Archive for July, 2009

Incredible Japanese Wiener Art

A Japanese news program recently featured some pretty damn neat works of wiener art:

The wiener artwork is created by Mrs. Soejima, a grocery store worker who promotes the sale of wieners. In the report she shows viewers how to make an elephant (1:00 into the clip) and a sunflower (2:30 into the clip).

Her wiener animals are perfect for moms looking to make cute bento lunches for their kids, so Soejima’s area of the store is very popular.

Here are some screen captures of some of the coolest wiener animals (pigs, koalas, otters, sunflowers, a snail, and a little mouse driving a car):

In the video clip, you can also see some rabbits, beetles, and a few other wiener creatures.

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

Tengu trailer

The trailer for Tengu, a new movie by Swiss filmmaker Roger Walch:

David (Ted Taylor) comes to Japan for one week to study traditional legends. He is supposed to meet Professor Ozawa, a leading expert in the field. But when he arrives, he gets picked up by Ozawa’s two female assistants, Sanae (Mimori Sento) and Manami (Sakiko Ikegami). They bring him to a traditional guest-house and accompany him during his stay. A strange man in the bath house (Kan Mikami) tells David about the local Tengu legend. Tengu are a class of well known monster-spirits with a long nose and a red face who live in the Japanese forests and mountains. David is immediately fascinated. But the more he finds out about the Tengu, the more he is drawn into his own past-life.

Walch informs us that the film will be screening next Thursday (July 23rd) at Cinema Skhole in Nagoya at 19:00.

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

BBC report on Japanese love hotels

The BBC reports on how Japanese love hotels are still doing well during the economic downturn:

Foreign correspondents in Japan sure do seem lazy! This report is a recycled version of reports already made by Reuters and CNN. Like both of those news outlets, the BBC talks to Steve Mansfield, a hotel owner who feeds them PR about the great condition of his hotels and his company. It is unclear just how much this industry is “booming,” but you can be sure that these news reports are helping Mr. Mansfield find lots of investors.

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

Jenkins-san in the LA Times

The LA Times has an article up about former defector to North Korea Charles Robert Jenkins, reporting on his life at a souvenir shop on Sado Island:

“Jenkins-san!” shout two dozen tourists lined up to meet this diminutive man with jug-handle ears, a 69-year-old American who speaks only a few words of their native tongue.

With a weary smile, Jenkins poses for a frenzy of snapshots, awkwardly holding a box of specialty cookies. Everyone wants a piece of him, pressing in close to shake his hand and ask him to sign their souvenir snacks.

“One day I counted 300 pictures in the first hour alone,” Jenkins recalls in the easy cadence of his native North Carolina. “Then I just gave up counting.”

His quote in the article about still fearing that North Korean spies might come and kill him has been reported by the Japanese media.

For more information on Jenkin’s life, check out his autobiography: The Reluctant Communist.

[The photo in this post comes from a Japanese blogger writing about a trip to Sado Island. The Jenkins-san photo is presented along with other typical tourist pics.]

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• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
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Old woman sentenced to two years in prison for stealing a plastic eraser

The 70-year-old woman has been sentenced to 2 years in prison for stealing a 98 yen plastic eraser. She was a repeat offender, so she must go to jail:

Presiding Judge Satoshi Miyamoto said the woman had a previous record of shoplifting and other offenses, and the nature of her crime “reflected her experience.”

He accepted the amount in question was negligible, but said the woman could not avoid prison. The woman was released from prison in January and has been living alone on welfare.

It’s common for petty criminals to receive suspended prison sentences in Japan, but I guess this woman never learned her lesson and needs to do some time in the slammer. Sometimes, even serious criminals get off with no prison time, such as : an executive who knowingly built and sold buildings that did not meet earthquake safety standards, a manager whose negligence of sanitation caused six people to die, a music producer who swindled investors out of 500 million yen, and a human trafficker who forced women into prostitution.

[via JapanSoc]

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• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
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Adamo – a fake South Pacific Islander in Japan

A FTV news report about Adamo-chan singing and dancing with some little children to promote the new release of a song:

Adamo-chan is a character created by comedian Toshiro Shimazaki, and is apparently meant to be a Tahitian (perhaps some knowledgeable readers could correct me on this if I am wrong). I was not aware of his existence until seeing this news report, but it would seem that he’s been around for 25 years now, with the peak of his popularity was some time in the 1980′s.

The existence of Japanese comedians who put on make-up to imitate the physical features of other races is a sensitive one for non-Japanese, so I’ve included a poll to see what this site’s readership thinks of Adamo-chan:

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Aside: I doubt such footage of shirtless children would be considered appropriate for the TV news in the United States (and possibly other countries with strict views on child porn), but I guess it’s okay for TV in this country. I also don’t quite understand why they had to be shirtless at that event: we can see in the background that at least one class of the kindergartners kept their shirts on.
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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
• Kirainet.com – A geek in Japan (Subscribe)