Archive for May, 2010

Pet Boar Runs Wild

A wild boar runs wild through the streets of Ginowan, Okinawa:

It turns out that the boar was a pet that escaped from somebody’s house. The boar ran through the streets and was nearly hit by some cars, but was luckily captured without any injuries.

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Henoko Sports Day: US Marines and Okinawans Have Some Fun

A “Henoko Sports Day” event was held on Sunday near Camp Schwab in Okinawa Prefecture:

The event had American marines and locals participating in a variety of fun sports competitions. Local junior high schoolers were able to outrun the marines in a relay, but it looks like the marines were able to beat some adults in a beer drinking contest.

The event happened to take place on the same day that Prime Minister Hatoyama was visiting Okinawa to announce that he’d broken his promise not to relocate an air base to the Henoko area. When pressed by the FTV reporter, locals attending the event say they’re against the construction of a new base. Some girls who say they enjoy the open base events at Camp Schwab said they would not like the noise caused by the new airfield. An older man says that he doesn’t particularly like the fact that there are American bases, but having one base (Camp Schwab) isn’t much different than having two (Camp Schwab + a new airfield attached to it).

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Japanese Owl Lady

An Asahi video about a woman in Hiroshima prefecture who has been raising baby owls for almost 20 years:

It all started in 1991, when a baby owl from a nest in her attic accidentally fell into the lower part of her house. The owl’s parents would no longer feed it, so she decided to adopt the owl and feed it raw chicken.

Since then, she has raised 51 baby owls. She does most of the nursing inside her home, but when the owls get big enough to start flying, she takes them out into the wild so they can learn to fly.

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Weird Underwear Design Contest

This video of the Triumph Inpsiration Award 2010 Contest is one of the most popular videos on YouTube Japan today (from Sankei Shimbun):

Several weird underwear designs are shown. The winner was a shell and bird combo “forest bra.” At the end of the clip, you can see the winning design next to the cabbage bra that won the 2009 contest.

And in case you missed it, here is Triumph’s bizarre rice farming concept bra, which was unveiled at a PR event last week (-it’s just a gimmick: they don’t actually sell these-):

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JapanToday Readers: America Sank South Korean Ship

Never let an absence of supporting evidence get in the way of a great conspiracy theory:

Apparently the United States was leading by 10 points last night, but results are now moving towards more of a “balance.”

(note: An international team of investigators has already concluded the ship was sunk by a North Korean torpedo.)

[via JapanSoc]

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Hatoyama Makes It Clear: U.S. Base Will Stay in Okinawa

Prime Minister Hatoyama visited Okinawa yesterday to make it clear to everyone that he was going to break his promise to relocate Futenma Air Station outside of the prefecture:

The administration’s plan now is to shift U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma from a residential area in the city of Ginowan to the coast near Nago, a move similar to the original relocation plan signed with the U.S. in 2006 but strongly opposed by Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima.

While clarifying the plan, Hatoyama said he will ask other prefectures at a meeting Thursday to take on some of the U.S. military drills currently staged in Okinawa.

“This is the heartbreaking conclusion I’ve reached to return the Futenma base” site to Okinawa, Hatoyama said during a meeting with Nakaima that was open to the media.

“I offer my heartfelt apology for causing confusion to the people of the prefecture in the process of being unable to keep the promise to move it out of the prefecture,” he said.

As you might expect, all the anti-base Okinawans who had their hopes lifted up by Hatoyama’s original promise are very angry right now.

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