Archive for April, 2010

Bad Economy Forces Hostesses to Pay Their Own Taxi Fare (Or Ride Bicycles to Work)

In the past, it was common for hostess clubs to pay taxi fares for employees going to and from work every evening. Now that economy is so bad, many hostesses are finding that they now have to pay their own transportation expenses.

Here’s a clip from ATV news about a hostess in Osaka who, like many other hostesses, is now commuting by bicycle:

The hostess in the clip lives relatively close to her place of employment so it only takes about 15 to 20 minutes of cycling to get there. [ Even in cases when hostesses can afford the taxi fare, some prefer riding bicycles to work because some taxi drivers seem unsatisfied driving customers to destinations that fall within the minimum fare. ]

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

Advertising Italian Suits in Japan

Japanese TV celebrity Panzetta Girolamo represents his native Italy chasing after beautiful women in a commercial for cheap Italian suits:

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

YouTube Vlogger PropagandaBuster Gets a Japanese Book Deal

A few years ago, anti-Greenpeace/Sea Shepherd videos uploaded by an obscure YouTube Vlogger who goes by the user name PropagandaBuster [real name: Tony Marano] was discovered by Japanese bloggers and 2-channelers. Up until that point, he had virtually no following, so he was thrilled to get attention from Japanese viewers.

Soon after his discovery by Japanese netizens, PropagandaBuster seemed to transform into a cheerleader for Japanese nationalism. When he’s not busy uploading videos defending Glenn Beck and loony rants about Obama’s attempts to turn America into a Muslim nation, he’s been parroting support for whatever cause his Japanese viewers seemed to be angry about. He’s made a video ranting in support of Japanese businesses that put up “no foreigners allowed” signs, a video about the DPJ’s anti-Japan/pro-China agenda, a video laughing about how Koreans eat dog meat, a video attacking Japan’s leftist education system, and a video defending Emobile’s Obama Monkey commercial. Right-leaning Japanese bloggers and 2-channelers seem oblivious to the fact that PropagandaBuster often comes off as a loon that likes to hear the sound of his own voice, and his Japan-related videos have received thousands of views. To spread his message, loyal followers subtitled some of his videos in Japanese and re-uploaded them on other YouTube accounts.

His popularity has now translated into a book deal. Here’s PropagandaBuster talking about it in a recent video:

Asukashinsha Publishing Company will be publishing English transcripts and Japanese translations of some special PropagandaBuster rants under the title “Speeches of Texas Daddy.” The book will also come with a DVD of the speeches. Here is a list of the topics that will be covered:

• Fantastic Japan
• Article 9
• The atomic bomb issue
• Worthless apology
• Choshu Five
• Texas Diary I: The truth of Toyota
• Commies invasion
• Beware of Chinese products
• Territorial issues and pheasants
• Texas Diary II: God help America
• The truth of Sea Shepherd
• Runaway eco-terrorism
• Awakening of the Samurai
• An interview with Texas Daddy
• Texas Diary III: Next, Tuna
• When in Faroe, do as the Faroese do
• Thank you Japan
• Texas report The Study of Sea Shepherd
• Texas Diary IV: “Spy Film” award
• Today’s Texas dish-cooking steak
• Texas Recipe
• Closing

The publishing company seems to specialize in sales to the niche market of right-wingers in Japan, offering three books by ex-General Tamogami, a book warning about the impending Chinese conquest of Japan, and at least two books about the “truth” about the Nanking Incident.

[hat tip to JapanSoc / JapanPress.info ]

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

Shopping With Gabourey Sidibe

About a week ago, I posted about Gabourey Sidibe visiting Japan to promote the movie Precious. Here’s a clip that aired a couple days ago on FTV, in which she goes shopping in Harajuku with entertainment reporter Shinichi Karube:

Sidibe meets fans from London and Senegal on the street, buys a ribbon for a school uniform [which becomes a hair ribbon], takes purikura photos with Karube, and also checks out some cherry blossoms. She is very friendly throughout the segment.

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

Free Tours Organized for European Tourists Trapped at Narita

For days now, volcanic ash from an eruption in Iceland has halted air travel to and from most of Europe, stranding hundreds of tourists in Japan. For those who do not want to spend any money, sitting inside the airport 24/7 until their flights can take off again seems to have been the only option. The airport has been providing them with free food, water, sleeping bags, and free coupons to use the airport’s shower rooms.

After seeing their plight on the news, the city of Narita has started offering free tours to the stranded tourists. Participants are bused to a Japanese cultural center where they get to try on kimonos and learn about Japanese paper, calligraphy, and tea ceremony. Here are two TV news reports about the tours:

Some flights to Europe are finally taking off again, but many will still have days to wait. The second clip features two young German tourists who say they are expecting to stay at least another 6 days at the airport.

Related Link: It appears that customers of British Airways received a very sweet deal when their flights from Japan to Europe were canceled. One customer writes that the airline paid for a night at a hotel in Japan, followed by a free flight to New York City, where passengers were given a free stay at a 4-star hotel (plus some spending money for food). They will eventually be flown back to Glasgow via Dublin (where they also get a free night at a hotel).

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

Japanese Celebrity Has a Small Male Organ

Daisuke Miyagawa changes into a wet suit to go scuba diving in Palau, exposing his naked body in the process and subjecting himself to taunts from his tour guide about how his you-know-what is “very small”:

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