The Japanese press is reporting it as the largest seizure of illegal porn ever:
Police arrested 53-year-old Takahiro Oyama and 10 others for the attempted distribution of nearly 133,000 pornographic DVDs and videocassettes, a police official said.
Oyama told police he made 1.56 billion yen (14.4 million dollars) in five years of selling sex tapes through the [...]

Chestnut may be the world’s greatest hot dog eater, but he can’t beat Kobayashi in a satay eating contest:
The 60kg Japanese downed 5.4kg of satay – which works out to 385 sticks of satay – in 12 minutes, winning the showdown against 102kg American Joey Chestnut, 24, who swallowed 4.1kg of the meat in [...]

Apparently last month’s special report in Time Magazine wasn’t enough, so Time Warner had its news network do some extra reporting on elderly porn in Japan:

Looking for more quality journalism? Why not check out the Sydney Morning Herald’s blog post about the man-whores of Tokyo?

The BBC has obtained documents that suggest Japanese cycling event organizers paid millions of dollars to the Union Cycliste Iternationale (UCI) in the 1990’s, ultimately achieving the aim of having a Japanese cycling sport called keirin included in the Olympic games:

For years there have been rumours in cycling that the Japanese gave money to the [...]

A couple clips showing a cat door in a Japanese house:

[via Zaeega]

The Economist has released this interesting graph showing how the price of Big Mac hamburgers at McDonald’s restaurants around the world compare to how much the burger costs in the United States:

Many of the currencies in the Fed’s major-currency index, including the euro, the British pound, Swiss franc and Canadian dollar, are overvalued and trading [...]

The governor of Osaka, Toru Hashimoto, made national news last week when he threatened to sue the makers of souvenir snacks bearing his likeness:
The spat arose on Wednesday over the use of illustrations of Hashimoto crying, glaring and laughing used on the packets. Hashimoto initially claimed the images were a violation of his publicity rights [...]

Kyodo News reports that a large number of exchange programs have been canceled or postponed because of the dispute over the Liancourt Rocks:
The aggravated bilateral row over South Korean-administered islets in the Sea of Japan has affected 104 exchange programs between Japan and South Korea, including the cancellation of 63, a Kyodo News tally shows [...]

Apparently there has been a surge in random killings over the last 10 years, and police are seeking more restrictions on knife ownership. But will banning certain knives actually accomplish anything?
A random stabbing that took place in Tokyo earlier this week was carried out using a kitchen knife from a 100 yen store, a [...]

NTV News reports on a sea turtle laying its eggs on at Katsurahama in Kochi Prefecture:

The beach where the turtle laid its eggs is a popular tourist destination, so local authorities have placed a small barrier around the egg site to protect the baby turtles. It is the first time in 16 years that [...]

German artist Klaus Dauven is leading an “eco-art” project that decorates the Matsudagawa Dam in Ashikaga, Tochigi Prefecture with images of azalea blossoms:
Klaus Dauven and dam workers on a gondola use a high-pressure water hose to create the flowers by removing dirt and moss. The images in the “hanazakari” (full bloom) project, directed by Dauven, [...]

If you are looking to escape the heat and humidity of Japan, Hokkaido is the place to be in the summer. There are many places worth visiting and summer time is the perfect time for a lot of these places. This week I am sharing Hakodate with you.

To be completely honest, Hakodate might [...]