Archive for November, 2008

Taro Aso + Evangelion

If only Prime Minister Taro Aso were as awesome in real life as he is in this Evangelion-style video [skip to the 2-minute mark for cool AT field action]:

[via Zaeega/SWFblog]

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
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Giving CCTV cameras a friendly appearance

Concerned about surveillance cameras invading your privacy? Don’t worry, some friendly people are helping make sure you’ll hardly even notice the cameras spying on you. Here are two examples from Japan:

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1. Daruma-san is watching you.

The city of Takasaki in Gunma Prefecture, hometown of the Daruma doll, has found a way of combining its famous dolls with surveillance cameras. Shoppers and customers of local businesses have been installing cameras within one of the eyes of special Daruma dolls. The dolls have “this is a surveillance camera” painted on their bodies, but they look friendlier than most security cameras.
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2. Pretty wooden cameras

In this video clip, we are shown a ryokan in Kyoto that is using a surveillance camera with a wooden body. It is thought that such cameras can give business owners a greater sense of security while not interfering with the traditional beauty of Japanese style wooden buildings.
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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
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TV show makes chubby comedian gain weight

Television viewers looking to be disgusted must have really been satisfied with last week’s episode of Akuma no Keiyaku (Devil’s Contract).

On that particular episode, they made comedian Naomi Watanabe, who is famous for her “ Japanese Beyonce” act, sign a contract promising to fatten herself up by 10 kilograms [22 pounds] in a week. In order to achieve such a goal, staff from the TV program followed her around, forcing her to eat about 12,000 calories worth of food a day.

Although she had agreed to the incredibly degrading challenge, Watanabe hardly seemed to enjoy it. At one forced meal after a mediocre standup comedy event, the pressure being placed upon her drove her to tears:

However, she apparently strengthened her resolve to meet the expectations of viewers and continued eating large portions of unhealthy food. When the weighing-in took place, she happily allowed panelists to laugh at her fatness:

It turned out that she had only gained about 5 kilograms, falling significantly short of the show’s goal. It may have been a failure for her, but at least TBS succeeded in its goal of reaching a new low in television.

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
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Strange Japanese commercials point out the benefits of machinery

A set of weird and amusing Nanyo commercials that urge views to “do it with a machine” instead of using human labor:

[via Zaeega]

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
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The biggest Japan-born sumo wrestler in history

Meet Yamamotoyama, a Japanese sumo wrestler weighing in at 252 kilograms who is about to join the top division of the sport:

At least 100 kilograms heavier than the average juryo weight of 149 kilograms, and the tallest in the division at 191 centimeters, Yamamotoyama gained experience in amateur sumo’s top ranks at high school and Nihon University before joining the Onoe stable, where he picked up experience fighting a range of wrestlers from fellow man-mountain Baruto to the more wiry Satoyama.

Apparently this makes him even bigger than Musashimaru:

Ex-Yokozuna Musashimaru, who enjoyed a career free of injury despite his similarly imposing 237-kilogram bulk, proved that size is not necessarily an impediment to a stellar sumo career.

“But it’s very tough for big men unless they train their lower bodies,” the former grand champion warns.

The heaviest recorded sumo wrestler was Hawaiian born Ozeki Konishiki, who once weighed 284 kilograms in his prime. The previous record for a grappler born in Japan was the 240 kilograms by juryo wrestler Susanoumi.

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
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CEO pay in Japan

The Wall Street Journal reports on how corporate executives at Japanese companies with seniority-based promotion make far less than those at U.S. and European corporations with performance-based systems:

The gap is huge, as Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group can attest. Japan’s biggest bank by market capitalization, paid a total of $8.1 million for 14 top executives in the fiscal year ended March 31, according to a regulatory filing.

But at Morgan Stanley, in which MUFG acquired a 21% stake in September, John Mack, the chief executive, alone took home five times that amount — $41.4 million — in the year ended Nov. 30, 2006. His pay was cut to $1.6 million last year after the company posted a quarterly loss and he declined a bonus.

On average, chief executives at Japanese companies with more than $10 billion in annual revenues are paid about $1.3 million a year, including bonuses and stock-option grants, according to Towers Perrin, a consulting firm, based on data gathered between 2004 and 2006. But chiefs in the U.S. are paid about $12 million, and chiefs in Europe are paid $6 million.

[hat tip to Brian]

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• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
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