Archive for March, 2009

A pet hawk in Japan

A clip of a pet hawk　in Izuki city, Osaka:

The hawk, named Fuku, loves to go on walks with his master and will obediently wait outside whenever he goes into a shop. The master says he thinks Fuku is cuter than his wife.

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

Vocaloid Hatsune Miku

A report from the Asahi about virtual idol Hatsune Miku (closed captioned in English!):

Hatsune Miku is a 16-year-old girl with long green pigtails and a voice with a range no human could ever hope to match.
She is a virtual singer with a computer-synthesized voice, a work by creators who met on the Internet. Many of the songs she sang have proven to be so appealing that the music industry cannot ignore her. She has developed into a singer with a large worldwide following. Lets now see who Mikus creators are and how her world was formed.

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

Baby Coke

Two commercials for tiny “Baby Coke” bottles:

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

Hawkers frustrated with Japanese police / Ichihashi suicide rumor

The 2nd anniversary of Lindsay Ann Hawker‘s death has passed, and a few new stories about the murder case have appeared over the last week:

Lindsay’s sister still seems optimistic about keeping the manhunt in the news:

If it was a murder that had taken place in this country we’ve been told that resources would have been scaled down much sooner and it would have perhaps taken more of a back seat than it has done in Japan.

Because Japan’s got such a low crime rate and because it was such a horrific crime it’s remained in the public conscience and it’s remained a serious case. So we’re still positive that there’s going to be a positive outcome.

But the family doesn’t seem so positive when they speak about the way Japanese police have been carrying out the investigation. Richard Lloyd Perry of the Times has reported that the Hawkers think the police decision to great large cutouts of Ichihashi is a frustrating “gimmick” meant to make them feel the police are doing something:

“It was really quite upsetting because it seems that they are no closer to finding him now than when he slipped through their fingers two years ago. We would have respected them more if they’d said honestly to us, ‘We’re doing all we can, but we’re struggling’, instead of trying to appease us with cardboard cut-outs.”

Meanwhile, a British Newspaper has printed a rumor about Ichihashi’s father committing suicide:

Police refused to confirm or deny that Masayoshi Ichihashi, a wealthy doctor and the father of Tatsuya Ichihashi, 29, had killed himself last September.

Japan’s strict privacy laws make it difficult to confirm that he had committed suicide.

However, the death was reported to The Daily Telegraph by a local journalist.

Miss Hawker’s father, Bill, said he was “shocked” but added he “wished it had been his son instead”.

And finally, in his latest Japan Times column, Debito claimed that the police seeking Ichihashi on the charge of “abandonment of a corpse” instead of murder is evidence of discrimination against foreigners in Japan:

Now triangulate that with the case of Lindsay Ann Hawker, who was allegedly murdered by Tatsuya Ichihashi in 2007. The evidence here is damning too: video evidence of her accompanying him to his apartment building, her beaten and strangled body found in a tub of sand on his apartment balcony, and his fleeing barefoot when police visited to investigate. He’s still at large today. You can see his mug shot on police posters with five other suspects wanted for “murder” (satsujin). That is, except for Ichihashi. He’s just accused of “abandonment of a corpse,” again.

Apparently it is not rare for Japanese police to seek fugitives on lesser charges they can definitely get a conviction for, with the expectation that they can later ask for more serious charges once the criminal is in custody and under interrogation. Given the level of international and domestic media attention that has fallen upon this case, it’s unlikely that Ichihashi wouldn’t be charged with murder should he be captured alive. Readers have pointed out that the police are in fact naming Ichihashi as a suspected murderer.

[hat tip to Ken Y-N and Big in Japan (via Japan Soc)]

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
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Riding a lego boat to Tokyo Bay

On a recent Arashi special, the group tried to ride a lego boat down the Arakawa river to Tokyo Bay:

Unfortunately the boat was not very sturdy, and the building blocks, which were probably not LEGO ® brand blocks, came apart rather easily. When they had a “propeller man” sit on the back of the boat to provide some propulsion, it only hastened the rate at which their craft crumbled.

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

Softbank makes prospective employees sell mobile phone contracts (for no pay)

If you want to work for Softbank, you’ll have to do unpaid sales work on their behalf:

Applicants to the business planning and retail sales divisions of the three companies were required to sell contracts in order to exhibit their “sales power” as part of a “special interview quota,” in addition to the usual written test and interview.

Prospective hires are directed to a dedicated Web site where they are given a sales ID. Customers who sign new contracts with Softbank or switch from another carrier as a result of a student applicant’s efforts receive the applicant’s special ID, and the applicant’s name along with the contract details are passed on to Softbank. Sales results for clients who conclude Softbank contracts by April 12 and begin using Softbank services by April 26 will be included in the prospective hire’s evaluation.

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare is investigating the practice to see if it violates labor laws.

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