Archive for February, 2008

The Chiburishima Tanuki Overpopulation Crisis: What Should Be Done?

Remember our video post in December about the tanuki overpopulation problem on the tiny island of Chiburishima? Mainichi reports that residents will soon vote to decide the fate of the animals:

CHIBU, Shimane — A local government here will conduct a poll among residents on whether or not to expel raccoon dogs from the island as their population is nearly triple that of the humans.

The Chibu Municipal Government will survey about 590 adult residents on Chiburi Island in Shimane Prefecture on whether they are for or against getting rid of the raccoon dogs, or tanuki in Japanese.

Based on the results of the poll, which will be compiled by the end of March, the village will decide on a plan to deal with the raccoon dogs from next fiscal year.

The village’s move came after an animal rights group pointed out that some residents are against getting rid of the raccoon dogs.

South Korean Government Confiscates Property Once Owned By Pro-Japanese Koreans

Did one of your ancestors hold an administrative post in the government that ran your country over 60 years ago? Better hope you’re not living in South Korea:

South Korea has confiscated more property originally owned by collaborators with Japanese colonialism in the last century, a state agency said Friday.

The seven people included Lee Jeong-Ro, Min Young-Gi and Lee Yong-Tae who received Japanese court titles and money from Tokyo as reward for their work, said the Investigative Commission On Pro-Japanese Collaborators’ Property.

Four others were senior administrators during the 1910-1945 colonial era.

The land seized Thursday is worth 4.1 billion won (5.6 million dollars).

The commission has now seized property originally owned by 29 collaborators since it began work in July 2006. The land is worth an estimated 77.1 billion won (82.3 million dollars).

The commission said it was seeking to confiscate the property of another 106 people.

Under a special law enacted in 2005, the commission has listed 452 people who collaborated with the brutal colonisation.

“We’ll do our best to complete the confiscation of pro-Japanese collaborators’ property before the commission’s four-year term expires in July 2010,” Jang Mi-Jeong, spokesman for the commission, told AFP.

Boot-Thieving Pervert Arrested

Somebody really liked boots:

A man arrested for stealing dozens of pairs of women’s boots has told investigators that he smelled them to imagine what the women who wore them looked like, police said.

Kazuhiro Watanabe, 33, from Okagaki, Fukuoka Prefecture, admitted to the allegations of theft during questioning. “I got excited when I smelled them and fantasized over what the women who wore them looked like,” Watanabe was quoted as telling investigators.

The Poisoned Dumpling Blame Game

The investigation into pesticide-tainted frozen Chinese-made gyoza has yet to find a definite culprit, but the Chinese government seems sure that the poisoning took place in Japan:

The Chinese authorities, speaking on Thursday after a four-week investigation of the plant where the dumplings were made, gave their strongest statement yet that the manufacturer or Chinese individuals were not responsible for the poisoning.

Yu Xinmin, a senior official with the Ministry of Public Security, said that “after careful investigation and tests, we believe there is little chance that methamidophos [the pesticide] was put into dumplings in China”. However, he would not say if he thought the poison was added in Japan.

At the same news conference, Wei Chuanzhong, a senior official with China’s quality and safety regulator, said sabotage was the most likely cause: “We conclude that the dumpling poisoning incident is an individual contrived case instead of a case of food safety resulting from pesticide residue.” The factory, its suppliers and transport companies had all been investigated.

Japanese police have said it is unlikely the dumplings were poisoned in Japan as the pesticide is banned in the country and traces of it have been found in some intact packages.

The Yomiuri article about this includes mention of Chinese claims that experiments were conducted that prove the pesticide can seep into packages under “certain conditions such as appropriate temperature.” Japanese police have demanded the evidence to back up their claims.

YouTube Cats Releasing Digital Single

News from TokyoGraph:

Japan’s “neko boom” has reached new levels, as the country will soon see the 5-cat group MUSASHI’S release its first digital single. The cats have been signed with major talent agency Stardust Promotion to “sing” a cover of “Hotaru no Hikari,” a folk song set to the tune of “Auld Lang Syne” that is commonly sung at graduation ceremonies.

MUSASHI’S – made up of five Norwegian Forest Cats named Musashi, Leo, Luka, Seri, and Marble – gained worldwide internet fame at the end of last year when their owner released a YouTube video of the cats’ rendition of “Jingle Bells.”

As the cats have little use for money, their contract with Stardust is said to include about 7,000 yen worth of tuna.

Hillary Clinton & Barack Obama in Tokyo

Japanese comedians impersonated Hillary Clinton & Barack Obama yesterday at the Tokyo premiere of the political thriller Vantage Point:

An improvement over the rubber gaijin nose crap, don’t you think?