Archive for August, 2010

For Japanese Men Who Don’t Like Being Hairy

A Japanese commercial for a body/facial hair removal product for men:

The product is promoted by a trio of dancing white guys, all of whom have hair-free faces and chests. Those that choose not to use this product are doomed to end up looking like hairy gorillas! [It brags about having lots of worldwide sales, but in other countries it has mostly been marketed towards women.]

Somewhere out there, the spirits of Japan’s bad-ass bearded samurai are shedding a tear for the future of Japanese manhood….

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

Scary Japanese Playground

“Nanikore” visits a playground at an elementary school in Tochigi prefecture to check out a really weird object:

The weird thing is a monument created 35 years ago by a graduating class, and I’m guessing the creepy faces are meant to represent the kids of the class. Although kids freely play on it, there are some rumors going around that it is haunted.

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

Japanese Taxpayers Will Fund North Korean Propaganda

The ministry has ruled that foreign schools, such as international schools outside the national school system, are eligible in principle for free education. However, the pro-Pyongyang schools do not comply with the policy’s criteria, which stipulate the schools must be equivalent to Japanese high schools through checks with the home countries concerned, or that their curricula are accredited by an international organization.

However, a majority of the expert panel thought it reasonable to consider the pro-North Korean schools as having similar courses as Japanese high schools because many Japanese universities have granted admission to graduates of the pro-Pyongyang schools, whose course of study somewhat follows their Japanese counterpart.

If the ministry decides in favor of the pro-North Korean schools, it will provide annual education grants of about 120,000 yen per student, backdated to April.

This is a truly unfortunate development. If the schools do not comply with the policy’s criteria, there is no need to go out of one’s way to rationalize their inclusion in the program. It is very sad that the Japanese government lacks the courage to deny public funding to schools with ties to a hostile totalitarian regime.

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

Robot Arm Gets Rid of Bomb

Japanese police use a robot arm to take care of some suspicious luggage during an anti-terror drill in Roppongi:

The drill was part of the preparation for November’s APEC summit in Yokohama. It was meant to show how Japanese police are ready for terrorist threats against foreign dignitaries who may be staying on hotels in Tokyo/Yokohama.

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

Ric O’Barry Reads Japan Probe

A reader in the States who saw Friday’s episode of “Blood Dolphins” has sent some screen captures of dolphin rights activist Ric O’Barry reading Japan Probe to find out the latest news about the Taiji dolphin hunt:

The segment was filmed last year, right after it appeared that Taiji would not go forward with its annual dolphin hunt. At the time there were several optimistic reports in the international press claiming that foreign pressure had forced Taiji’s fishermen to give up on dolphin hunting. I made a post pointing out that the Japanese media was reporting that the hunt was taking place and dolphins had been captured, and it looks like O’Barry read that post. [Animal Planet's cameraman is kind enough to zoom in on the site name, so that all the people watching at home can know the name of the site.]

He even scrolled down and read some of the comments. He takes note of nakamura25′s comment that asked, “Where is Ric O’Barry?” When O’Barry finds Kitty’s “My Grandma makes an awesome dolphin burger!” comment, he has to turn away from the computer in disgust. If Kitty is still reading this site, he/she must be grinning with delight right now.

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

Japanese Make-up Commercial

This foundation will make your skin look so pretty that you’ll attract the attention of random white dudes:

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