Swallow nest inside house in Japan
A pair of swallows somehow built a nest inside the kitchen of a home in Fuji City, Shizuoka Prefecture, and the owners of the house have decided not to disturb it:
The owner of the house is leaving the window to the room open 24/7 so that the swallows can fetch food for their young.
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Categories: Animal Videos
Fuji rock kills man
A man has died after a boulder rolled down Mt. Fuji and crushed his campervan:
The boulder, about a meter in diameter, reportedly hit the campervan shortly after 10 p.m. on Monday, crashing through the vehicle’s roof.
The accident occurred at the highest parking lot on the Shizuoka side of Mount Fuji, located at an altitude of approximately 2,400 meters. The trails between the ninth station and the mountain’s summit were closed due to remaining snow, but were reopened at midnight on Tuesday.
NTV’s “Real Time News” considered this story so important that they built a fake rock:
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Categories: General Japan
The World’s Most Crowded Train
Some of you may have seen old video clips on YouTube of public transportation in Japan and assumed that Japan has the world’s most crowded trains. Apparently that’s not the case.
On Sunday night’s episode of “Itte Q,” weird reporter Imoto was sent to India so she could experience the “world’s most crowded train”:
They wanted to see if she could read a newspaper on the train, but it proved extremely difficult.
Note: Yes, she painted those stupid eyebrows on. They are part of her character.
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Categories: Odd / Strange
Pachinko parlors are death traps
That seems to be the conclusion of this report from “Mezamashi TV,” which tested the ability of pachinko parlor customers to notice fire alarms and warnings from staff:
The same program also found that the narrow corridors between pachinko machines make it very hard for customers to evacuate in a quick and orderly fashion.
Such factors no doubt played a role in the recent case of an Osaka pachinko parlor fire that killed four and injured 19.
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Categories: General Japan
The Scatman? No, the Ultraman!
A Japanese parody of the Scatman John’s “Scatman” song, starring Ultraman:
[via Tokyo Five]
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Categories: Odd / Strange
Atomic-bomb roof tile auctioned off
A British man has sold a piece of burned roof tile from a temple in Hiroshima that was damaged by the atomic bomb:
John Watts, 81, said he had been given the roof tile by the priest of Sairenji Temple when he visited Hiroshima in 1952.
“I’m 81 now, single, and nobody from my family seems to want it,” Watts said last week when contacted in his Lincoln home. “Somebody might like it as a memento, and I didn’t want to throw it away.”
When news broke about his plan to auction the roof tile, there was a negative reaction from groups in Hiroshima who thought it was “not something you should sell or buy.” The tile ended up selling for only 42 pounds, but Watts plans to give a 200 pound donation to support groups for A-bomb survivors.
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Categories: General Japan