Archive for July, 2010

ANA Offers In-flight Draft Beer Service

ANA has apparently become the first airline in the world to serve draft beer in-flight:

ANA today announced that it is the world’s first carrier to offer draft beer keg service on board. From 20JUL10, draft beer keg service is available on domestic routes.

From 20JUL10, service operates on following routes will offer draft beer keg service:

Tokyo Haneda – Fukuoka (after 1700LT)
Tokyo Haneda – Sapporo Chitose (after 1700LT)
Tokyo Haneda – Okinawa
Osaka Itami – Okinawa
Osaka Kansai – Okinawa
Nagoya – Okinawa
Fukuoka – Okinawa

Each costs 1000 Yen, only 20 cups available per flight, except Tokyo – Okinawa with flight operated by 777/747 service offering 40 cups. – Airline Route

Up until now, problems with air pressure prevented airlines from serving draft beer on airplanes. To make its new service possible, new beer keg technology was supposedly developed.

—

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

This Buddhist Statue Has a Weird Face

A “Nani Kore” worthy Jizo statue in Hachioji, Tokyo:

Apparently the statues have been there for over a hundred years, and the weird face we now see on one of them was added sometime in the early Showa period. The statue had somehow lost its head, and a new makeshift head was created by sticking together some stones.

—

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

Creepy Cat Recommends Gyao

In this Japanese commercial, a creepy cat speaks out on behalf of Gyao, a streaming movie service:

—

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

Sea Shepherd’s Peter Bethune Set Free in Japan

Former Sea Shepherd member Peter Bethune has been given a suspended prison sentence in Japan after pleading guilty to the crimes of obstructing business, trespass, vandalism and carrying a knife:

Sea Shepherd leader Paul Watson told media following anti-whaling activist Peter Bethune’s sentencing that because of a deal that had been negotiated with the Japanese, Mr Bethune would not be on the next Sea Shepherd protest.

“We can’t have him come on the next Antarctic campaign because of a deal we made with the Japanese,” Mr Watson told TV3 news. “But he’ll certainly be welcome to be involved with us.”

Mr Watson said the defence had cost the Sea Shepherd in excess of $500,000.

Peter Bethune was sentenced to a suspended prison sentence that will see him kept out of jail, provided he stays out of trouble with Japanese authorities for the next five years. Reports out of Japan suggest he will be deported immediately.

—

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

Takeru Kobayashi Freed From American Jail

Just in case you were wondering after that last post, Takeru Kobayashi has now been released after spending a night in a New York jail cell:

Takeru “The Tsunami” Kobayashi was released on his own recognizance Monday following his arrest after the iconic competitive eater — banned from Sunday’s Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest — tried to rush the stage.

“I went as a spectator to cheer on my buddies that I used to eat with,” Kobayashi said after being released.

“Everyone in the crowd kept chanting ‘let him eat, let him eat’. So I jumped onto the stage to prove that I am still the champ, but I was arrested.”

The six-time Nathan’s champ said police grabbed him from behind but he “let go” of the barricades as soon as he realized he had been arrested.

Kobayashi’s attorney, Mario D. Romano, claimed his client was urged onstage.

“A security guard from Nathan’s gestured for him to get onstage,” Romano said. “The police grabbed him from behind, which startled him. I hope all the charges will be dropped.”

“I am very hungry,” Kobayashi said. “I wish there were hot dogs in jail.”

It appears we will have to wait until August 5th to find out if Kobayashi will really be charged with what he was arrested for: disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, obstruction of property and trespassing.

Earlier this week, Kobayashi’s arrest was the top story on FTV’s evening news. Here is a clip of their coverage:

They are a bit sympathetic to Kobayashi’s stance on not wanting to be forced to sign a contract that would forbid him to participate in events that are not part of the Major League Eating league. They point out that Kobayashi had even offered to waive his right to any prize money if he could be allowed compete in the hot dog eating contest without signing the MLE contract.

Dave Spector, Japanese TV’s resident expert on anything American, declares that professional eating became famous because of Japanese mega eaters like Kobayashi. He says that Kobayashi is the “Babe Ruth of professional eating.”

In the comment section of the post about Kobayashi’s arrest, Magus left a very long comment that explains why exactly Kobayashi turned down the MLE contract. The reasoning behind Kobayashi’s decision has not been detailed in the media, so I think Magus’ comment is worth re-posting here:

The issue with Kobayashi and his contract is that Major League Eating has decided to impose some incredible evil, restrictive contractual agreements, and Kobayashi is no longer willing to accept those terms.

The new MLE contract bars Kobayashi from eating in any non-MLE-sponsored eating event. This includes hundreds of events in the US (Kobayashi just became a New Yorker and got his own 3-year visa, so he wants to be able to travel the country and compete all over the place), and it also includes basically ALL Japanese eating contests.

The new MLE contract bars Kobayashi from being in any TV shows, or any commercials without the MLE’s explicit permission. Additionally, it bars Kobayashi from accepting any monetary compensation for sponsorships, appearances, or talk shows. The MLE will decide who sponsors him and where he goes, and all money is to be given to the MLE, who will decide how much (if any) Kobayashi ultimately receives.

Additionally, MLE is apparently extremely irate about Kobayashi’s visa situation. Prior to this year, the MLE has been the sponsor of Kobayashi’s visas to the USA, which allowed them to effectively dictate where and when he went anywhere in the country. Kobayashi has, throughout his travels, fallen in love with New York, and this year he actually obtained his own 3-year unrestricted O1-A visa (a visa granted to “individuals with extraordinary ability or achievement”). With this new visa, he has moved to New York and was looking forward to traveling America and experiencing New York as an American, but this is clearly at odds with the MLE’s vision of owning him.

You can read Takeru Kobayashi’s official blog (Japanese) for much of this information:
http://takeru-kobayashi.com/blog/index.html

Additionally, the food news website, Calorie Lab, has been covering the story extremely well (and is the only site to do so):

Kobayashi Still a Possibility in Nathan’s Eat Fest
http://calorielab.com/labnotes/20100702/takeru-kobayashi-still-possible-for-nathans-hot-dog-contest/

Takeru Kobayashi Speaks
http://calorielab.com/labnotes/20100702/takeru-kobayashi-speaks-will-eat-hot-dogs-for-free/

Feds Grant Takeru Kobayashi Special Visa for “Extraordinary Ability”
http://calorielab.com/news/2010/07/03/feds-grant-takeru-kobayashi-special-visa-for-extraordinary-ability/

TV Commercial Income at Root of Nathan’s Dispute
http://calorielab.com/labnotes/20100703/television-commercial-income-at-root-of-nathans-dispute/

Competitive Eating League Contracts: Exploitative and Overreaching?

http://calorielab.com/news/2010/07/04/competitive-eating-athlete-contracts/

“I Couldn’t Accept Slavery on Independence Day”: Takeru Kobayashi in His Own Words
http://calorielab.com/news/2010/07/05/takeru-kobayashi-in-his-own-word/

Kobayashi Crashes Hot Dog Contest
http://calorielab.com/labnotes/20100704/kobayashi-crashes-nathans-famous-hot-dog-contest/

The media coverage (both mainstream and blogs) of this entire story has been, quite frankly, pitiful. It has not only not even touched on any of the reason Kobayashi has not signed the contract, but much of the reporting — by the Associated Press, no less — has been limited to single-sentence quips.

I strongly encourage everyone here that would like to see a real competition in the future (because this year’s hot dog contest was boring without Kobayashi vs. Chestnut, and without any real competition, neither will push themselves to their best limit) to e-mail all of the news channels with the real stories from calorielab, and implore them to actually ~report~ on the story.

Some relevant news organizations:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?page=contact/index

http://msn.foxsports.com/feedback

http://help.wsj.com/contact-us/

http://www.nydailynews.com/services/contact_us/index.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/contact/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/contactus/

http://www.cnn.com/feedback/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32359544/

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,77538,00.html

http://www.ap.org/pages/contact/contact.html

—

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

Sea Animal Death Matches on Japanese TV

A TV Tokyo program puts fierce-looking sea creatures into a tank together to which one wins in a fight:

Although I used “Death Matches” in the title of this post, I should clarify that none of the animals seem to die in the fights. Although it is very hard to understand what is going on in the chaotic fights, it does look like some of the animals may have suffered injuries.

[hat tip to Ken Y-N of What Japan Thinks]

—

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