Archive for May, 2011

German Newspaper Accidentally Includes Former Prime Minister Taro Aso in G8 Leader Portrait

For its coverage of last week’s G8 summit, the German newspaper Die Zelt used the following portrait:

Instead of Japan’s current Prime Minister, they’ve accidentally included Taro Aso, who was PM from September 2008 to September 2009. The Wall Street Journal notes that the portrait is based on an image from a 2009 G8 Summit, but the artist went through the trouble of altering the image to update the American and British leaders:

While the drawing, which was published May 26, was poking fun at German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s isolation from the rest of the G-8 club, it seems Japan unwittingly got caught in the joke. It appears that the drawing was in part based on a photo of the world leaders at the G-8 summit in Italy in July 2009 (see above photo) when Mr. Aso was still at the helm. But the other world leaders in the drawing are properly updated, for example, a jovial David Cameron flanks Mr. Aso rather than Gordon Brown, the U.K. prime minister at the time.

Over at Itai News, there is a selection of Japanese netizen comments. Some netizens reacted by posting photos of Prime Minister Naoto Kan that seem to confirm his obscurity on the international stage:

Somebody even photoshopped an isolated Kan onto the German newspaper:

The newspaper’s mistake is easy to understand, when you think about the lack of memorable/important Japanese leaders in recent years. The problem is highlighted by this visual timeline of Japan’s many short-lived and easily forgotten Prime Ministers:

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Chimpanzee Artist Draws Fruit

On last Saturday’s episode of “Shimura Zoo,” some fan letters asked if Pan-kun the chimpanzee could draw. Here he is, drawing an apple and a banana:

Right-wing American Vlogger Visits Taiji

YouTube Vlogger PropagandaBuster [real name: Tony Marano] is has visited Japan.

If you are unfamiliar with him, here’s an excerpt from a 2010 post about his Japanese book deal:

….after his discovery by Japanese netizens, PropagandaBuster seemed to transform into a cheerleader for Japanese nationalism. When he’s not busy uploading videos defending Glenn Beck and loony rants about Obama’s attempts to turn America into a Muslim nation, he’s been parroting support for whatever cause his Japanese viewers seemed to be angry about. He’s made a video ranting in support of Japanese businesses that put up “no foreigners allowed” signs, a video about the DPJ’s anti-Japan/pro-China agenda, a video laughing about how Koreans eat dog meat, a video attacking Japan’s leftist education system, and a video defending Emobile’s Obama Monkey commercial. Right-leaning Japanese bloggers and 2-channelers seem oblivious to the fact that PropagandaBuster often comes off as a loon that likes to hear the sound of his own voice, and his Japan-related videos have received thousands of views. To spread his message, loyal followers subtitled some of his videos in Japanese and re-uploaded them on other YouTube accounts.

Earlier this month, Tony the Texas Daddy flew to Japan for a 10-day trip. He met with fans of his book and videos, visited the Yasukuni Shrine, went to a Japanese baseball game, and generally had a good time.

Here’s his video about visiting Taiji, the dolphin hunting village that has become the target of foreign animal rights activists:

Because Tony was a pro-whaling vlogger, he was given VIP treatment. He met with the mayor and was given a delicious meal that consisted of several dolphin and whale dishes. The mayor arranged for Tony to take a special tour of the Taiji whaling museum and aquarium.

The visit to Taiji also included a press conference. Articles about Tony’s visit have appeared in the Sankei Shimbun, Zakzak, the Chunichi Shimbun, and the Yomiuri Shimbun. (After th press conference, he made a new friend: the driver of a right wing sound truck.)

Related Link: In the video he mentions that Sea Shepherd are up in Tohoku harassing people in the disaster area. It seems he is correct. The Japan Times recently ran an article about how fishermen in Iwate were enraged to see Sea Shepherd members walking around the ruins of their community.

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Japanese Soccer Fans Taunt Iranian-American Coach

Fans clashed at a J-League soccer match after somebody unveiled a banner meant to insult an Iranian-born head coach:

The incident took place during Saturday’s match between Shimizu S-Pulse & Júbilo Iwata. Supporters of Iwata made a banner that said “To Ghotbi: Stop Making Nuclear Weapons!” It was meant to mock Shimizu head coach Afshin Ghotbi, an Iranian-American who coached the Iran national team from 2009 to 2011.

The banner offended and angered Shimizu fans. Here’s a video that show some of them rushing towards the Itawa supporter section of the stadium:

Although there was a physical brawl between some fans, no injuries were reported.

After the match, both teams held an emergency press conference. The president of the Júbilo Iwata club apologized and said that fan-made banners would be checked in the future to prevent such an incident from occurring again.

The banner was created and unveiled by two teenaged Iwata fans. According to Jiji Press, they said didn’t really think much about it before creating the banner (“何の考えもなくやった”).

The incident has been formally reported to J-League authorities and an investigation is underway. The Júbilo Iwata club could face some form of formal punishment.

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Animation Dancer Kazumi Sets World Record For Bizarre Slide-Walking

Japanese “animation dancer” Kazumi sets a new Guinness World Record:

I have no idea how this one will be translated into English when it’s eventually printed in the world record book. Maybe it’s the fastest person to slide/crawl/walk 10-meters while doing a frontal split?

Although the TV program found a Chinese acrobat girl who could do that kind of slide walking, the only person in the world who can do it at a fast speed is Kazumi. It’s a world record that was made just for her.

If you’ve never heard of Kazumi before and want to see more of her amazing abilities, here are a few older clips from YouTube:

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Tsugaru Dialect Speaker Confuses Other Japanese People

“Nanikore” visits the Pal Pal amusement park in Shizuoka prefecture, where one of the staff members has a very amusing way of making announcements:

The man gives pre-ride announcements in a regional dialect, speaking at a hyper-fast speed. Some of the customers clearly have trouble understanding what the heck he is saying. A lot of people laugh when they hear him talking.

He’s speaking in the Tsugaru dialect, which is only spoke way up north in part of Aomori prefecture. According to Wikipedia, it is so divergent from standard Japanese that many native speakers – including people who live in other areas of Aomori prefecture – might have difficulty understanding it.

To help viewers understand the safety announcement he made at the roller coaster, the TV program provided this helpful on-screen text:

Although they don’t show it in the video, he also gives slower and easier to understand versions of the safety announcements.

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