Archive for June, 2009

Stray dog runs around airport runway

Some video from TBS news showing a stray dog that squeezed through some fencing and ran around the runways of Osaka International Airport:

It took 5 hours of chasing to convince the dog to leave the grounds of the airport.

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

Erotic computer game maker blocks foreign website visitors

Danny Choo reports that the website of Minori, a Japanese company that produces erotic computer games (“eroge”), has blocked foreign access to its website with the following message:

The decision is probably influenced in no small part by the fact that international outrage recently made the Japanese media discover the existence of certain pornographic games, leading Japanese software makers to ban the creation of rape games. There may also be a slight connection to the case of an American man being arrested and convicted of possessing child pornography because he owned seven sexually explicit Japanese comic books.

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

There are no imported cars in Japan

A line about foreign cars in Japan from an article by Slate’s Daniel Gross about how those wacky anti-foreign Japanese somehow love foreign food:

On the 80-minute ride from Narita Airport to Tokyo, I tried in vain to spot an imported car on the road.

It’s hard to see this statement as anything other than a deliberate lie. If one was indeed trying to spot imported cars on a Japanese road, it should not have taken very long to do so – European cars are everywhere in Japan. Volkswagens, BMWs, Mercedes-Benzes, Audis, Volvos, and Renault cars are so visible in Japan that it would be downright impossible for someone to miss them.

[hat tip to Joe]

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

Taro Aso: Popular?

A FTV morning news program gives us a peek at Prime Minister Aso charming “large” crowds:

Some of the “big” crowds gathered to see him like his friendly grins and his line asking if he looks better in person than on TV. However, FTV concludes that the onlookers are mostly there just because he’s a famous person, not because they love and support him. Their latest poll shows a 17.5% approval rating for the Aso cabinet.

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

Japanese belly dancers in Turkey

Morisanchu returns to Turkey to give a repeat performance of their horrible belly dance routine:

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

Mongoose discovered in Kagoshima

An examination of some roadkill has confirmed the presence of a wild mongoose in Kyushu:

Although they have yet to capture any living mongooses in the area, the dead mongoose found in Kagoshima raises fears that the alien species somehow made its way to Kyushu via Okinawa. Because the introduction of such a predator into the local ecosystem could reek havoc, it is illegal to import/breed/sell mongooses in Japan.

Photos posted on the internet and eyewitness accounts point towards the conclusion that there could be more wild mongooses in the Kagoshima area.

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