Archive for February, 2010

Asashoryu in Hawaii

The day after announcing his retirement, former sumo Grand Champion Asashoryu got on a plane to Hawaii:

The Japanese press is wildly speculating about why he went to Hawaii and what he may be planning in the future. It is rumored that Asashoryu had some drinks with MMA fighter Satoshi Ishii, who is known to have announced a desire to fight against him. Does that mean that Asashoryu could be considering a career as a professional fighter? Representatives of MMA organizations have expressed interest in Asashoryu, but nobody knows what he is planning.

Will he go back to Mongolia for the Lunar New Year? Will he go to Vancouver to watch the Olympics? Will he go back to Japan and undergo police questioning? So far, Asashoryu seems content to keep playing golf in Hawaii.

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How to ask for discount at Yamada Denki

A skilled bargainer’s tips on how to get additional discount at the electronics store:

1) When you find the product that you want is reasonably priced, say that to the sales clerk.

2) Don’t target most popular products or color.
Aim at 2nd or 3rd favorite, and ask the sales clerk which color is NOT popular.
Chances are that unpopular colors remain unsold, and they can be discounted!

3) When you negotiate for discount, don’t speak how much you want to get discounted from the price tag. Other customers may hear that. Instead, just use your your fingers to hide the numbers in the price tag you want cut from the price, and ask if that price is acceptable.

4) Finally do a “Banzai” to express happiness when the odd price can get discounted.

People in Tokyo do not negotiate for discount. But if we get this skill, we can save extra money even though discount from each item is only a small amount of money. My father, who is from Osaka, often haggled at stores and I really felt ashamed of that when I was a kid. I didn’t understand that was part of Kansai culture. I thought he did that because he was miser or we were very poor or something…

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Contributor Bio: Kirin is a Japanese woman spending her life so far somewhere around Tokyo. She now works from home and is also spreading Japanese kawaii culture and etc. through her popular blog, Tokyo Kawaii,etc.
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Dramatic Prairie Dog meme reaches Super Bowl commercial status

The famous “dramatic chipmunk” internet meme has been used in a CarMax commercial that aired during the Super Bowl:

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In case you were wondering what this has to do with Japan: The footage of the prairie dog that became the “chipmunk” of internet legend was from an episode of the Japanese TV show ” Hello! Morning.”

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Rich Chinese come to Japan for medical tourism

“Mezamashi TV” reports on a tourism organization that is encouraging Chinese to come to Kyushu for medical check-ups:

The group of rich Chinese people came to Nagasaki to undergo cancer checks at a hospital (and do some shopping). They are given the results of their check-ups on the same day. Although they can get a similar tests in China at a much lower price, the tourists say that the equipment used in Japan is higher quality and much better than what they would get back in Shanghai.

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• Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

Japanese TV program introduces “pot dealer” Kiwi husbands

On Saturday night’s episode of “Sekai Fushigi Hakken,” TBS sent a reporter to New Zealand to tour beautiful areas of the country and find out what’s so great about Kiwi husbands. At one point in the program, she interviewed a group of New Zealanders who were wearing “Pot Dealer” t-shirts:

Apparently they were not actual marijuana dealers, but had named their touch rugby team the “pot dealers.” They tell the reporter that kiwi husbands help out around the house by cooking and cleaning.

She visits the home of one “pot dealer,” a former professional rugby player who has a Japanese wife. He is shown teaching his son, a future Kiwi husband, how to clean dishes. His wife says he helps out a lot, while he says she also does a lot for him.

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JAL reportedly to stay with American

On the news this morning I heard that JAL has made yet another about face and will be sticking with American Airlines and the Oneworld Alliance. From the AFP:

Japan Airlines has decided to maintain its current tie-up with American Airlines and will end talks with Delta Air Lines, local media reported on Monday.

American Airlines and Delta Air Lines are competing to take a stake in JAL despite its bankruptcy filing last month with 26 billion dollars of debt — one of Japan’s biggest ever corporate failures.

Japanese media had previously said JAL planned to switch to Delta and its SkyTeam airline alliance from American Airlines’ Oneworld alliance as part of its recovery plan.

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JAL plans to tell Delta as early as this week that it will terminate the tie-up negotiation, while together with American the Japanese airline will apply for anti-trust immunity with the US Department of Transportation within this month, the Nikkei business daily reported.

It had been previously reported that JAL had chosen Delta for a partner. Someone at the Dallas Morning News (AA’s parent company AMR is based in Ft. Worth, TX) seems to think this would make a great reality TV show.

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Contributor Bio: Steve has been splitting time between the US and Japan for the past 10 years or so and is now a post doctorate fellow at a large, lumbering University in Tokyo, where he gets paid to play with dirt.

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