Shibuya Nightlife: Drunks & Delinquents
A news program visits the area around Shibuya station late at night to observe drunks and delinquents:
There seem to be a lot of teenagers loitering about. There is a city ordinance that places an 11:00PM curfew on people under the age of 18, but police aren’t doing much to enforce it.
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Categories: General Japan
Bed Intruder Song (Shamisen Version)
The wacky Alabama “bed intruder” news report has evolved into an auto-tuned song, and now it’s got it’s own rockin’ Shamisen version (thanks to The Mike Penny Orchestra):
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Categories: Odd / Strange
Watermelon-smashing Chimpanzee
Smashing watermelons while blindfolded is a traditional Japanese summer activity, so it’s no surprise that Pan-kun the performing chimpanzee gave it a try:
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Categories: Animal Videos
How to Train Your Dragon in Japan
Toshiaki Kasuga of the Japanese comedic duo Audrey dresses up like a dragon is acts stupid in a promotional event for the Japan release of “How to Train Your Dragon”:
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Categories: General Japan
Otaku Love Tokushima Awa Odori Matsuri Posters
The city of Tokushima commissioned special anime-esque promotional posters for this year’s Awa Odori Festival, a move that has drawn a fanatically positive response from some otaku:
The city tourism office ran a similar promotion last year, but they weren’t fully prepared for the enormous response from the otaku community. Posters that were not secured indoors were often stolen, and someone was even arrested for poster theft.
Posters were distributed to local businesses about a week ago, and some are already appearing on internet auction sites and selling for 80,000 or even 100,000 yen! In an effort to respond to the incredible demand from fans, the tourism office decided to distribute a thousand free posters. As the video clip shows, otaku from all over Japan gathered to wait in line. Posters were given out on a first come first serve basis, and a lot of people went home empty-handed. (One angry man shouted a complaint about how had lined up at 5:00AM and got nothing.)
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Categories: Otaku & Anime
Haneda Airport’s Fancy New Terminal
FTV news and the Yomiuri give us a sneak peak at Haneda Airport’s new international terminal:
The media on Monday got its first glimpse inside the new terminal, which includes an area called Edo Komichi, a life-size re-creation of a street from the Edo period (1603-1867) on its fourth floor.
Created to convey the beauty of Japan to foreign tourists, Edo Komichi will contain restaurants and other shops.
The total floor space of the five-story terminal building, scheduled to open Oct. 21, is about 160,000 square meters. The ceiling of the third-floor departure lobby reaches up to the fith floor, creating an airy, open atmosphere. Brand-new, still unstaffed check-in counters stand in rows.
Here’s a little bit more video from the Japan Times:
The new terminal will allow Haneda to accept flights to and from North America and Europe, including late night flights.
As you can see from the FTV video, it also provides very easy access to rail transportation. Passengers arriving via the Tokyo Monorail need only walk for about a minute to access the main check-in counters (no stairs or escalators required).
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Categories: General Japan