Archive for February, 2011

Japan Hole-Digging Competition

A news report about the Japan All-National Hole-Digging Competition:

The contest drew participants from all over the country to test their hole-digging prowess and claim awards not only for the deepest hole, but also for most creative hole and the most original costume worn during the digging.

Just over 200 teams took part in the Sunday event, with an additional 30 teams made up of either women only or groups of elementary school-age children, or younger, competing in special categories.

“There are a lot of families and groups of friends,” said Manabu Saito, a public relations officer at the Narita Dream Dairy Farm, just east of Tokyo, where the contest took place.

“However, the most numerous are those who are ‘professionals’ who dig for a living, such as gas company workers or those who deal with the water supply.”

Participants were given 30 minutes to dig as deep as possible. Regulations govern the size of shovels, which are measured before the contest kicks off.

Throwing dirt into a competitor’s hole is, of course, strictly forbidden.

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Internet Loon Throws Bathing Powder into Imperial Palace Moat

A 34-year-old man was arrested the other day for throwing packs of bathing products into the moat of Tokyo’s Imperial Palace. He used a webcam to do a live broadcast of his entire crime. Here’s a recorded copy that was uploaded to YouTube:

Before chucking the bathing powder into the moat, he says, “The Ryukyu people are an indigenous people, amen!” Although one might interpret that as some kind of political motivation for his acts, it’s far more likely that he did the whole thing so he could be famous on the internet. If it had been a true act of political protest, he probably would have admitted it when the cops appear. Instead, he denies his actions.

Eventually, he admitted he did it as a “good luck charm” – whatever the hell that means.

Apparently he had a history of doing crazy things on the internet, having been arrested in the past for posting a bomb threat online.

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

Little Girl Describes Situation in Egypt

Nina, an adorable little girl from Japan, explains the street protests in Egypt:

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Chimpanzee Makes Silly Faces

Some viewer mail asks performing chimpanzee Pan-kun if he can smile, so they do an all-out demonstration of his facial expressions:

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

Homefront Censored in Japan

Wired Game Life reports that the Japanese release of the Homefront will be censored, replacing all references to the North Korean enemies with vague BS:

Spike says that it will remove all mentions of North Korea from the game, according to its official website. The country attacking America will instead be referred to as “A Certain Country to the North,” run by the “Northern Leader.”

Spike is instituting these changes in order to comply with guidelines about references to actual persons and real places from the Computer Entertainment Rating Organization, the Japanese equivalent of the American ESRB.

American trailers for this game:

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

Egyptians Protest in Tokyo

The Japan Times reports on how marches have been held in Tokyo to support the protesters who are seeking to topple Egypt’s dictatorship:

According to one participant, Egyptian residents from various parts of Japan corresponded with each other to arrange Saturday’s rally in Tokyo to lend support to their fellow citizens in Cairo who are trying to oust Mubarak.

“I think we can deliver our message to our people in Tahrir Square,” said Abdallah Ellabban, a 31-year-old Egyptian who studies ophthalmology in Kyoto.

Ellabban said freedom has been suppressed under Mubarak, and his rule is only doing harm to Egypt’s economic growth and democracy.

“We can be better. We need our freedom. We need democracy,” Ellabban said.

And here’s a video from the Asahi Shimbun, showing a smaller rally that was held a week ago in front of the Egpytian embassy in Tokyo:

And an example of some Japanese news coverage about the situation in Egypt. I believe this is a video filmed by a Japanese tourist in Cairo:

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