Archive for December, 2009

Roof orbs provide free lighting

A house in Tokyo that saves electricity by having bizarre-looking lens orbs on its roof redirect sunlight (during daylight hours only):

—

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

Mitsubishi Ki-15 New Year’s Cards

A old New Year’s Card celebrating the 1937 flight of the Mitsubishi Ki-15 “Kamikaze“:

See more cards from the series at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts website. [via Pink Tentacle]

—

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

Yakuza give gifts to local children

The friendly members of Japan’s biggest yakuza gang held an event the other day in which they handed out gifts to children:

Investigation sources revealed to the Mainichi on Tuesday that gifts of up to 30,000 yen were given to children during an annual mochi (rice cake) making event at the Yamaguchi-gumi headquarters in Kobe’s Nada Ward the day before.

The cash was handed out in two types of small envelopes in the names of “Tsukasa” or “Takayama,” apparently representing gang boss Kenichi Shinoda (also known as Shinobu Tsukasa) and junior leader Kiyoshi Takayama, respectively. It is not known how many children received the cash handouts, accompanied by snacks and toys.

Hyogo Prefectural Police suspect that the move was aimed at publicizing the gang’s current leadership system and appeasing local residents ahead of the release of Shinoda, who is currently serving a prison term for weapons violations.

I could not find any pictures and videos of the event, so I’ll just post this classic Benjamin Fulford clip instead, in which the wacky conspiracy theorist tells us about how the Yamaguchi-gumi is trying to kill him:

—

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

The Hatoyamas visit India

The Prime Minister and his wife just returned from a short trip to India.

Here’s a FTV news video of the Hatoyamas visiting the site of the Mumbai terror attack, where they left a message of “yu-ai.” The second half of the video shows the First Lady wearing a sari as she sings songs with students at a Japanese language school:

—
Related clip: An English language news video from NDTV about Hatoyama meeting with business leaders in Mumbai.

—

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

Japanese nail art

A look at some pretty crazy Japanese nail art:

Included in the clip is Yoko Matsuda, a specialist in creating 3D nail art (which is apparently all the rage among a certain subset of gyaru). One of her nails has a Hello Kitty “snow dome” on it. As a demonstration of how difficult it is to create this kind of stuff, Shinichi Karube miserably fails to paint a heart onto someone’s nails.

Karube also encounters some men who like to have their nails done. If one is in a line of work in which customers see your hands, having nice-looking nails can be important. Women supposedly check men’s nails, and even men look at fingers when business cards are exchanged.

The last part of the clip shows the winners of a nail art contest.

—

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

Chimpanzee attacked by evil blow dryer

“Shimura Zoo” recently aired some old footage of Chimpanzee super performer Pan-kun and his dog buddy James taking a winter adventure:

In the clip they: 1) ring a bell of happiness, 2) say hello to a parrot, 3) fool around in a dog salon, and 4) go rolling on a cart.

—

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