Archive for May, 2010

Japanese Top Gun Kids

My favorite entry from the “84th All Japan Kasoh Grand Prix”:

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Asking for More Fries at McDonald’s

A Japanese YouTuber complains to McDonald’s restaurant staff after discovering that the french fries he ordered at weight only 113 grams, considerably less than the 135 grams that McDonald’s homepage advertises:

The manager acknowledges his complaint and he is given more french fries. He thus proves that those think their local McDonald’s is not providing enough french fries can get what is owed to them – if they bring a scale to prove it.

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Japanese Tourists Asked to Pay Special Peter Rabbit “Tax”

The Lake District in England is popular among Japanese tourists because of its beautiful scenery, which many associate with Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit stories. The Times reports that Japanese tourists will now be targeted for a special “tax” to help fund conservation projects in the area:

Now Japanese visitors will be invited by tour operators to contribute £5, a charge already nicknamed the “Peter Rabbit tax”.

Atsuhito Oikawa, 35, an academic in medical research, said that £5 would not be prohibitive to most Japanese but they should not be the only ones to pay. “Everyone is equal in Japan,” he said. “If you distinguish between Japanese and others, you run the risk of appearing discrimininatory.”

The initiative, believed to be the first of its kind, was born when Japanese Travel Trade, effectively the Japanese tourist board, approached Japan Forum, run by Lakeland businesses.

Keira Holt, a marketing executive with Nurture Lakeland, which supports conservation in the Lakes, said that the Japanese were keen to promote ecotourism. She emphasised that the donation was voluntary and that Japanese people were not being discriminated against. They were, she said, simply leading the way. “Ecotourism is huge in Japan,” she said. “We are incredibly appreciative that their concern for the environment extends to our own country.

[hat tip to Charlotte]

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Can Robots Save Japan’s Super Aging Society?

A short Japanese news report about robots:

Pet Robot

It’s not practical for old people to take care of dog or cat but if it’s a robot, it’s possible. Animal therapy may be replaced by robot therapy. There are some people who recover their memories through communication with pet robots.

Robot Suit “HAL”

This robot suit is awesome. It perceives some electric signal from human body to absorb physical demands on human body so the person does not need to use his labor. With this robot suit on, we can lift something of 20kg with no effort. We can expect this robot to be used at places such as nursing care centers or workplaces.

Vacuum Robot

This robot vacuums office corridors. We don’t have to hire humans for that work any more. Just set the time and place to vacuum and it automatically starts vacuuming 3000 square meters on a single charge. What’s cool about this robot is that it uses elevator by itself to transfer to the next floor. For example, it takes 3 hours to finish 10 floors in the building introduced in the video. In fact, it’s been vacuuming for 9 years in that building but the floor still looks clean. We can say it’s been doing a good job.

Home Assistant Robot

This robot helps with housework such as cleaning and laundry.

Can we a survive super aging society with the help of high-tech robots? It looks interesting to me that this country puts more efforts to develop robots than to accept more immigrants. Yet, I think robot suit is so cool. If it becomes invisible, like something I can wear under my outfits, I want it. But if I rely too much on it, I’ll have to lose muscle and body strength eventually though…

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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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Bear Moved to Tears

The latest commercial for Boss Coffee’s Silky Black flavor features a bear brought to tears by the singing of Seiko Matsuda:

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Japan Coast Guard Ship Chased Away By Chinese Survey Ship

As the eyes of the world are on the Expo in Shanghai, tensions are rising in the seas between Japan and China. Last month, Chinese warships and submarines were spotted near Okinawa. There was also an incident involving Chinese navy helicopters flying dangerously close to Japanese ships. The most recent incident, involving an aggressive Chinese ship forcing the cancellation of a Japanese marine survey, has been called a violation of Japan’s sovereign rights by the Japanese government:

The latest incident occurred on Monday afternoon in the East China Sea, about 320 kilometers northwest of Amami Oshima Island, Kagoshima Prefecture.

A crewmember of the Chinese ship, the 1,690-ton Haijian 51, demanded by radio that the JCG’s 3,000-ton Shoyo discontinue its marine survey, claiming that Chinese rules apply to the area.

The Haijian pursued the Shoyo for about three hours from around 2 p.m. and came as close as one kilometer to the Japanese vessel at one point, forcing the JCG to discontinue its survey mission.

This is the first time that a Chinese vessel has approached a Japanese survey ship and asked it to discontinue a marine survey.

Japan has lodged an official protest, but Beijing has said its ships actions were “totally proper and legitimate” (China does not recognize the area as Japanese waters).

Over at GlobalTalk21, Jun Okumura has written that Japan’s meek response to each incident has probably encouraged the Chinese navy to be even more aggressive and risky: Read his article here.

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