Archive for October, 2009

A tour of Haneda Airport

The foreign stars of ATV’s regular sightseeing news segment get a behind-the-scenes look at Haneda Airport:

They are shown the following:

• the airport’s Shinto shrine
• a daycare center for the children of airport staff (with a very cool view)
• the room in which airport employees answer phone calls and make airport-wide announcements (it’s not a machine voice)
• Haneda’s new international terminal (scheduled to be completed next year)
• a new runway (also scheduled to be completed next year)

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

This tree looks like a butt

A woman contacted the makers of “Nanikore Chin Hakkei” to let them know that a tree in her neighborhood was shaped very much like a person’s naked rear-end. They showed up, filmed it, and it made the final cut for the show (with the submitter earning about $300 in prize money):

The narrator avoids mentioning the branch coming out of the other side of the tree, but one celebrity panelist notices it and announces that the tree is a male.
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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

OMG – Japanese learn about internet acronyms and smileys

An NTV news short about a promotional event for the release of “Gossip Girls” in Japan introduces some of the acronyms and emoticons used in English language mobile phone text messages:

Their reporter visited Temple University’s Japan campus, where an American guy teaches them about “gr8″ and “b4.”

They then quiz Japanese teens about the meaning of “gr8″ and one girl says it means that there are “eight gyaru lolitas.” After the reporter teaches them that it actually means “great,” they say that it could also be used in Japan.

At the end of the clip, a group of Americans introduces Western-style heart and smiley emoticons. (Most Japanese emoticons are not flipped sideways.)

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

The world’s smallest girl visits Japan

While we’re on the topic of flying oddly-sized humans to Japan for entertainment purposes…

A Japanese TV show featuring Guinness World Record-holders brings the Jyoti Amge, the world’s smallest girl, to Japan:

Amge, known as “Amu-chan” on the program, is taken to a nail salon to enjoy something that is apparently not available in her native India. She then visits a hair salon and is given a slight makeover. Finally, they take her to a photo studio for babies, in which she tries on a lot of cute costumes. At the end of the clip, she says it is her dream to one day become an actress.

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

Japanese researchers observe altruistic chimps

Researchers from Kyoto University’s Primate Research Institute have conducted a test that they believe demonstrates that chimpanzees help their fellow primates selflessly:

Tokyo University researcher, Shinya Yamamoto, was a member of the Kyoto team.

Yamamoto said that in some of the experiments chimps were filmed passing sticks or straws to other chimps.

The sticks were then used by the chimps to reach straws otherwise out of reach, or, in the case of the passed straw, to drink juice.

Yamamoto said the chimps were trained to use sticks to drag straws placed out of reach and to use straws to drink juice from a container.

But he claimed the transferring of the sticks or straws for other chimps to use was not trained.

The Institute reported that pairs of primates passed the items to each other 59 per cent of the time, even though the action did not benefit both of them.

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

Fast food breakfast battle

Japan’s fast food chains are stepping up their efforts to draw customers in the morning, reports FTV news:

According to Japanese government statistics, nearly 14 million Japanese people don’t eat breakfast every morning. Fast food chains are hoping to cash in on the non-breakfast-eaters who are hungry in the morning but too busy to prepare their own meals.

Mos Burger is attempting to draw some customers away from McDonald’s by offering burgers, hot dogs, and coffee in the morning. Mos Burger has long been considered a somewhat expensive fast food chain, but they are offering a morning set that drops the cost of a burger and a coffee from 380 yen to 270 yen. Like McDonald’s, they are selling hot dogs as a breakfast food.

Lotteria is also offering pepper pork sandwiches, italian hot sandwiches, and sausage burgers in the morning.

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