Archive for May, 2009

Chinese city donates 100,000 face masks to Kobe

Tianjin will be sending its the sister city some masks to deal with the swine flu outbreak:

The northern Chinese city Tianjin is donating 100,000 disposable face masks to its sister-city Kobe to help it fight the outbreak of new-flu infections, Chinese state media said Friday.

In a report on its website, Xinhua News Agency said the city had started an overnight drive to collect the masks Thursday after city councilors learnt about the Japanese city’s need.

The masks, adorned with a Chinese flag and a sticker that reads “Tianjin supports Kobe,” will be flown from Beijing later Friday, Xinhua said.

Meanwhile, in Tokyo: The principal of the school that sent two students to a model UN conference in New York City has made a public apology for letting his students travel to the flu-infested United States.

—

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

Kendo Federation will not recognize Chiba governor’s ranking

Scandal!! Chiba Governor Kensaku Morita (pictured above in his movie star days) has admitted that he has no evidence to back up his claim of holding a second dan kendo ranking:

Morita said at a press conference that he had been verbally allowed to acquire second dan by his kendo teacher, who held the highest title of hanshi, when he was a first-year high school student.

“Therefore I’ve been claiming that I have second dan for more than 40 years. I still feel that way,” Morita said.

Morita added he would keep claiming to hold the rank because, “It’s never been pointed out to me [that I was wrong to claim second dan].”

Those who want official recognition of a kendo ranking are required to take a test conducted by the All Japan Kendo Federation or another martial arts organization, but Morita did not.

—

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

Areas of Japan nobody cares about

Itai News has posted the results of an online survey that asked 3,000 Japanese people to name which of Japan’s 47 prefectures they least cared about:

(Sorry, I don’t care about the location of these prefectures, so I didn’t label this map.)

1. Shimane
2. Fukui
3. Saga
4. Tokushima
5. Tochigi
6. Oita
7. Yamaguchi
8. Tottori
9. Fukushima
10. Yamagata
11. Miyazaki
12. Iwate
13. Ishikawa
14. Gunma
15. Gifu

If you live in one of the above-mentioned prefectures and want to leave a comment, please feel free to do so. However, don’t be surprised if few people care about what you have to say.

[Hat tip to Marxy]

—

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

Watch the news and be afraid

Gotta love the spooky music in this report from FTV exploring the ways in which two flu-infected high school girls may have spread the H1N1 virus to other people:

After showing the range of possible infection, the fact that the girls were wearing masks is mentioned. However, an expert tells us that masks are not very effective at containing powerful coughs. (It is said that the girls did not start coughing until later in the day, so it is doubtful there was much violent coughing on their bus/train rides home.)

—

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

Hereditary politicians in Japan

It looks like the LDP might try to deny official candidate status to sons and daughters of retiring Diet members in this year’s election, a move seen by some as an attempt by the party establishment to take a dump on Junichiro Koizumi’s succession plans.

In preparing a graphic to demonstrate the concept of to viewers, FTV news decided to use a picture of Taro Aso as an example:

Taro Aso’s father was not known for looking like a mustached double of his son, so I am guessing the graphic refers to some election in the future, in which Taro Aso will grow facial hair and try to pass his district on to a clone of himself.

—

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

Shops and restaurants try to lure customers with anti-flu measures

As fears over the spread of swine flu cause people across Japan to cancel outings, many shops and restaurants have been seeing a decline in business.

Here are a few examples of businesses that have come up with clever ways to make customers feel safe:

• A conveyor belt sushi restaurant chain in Kansai has begun to put plastic cases over sushi dishes. The customer interviewed is impressed and feels it makes the sushi safer.
• Domino’s Pizza has ordered its employees to wear masks and regularly check themselves for fevers. When answering the phone to take orders, they announce to customers that their staff will be wearing masks. Their deliverymen apologize for their appearance and tell people that they are wearing the mask as protection from the H1N1 flu. Apparently some people prefer the safe feeling of eating at home to the dangers of going to a public place, so Domino’s sales have more than doubled.

• A group of small stores in one Tokyo area have joined together to launch an essential food/product delivery system. Customers who are afraid to venture out into the flu-infested world can just fill out a form and have the products they desire left at their doorstep.

—

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