Archive for June, 2010

Court Tells Right Wing Protesters to Stay Away From Theater

The Yokohama District Court　has dealt a major blow to right-wingers who were using loudspeakers and sound trucks to protest a theater that was going to screen “The Cove”:

The court decision on the injunction Thursday prohibits making loud speeches within a 100-meter radius of the movie theater and entering the movie theater without permission, the distributor Unplugged Inc. said.

As the movie theater is planning to screen the film from July 3, scores of people from the Tokyo group staged street protests around the theater on June 12. The theater applied to the court for an injunction to ban such protests.

The next court decision that Japan really needs: a ban on incredibly election sound trucks.

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

Elections in Japan = Noise Pollution

The election campaigns for the Upper House election have begun. The most noticeable form of political “campaigning” in Japan is the candidates’ use of loudspeaker trucks to drive around voting districts and blast out self-introductions and other types of audio spam. If you happen to live near a major station, you might also encounter the candidates delivering speeches over loudspeakers.

However, the use of annoying loudspeakers sometimes backfires. In this popular YouTube video, we can see Governor Ishihara of Tokyo attempting to give a speech on behalf of the Sunrise Party of Japan, only to find that a nearby DPJ loudspeaker truck is making his words almost impossible to hear:

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

Asashoryu Predator Cosplay

Former sumo grand champion Asashoryu does a promotional event for the Japan release of the new Predator film:

There is some laughing when talk of the World Cup reminds some people of the time Asashoryu was suspended for playing in a soccer match when he was supposedly too injured to participate in sumo events. Before Predator Asashoryu shootshis net gun, a joke is made about getting revenge on some newspaper reporters.

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

Chimpanzee Plays Ping Pong

Performing Chimpanzee Pan-kun played some ping pong with Ken Shimura on a recent episode of “Shimura Zoo”:

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

Japan National Soccer Team Sleeps Near Wild Animals

In a few hours, the Japan’s national soccer team will play against Denmark in a match that will decide if Japan moves to the next round in the World Cup. If Japan wins or draws, they will advance.

As this clip from ATV shows, the Japanese players have been staying a hotel in a very scenic area of South Africa. It’s in the middle of a national park and apparently one can see lots of wild animals in the area around the hotel:

[Update: Japan won the match. They'll be advancing.]

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

Man Arrested in Japan for Theft of Little Girls’ Bicycle Seats

A 37-year-old man has been arrested in Tochigi prefecture for the theft of a 9-year-old girl’s bicycle seat. When police searched his house, they found this:

A collection of about 80 bicycle seats, together with some other random things that probably belonged to little girls. The man apparently told police that he stole the seats for his own enjoyment.

You can read some lol-worthy comments in Japanese about this news story over at Itai News.

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