Archive for February, 2011

Pandas at Ueno Zoo

After three years of panda-lessness, Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo is finally going to get some Giant Pandas from China:

Panda flags lined streets near the capital’s Ueno Zoo, which is to become the home of the pair of five-year-old giant pandas for the next decade, while television channels ran breathless coverage about the furry VIPs.
The pair, a male named Bili and female named Xiannu, left their sanctuary in China’s Sichuan province on Monday headed for Shanghai, from where they were to fly to Tokyo on an All Nippon Airlines jet painted white with black spots.
One broadcaster, in a report headlined the “Pandas are coming to Ueno!”, revealed titbits about the fluffy creatures, including that the male is shy and likes to do things at his own pace, while Xiannu is “friendly”.

A special report from “Bankisha” showing the pandas being prepped for transport to Japan:

The pandas are not a friendship gift from China. The Ueno Zoo will have to pay China almost a million dollars a year to “lease” the animals. However, the news media and people like Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara are still saying that the pandas could help improve Sino-Japanese relations:

“I hope the pandas will become popular and many Japanese people get to see them. In such a way, I expect Japanese people’s impression on China will improve,” the minister said.

Although Maehara said lease charges are relatively high, Tokyo will make various efforts to repair its ties with Beijing.

The giant pandas named Bili and Xiannu will arrive at Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo on Monday. The Tokyo metropolitan government will pay $950,000 (around 90 million yen) each year to China in lease charges.

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Chimpanzee Dating Secrets

Ken Shimura gets some laughs out of teaching Pan-kun the chimpanzee to use some romantic human-style dating techniques to win the heart of a female chimpanzee:

The first part of the video includes some clips from earlier “dates.” Ken then trains Pan-kun on some romantic things he can do to win the heart of a woman, like bringing her a coat or warm drink on a cold winter’s day.

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Real Life Mario Kart

If you are every driving through the streets of Nara, Japan and see what looks like Mario riding a go kart, do not be alarmed. You are not hallucinating:

“Mario” is actually Satoshi Imanaka, the wealthy 57-year-old manager of S.C.A.T JAPAN, a company that does disaster and emergency preparedness consulting work. Imanaka uses his Mario Kart act to help give something back to his community. Together with a group of friends, he drives around town on 50cc go karts, occasionally stopping to hand out candy, toys, and school supplies to children.

The location of Mario manor, also the office of S.C.A.T Japan:

View Larger Map

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Japanese Snacks & Candies

FTV follows around some foreigners who love Japanese snacks:

The report focuses on how Japan has lots of limited edition flavors of popular snack foods, something that isn’t common in other countries. One example are Kit Kat bars, which are just sold as the standard chocolate flavor in America. In Japan, there are 39 different flavors of Kit Kat.

The limited edition flavors exist for several reasons. Some are sold on a seasonal basis, using flavors that Japanese people might associate with a specific season. Others are regional souvenirs, only sold in certain areas of Japan using the flavor of famous local foods. There are also special edition flavors and packages for entrance exam season, which are supposed to be lucky for students.

Towards the end of the video, they take a few Australian girls to fugashi, wheat glutten puffs that look a lot like poop. (They don’t include subtitles when a girl says, “it looks awful.”) The girls are taken to a fugashi factory, where they learn how it is produced.

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Japan’s Worst Prime Ministers

Nikkan Sports recently conducted a survey that asked 1499 people to rate Japan’s postwar Prime Ministers. Here is the Worst Prime Minister ranking, which shows that a lot of people don’t think very highly of Japan’s most recent batch of leaders:

• 1. Yukio Hatoyama (577 votes) – Like a space alien, called “loopy” by American allies, etc.
• 2. Naoto Kan (289 votes) – Openly “ignorant” about Japan’s freshly downgraded debt rating
• 3. Sosuke Uno (144 votes) – Early resignation due to scandal – only 69 days in office.
• 4. Yoshiro Mori (102 votes) – Had “the heart of a flea and the brain of a shark.”
• 5. Junichiro Koizumi (101 votes) – Mixed evaluation of his policies, especially those dealing with economic/political restructuring
• 6. Shinzo Abe (89 votes) – Abruptly resigned just two days after announcing before the Diet that he intended to stay in office.
• 7. Tomiichi Murayama (52 Votes) – Criticized for slow reaction to Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995
• 8. Taro Aso (41 votes) – Couldn’t read kanji! 踏襲= “fushuu“?!!
• 9. Yasuo Fukuda (17 votes) – “I am different from you.”
• 10. Morihiro Hosokawa (15 votes) – Forced to resign over misuse of personal funds

The poll also included a ranking of best Prime Ministers. Shigeru Yoshida, Kakuei Tanaka, and Junichiro Koizumi were the top three.

[Via Itai News]

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Takeuchi Matsuri – Dangerous Bamboo Battle in Japan

A news report from about the 2011 Takeuchi Matsuri, held in the town of Rokugo in Akita Prefecture:

“The Takeuchi festival has been popular for a long time as a fire festival where town’s people pray for a good harvest in a series of Lunar New Year festivals. It is a wild festival where people fight by hitting each other with long bamboo poles. In the night of February15, town’s people are divided into two groups, the North and South and then fight. It is believed that if the North wins, a good harvest of rice is promised, and if the South wins, the price of rice will go up.”

As you might imagine, two large groups of men smacking each other with bamboo poles makes for a rather dangerous festival. An ambulance was on hand to deal with any injuries, and dozens of police officers were there to make sure the battle was limited to bamboo poles.

Although some guys were reluctant to stop battling after the end of the third match, police quickly intervened and settled things down. The 2011 festival ended without any serious injuries or arrests for assault.

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