Archive for July, 2010

Election Night Coverage = Exciting Drama?

FTV’s latest commercial for its 2010 Upper House election night coverage uses some dramatic special effects and the theme song to the police drama series “Odoru Daisousasen“(Bayside Shakedown):

The title of the program removes the “sousa” (investigation) from the title of the police drama and replaces it with “senkyo” (election).

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• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

Video: Landslide in Japan

Japan is in the midst of its rainy season, and in the last week there have been several instances of very heavy rain. Here is a news video showing how a downpour in Kagoshima prefecture created a sudden waterfall in the middle of a busy road:

The video was shot by firefighters who were called to the scene to rescue drivers caught in the surge of water. Everyone was safely evacuated. Within a few hours the water had caused a landslide that tore the road off the hillside, taking a few of the cars with it.

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Japan Post Fails to Deliver

A video uploaded to YouTube shows a long line of deliver trucks lined up outside a Japan Post package center. It is an embarrassing example of how Japan Post failed to properly prepare for the implementation of a merger with Nippon Express:

The mail arm of government-owned Japan Post Holdings Co., said that around 260,000 of its Yu-Pack parcels had been delayed between Thursday, when integration took place, and Sunday. The merger integrated Yu-Pack services with Nippon Express’ Pelican parcel delivery operations.

The company said deliveries probably won’t return to normal for at least a few days.

Around 66,000 of the roughly 950,000 parcels originally scheduled for delivery by the end of Sunday were delayed by between half a day and two days, the company said.

You can read more about the merger in the Daily Yomiuri.

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Full Body Scanner at Narita Airport

Narita Airport has installed a full body scanning machine as a trial. Whether or not one wants to be scanned is supposedly optional, so those who see it as a gross violation of privacy can bypass it (for now):

A U.S. millimeter wave scanner, said to be safe for humans, was set up on July 5 on a trial basis in front of the security inspection area at the South Wing of Terminal 1. When a passenger stands on a designated point, the machine scans the passenger’s body, which is then displayed as an animated image on a monitor. If there is a hidden item under the passenger’s clothes, the machine automatically shows it on the screen.

Taking part in the trial is optional for passengers. Among the five scanners, there is a model that shows a detailed outline of a person’s body, but images will be displayed with the faces airbrushed on the screen to protect passengers’ privacy, and operators screening the images in a separate room are the same sex as the passengers who are scanned. Images taken by the five models are all deleted after use.

If you are unaware of the controversy over the use of the machines, here is a short CNN report about how it performs a “strip search”:

In addition to the concerns about privacy, there have also been recent news stories about how the airport body scanning machines emit 20 times more radiation than previously thought, posing a possible cancer risk.

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Yokaren Peace Memorial Museum Vandalized

A news report about how exhibits have been vandalized at Ibaraki prefecture’s Yokaren Peace Memorial Museum, a place dedicated to educating people about the tragic deaths of young Japanese pilots during World War II:

The Yokaren museum is built near what was once Tsuchiura Air Base, a facility that trained many Japanese youths who later became kamikaze pilots and died carrying out their suicide attacks. Several exhibits related to the kamikaze pilots have been damaged or vandalized. Although the items damaged were reproductions of historical artifacts, the acts still display a lack of respect for the serious subject manner of the museum exhibits. The vandalism was apparently the work of youths, which is very disappointing to people who see the museum as a good place to educate the younger generations about the dreadfulness of war.

Bill Gordon’s website has an article in English about a 2004 visit to a Yokaren Museum located within the grounds of an SDF facility in that town, but this is apparently different. The Peace Memorial Museum is a new facility that does not appear to be affiliated with the SDF and, as its name suggests, it promotes a strong pacifist message. For details on how to visit the museum, check this page.

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Free Kobi: Takeru Kobayashi Arrested in America

Japanese mega-eater Takeru Kobayashi was arrested yesterday after he tried to crash the victory celebration at the 2010 Nathan’s Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest:

Side-lined competitive eater Takeru Kobayashi went berserk Sunday and was arrested storming the stage after a contract dispute kept him from competing in the annual Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating competition.

Cops slapped the cuffs on the diminutive former champ after he watched from the crowd as archrival Joey (Jaws) Chestnut took home the mustard yellow belt.

Wearing a “Free Kobi” T-shirt, Kobayashi tried to force his way onto the stage during the awards ceremony, climbing over the Coney Island crowd and struggling with cops who tried to stop him.

“He tried to jump on stage during the awards ceremony to disrupt it,” said contest organizer Richard Shea. “It’s unprofessional and unsavory and, frankly, rather frustrating.”

Kobayashi, 32, was taken to the 60th Precinct where charges were pending.

Kobayashi was not on stage this year because he apparently did not want to sign a contract that restricted his professional eating activities to competitions affiliated with the Major League Eating organization.

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• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)