Archive for February, 2011

Japanese Fart Song

The lyrics consist of him saying that you shouldn’t be embarrassed to fart. Extensive use is made of “pu-,” the sound Japanese people associate with passing gas. Cute fart hearts come out of their butts.

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No More Fallen Leaves For Japan’s Elderly Drivers

A couple years back, I posted about how elderly drivers in Japan were encouraged to place autumn leaf stickers on their automobiles. Some people didn’t particularly like the idea of using a tear-shaped symbol of decay, so it has now been replaced with a multi-colored leaf symbol (with an “S” for “senior” inside it):

The above news video reports on the first day that the new stickers went on sale. At one place they visited, over 50 were sold in that first day. One elderly man who had just bought a sticker said that he prefers the younger-looking design of the new leaf.

But not all elderly people like the idea of using the sticker. Even with the new design, they dislike having to broadcast to others that they are old and may not drive as well as younger people.

The report mentions that traffic accidents caused by elderly drivers are increasing, and some insurance companies are thinking about raising their rates for older age groups.

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Jero Receives Berkeley Japan New Vision Award

Since his debut in Japan in 2008, Jero (born Jerome Charles White, Jr.) has transformed the Japanese music industry. After his single Umiyuki burst onto the charts his subsequent albums, Yakusoku (2009), Covers (2008), Covers 2 (2009), and Covers 3 (2010) have garnered critical acclaim and have been credited with reviving popular interest in enka music. Winner of the 2008 Best New Artist Award at the Japan Record Awards, he has also appeared regularly on Japanese TV and in commercials and twice performed at the prestigious New Year’s Eve Kôhaku Utagassen concert.

The Berkeley Japan New Vision Award was established in 2009 to award an individual who has, in recent times, dramatically transformed our vision of Japan. Singing traditional Japanese ballads in an American idiom, not only has Jero rekindled an interest in enka among the younger generation of Japanese but he has also opened up the possibilities for fluent Japanese-speakers from around the world breaking into the entertainment and other industries in Japan. Given his mixed-race background, he has also become a symbol for the acceptance of a more multiethnic society for 21st-century Japan.

The award ceremony will be held in April. (Last year’s winner was film director Clint Eastwood.)

Although Jero hasn’t been making many headlines lately, the press release mentions that he has a new album [Best & Rare (2011.3. 23)] coming out soon, as well as a biography entitle “Enka Transcends Borders: African-American Singer Jero and a Family History Spanning Three Generations” (Iwanami, March 2011).

He’s also been regularly appearing in instant noodle commercials:

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Birthday Cakes For Dogs

Is your pet dog’s birthday coming up soon? If you live in Tokyo, you might want to consider ordering he/she a doggie cake from Lovina.

Here’s an example of a Lovina cake being eaten on Japanese TV:

Using customer-submitted photographs, the shop makes a custom cake for each dog. The ingredients used in the cakes are different from the cakes humans eat, so it is apparently not unhealthy. It is, however, kind of weird to watch a dog devour his/her cake likeness. Prices range from about 3,000 to 7,600 yen.

Here are a few dog cake pics I found on their website:

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Hamburger Vending Machine??

As I explained in a 2009 post about this same shop, the vending “machine” doesn’t automatically dispense burgers. The owner must first confirm that the money placed in the slot is 100 yen, and then he manually places a fresh burger in the slide.

To order larger quantities of burgers or something besides a plain burger, one must go inside the shop and order it the old-fashioned way.

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Buying Gravestones From China

A Japanese TV show visits a town in China where the majority of Japan’s gravestones are produced:

The stone is harvested from a massive 50-meter deep pit. To get down there, one must use a series of flimsy-looking staircases and ladders. Apparently it is quite a dangerous workplace, and a year rarely passes without an accidental death. The price of granite from the quarry is one-tenth the price of similar granite from Japanese quarries.

Quarry workers are asked some questions while they eat lunch. One guy says he’s not afraid to work at the quarry. Another person seems annoyed being asked about her work, and says she doesn’t know why the stones are being harvested.

The stones from the quarry are trucked to a nearby factory, where they are cut into gravestone shapes and polished. The polishing process usually takes several weeks at Japanese factories, but in China it only takes 4 days.

Names are carved into the gravestones at another factory. Japanese companies send faxes of the gravestone style and name to be used to the company. Chinese works then use a computer program to print out stencils of Japanese names. The stencils are attached to the gravestones, and another worker uses a sandblaster to carve the Japanese names into the stone. The stencils prevent and erroneous carvings.

The guys who do the sandblasting say that the most difficult Japanese name to carve is Satō (佐藤). The easier name is Tanaka (田中).

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