Archive for September, 2009

Hatoyama vs. Obama : Who will get the 2016 Olympic games?

As an introduction to their report on how both Yukio Hatoyama and Barack Obama will be attending Friday’s IOC meeting to decide the host city for the 2016 Olympics, the NTV graphics team added some exciting flames to week-old footage of the two leaders:

Tokyo bid chief Ichiro Kono has welcomed the competition.

More Olympic bid news

The AFP has run an article focusing on how Japan’s Olympic bid team lacks emotional punch:

“It is generally said that Japanese people lack emotion,” said Takeda, who represented Japan in show-jumping at the 1972 and 1976 Olympics.

“Well we do (have emotions). We have them in our own style and we will make them felt.”

Meanwhile, the official 2016 Tokyo Olympics site is busy pumping out propaganda news articles and dull PR blog posts in favor of its bid. A recent article boasts that 100 million of Japan’s 127 million citizens support Tokyo’s Olympic bid, a dubious claim when compared to the results of public opinion polls taken only a few months ago:

In public opinion surveys conducted in early July by two major national papers, the Yomiuri Shimbun and the Asahi Shimbun, 55% of respondents support Tokyo hosting the Games in 2016. In a poll conducted last week by the Sankei Shimbun newspaper and FNN television network, support improved to 63.6% from 58.3% in February.

[via JapanSoc]

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

French Ninja Arnaud Cousergue

TV Tokyo visits France to check out the dojo of Ninja master Arnaud Cousergue:

There is some laughing at the unintelligible Japanese that Arnaud and his students recite at the beginning of their lessons and the unimpressive techniques they show off, but the segment presents a mostly positive view of their activities. After all, Arnaud and his students love Japanese culture and want to spread ninja appreciation around the world.

At Arnaud’s house they are shown some of the instructional Bujinkan DVD’s that he films and edits himself. They are sold through BudoMart.com.

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

AKB48 in NYC

A Japanese TV news report about Akihabara-based idol group AKB48 traveling to New York to give their first American concert at the NYAF:

The report notes that AKB48 started out as a group aimed at a small niche market, but they have since gained popularity outside the Akihabara otaku community. An informal survey of young men revealed that most of them liked AKB48, and a visit to their theater in Akihabara showed that they’ve also got a lot of female fans. The Yomiuri Shimbun has selected AKB48 members for some of its advertisements, a move that is interpreted as a sign that they now appeal to a mainstream audience.

A brief review of idol history places AKB48 in a new category: “idols you can visit.” They hold daily concerts at their theater in Akihabara, where polite fans remain seated so that everyone has a view of the show. Unlike other idol groups, they are easily accessable and it is not uncommon for them to shake hands with hundreds of fans who have come to see their shows. They may not obtain the mega idol status, but they do have a lot of loyal fans.

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

CNN reports on child abduction

CNN weighs in on the case of an American arrested in Japan for trying to grab his children back from his Japanese ex-wife:

Had this custody drama played out in the United States, Christopher Savoie might be considered a hero — snatching his two little children back from an ex-wife who defied the law and ran off with them.

But this story unfolds 7,000 miles away in the Japanese city of Fukuoka, where the U.S. legal system holds no sway.

And here, Savoie sits in jail, charged with the abduction of minors. And his Japanese ex-wife — a fugitive in the United States for taking his children from Tennessee — is considered the victim.

“Japan is an important partner and friend of the U.S., but on this issue, our points of view differ,” the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo said Tuesday. “Our two nations approach divorce and child-rearing differently. Parental child abduction is not considered a crime in Japan.”

The CRC Japan blog has blasted the Tennessee judge in charge of this case, who apparently did not take action to block the children from visiting to a non-Hague Convention compliant country.

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