Archive for August, 2009

Japan in Cambodia

I recently came back from a trip to Cambodia with HOPE Japan, an NGO that builds wells and provides micro-loans in the very poor rural areas of the country. Our team members were all either Japanese or people living in Japan, so we were quick to notice the influence of Japan in Cambodia. When we were driving out of the capital city of Phnom Penh headed for the rural areas, we encountered a massive, under-construction bridge that was nicknamed the “Toyota Bridge”. Apparently, the money for the bridge was provided by the Japanese government, with Toyota and friends providing the expertise. I suppose that both are anxious to get more Toyotas flowing into the country.

But Japan’s involvement isn’t all corporate and governmental. In the following video we headed out to a floating village near the village of Krakor where we encountered something completely unanticipated (about at the halfway point of the video):

—
Contributor Bio: JJ, shockingly, teaches English, but would prefer to do other things (shockingly). So he writes songs or comedy or the occasional theological treatise. Sometimes he tries to combine all of them. This is most easily observed at www.youtube.com/fatblueman.
.
—

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

Noriko Sakai haunted by ghost

Two stupid stories from the ongoing obsessive media cover of the Noriko Sakai drug scandal:
1) IS THAT A GHOST?

A ghost head in the background of a picture of Sakai (apparently from a TBS news broadcast). Is it real?!!

—
2) Trying to figure out the meaning of graffiti

The Sankei Shimbun is trying to figure out why some graffiti appeared on the side of Noriko Sakai’s beach house. There must be some meaning behind “BLES,” but they can’t figure it out. The graffiti appeared just a few days after every friggin’ TV network displayed countless images of the house on their news broadcasts. [via Meta no Tame]

—

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

Japanese anime: slant-eyed Chinaman fights Nazi

An old scene from the Kinnikuman anime in which Ramenman (from Chinese) battles Brocken Jr. (from German):

According to the Wikipedia, the series was banned in France because Brocken Jr. was depicted as a “good Nazi.” When Kinnikuman figures and an NES game were released in the United States under the M.U.S.C.L.E. brand, Brocken Jr. was replaced with another character. Somebody eventually realized he might be offensive, so in later cartoons the swastikas on his uniform were replaced with Death’s Heads.

Other notable Kinnikuman characters include the Indian guy with a bowl of curry on his head, the toilet paper mummy from Egypt, the charging bull guy from Spain, the Chilean with a Easter Island Moa head, and TeaPacMan from Sri Lanka. Japan is represented by a samurai and a ninja.

[hat tip to Ken Y-N of What Japan Thinks, who has an article up about all you ever wanted to know about Kinnikuman.]

—

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

Complaining about Korea on YouTube

An English language video explaining some of the grievances Japanese netizens have with South Korean treatment of Japan and Japanese things:

[Found via this Japanese blog, which was responding to a post by Brian in Jeollanam-do about a South Korean ultra-nationalist organization's campaign to give away prizes to foreigners who write good things about Korea. I don't think that Japanese blogger will be one of the winners.]

—

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

Backwards Japan

Check out “Japan – Rewound!“, a fun video created by Our man in Abiko:

Our Man just paid off 20,000 passing Japanese to walk backwards. Pretty nifty huh?

—

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

A dog that is afraid of tortoises

Meet Edy, a boxer who doesn’t like being around turtles　tortoises [English captions have been added to this video to explain what is going on but not necessarily translate all of the dumb stuff being said by the cute voice overs]:

—

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