Archive for December, 2007

New Year Holiday Travel Rush

The New Year’s holiday has begun for many Japanese workers, marking the beginning of a major travel rush:

According to the above video report, today and tomorrow will be the busiest days for departures. About 100,000 people will be departing Narita Airport in a two-day period, and express trains will be very crowded. Most of the Shinkansen lines have sold out all their reserved seats, and unreserved cars will be operating at 150-180% capacity on some of the lines!

The return rush is expected to hit its peak around January 6th.

Japan Photo of the Week: Take me back

Yeah I know we are in the middle of winter, but I really wanna go back to the fall! Let’s see, snow, ice and really cold weather vs fall leaves. No contest there.

After Arashiyama, I think Oirase Stream, in Aomori Prefecture has become my favorite place in Japan. I have only been in the fall but I can imagine it just as beautiful covered in snow in the winter or lush with green in the summer. I’m sure it is ok during the spring as well. For larger and more photos check out the Gallery.

This photograph was taken by Evan Pike.

Best of Japan Probe 2007 – March & April

A continuation of our look back at the posts that made this year so good.

Best of March 2007

March 06: Monkeys in Kagawa afflicted with hay fever – A video report about a sad group of monkeys suffering from horrible allergies.

March 07: What’s the Orange Ball For? – A look at how Japanese shopkeepers defend themselves.

March 16: Japanese reenact the Yugoslav Wars – Internet users in Bosnia and other Balkan states were not very happy to discover pictures on the internet showing some Japanese reenacting the Yugoslav Wars for entertainment.

March 17: The Great Sasuke enters the Iwate gubernatorial race! – A former pro-wrestler tried to become a governor. He ended up losing the election, unfortunately.

March 25: The Japanese media reports on bad manners in China – A story about the Chinese government’s efforts to improve the manners of citizens prior to the Olympics.

March 27: Japan boom in Russia? – A Japanese news report about the growing popularity of Japanese language and culture in Russia.

March 29: North Korea by train! – A video of a special 7-day train tour of North Korea.

Best of April 2007

April 01: History’s 100 Most Influential People: Hero Edition – A ranking of historical figures that the Japanese consider heroic.

April 03: More color footage of pre-war Japan – An interesting look at how Japan looked in the old days.

April 09: Japanese culture and traditions those dumb foreigners don’t understand – The results of a survey that asked Japanese people what culture and traditions they thought foreigners would have the most difficultly understanding.

April 27: The freakish stomach size of professional eaters – Why can super eaters like Gal Sone eat so much? There’s something strange about the size of their stomachs.

April 28: The Little Gaijin – Perhaps the most amusing short film about teaching English in Japan (It’s also a musical).

April 30: Japanese Baby-crying Contest Photos – Sumos + Babies = Cry-tastic Fun

Hundreds of Dolphins

Video of a very big group of dolphins spotted off the coast of Kyoto Prefecture today:

The pacific white-sided dolphin group shown in the video is estimated to contain between 200 and 500 dolphins, a pretty rare sight these days.

Crocodile Hunter’s Widow Joins Anti-Whaling Bandwagon

The widow of famous Australian “Crocodile Hunter” Steve Irwin, has started taking an active role in the movement against Japanese whaling:

“Crocodile hunter” Steve Irwin’s family plans a campaign against Japanese whaling to show that scientific data about whales can be obtained without killing them, the Australian’s widow said Thursday.

Terri Irwin said the project would be launched in 2008 through a whale watching business she bought after her husband’s death last year.

“We can actually learn everything the Japanese are learning with lethal research by using non-lethal research,” she told Channel Nine television.

“That’s what I’m embarking on in 2008. We are determined to show the Japanese they can stop all whaling, not just humpbacks,” she added.

The research is to be carried out in the southern hemisphere in cooperation with Oregon State University, she said.

Japan has been under fire for defying international protests and sending its whaling fleet into Antarctic waters to hunt around 1,000 whales, ostensibly for “scientific” purposes, exploiting a loophole in a 1986 moratorium on whaling.

As you can see from the photo in the post, radical animal rights activist Paul Watson‘s Sea Shepherd organization has changed the name of one of their ships to the “Steve Irwin” (a smiling Terri Irwin standing next to Watson and the ship suggests that this was done with her approval). Watson has vowed to continue his campaign to disrupt the Japanese whaling fleet, no doubt using the same tactics of ship ramming and violence that have led some to call Sea Shepherd an eco-terrorist organization.

Update: For more information on Sea Shephard and Watson, check out this November 2007 article from the New Yorker. Unlike most western media outlets, it actually includes information about Sea Shepherd’s non-Japanese opponents:

Sidney Holt, one of the principal architects of the whaling moratorium, told me, “I think his involvement in all this is an absolute disaster. Almost everything he has been doing has had blowback for those who want to see an end to whaling. In too many cases, playing piracy on the ocean, and creating danger for other ships, is simply not liked.”

Best of Japan Probe 2007 – January & February

The year is coming to a close now, so let’s look back on the main events of 2007. Here are a few of Japan Probe’s best posts from the last year:

Best of January 2007

January 01: Stop the Presses! Boobies on N-H-K Countdown Special – DJ Ozma’s scandalous use of “nudity” during N-H-K’s New Year’s Eve music countdown special got global attention, with even the Drudge Report linking to our coverage!

January 05: Roppongi English – An 8 part series of posts exploring an English conversation book aimed at Japanese women looking to pick up foreign guys.

January 11: Foreigner witnesses wild boar attack on elderly woman – Perhaps the most interesting interview of a foreign eyewitness I’ve ever seen on Japanese TV.

January 14: Japanese school girls think they see Brad Pitt – One foreign guy excites a bunch of teenage girls.

January 16: SUPA GAIJIN – A pair of wacky English teachers sing the “Supa Gaijin” song with a group of Japanese kindergarteners.

January 27: Know your Japanese poop vocabulary – An explanation of the meaning of some interesting Japanese words.

January 31: Milk + Beer = Bilk – A Hokkaido company released a combination of milk and beer called Bilk, much to the joy of bizarre drink lovers around the world.

Best of February 2007

February 08: Award winning film: Right Place – A very cool short film about an Japanese convenience store clerk with OCD that finally found the ‘right place’ for himself.”

February 08: Kamiya Satoshi: Origami Master – Video and pictures of some truly incredible works of origami.

February 10: Is Mainichi Shinbun cleaning up its headlines in its English edition? – Apparently the editorial staff of English language version of Mainichi Shinbun often rewrite translations of articles to make them less anti-foreign.

February 11: Update on the Foreigner Crime File: FamilyMart Apologizes – Japanese convenience store chain Family Mart apologizes after selling a xenophobic hate magazine.

February 14: Seven years in Japan, and you can’t speak Japanese? – Some commentary and discussion on a Japanese television program about the Australian wife of a Japanese man who has lived in Japan for seven years but can barely speak a word of Japanese.

February 27: Kokujin Tensai: An American from Memphis raps in Japanese – Thanks to the power of YouTube and Myspace, a random American rapper becomes an internet sensation in Japan.