Cash Register Fat Cat
A cat in Japan that loves to lounge about on the counter next to his owner’s cash register, and absolutely hates to be moved from his favorite spot:
The second part of the clip contains another cat that was featured on the same episode of “Nanikore” – one that has a rather odd way of sleeping on chairs.
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Categories: Animal Videos
Cosplaying Japanese Reporter
If any of you out there attended the New York Comic Con & Anime Festival over the weekend and saw an older Japanese guy in a weird costume, chances are you were looking at a respectable correspondent doing some reporting for Japan’s ATV news:
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Categories: Otaku & Anime
Weird Calbee Potato Chip Commercials
A few of the odd potato chip commercials that Calbee has been running on TV lately:
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Categories: Japanese Food, Odd / Strange
Vacuum Cleaners With Low Power Settings
Does your vacuum cleaner have a low power setting? According to this “Mezamashi TV” segment, that feature is pretty much unique to Japan:
Back when vacuum cleaners were first introduced to Japan, several companies offered low power settings that would not cause damage to tatami mats. Now that far fewer Japanese homes have tatami mat floorings, vacuum cleaner manufacturers say that the low power setting is for people who want to clean without annoying their neighbors with noise.
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Categories: Technology
Wow, a Nobel Laurete’s Seat Cushion!
Hokkaido University Prof. Emeritus Akira Suzuki‘s was one of the winners of this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and his win is causing a lot of excitement in Hokkaido. In this news clip, you can see that somebody found a seat cushion that they believe was once used to comfort the buttocks of the great professor:
There has also been a small economic impact on Mukawa, the town in which Suzuki was born. Suzuki’s brother, who sells Shishamo fish, says that orders are way up since the Nobel win.
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Categories: Odd / Strange
Renho Catches Flak for Vogue Photo Shoot in Diet Building
Popular DPJ politician Renho has caught some flak from opposition lawmakers after doing a magazine photo shoot inside the Diet building:
Renho, a 42-year-old former TV presenter who is state minister for administrative reform, appears in the November edition of Vogue Nippon posing near a marble staircase in a short white dress, cream jacket, and ankle-high boots, hand on one hip.
The magazine went on sale roughly a week ago but only became an issue on Thursday, when a weekly magazine — more usual reading material for Japan’s staid and overwhelmingly male political establishment — took it up.
Opposition lawmakers promptly denounced the shoot, which accompanied an interview with Renho on her political beliefs and juggling of job and motherhood, as “inappropriate.”
Renho, who is half-Taiwanese and goes by only one name, stressed to a news conference that she had gone through proper channels to set up the photo session, which took place in August when parliament was in recess.
“I frankly apologize if my action was inappropriate or caused concern, as that was not my intention,” she said.
One of the main complaints was that the photos contained the brand names and prices of the clothing she was wearing. Taking photos at the Diet building for a news article is okay, but a semi-advertisement for fashion brands is not okay.
As you can see from the embedded video clip, LDP lawmaker Satsuki Katayama did the same kind of fashion photo shoot and article a couple years back, but nobody seemed to complain at the time. When questioned about it, she claimed it wasn’t the same because she wasn’t a cabinet member.
[hat tip to M]
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Categories: Politics