Archive for January, 2009

Mishap during JSDF paratrooper training

A line that is supposed to open a soldier’s parachute gets stuck on a helicopter during an Self-Defense Forces training exercise yesterday in Hokkaido:

The situation was resolved when the helicopter slowly descended and allowed the soldier, who was a member of the GSDF’s elite 1st Airborne Brigade, to cut the line and fall safely to the ground. He suffered a bloody nose, but was otherwise okay. The SDF is investigating the cause of the accident.
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Drunk Japanese guy records himself playing Mario

A hilarious video of a Japanese guy named “Steve” playing Super Mario Land:

[via Dark Diamond/Offworld]

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Poems reduce toilet paper waste

A neat idea to save toilet paper:

Simply pasting a “toilet poem” at the eye level of a person seated in the cubicle can help cut toilet paper use by up to 20 percent, a study by the research center Japan Toilet Labo showed.

“That paper will meet you only for a moment,” reads one poem. “Fold the paper over and over and over again,” says another. Or just: “Love the toilet.”

Now the group is looking to have its posters displayed in 1,000 public toilets.

If you own a restroom and would like to put up some Japanese toilet poems, you can download printable sheets from the Japan Toilet Labo homepage.

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The shrinking profile of Taro Aso

As Taro Aso’s approval ratings continue to drop, FTV News has noted that the LDP’s latest promotional poster has dropped its emphasis on the Prime Minister:

Whereas the previous posters put out by the LDP (right) had a huge image of Aso’s face with a slogan proclaiming that Aso would fix things, the new poster (left) shrinks down Aso and doesn’t even include his name.

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Man made hundreds of fake emergency calls to the police

Nagasaki resident Kazuya Nishimoto has been arrested for making 150 fake emergency calls to the police in a span of about four hours:

“I did it because I felt irritated,” police quoted him as saying.

On Dec.11, 2008, the suspect repeatedly called police between 8 p.m. and midnight and said meaningless things on the phone, such as “Hey, you!”

According to police, Nishimoto started making false emergency calls around February 2008. He said: “Who is going to pay the emergency call fee?” or other meaningless things. Police visited the suspect to give him a warning six times between August and November in the same year.

Nishimoto was arrested for a similar crime in October 2003 after he falsely called police more than 1,300 times in a month.

What ever punishment he received in 2003 doesn’t seem to have worked. It might be time for Nagasaki to consider passing local ordinances that increase the penalty given to offenders like Nishimoto.

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Burning garbage in Tokyo

NDTV takes a tour of the Toshima garbage incineration plant in Tokyo:

Applying Japan’s latest green technology, Toshima Incineration Plant is one of more than a dozen garbage plants in the Tokyo metropolitan area that have recently started burning plastic waste.

The plant’s control center closely monitors the levels of toxins at each stage of the burning process.

This incinerator operates at 1600 degrees Fahrenheit, or 900 Centigrade. A state-of-the-art air filter system removes almost every single ash and toxic substance from the air before it leaves the plant. What goes out of the 70-story-tall smoke stack is just steam and a very tiny amount of carbon dioxide.

And the byproducts are all recyclable—even profitable, bringing in nearly a million dollars a year.

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