September to December
A continuation of our look back at the posts that made this year so good.
Best of September 2007
September 03: The Best 100 Anime Songs – A countdown of 100 great anime songs!
September 13: Greenpeace Fights Whaling With Anime – An artist to makes a beautiful short anime film to convince Japanese people that whaling should be stopped.
September 18: The Incredible Power of Beta Gel – A video of an egg being dropped off a building and surviving the impact (thanks to a new gel developed in Japan).
September 20: Butt-biting Bug Song Breaks Top 10 – One of this year’s most popular songs is about an insect that bites human butts.
September 26: 10 Japanese Coffee Commercials Starring Tommy Lee Jones – The beloved “Alien Jones” commercial series for Boss Coffee.
September 27: Why Don’t Japanese Men Kiss Their Wives? – A Japanese TV show ponders why men from other countries kiss their wives.
September 29: Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, Doraemon Character? – Chinese netizens decide that Japan’s new Prime Minister looks like Nobita from Doraemon.
Best of October 2007
October 11: Goshi-Goshi Towel Defeats Foreign Towels – Your towels are nothing compared to the power of goshi-goshi!!
October 15: Air Pollution Experiment – A shocking test that reveals just how dirty the air is in a certain area of Beijing.
October 16: Riyo Mori Allowed to Board Flight Without ID – Airport security doesn’t matter when you’re Miss Universe.
October 20: Masai Tribesmen Defeat Japanese Magician – Men from the Kenyan savanna use their superior eyesight to figure out magic tricks.
October 25: The World’s Most Dangerous Hiking Trail – Climb at your own risk.
October 28: The Yamanote Halloween Train vs. Japanese Netizen Rage – 2-Channel was not happy when large groups of costumed foreigners hold a drunken party on a Japanese train.
October 30: Being Gay and Gaijin in Japan – The story of a homosexual American man living in Japan with his Japanese partner.
October 31: Nova President Sahashi’s Ridiculously Luxurious Office – While Nova was collapsing, he was partying it up in his gigantic office.
Best of November 2007
November 02: Dentsu Executive Offends and Humiliates Employee With Brothel & Onsen Trips – Is sharing a prostitute the common way in which Japanese businessmen commemorate business deals?
November 06: Stranger in His Homeland – A half-Filipino of Japanese citizenry writes of a nasty encounter with the Japanese police.
November 08: Triumph: The Chopstick Bra – A revealing effort to bust up the disposable chopstick market.
November 14: Housing Discrimination in Japan – Examining the existence of landlords and real estate companies that openly discriminate against foreigners.
November 29: Bazooka vs. Bulletproof Glass – Entertainment in the form of shooting rockets at glass.
Best of December 2007
December 01: Taking Your Dispatch Employer To Court Using New Labor (Rodou Shinpan) Three Strike Procedure – The story of an American who took his Japanese employer to court for unfair labor practices and won.
December 02: The World’s Largest Cardboard Vortex Cannon – An epic experiment.
December 13: 40% of Japanese Men Sit Down To Pee – Their wives told them to do it.
December 15: General Douglas MacArthur As You’ve Never Seen Him Before! – A Japanese actress plays the role of MacArthur in a new musical production.
December 18: English in Japanese Dramas – A look at one popular television drama’s use of the English language.
December 20: Warning! Top 5 Reasons Not to Let Your Daughter go to America – A book warns Japanese parents about the dangers of sending their girls to study abroad.
Categories: General Japan
Leading Australian Environmentalist: Japanese Whaling is OK
Not all Australian environmentalists are opposed to Japan’s whaling program, reports the Daily Telegraph:
ENVIRONMENTALIST and 2007 Australian of the Year Tim Flannery has declared his support for the hugely unpopular Japanese whaling program.
As Australia prepares to monitor the whaling fleet in Antarctica amid rising diplomatic tensions with Japan, Professor Flannery says there is nothing unsustainable about its annual cull of up to 1000 whales – particularly the common minke whale.
“In terms of sustainability, you can’t be sure that the Japanese whaling is entirely unsustainable,” Professor Flannery told The Daily Telegraph. “It’s hard to imagine that the whaling would lead to a new decline in population.”
That is not to say that Flannery approves of all the actions of Japanese whalers. He has stated his disapproval of hunting endangered whale species or even Humpback whales, which are considered “threatened” by international organizations. However, when it comes to the whale species that makes up the bulk of Japan’s whale quota, Flannery sees no major reason to oppose the hunt:
But the 935 minke whales that Japan aims to kill each year under its so-called scientific whaling program should not threaten the survival of that species.
Professor Flannery said there were much bigger threats to marine biodiversity and sustainability, including to the future of krill, small crustaceans essential in the sea food chain – and the main sustenance for whales in the Southern Ocean.
Krill populations are declining as a result of over-fishing and because rising sea temperatures are killing off their food sources.
Professor Flannery said he was more concerned about those issues “where our future is most under threat, which is not the minkes”.
However, he is worried about how the whales are slaughtered, saying he would like to see them “killed as humanely as possible”.
[...]
“If these animals are closer in intelligence to the sheep than the dog, is it morally wrong to eat them if they can be harvested sustainably?” he wrote.
Categories: Japanese Food
Best of Japan Probe 2007 – July & August
A continuation of our look back at the posts that made this year so good.
Best of July 2007
July 11: Harry Potter & The Japanese Schoolgirls – Daniel Radcliffe + magical Japanese schoolgirls = great television
July 11: Japanese Prisons Are Overflowing With Foreign Criminals – A look at an NTV report claiming that Japanese prisons are overflowing with foreigners.
July 15: Japanese Theme Park Opens Ramen Bath – Who needs normal hot springs when you’ve got a giant bowl of ramen to bathe in?
July 22: Japanese POW Draws His Memories of Internment in the USSR – Beautiful artwork depicting a chapter of history unknown to most people.
July 25: Japanese TV Drama: Getting Mugged by Black Americans – A clip from the popular drama Hana Yori Dango with some basketball-carrying muggers running in fear from a Japanese guy with a squirt gun.
July 26: Bobby Ologun is Japanese – Much hated/loved talento Bobby Ologun gives up his Nigerian citizenship and becomes Japanese.
July 26: Supernaturally Infective: The Top Horror Series in Japan – A ranking of the best Japanese horror films.
Best of August 2007
August 10: The Rubber Ball Man – The weirdest and greatest Japanese man alive.
August 21: The 1 Million Yen Cardboard Boat Challenge – Awarding achievements in the field of cardboard shipbuilding.
August 22: The Japanese Jack Bauer Song – A hilarious advertising campaign for the American drama 24.
August 28: Primitive Islanders Enjoy the Wonders of Modern Japan – A TV program takes some islanders from Pohnpei to Japan for a homestay (a commenter from Pohnpei has stated that his island actually has popsicles and hot baths)
August 28: Black Snake Moan Event in Shibuya – If you want to get some attention for a new film, this is the kind of promotional event that would probably work.
August 31: Three Amazing Advancements in Printing Technology – 3D printers, cool touch pens, and super micro printing.
Categories: General Japan
Ice Fishing in Hokkaido
A news report about ice fishing in Hokkaido:
The fish being caught in the video are Japanese pond smelt, which apparently taste pretty good when fried in tempura batter or grilled.
Categories: General Japan
37,000-year-old Mammoth Carcass Arrives in Japan
Let the research begin:
The frozen carcass of a 37,000-year-old baby mammoth unearthed this summer in Siberia arrived in Japan on Saturday for tests that researchers hope will shed new light on the internal structure of the ancient beasts, an official said.
[...]
Discovered in May by a reindeer herder in northern Siberia’s remote Yamal-Nenets region, the frozen mammoth’s trunk and eyes are virtually intact and it even has some fur, but its tail and ear were apparently bitten off, Russian officials said.
The mammoth, which was initially thought to be about 10,000-years-old, is bound for Tokyo’s Jikei Medical University, where it will undergo a computed tomography scan, Uno said. CT scans allow scientists to get 3-D pictures so detailed they allow an almost surgical view into the body.
Researchers hope the scan will provide more information about the animal’s organs and internal structure.
The mammoth carcass and scan images are slated to go on public display Jan. 4 at an office building in central Tokyo, Uno said.
Categories: Animal Videos, Technology
Best of Japan Probe 2007 – May & June
A continuation of our look back at the posts that made this year so good.
Best of May 2007
May 02: Disneyland in China? – The shameless copyright violations at Shijingshan Amusement Park bring joy and amusement to internet users around the world!
May 02: Foreign wives attempt Japanese-style noodle slurping – Is it really so hard to slurp a freakin’ noodle?
May 06: The Preteen Junior Idol boom in Japan – A news report that includes a survey finding that 29% of Japanese men admit having a “lolita complex.”
May 11: The King of Foreign Otaku in Japan – A Japanese TV network runs a competition to determine the biggest foreign otaku. Oh, the embarrassment!
May 21: Anime Lesson: How to Deal With Gaijin – An epic anime battle between Japanese hero and a evil foreign ruffian.
May 27: Japanese Students Shocked by Ignorant Amercan Highschoolers – Japan? What part of China is that?
May 29: Choi Hong Man In A Tight Spot – The post that launched the popularity of Japanese “human tetris” on the internet.
Best of June 2007
June 08: The Top 50 Manga Series – An official ranking of Japan’s greatest comic books.
June 12: Pepsi Ice Cucumber: Now on Sale! – The strangest Pepsi drink ever created.
June 14: Plague of Locusts Strikes Kansai Airport – Western Japan’s biggest airport encounters a problem of biblical proportions.
June 20: Japanese Festival Man vs. Cooper’s Hill Cheese Rolling and Wake – A Japanese comedian participates in an extreme English sporting event.
June 22: Best Anime Ranking – An official ranking of the best anime series of all time.
June 30: Billy Blanks vs. Japanese Comedians – One of the best tv apperances by Billy during the Bootcamp craze of 2007.
Categories: General Japan