Archive for October, 2010

iCon Chicken: Cheese Fondue, German Sausage, Diavolo, and Carbonara Chicken Burgers

McDonald’s Japan is rolling out four new “iCon” chicken burgers this month:

The premium chicken burgers and chicken tenders McDonald’s began selling in July have been a huge hit, and now they’re aiming to make even bigger piles of money. They want consumers to start thinking of McDonald’s as the place to go for tasty chicken.

Until October 7th, various McDonald’s stores around Japan will be running limited time previews of the iCon burgers. After that, stores nationwide will devote half a month to each of the burgers. Cheese fondue will be sold from October 8th, German Sausage from around the end of October, Diavolo from the beginning of November, and Carbonara from the middle of November.

KFC, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary in Japan, will be fighting back with spicy Yuzu chicken. It will go on sale starting October 7th.

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Gloves for Touch Screen Devices

A video shows off a Japanese company’s new “Touch Gloves” for people who want to use touchscreen devices in winter:

“Touch Gloves were originally targeted at salespeople. We developed them because, if you’re using an iPhone outdoors in winter, it’s a hassle to take your gloves off – and your hands get cold.”

“Originally, touchscreens that use the capacitive system detected the electric charge from the user’s body. But this product has a special textile on the fingertips, so you can use a touchscreen even with gloves on.”

“Touch Gloves with a printed design are priced at 1,700 yen, while plain ones are priced at 1,500 yen.”

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Chiba Man Stole Over 2,000 Articles of Women’s Underwear

Police in city of Matsudo in Chiba prefecture carefully laid out over 2,000 articles of underwear and footwear seized from the apartment of a man who was caught in the act of stealing panties:

The man confessed that he has stolen the clothing from both laundry lines and stores. Apparently he liked to wear it.

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Anti-China Rally in Tokyo Tomorrow

If you are planning to hang around Tokyo’s Yoyogi Park tomorrow, be prepared for a lot of noise. Right-wing groups are holding a big rally to condemn Chinese aggression in the Senkaku Islands:

The biggest anti-China action will likely take place Saturday when an alliance of activist groups led by Toshio Tamogami, former chief of staff of Japan’s Air Self Defense Force, is organizing a rally in central Tokyo. Mr. Tamogami has become an admired figure among Japan’s right-wingers after a 2008 essay—in which he denied Japanese aggression in China during World War II—caused him to lose his job.

“China is clearly aiming to annex the Senkaku islands and annex Okinawa so we need to put a stop to it at the entrance door,” Mr. Tamogami, who had reached the rank of general, said in a phone interview. “The government’s action this time was totally wrong in that respect.” He said the captain’s release only emphasized the notion that Japan is a weak nation that caves under pressure.

Mr. Tamogami expects “thousands” of participants in Saturday’s rally, planned in Tokyo’s busy Shibuya shopping and entertainment district. In June, more than 1,000 conservative politicians, academics and pundits gathered at his group’s conference. Attendants included Mr. Abe, the former prime minister, and Yuriko Koike, a former defense minister and top opposition lawmaker.

In addition to the Tokyo protest, affiliated groups will also hand out fliers in several major Japanese cities. From the advertisement video, it looks like they’ll be accusing Prime Minister Kan and the DPJ of “treason” over Japan’s recent cave-in to Chinese pressure over the detainment of a trawler captain.

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Will Japan Send Troops to Yonaguni?

As tensions continue over the Senkaku Islands, there is now talk of stationing Japan Self-Defense Forces troops at the island of Yonaguni:

Japan’s defense ministry has asked for a budget to study a plan to station ground troops in Japan’s southwestern islands near the disputed island chain, the Nikkei Shimbun reported.

The only Japanese troops permanently stationed in the far south are on Okinawa, but the plan calls for troops on Yonaguni, close to Taiwan.

For now, the Japan Coast Guard has been responsible for patrolling the area around the Senkakus. As you can see from the Asahi video below, the Chinese decision to deploy patrol ships to the area has led to a very tense situation in which Japanese and Chinese patrol ships are observing each other at very close range:

Meanwhile, Japanese Diet members have been calling for the release of the tape of the boat collision that started this whole mess:

Calls to release the video of the collision have been increasing, as it is reported to clearly show the Chinese vessel deliberately rammed a JCG vessel. Currently, the Naha District Public Prosecutors Office is holding the footage as evidence.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan told reporters at the Prime Minister’s Office Tuesday that the submission of the video “will be decided by the prosecution. I expect the Diet will discuss the matter to hammer out a course of action.”

Justice Minister Minoru Yanagida said at a press conference that he would make a decision after seeing how deliberations in the Diet proceed. Article 47 of the Criminal Procedure Code stipulates materials related to a lawsuit should not be released before a trial, except if releasing the materials would be in the public interest. Yanagida said he thinks releasing the footage may fit this requirement.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku told reporters Tuesday afternoon that there is historical precedent for releasing material related to a trial based on a resolution made at a Diet committee.

During a meeting of Diet Affairs Committee chairmen Tuesday, the ruling parties agreed to ask the government to submit the footage to the Diet if the opposition parties ask for it. Yoshio Hachiro, Diet affairs chief of the Democratic Party of Japan, said if there is a strong demand for the footage to be released, the ruling parties will proceed proactively.

Calls to release the footage also reflect a desire to show the international community how unreasonable the Chinese government has been in defending the skipper.

The Yomiuri has run an editorial with the headline “Release video to prove Japan was in the right.”

In a FTV news report about the latest developments in this case, an expert tied the tape issue to China’s release of only 3 of the 4 detained Fujita employees. China probably released the Japanese citizens to help improve the tense situation, but it could not release all four because of worries about the reaction of the nationalistic masses. Keeping one Japanese citizen detained also allows gives China something to beat Japan over the head with if things get worse. The release of the video tape could once again heat up the crisis, so that Fujita employee may prove to be useful.

Prime Minister Kan, who says he had nothing to do with the decision to release the Chinese trawler captain, is even denying that he has seen the video tape of the incident.

[hat tip to Magus]

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Escaped Kangaroo in Japan

Cue the “X-Files” theme, we’ve got an escaped kangaroo on our hands:

The kangaroo was being transported from one zoo to another. When it arrived near its new home, a zoo employee tried to take transfer the animal from a small cage to a larger one. The kangaroo was able to leap out and evade capture for several hours.

Police became involved in the kangaroo hunt. They chased it until it fell in rice paddy’s irrigation ditch:

The 40-kg, 1-year-old kangaroo escaped after arriving by truck at Horii Zoo from another zoo in Tochigi Prefecture early Wednesday.

The paddy was about 500 meters from the zoo. Local residents told police that the kangaroo was hopping around there.

“If someone was kicked by the kangaroo, that person could have been seriously injured. It’s really good it has been caught,” a local police officer said.

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