Wind Power Could Blow Jobs Tohoku’s Way
One of the translator’s for Nikkei’s English language news service seems to have tricked his bosses into approving this interesting headline:
[hat tip to Adamu]
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Categories: Odd / Strange
Super Long Playground Slide
“Nanikore” finds what may be Japan’s longest playground slide:
The slide, located at a park in Nagano prefecture, is over 51 meters long. That’s more than doubled the length of their previous super long slide!
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Categories: Odd / Strange
Video: F1 Race Car Hits Man
Today’s most-viewed video clip on YouTube Japan shows a Japanese man getting hit by an Sebastien Buemi’s Formula 1 race car:
In slow motion, from another angle:
Although it looks like a crazy man with a death wish, it was actually an accident and the man (an F1 staff person) walked away without any major injuries:
Apparently unable to see the car coming behind an inflatable arch, the marshall ran across the strait while Buemi was performing.
Seeing the Buemi’s car ahead, the man tried to leap over it but clipped the back of the vehicle, somersaulting into a fence.
However, he appeared uninjured by the collision and was seen to get up and walk away after stewards ran to his aid.
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Categories: Odd / Strange
Dolphin Dies After Jumping onto Concrete Floor at Nagoya Aquarium
A dolphin has died at the Nagoya Aquarium after an accident during practice for a show. The dolphin jumped farther than expected, leaving the pool and landing on the concrete walkway:
According to the aquarium, the accident happened at about 2 p.m. Saturday. Sara, a Pacific white-sided dolphin thought to be about 17 years old, jumped about six to eight meters above the water surface, flew through the air in an arc and landed chest-first on a concrete floor.
The dolphin had been living at the aquarium since being captured in 2008 near Taiji (the town from “The Cove”).
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Categories: General Japan
Indoor Sandbox For Fukushima Children
In Fukushima city, which is about 60 kilometers from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, a kindergarten has set up an indoor sandbox:
Although it is sunny and there are plenty of outdoor playgrounds, fears about radiation are keeping children indoors. It’s a very stressful situation for little kids who want to run around outside.
The kindergarten’s indoor sandbox uses sand that was shipped in from Chiba prefecture. At another kindergarten, rooms have been cleared out to provide empty space for running around indoors.
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Categories: General Japan
Most Foreign Tourists Unable to Name Japan’s Prime Minister
A Japanese TV program asked foreign tourists to comment on Japan’s confusing political situation:
The clip also mentions how a German newspaper accidentally ran a cartoon of former Prime Minister Taro Aso instead of current Prime Minister Naoto Kan.
They go around an airport with photos of Japan’s last six Prime Ministers, asking 30 foreigners to identify Japan’s current Prime Minister. Most fail to answer correctly. The #1 answer was Junichiro Koizumi, who served as Prime Minister from 2001 to 2006.
The second most popular answer was the correct answer: Naoto Kan. However, at least one person who knew that Kan was the current PM could not recognize Kan’s photograph. The third most popular answer was, “I don’t know.”
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Categories: Foreigners in Japan, Politics