Archive for September, 2009

Mr. James makes English mistakes on his blog

Update: They’ve corrected the error, but it will live on thanks to the screen capture I saved.

A funny discovery on the official blog of Mr. James, the American mascot of the McDonald’s Japan “Nippon All-Stars” campaign:

The American who speaks wacky Japanese can’t even write in his native language! I guess this is proof that his blog, like many Japanese celebrity blogs, is probably the work of a ghost writer. (Was there anyone out there that actually believed he was actually writing all those katakana NIPPON-GO blog posts himself?)

A comment on the blog entry points out his grammatical error and concludes that Mr. James is so used to speaking Japanese that he forgot some of his English.

[hat tip to Debito]

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

Gigantor (Testsujin 28-go) monument completed in Kobe

Kobe’s 1:1 scale model of Gigantor (Tetsujin 28-go) is now complete:

There are still some finishing touches to be made around the base of the statue. The dedication ceremony will be held on Sunday, October 4th.

To check it out, head on down to Shin-Nagata Station [Access Map].

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

Ichiro ejected!!

Having long been an Ichiro fan, I was amused to find this video of the usually subdued baseball superstar being ejected from a game!  Apparently he is the first Mariner to be ejected this season.

Wonder what English he conjured up on this occasion.  Please comment your guesses.

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Contributor Bio: I am a doctoral student of environmental anthropology currently living and conducting research in a mountain village in Nagano. In my research I explore modernity as it is expressed in a rural mountain community. Specifically I look at national management structures, as well as social discourses, related to forests and probe the impacts these have on local human communities. I have lived and worked in Japan for 5 years. My interests also include Buddhism, literature, music, and mountaineering. Read more at my personal blog: In the Pines.
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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

Giant hornet hunter needs no protective suit

Several weeks ago, I posted a video of 78-year-old exterminator Kakusaburo Arakawa wiping out giant hornets with a vacuum cleaner. Here’s a video of another hornet exterminator, Mr. Muramatsu.

Muramatsu doesn’t rely on protective suits and doesn’t need any special vacuuming machines. All he uses are nets, adhesive sheets, and spray cans of insecticide.

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

Cat & Bird live together in harmony

A cute scene in Aichi prefecture:

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

Google.co.jp honors Confucius’ Birthday

I noticed this logo on Google.co.jp this morning:

According to Google blogoscoped, it is a celebration of Confucius’ birthday. One of their readers translates the Chinese as:

“To have friends come from far away – isn’t that a joy?”

It’s currently visible on Google China, Google Australia, and Google New Zealand. At the moment of this posting, Google.com was still displaying its normal logo.

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