Archive for March, 2008

TBS Catching Heat After Child Injured During Performance

Japanese net users are quite shocked over the following video of Kung Fu Kun star Zhang Zhuang’s head bleeding after a martial arts demonstration:

Several versions of the video have received thousands of views on YouTube, with many comments angry about TBS television network engaging in child exploitation and the apparent lack of serious concern in the video over the blood pouring down Zhang Zhuang’s head.

n

[hat tip to Matt]

Cracker Throwing Competition

A news report about a deer-cracker throwing competition held on the 23rd in Nara Park:

• About 1000 people took place in the competition, which involved long distance throwing of crackers sold throughout Nara as food for the many deer that roam Nara Park.
• A family is shown throwing around a frisbee as practice for the event. When the little boy finally throws his cracker, it reaches a distance of 44.78 meters, far greater than he had achieved in the previous year’s competition.
• A normal cracker has a diameter of 8 centimeters, but the official crackers of the competition have a 20 centimeter diameter. A deer-cracker factory specially makes the 1500 giant crackers used in the competition.
• Throwing deer-crackers is pretty difficult, and it is not rare for crackers to fly out of control and hit spectators. Some throwers also fell off the stage!
• Taro Hayashi won the competition, throwing a cracker to a record distance of 59 meters.

U.S. Sailor May Have Admitted Murdering Japanese Taxi Driver

The Yomiuri Shinbun is reporting some new details in the case of the Japanese taxi driver found stabbed to death after driving a U.S. sailor from Tokyo to Yokosuka:

According to the police, the sailor, a U.S. citizen of Nigerian origin, told U.S. Navy investigators that he called a Nigerian friend and told him that he did it, apparently referring to the killing. He also told navy investigators that he told the acquaintance that he stabbed someone.

The credit card of the 22-year-old seaman apprentice stationed at the Yokosuka Naval Base was discovered inside the taxi of Masaaki Takahashi, 61, from Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo, who was found fatally stabbed in his taxi in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, on March 19.

UNESCO Lego Exhibition

A news report about an art exhibition featuring 26 Lego replicas of UN World Heritage Sites that is taking place in Fukuoka:

The exhibition is being held at the Tenjin Inter Media Station shopping center and will run until April 20th. More details can be found at the event’s information page (Japanese).

Nippori-Toneri Liner Begins Service

Tokyo’s newest mass transit line opened to the public today:

The Nippori-Toneri Liner is a automated guideway transit (AGT) line that will cut the rush hour travel time between Nippori and Minumadai-Shinsui-Kōen from 60 minutes to a mere 20 minutes. For more details on where it stops and what the heck an AGT line is, check out Wikipedia’s informative entry on this topic.

Tokyo Disneyland: 25th Anniversary

A Reuters video report about the upcoming 25th anniversary of Tokyo Disneyland’s founding and how the theme park is responding to the changing demographic situation in Japan: