Archive for December, 2009

Station master cat gets a special X-mas uniform

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    stationmaster santa cat

    Tama, the feline station master Of Kishi Station on the Wakayama Electric Railway, will be dressing in a special Christmas uniform until the 25th, as these two video clips show:

    And while we’re at it, here’s a more general slide show of Tama (includes a few X-mas shots):

    6 comments - What do you think?  Posted by James - December 8, 2009 at 5:58 am

    Categories: Animal Videos

    Protest against North Korean school’s invasion of public park land

    clean up the park

    The video embedded below shows members of the right wing citizens’ group Shuken Kaifuku wo Mezasu Kai (The Society to Seek Restoration of Sovereignty) holding a protest against a North Korean school in Kyoto*. Judging from the intro to the above video clip, they’ve taught themselves some fancy video editing techniques since the last time I posted one of their videos:

    The first minute of the video provides highlights of the entire set [Part 2/Part 3/Part 4/Part 5/Part 6].

    According to the video description, the protest is against the North Korean school’s unauthorized use of a nearby park. Without seeking permission from local authorities, the school basically turned the park into part of its campus, erecting goal posts and even a metal podium. This has apparently been going on for decades. The angry protesters try to dismantle some of the equipment and throw it against the gate of the school. Just like some of their other protest activities, it involves a lot of shouting over loud speakers.

    I have not had time to watch all 6 videos, but from skimming through them, it would appear that a police officer summoned to the scene lectures them on how they are not allowed to take the law into their own hands. They seem to give up and leave the area. (If anyone has watched the protest videos in their entirety, leave a comment and I’ll add information to this post.)


    *Related Clip: Here’s a pretty good news clip about the existence of North Korean schools in Japan, which teach pro-Pyongyang propaganda to members of Japan’s Korean community:

    34 comments - What do you think?  Posted by James - at 5:58 am

    Categories: Politics

    Claytonian on Japanese TV

    Claytonian on Japanese TV

    Congratulations to Japan Probe’s Claytonian for getting featured on the TBS morning show “Gacchiri Monday”:

    Thanks to a post-it note that he cleverly attached to his torso, we can tell that he’s the guy in the YouTube t-shirt shown in the first 3 seconds of the news report.

    The full report is about how Google technology that automatically detects copyrighted content is being used to help make money. They are giving copyright holders the choice to make some money through advertising placed on videos that contain their music or video content.

    4 comments - What do you think?  Posted by James - at 5:58 am

    Categories: Celebrity News

    Ultraman kaiju Thriller dance

    kaiju thriller

    Mecha Ike” combines Ultraman and Michael Jackson for some wacky fun:

    4 comments - What do you think?  Posted by James - December 7, 2009 at 7:56 am

    Categories: Odd / Strange

    Tokyo Street Art

    tokyo street art

    Run FMM films some interesting “street art” and stickers in Tokyo:

    [via Jean Snow]

    3 comments - What do you think?  Posted by James - at 7:49 am

    Categories: General Japan

    Benjamin Fulford calls for advertising boycott of Fuji TV

    benjamin

    Conspiracy theorist Benjamin Fulford is outraged because a Japanese TV network called him up and asked him to present mainstream American views on their program. Unlike some of the other stuff he writes about, this actually seems kind of believable:

    The other night I got called by Fuji Television, a major Japanese network. They told me they wanted to invite me to speak on a news program about Obama’s economic policies. I explained to them that Obama was presiding over an economic disaster of historic proportions. Using only data that came from official sources I showed how the real unemployment rate was 17.5%. I explained in detail how the US government was faking its economic data. I showed how Obama borrowed $1 trillion from the Chinese last year and had already spent it and was not getting any more. I told them to check various governments official data to confirm that no foreigners were buying US government bonds. They asked me to look at the site called recovery.gov. I looked at it and explained to them that it was all smoke and mirrors. It was just unkept promises and feel good talk. The TV producer told me to wait a minute because he had to talk to his superior. He then said to me “I am sorry but your television appearance has been cancelled. The aim of this program is to convince the Japanese they should imitate the US.” In other words a so-called “news” program decides in advance what it wants to tell the Japanese people and damn the facts. Running a program like that for an evil foreign group is treason. Real news programs just objectively provide the facts and let the people form their own opinions. We are calling for an international advertizing boycott of Fuji Television until they clean up their act. We are also asking people to phone Fuji Television and ask for their public relations department to explain why they are doing this. Fuji’s telephone number is 813-5500-8888. It is time to discipline the corporate media worldwide.

    [hat tip to John]

    37 comments - What do you think?  Posted by James - at 6:33 am

    Categories: Foreigners in Japan, Politics

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