Archive for December, 2008

Korea vs. Japan – barrel rolling showdown

A translated clip from a Korean TV show of Japanese and Korean masters of the art of rolling around steel drums face off against each other on a TV show (Korea in blue helmet, Japan in white helmet):

For more barrel rolling feats, check out our March 2008 post about another Japanese master.

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
• Kirainet.com – A geek in Japan (Subscribe)

Japanese man leaves Mexico City airport

Hiroshi Nohara, the Japanese man who became a minor celebrity in Mexico after spending months living inside a Mexico City airport terminal, has disappeared:

Authorities searched the terminal for Hiroshi Nohara on Monday but he was nowhere to be found, said an airport official who was not allowed to be quoted by name.

The daily Reforma newspaper ran photos of the scruffy man getting into a cab Sunday at the airport.

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
• Kirainet.com – A geek in Japan (Subscribe)

Sankei: Nanjing museum removed photos

The Sankei Shimbun has reported that the three photos have been removed from exhibits the Nanjing Massacre museum in China. According to the Sankei, the photos removed had been inaccurately presented as depictions of events related to Japanese war crimes in Nanjing. They included:

• A photo of victims from a bandit attack in Korea, inaccurately labeled as victims of a Japanese massacre in China.
• The famous photo of a wounded Chinese baby crying inside a bombed out building in Shanghai, which the museum had apparently presented as a scene of Nanjing.
• A photo of women and children being escorted by troops. The museum said it was a photo of comfort women being abducted by Japanese soldiers, while the Sankei states it was just a photo of villagers being escorted by troops.

Critics have often used the display of the photos as an example of the Nanjing museum’s inaccuracy. The article says that this is the first time China has corrected an exhibit at the museum.

For a more complete look at this story, including the Chinese rebuttal, check out this post on Ampontan.

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
• Kirainet.com – A geek in Japan (Subscribe)

Bobby Ologun & his children

In case you ever wondered about how Bobby Ologun treats his children, here’s a video from a Japanese TV show:

Although it’s hard to take anything he says seriously, he acts like he is a strict father preparing his children for their future careers as professional athletes. When interviewed separately, the kids don’t quite agree with his plan for their future…

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
• Kirainet.com – A geek in Japan (Subscribe)

Tree grows through wall of building in Japan

The bizarre sight of a tree growing out of the side of a building in Kyoto:

The tree in question happens to be a specially-designated holy tree that is said to have protected buildings around it from damage during the 1788 Great Fire of Tenmei that destroyed a large sections of Kyoto. When the building shown in the video was constructed 50 years ago, its builders made a hole in the wall of the structure to preserve the sacred tree. The owner of the restaurant that houses the base of the tree claims that its power protected his store from damage during a fire that damaged much of the building 30 years ago.

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
• Kirainet.com – A geek in Japan (Subscribe)

Korea to fingerprint tourists and foreign residents

South Korea will be the newest country to institute a fingerprinting system similar to those found in the United States and Japan:

The Ministry of Justice said Saturday that it will propose to revise the Immigration Law so that all foreign nationals, either for short-term stay or long-term, are obliged to provide their biometric information to the Korean authorities when they come to the country. It will submit the revision bill to the National Assembly in the second half of next year, and the new regulation, if passed, will take effect as early as 2010.

Up to 2003, Korean immigration officials used to fingerprint long-term foreign residents who were to stay here for a year or more when giving them alien registration numbers. But the Roh Moo-hyun administration scrapped the biometric data collection, following criticism that it could infringe on human rights, said a ministry official.

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
• Kirainet.com – A geek in Japan (Subscribe)