Archive for March, 2009

Purse snatching in Tokyo

There has been an increase in the number of reported purse-snatching in Tokyo, so a special event was held to spread awareness:

About 150 people participated in the event, which included demonstrations involving actors. Volunteers also stood at the exit to a train station and passed out free bicycle bag nets.

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Is Shingo Katori Right for Zatoichi?

Word is that there will be one last Zatoichi movie soon. And Shingo Katori is up for the role. But does his face really convey Zatoichi to you?

I mean, I can accept him as a goofy ninja:

From Ninxnin

Or as a monkey king:

As Goku in Monkey Magic

But as the baddest of all J-cinema badasses? Well, there have been other surprising actors in the role, such as this man and this woman.

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BTW, this is not to say I think he is a bad actor; he was brilliant in this short film:

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Contributor Bio: Claytonian studies the Nihongoes in Saitama and blogs about Japan, language, and news at The Hopeless Romantic.
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Magic tricks confuse chimpanzee

Shimura Zoo‘s chimpanzee celebrity Pan-kun is shown some magic tricks:

It doesn’t seem like he was able to pay attention to most of the tricks, but in a few instances he almost appeared to be genuinely surprised by stuff that appeared/disappeared.
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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
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Japanese TV show makes fun of “Pull Your Pants Up” law

This local news spot from the city of Opa-Locka in Florida doesn’t seem aware of the fact that being featured on a Japanese TV show about ridiculous laws is something they shouldn’t exactly be proud of:

Those curious about the saggy pants ban can read about it here.

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
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Yuna Kim claims that Japanese figure skaters ruined her practice jumps

On March 14th, South Korean figure skater Yuna Kim said some bad things about her Japanese rivals during an interview with Korean TV network SBS. Kim claimed that other figure skaters have repeatedly disturbed her practice jumps when they have shared ice rink space for pre-competition work-outs. According to SBS, only Japanese skaters would get in her way, and it really got on her nerves.

The Japanese press has picked up the story and clips of TV news programs covering Yuna’s statements have shot to the top of the most-viewed ranking on YouTube Japan. Here’s one clip of a morning news program commenting on a Nikkan Gendai article (using the amusing photograph included in this post):

Quoted in the article is former Olympic skater Emi Watanabe, who says that any intentional attempts to interfere with the practice jumps of those skaters would have been spotted by judges who monitor the situation. The report also mentions a blog post Yuna Kim made in 2005 that publicly stated her wish that her greatest rival – Japanese skater Mao Asada – should have fallen down while skating at a competition.

Another video, allegedly showing Yuna Kim interrupting the practice jumps of Japanese skater Miki Mirai, has made its way to the top of YouTube rankings as well. As one might respect, the comment sections of all the videos involved are full of angry comments about Korea.
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Rescue team finds missing foreign skiers

A helicopter search in Hokkaido has located a group of 9 missing skiers and snowboarders (6 of whom were foreign tourists):

First reports did not have details on the condition of the skiers, but it is now being reported that they are all alive and well.
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• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
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