Dealing with intruders at Haneda Airport
Police at Haneda Airport put on a show for the media to demonstrate how they would deal with knife-wielding intruders:
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Categories: General Japan
Disposing of counterfeit brand products
Authorities invited the press along to film the disposal of some 10,000 counterfeit brand products:
The items shown in the above FTV clip were confiscated by Tokyo customs officials between November 2008 and February 2009. Most of the counterfeit items came from China.
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Categories: General Japan
Please smoke yourselves to early deaths
Doctors probably shouldn’t joke about this kind of stuff when speaking before large audiences:
“It is clear that medical costs will increase if non-smoking spreads,” the doctor said last week, according to Ida Hospital in Kawasaki City. “It’s better that people smoke a lot and die early.”
The man, whose name has been withheld, made the comment at a gathering of doctors, the hospital said.
“The hospital president has reprimanded him severely,” said Tetsuya Yamamoto, a public relations official of the hospital.
“He said it was a careless remark and sincerely regrets it,” the official said, adding that he was being sarcastic as the doctor is a smoker himself.
[hat tip to Clay]
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Categories: General Japan
Doodling on faces in Japanese history textbooks
A Japanese TV show recently searched through hundreds of junior high school history textbooks to find awesome examples of doodling on the faces of historical figures. Here is a clip of some of their best discoveries:
And a clip showing the 5 most popular faces:
The Top 5 Most Vandalized Faces
For reasons not quite know, the images of Francis Xavier were censored by the program. Could it be that the show’s producers thought it might offend Christians to see one of their saints defaced?
Related link: Some similar textbook doodling from a Taiwanese otaku.
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Categories: Odd / Strange
Canadian actor arrested for drug smuggling
Canadian actor Jai West has been arrested after authorities intercepted a package containing marijuana that had been mailed to him from Canada:
The suspect allegedly had an unknown person send 330 grams of the cookies from a post office in Vancouver, Canada, via ship to him. The cargo arrived at Tokyo port on Feb. 10, they said.
He is also suspected of possessing 1.5 grams of marijuana when Kanagawa police officers searched his home in Tokyo’s Meguro Ward on March 12, according to the officials.
West denied the smuggling charge, saying his acquaintance had sent the cargo to him, while admitting to possessing the drug for use, they said.
Those who watch a lot of Japanese TV may recognize Jae West as the guy who played Beethoven in a recent Tokyo Gas commercial:
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Categories: Foreigners in Japan
Billy Blanks and water for Cambodia
This past weekend I was singing at charity events in Nagoya and Osaka for HOPE Japan, an NGO that builds wells in Cambodia, Somalia and various other spots around the world. They do good work providing clean water for people who need it, so that’s one reason to go over and check out their Youtube channel (http://www.youtube.com/hopewaterjp).
Another reason is to hear Mr. Billy Blanks of Billy’s Bootcamp fame talk about his views on charity. Billy showed up and auctioned off a private workout that fetched a winning bid of 200,000 yen at the Osaka event. Then he announced his engagement to his Japanese fiancée and spoke of his plans to build a life in Japan.
So there you are, just in case you were lying awake at nights, wondering where Billy is now. Now go dust off that Bootcamp DVD and give it another try – beach days are not so far away.
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Categories: General Japan