Marauding Monkey’s Reign of Terror Ends
For the past few months, a wild monkey terrorized part of Shizuoka Prefecture, attacking and hurting as many as 118 people. The effort to capture the monkey became international news. After repeated failures to bring in the monkey, a local government put a 200,000 yen bounty on the monkey.
It all came to an end when the monkey decided to raid a house. The owner of the house, who had been a victim of a monkey raid a little less than a month ago, was prepared for just such an occurrence. He chased the monkey into a closet and trapped the animal by closing the closet door.
Police and city workers then arrived with nets and tasers and captured the beast. As you can see from about 1 minute and 50 seconds into the video, the monkey put up a great fight before they finally put him in a cage:
The prize money was paid to the owner of the closet. He says he will be using it to buy his kids some nice birthday presents.
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Categories: Animal Videos
Fake Ferrari Motorcycle
A guy in Yokohama made this custom “Ferrari” trike using a Suzuki Hayabusa as its base and creating a frame that kind of looks like a Ferrari F1 race car:
Its creator says he was contacted by Ferrari after they saw videos of the trike on the internet. They told him it was okay for him to make his own fan vehicle, but he is not allowed to produce and sell copies of his “Ferrari.”
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Categories: Odd / Strange, Technology
Japan Vulnerable to DPRK Missile Attack
Defense analyst Isaku Okabe tells FTV news that the new Musudan missiles displayed in North Korea’s recent military parade are a serious threat to Japan:
He says that the SM-3 Block II missile defense system that Japan and America are working on is designed to stop missiles like the Musudan, but the current SM-3 Block IA system will likely fail to stop a Musudan attack.
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Categories: Anti-Japan, Technology
Japanese Government Doesn’t Call for Release of Liu Xiaobo
After imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the governments of the United States of America and several other nations praised the Nobel committee’s decision and called on the Chinese government to release Liu and other political prisoners.
The Japanese government was much weaker in its response:
Kan told reporters that by giving Liu its most prestigious award on Friday, the Norwegian Nobel committee showed the importance of human rights, “which are universally worthwhile,” according to Jiji Press.
Asked if he expected Liu’s winning of the prize to lead to a change in China’s stance on human rights, Kan said: “The Nobel committee awarded the prize to him, taking such a message into consideration.”
Having recently witnessed the wrath of an angry China, it seems that Japan was not ready to deal with the consequences of enthusiastic support for the Nobel committee’s decision.
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Categories: Politics
Boar-riding Monkey Attacked by Raccoon
Miwa, Fukuchiyama Zoo’s world-famous baby monkey, won’t be riding his wild boar friend for a while due to injuries sustained in an attack from one of the zoo’s raccoons:
The injuries were not life-threatening, but Miwa did require quite a few stitches to repair the damage to his arm and leg. The zoo is hoping that Miwa can soon resume his “rodeo” boar rides.
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Categories: Animal Videos
Moonies Denounce “Human Rights Violations” in Japan
I found a “media advisory” in my e-mail inbox this morning from a group that calls itself the “International Coalition for Religious Freedom.” It advertised a protest event in New York that is aimed at denouncing the “human rights violations” going on in Japan:
HUMAN RIGHTS LEADERS PROTEST ABDUCTION OF WOMEN IN JAPAN AT NEW YORK CONSULATE
WHAT: Human rights leaders, Christian Pastors and victims of Japanese abductions, stoked by a recent documentary on Japanese human rights abuses that aired on Korean television, will hold a press briefing to proclaim their discontent with the Japanese government.
I checked out their facebook group, which had a link to their blog. I had originally expected that their event might have something to do with international child custody disputes or the North Korean abduction issue, but the only issue mentioned on their sites was the “abductions” of Unification Church Members.
The Unification Church (aka “The Moonies”) is an international mega-cult centered around devotion to self-proclaimed messiah Sun Myung Moon. The Japanese “kidnapping” and “abductions” being denounced all appear to be the work of family members trying to “deprogram” relatives who have been brainwashed the cult, a very difficult process that often involves confinement and other harsh techniques. They have especially focused on the very extreme case of Toru Goto, who claims his family and a group of professional deprogrammers allegedly confined him in an apartment for 12 years.
When his confinement ended and he re-joined the Unification Church, Goto and the church demanded that Japanese authorities prosecute those responsible for the alleged kidnapping. After an investigation by Japanese police, it was apparently concluded that there wasn’t enough evidence to back up Goto’s claims, and no charges were ever filed.
The International Coalition for Religious Freedom is a front organization led and operated by the Unification Church, and all the “news” articles they quote on their site come from newspapers owned by the Unification Church, so it’s hard to tell if there is much substance to their allegations of human rights violations.
Related Video: If you don’t know much about the Unification Church, here is a video about how they have risen in power over the years and now have significant influence over politicians in the United States.
One can also find stories about the Unification Church’s influence over Japanese politicians. Here’s one about Shinzo Abe sending a congratulatory message to a Moonie mass wedding. Abe’s grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi, also is said to have been a buddy of the Unification Church.
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Categories: General Japan