Archive for May, 2011

European Canned Coffee Commercial

A commercial in which Japanese “European flavor” canned coffee is offered to Italians, who are amazed by its great taste:

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Justin Bieber’s Crew Afraid of Radiation / Wanted to Cancel Japan Tour

A few days ago, it looked like Justin Bieber’s upcoming Japan tour might be cancelled because his crew was refusing to travel to the country. Apparently they had fallen under the influence of sensational news reports about radiation:

Many crew members have flat out refused to go to Japan for two concerts later this month, because they’re afraid of the cancer risks from the recent nuclear disaster. They also fear another earthquake. Short story — they are refusing to go to Osaka for a May 17 concert and another concert two days later in Tokyo.

Today in Adelaide, Australia, an angry Scooter Braun — Justin’s manager — exploded at the crew … sources who were there tell TMZ.

Braun told the crew, “Man the f**k up and do the right thing by these kids.”

But during the meeting — the 3rd one in 4 days — members of the crew fired back that it wasn’t safe to go and Avril Lavigne and Slash had canceled their Japan concerts.

Yesterday, Bieber announced via Twitter that the Japan concerts will go ahead as planned:

E-Online has consulted a couple radiation experts about the radiation risks Bieber will be facing in Tokyo and Osaka. Both cities are very far from Fukushima and the dangers that Bieber’s crew fear are non-existent:

In Tokyo and other major cities, “the radiation exposure is no different from where it was a year ago,” says Dr. David Brenner, professor of radiation biophysics at the Center for Radiological Research at the Columbia University Medical Center. “There was an increase in radiation in March, but now it’s down to normal levels again.”

And that goes for water and air. As for food, “the government every day is modifying their list of what can be sold and where it can be sold, and contaminated food is not being sold. It’s being monitored pretty intensively.”

(Brenner recently gave the same reassuring talk—with plenty of backup data—to the folks at the Metropolitan Opera, who are heading out to Japan shortly.)

In fact, says Dr. Peter Caracappa, clinical assistant professor of nuclear engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute:

“They’d actually receive a lot more of a radiation dose on the flight to Japan because of exposure to cosmic rays. So if they decide to go to Amsterdam instead of Tokyo they have not saved themselves.

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Video: Camera Zoom Performance

Last night, NTV aired the 86th All Japan Costume Grand Prix (Kasou Taisho). This impressive performance, which mimicks a camera zooming in and taking a photo of a woman, won the top prize:

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Man Without Limbs Throws First Pitch at Baseball Game

One of today’s most-viewed videos on YouTube Japan shows sportswriter Hirotada Ototake throwing the ceremonial first pitch at the May 6th baseball game between Seibu and Rakuten:

He dedicated the pitch to the people of Tohoku, who are working hard to recover from the March 11th earthquake and tsunami.

Ototake is very famous in Japan for his bestselling autobiography, No One’s Perfect, which tells the inspirational story of how he overcame his physical disability with the help of a positive attitude and supportive family and friends:

Ototake was born with no arms or legs, yet grew up in Japan living as normal and active a life as possible by dent of his own determination and the encouragement of his family and friends. In this first-person account, written for readers of all ages, Ototake recounts the day-to-day challenges of living without arms or legs. He describes his education at regular schools, where he gained acceptance of classmates and overcame the skepticism of the teaching staff. Fueled by an aggressive personality, Ototake participated in athletics, within the limits of his abilities, playing basketball in middle school and managing the footfall team in high school. In college, he faced the obstacles of facilities not designed to accommodate the disabled and began a career as an advocate for creating barrier-free environments in a nation that had ignored the disabled until recently. Ototake is unsentimental in his recollections of coping with a disability, challenging his limitations, dealing with curious reactions, and making a place for himself in society.

The YouTube video has received a lot of comments. Most were very positive. Here are a couple examples:

いや、お世辞とか同情とかじゃなく、素直にめちゃくちゃかっこい­いんだが。

マウンドから誰の手も借りずに退場するという当たり前のことを、­当たり前にするすごさ。

“I’m not saying this as an empty compliment or out of pity: that was really cool.

The way he left that mound by himself, not obviously needing anybody’s help, was amazing.”

障害者は俺たちかもしれない。

“Maybe we are the ones who have disabilities.”

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Video: Dog Loves Cat

Meet Minnie, a French bulldog in Yokohama who seems to be madly in love with a cat:

Minnie is obsessed with Cookie, a male cat that she sometimes encounters on her walks through the neighborhood. At first, Cookie would resist Minnie’s advances, but after 6 months the cat finally gave up. Cookie doesn’t try to run away when Minnie comes up and licks him.

As you might expect, Minnie doesn’t like it when her master tries to end their visits with Cookie.

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New York Decides on Japanese Taxi Cabs

New York City has decided to convert all of its taxi cabs into Nissan NV200′s:

The Nissan van will join New York City’s taxi fleet beginning in 2013, and be the official taxi of New York for the following 10 years. All taxis currently on the road, including the city’s newer hybrid cabs, will be phased out by 2018.

As part of the deal, Nissan is also providing the city with 100 plug-in electric Nissan Leaf cars to be used as test vehicles by taxi owners interested in going all-electric. Nissan will also install charging stations within the city for easy accessibility.

The NV200 vans themselves will be equipped with a 2.0-liter 4-cylinder power train, and the option exists to convert them into plug-in electric vehicles. That’s not surprising considering New York is considering eventually making its fleet of over 13,000 taxis all-electric.

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