Cat has Chinese character for “8″ on his forehead
Having reported on eyebrow cat, eyebrow dog, and wig cat, “Nanikore Chin Hakkei” moves on to a cat in Sapporo with the Chinese character for “8″ [八] on its forehead:
The cat is, of course, named Hachi. He’s had that mark on his forehead since he was a kitten. The owners bought him at a pet store for 8,000 yen.
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Categories: Animal Videos
NTT East’s Android-powered tablet targets women
Yesterday, NTT East announced the internet-enabled Hikari iFrame (光iフレーム) in a bid to increase the number of households subscribing to its Flet’s Next fiber optic broadband internet service by targeting young women who are unskilled with computers.
The device will cost between 20,000 and 30,000 yen, run Google’s open source Android mobile OS, and double as a digital photo frame. Third party “widgets” for displaying recipes, news, weather, etc. will be available for download.
NTT is looking for approximately 1000 people to test the device beginning in early December until March 31, 2010. Application is open until 11/30 through this site. To apply, you must have a wireless internet connection, though it does not need to be through NTT.
I wonder if men can apply?
More information (in Japanese) at IT Media and product home page.
[Hat tip to Tagosagu]
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Categories: General Japan, Technology
Big-spending Chinese tourists in Japan
A Japanese news program follows around a group of rich Chinese tourists, observing their spending habits:
The 26 Chinese tourists are from Shanghai, and they’ve come to Japan to go shopping. Almost half the group are doctors from a plastic surgery clinic.
Their first stop is Akihabara, where they do some duty free shopping. On their way to the high priced brand items, they are distracted by relatively cheap nail clippers equipped with an attached magnifying glasses. They buy a few. Nail clippers are a popular souvenir for Chinese tourists, says one store clerk. Apparently the company that makes the magnifying glass nail clippers sells about 80% of them through duty free stores.
They also buy some other stuff, such as rice cookers. A look at one doctor’s shopping list shows that she wants hair coloring dye, cosmetic products, kairo heating pads, eye drops, and a variety of Burberry clothing and apparel.
Next, they check out some luxury wristwatches. It takes only a few seconds for some of them to decide on which products to buy. Foreign wristwatches are less expensive in Japan. Some are even 40% cheaper than what one would pay in China.
The shopping spree is supposed to last 30 minutes, but several members of the group ignore the clock and keep shopping. Considerate members of the tour group, who went back to the bus at the appointed time, are left waiting. After 40 minutes, the other doctors return to the bus, declaring that they wish they had more time to shop.
We are also shown some clips of Chinese tourists visiting a duty free luxury brand product store. Titanium and germanium necklaces and bracelets are particularly popular among the Chinese tourists, especially since many Chinese athletes wore similar necklaces during the last Olympic games. It would seem that many of them believe the ridiculous pseudoscientific claims about the “power” of such necklaces and bracelets.
We join the Chinese tourists as they have lunch at a Chinese restaurant in Shinjuku. It took them quite a while to finish shopping in Akihabara, but they speed through their lunch in just 10 minutes. After lunch they hit up the nearby Sakuraya electronics store, where at least one doctor buys an iPod Touch.
The next stop is Ginza, an area of Tokyo known for its high class brand shops. At the Burberry store alone, the group of 10 doctors spends close to 1,200,000 yen ($13,300).
The next scene is of them visiting Mt. Fuji. The cloudy weather prevents a nice view of the famous mountain, but it luckily does not stop their shopping. Since a few years ago, many Chinese tourists have been visiting the area, so souvenir shops and hotels have hired Chinese-speaking staff. Even the old lady who serves tea at their onsen hotel has learned some Chinese.
Their story is interrupted for a few minutes to show another Chinese tour group visiting a jewelry store in Yamanashi prefecture. They follow around one woman as she finds a necklace she likes and quickly buys it, paying over 110,000 yen ($1,200) in cash. They also see a man buy a 39,000 yen ($430) set of earrings. In about one hour, the store sells about 300,000 yen ($3,320) worth of jewelry.
The last scene of the report goes back to the original tour group from Shanghai as they shop for jewelry at the same shop. One tourist buys a flashy 137,000 yen ($1,500) ring. During their two-day shopping spree, the group of 10 doctors has spent over 2,000,000 yen ($22,130), which is about 10 times more than the average annual income in China. They were scheduled to visit both Nagoya and Osaka the next day, so they probably spent even more money before going back to Shanghai.
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Categories: General Japan
Police check Tokyo Imperial Palace moat for security threats
Yesterday was the 20th anniversary celebration of the Emperor’s reign, and today Barack Obama will be coming to Japan. Japanese police have been on high alert for security threats, as this video clip shows:
A team of police divers checked the imperial moat for dangerous objects, while other police spray-painted manhole covers to make it easier to check if any terrorists have attempted to access the sewage system. It would also appear that pay phones have been shut, since they might be used in some evil way.
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Categories: General Japan
Fumiko’s Confession (a short animation)
Fumiko’s Confession is an adorable and exciting short film. What is really remarkable about it is that it was animated by just one person, who is bound to be very successful in the future. You can see more from the creator here.
In the short, Fumiko asks a boy to date her, but he refuses, wanting to concentrate on his baseball skills.
At the end, she offers to make him miso soup every day (a marriage proposal in Japan), but the result is…
Contributor Bio: Claytonian blogs and vlogs about Japan, language, and news at The Hopeless Romantic and dreams of one day having miso soup made for him.
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Categories: Films, Otaku & Anime
Japanese Randoseru Commercial
Kyowa uses a faux foreign exercise video to advertise its elementary school backpacks (randoseru):
The backpacks cost 32,400 yen each, about 360 USD.
[hat tip to Clay]
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Categories: Odd / Strange