Crazed fan tricks post office into forwarding AKB48 members’ mail to his address
A fan of the idol group AKB48 has stolen mail belonging to group members by taking advantage of the fact that Japanese post offices apparently do not ask for ID when you turn in change of address forms:
In the specific case of which Shibuya is accused, he registered his address as that of one member of the group between September and October last year, and received two items of mail addressed to her. The deception was uncovered in May this year after a member of the group reported to police that her mail wasn’t being delivered.
An ensuing investigation found that he had registered his address as that of 11 members of the group in total, after getting their addresses from other fans. There are over 40 members in the group. He said the post office never asked him for the pop group members’ ID.
[...]
Police say Shibuya managed to get his hands on around 200 pieces of mail in total, including mobile phone bills and training schedules.
“I just wanted some of their stuff, I didn’t care what,” he said.
- Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
- Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
Categories: Odd / Strange
Japanese Mortified By Obama’s bow? Uhh…..no.
Leave it to a clown like Sean Hannity to take a single quote by an American and interpret it to mean that the Japanese are “mortified” by Obama’s bowing before Emperor Akihito.
In the real world (a place far away from the planet Hannity resides on), few in the Japanese media said anything about Obama’s bow until they discovered Fox and other American media sources had made it into a big story. What we now have on our hands is a strange story about how many Americans have overreacted to simple bow and handshake. Unlike the bow itself, which drew little attention, this story actually does make America look stupid in the eyes of many Japanese viewers.
Related Colbert Report clip:
| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Obama Bows to Japanese Emperor | ||||
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- Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
- Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
Categories: Foreigners in Japan
Jake Adelstein on the Daily Show
Jake Adelstein, author of Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan
, appeared on Monday’s episode of the Daily Show to talk about his encounters with the yakuza:| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Jake Adelstein | ||||
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- Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
- Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
Categories: General Japan
Yukio Hatoyama vs. Yukio Hatoyama
A very popular video on YouTube and Nico Nico Douga features clips of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama spliced together to make it look like he is questioning himself over a funding scandal:
- Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
- Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
Categories: Politics
Scuba Santa in Osaka
The end of Halloween brought the beginning of decorations for Christmas across Japan. The Osaka Aquarium has begun its X-mas festivities by having an employee in a Santa outfit go scuba diving in their big tank:
- Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
- Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
Categories: Odd / Strange
Hiroko Mima sex tape scandal (Miss Universe Japan 2008)
Sigh….Yes, I know about the Hiroko Mima sex tape scandal. You can stop e-mailing/messaging me about it, and leaving porn links in the comment threads of other posts.
Hiroko Mima, who was crowned Miss Universe Japan 2008, and Anya Ayoung-Chee, who was crowned Miss Universe 2008 of Trinidad and Tobago 2008, are in the middle of the scandal after an intimate video tape leaked allegedly showing them together having sex with Anya’s boyfriend and with each other.
You can download it via the links on Reddit.com.
So Far, only one Japanese news site seems to have picked up the story. It will be interesting to see how the mainstream Japanese media will handle this scandal.
[hat tips go to Pavel and Yogaboy]
Update: A July 2008 blog post by Hiroko Mima confirms that she met Miss Trinidad & Tobago:
彼女は、Miss TRINIDAD&TOBAGOです。彼女のナショナルデレクターは、イネスと大の仲良しなので、世界大会に行く前から私は彼女をネットで見ていたし、私は彼女と会うのが楽しみでした。彼女と初めて会った時に彼女が「あなたと私の顔はよく似ているわねぇ。」と言ってくれました。確かに、この写真を見ると・・・似ていますね！ﾜﾗ〃
She wrote that the Miss Universe national director for Trinidad & Tobago was close friends with Ines Ligron, the person in charge of the Japan pageant. Hiroko had been looking forward to meeting Miss Trinidad & Tobago, and when they met, they commented on how they look alike.
Update 2: Gawker is reporting that the woman having sex with Anya Ayoung-Chee and her boyfriend is not Hiroko Mima. Anya’s boyfriend believes the video was stolen by a tech support person, and that’s apparently how their threesome partner was misidentified as Miss Japan.
- Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
- Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
Categories: Celebrity News