Archive for October, 2010

Non-Native Animal Species in Japan

A very interesting news report about measures being taken to prevent non-native animal species from damaging Japanese ecosystems:

• The Kobe City Suma Marine Aquarium recently started offering to take care of unwanted pet turtles. In just a month and a half, some 800 turtles have been collected. Red-eared sliders are a cheap pet that look cute when they’re babies, but they eat a lot and grow fast. The Aquarium is offering free entry to any customers who bring Black Bass: the alien species of fish will be turned into food for an alien species of turtle.
• Some people have been trying to promote non-native species as a source of food. Two examples are making Bluegill burgers and selling Crawfish dishes at French restaurants.
• So many pet fish (Piranha, Guppy, etc.) have been dumped into the Tokyo’s Tama River that some now call it the “Tamazon.” To deal with the problem, a designated area has been set up that allows the dumping of unwanted pets into tanks instead of the river. Fish and turtles are kept in the tanks until new owners can be found. [For an entire report focusing on this, check out this video.]

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

Foreigners React to Senkaku Dispute News

A FTV program that asks a panel of Japanese-speaking foreigners to share their reaction to Japan’s cave-in to Chinese pressure of the detention of a Chinese trawler captain who rammed Japanese coast guard ships near the Senkaku Islands:

A very rough translation of some of the comments:

• Russian: China is becoming so powerful economically that Japan really had no choice but to cave in to pressure.
• Americans: This was done to stop the situation from escalating. / Japan showed itself to be far more mature than China.
• NYT / Economist / Washington Post / Reuters: China’s victory in this case has ended up hurting itself in the long run by increasing worries about the aggressiveness of Chinese foreign policy.
• Chinese: There should be more focus on building friendly relations between the Japanese and Chinese people. / The Chinese government has taken a very strong stance against Japan because it worries about the reaction of the masses. Dissatisfaction over foreign policy towards Japan could combine with domestic grievances and lead to anti-government protests.

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

Fake Japanese Language Speech Contest

Seiyu/Wal-mart is running this silly commercial of a Japanese language speech contest in which a girl talks [in heavily-accented Japanese] about how it is wasteful not to take advantage of all of the great deals at Seiyu stores:

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

Hikaru Utada Sings in French

Singer Hikaru Utada’s new commercial for Pepsi Nex has her singing in French (with a band of dancing Pepsi bottles):

If you’re interested, you can check out an interview about this commercial here.

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

Blogger Responds to South Korean Government’s Anti-Japanese “East Sea” Campaign

Tom McGregor of Dallas blog dot com comments on how an employee of South Korea’s Tourism Ministry is trolling around the internet, leaving messages denouncing the use of the term “Sea of Japan” (instead of the Korea-centric term “East Sea”):

The South Korean Tourism Ministry has failed to fulfill its mission of attracting tourists from all over the world, particularly those who hail from Japan. Yu-jin Lee, who works from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism; Korean culture and Information Service, has launched an anti-Japanese letter-writing campaign addressed to media outlets all over the world, which includes the Dallas Blog.

Ms. Lee, in her official letter endorsed by South Korea’s tourism ministry, denounces Japan and she’s quoted as saying that, “when it colonized Korea for 35 years.” She’s demanding international journalists identify the Sea of Japan as the East Sea in news reports. She states, “Since South Korea got its sovereignty back, it has continuously taken countermeasures for the name, East Sea.”

[...]

The Dallas Blog called the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism; Korean Culture and Information Service to request an explanation from Ms. Lee. But, her secretary answered the phone without asking the caller to identify himself. As she put the Dallas Blog on hold, it appeared as if a shouting match could be overheard in the background between Ms. Lee and an unidentified South Korean male. After 20 seconds, the secretary hung up the phone without providing an explanation for why Ms. Lee could not issue a statement.

Perhaps, for the sake of world peace, the diplomatic corps of the South Korean government made the right decision by not hiring Ms. Lee into their service. She seems to suffer from rage issues and ill-suited for a diplomatic career. She may be causing harm to South Korea’s tourism industry and reputation, but what’s worse: a tourism boycott or an outbreak of World War III.?

You can see more of Yujin Lee’s ultra-nationalist comments over at this ROK Drop post.

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

Panda Dies at Japanese Zoo: $500,000 Compensation for China

An investigation into the cause of a Giant Panda’s death at Kobe’s Oji Zoo has determined that the animal died an unnatural death. It now seems likely that the zoo will have to pay $500,000 in compensation to the Chinese government:

Experts found that Kou Kou had suffocated when “objects in its stomach went into its lungs, leading to asphyxiation,” the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Earlier, reports suggested the experts believed that the death could have been caused by an overdose of sedatives and were questioning why Japanese veterinarians were extracting semen outside the animal’s mating period.

A breeding agreement between Beijing and Tokyo includes the stipulation that Japan pay 500,000 dollars in compensation if a panda dies due to human error, state media reported previously.

Xinhua said Saturday that China and Japan would settle the matter in accordance with their cooperation agreement on panda research, without providing further details.

In the ATV video embedded above, random Japanese interviewed on the streets were quite surprised by the contract terms requiring $500,000 in compensation.

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