A commercial for Meiji’s Galpo Chips parodies American sitcoms:
The style of filming, the super-lame canned laughter, and the bad Japanese dubbing remind viewers of imported American TV shows. There is also a wacky fight between a couple over their preference for different flavors of Galpo Chips. It finishes with an American-style happy ending.
Categories: Foreigners in Japan, Japanese TV
It takes about 10 shots for Tsuruoka to figure that dead center hits on the targets won’t result in wins. A price has to fall off its ledge and onto the ground, and that requires a shot aimed at the edge of boxes.
After 62 shots, she has claimed 49 of the 50 prizes. The total cost of her ammo was 2,480 yen (40 yen per cork). The total cost of the prizes won was 3,940 yen. However, the remaining prize is a large box that cannot easily be knocked down. Single shots are too weak to move the box, so she gets her friends to help her fire volleys at the target. This tactic works, and after 9 volleys it falls to the ground. Unfortunately, that used a lot of corks, so the total price of knocking over all 50 targets ends up at 5,360 yen. The actual price of the prizes totaled to 4,535 yen, so the festival booth guy made a profit of 825 yen.
The conclusion is obvious: normal people who visit festivals and play the games there should be prepared to lose some money. [Unless they are skilled marksmen who only aim at small prizes.]
Categories: Japanese Girls, Odd / Strange
NTV news follows around a man who works as a problem-solver for landlords that have tenants who don’t pay rent and don’t answer phone calls or knocks at their doors:
He checks out two apartments. The first is under the name of a South Korean woman who is 5 months behind in paying rent. The electricity, water, and gas have been shut off. He gets permission to obtain a key and enter the apartment. There is some furniture, but no sign that any person is living there. It seems that the tenant left the apartment without notifying anyone. Actually removing the abandoned furniture is a legal issue that will take some time and some paperwork to resolve. [Although the report does not say so, this is one of the classic reasons why many landlords in Japan say that they refuse to rent to foreigners. A real estate agent once told me it was "not rare" to have foreign tenants leave the country without properly paying final rent or cleaning out their apartments.]
The second apartment has a tenant who is two months behind in paying rent. There have been many attempts to contact the tenant by telephone and doorbell ringing, but all have failed. They also called his employer, and were told that the tenant had not been showing up for work lately. When the problem solver shows up and nobody answers the door, he calls the police. He tells them that he needs to confirm the safety of a person who may be sick or injured and unable to open the apartment door. It’s not a bluff: last month there was actually a case that ended with the discovery of a tenant’s corpse.
When the cops show up, he uses the landlord’s key to enter the room and discovers that the tenant is alive and well. He is given some lame excuse about the man getting a new phone and ignoring calls from unknown numbers. It obviously doesn’t explain why the man refused to open his door earlier, but that isn’t an issue anymore. The problem solver’s job for that day was to notify the man about his failure to pay rent and get some sort of recognition that it would be paid, and it looks like he accomplished that goal.
Categories: Foreigners in Japan, General Japan
A few days ago, I posted about a baby monkey that had taken to riding a young boar at a Fukuchiyama Zoo in Kyoto prefecture. Since then, TV news cameras spread images of “Rodeo” cuteness around Japan, drawing huge crowds to the zoo:
On a normal Sunday, the zoo gets about 300 visitors. Last Sunday, about 1,700 people visited the zoo. Some people traveled for hours to get there. Apparently the place is set up kind of like a petting zoo, so there are times when the monkey and boar can run around the crowds of people.
A lot of those people had video cameras and Youtube accounts:
One person who couldn’t make it to the zoo decided to make a tribute video with their dog instead
Baby monkeys are known to cling to their mother for many months after they are born, and Miwa the orphaned monkey seems to think of the boar as his mommy (even though the boar is a boy). Miwa has also taken a liking to the woman who works at the zoo’s ticket counter. When he’s not riding the boar, Miwa is usually sleeping in the woman’s lap.
Both the monkey and the wild boar are growing up fast. The rodeos will only continue until the monkey grows out of the stage at which he feels it needs to cling to a parent – or – until the the boar will no longer tolerate the presence of a monkey on his back. This super cute situation will probably last for only several months to a year.
Categories: Animal Videos
NTV’s “Bankisha” news program sent inquiries local offices across Japan so viewers could enjoy a laugh about Japan’s oldest “living” people (on paper):
As you some of you are already know, there have been a few scandals recently involving the failure of local governments to verify the status of residents over the age of 100. In a few cases, families had been scamming the government into paying pensions to people who had died many years ago. The scandals led to a nationwide scramble to check local files on elderly residents and find out who is still alive.
In a many localities, records were found for people over the age of 120! The old hand-written documents listed birth years in the 19th century, and somewhere along the line, somebody had failed to record that the people in question had passed away. In Yokohama, there were over 1,500 records of people in their 120’s. Clerical errors by bureaucrats are to blame for some of the failures to record deaths, but the overwhelming chaos of huge disasters such as the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake and the firebombings of World War II also played a role. The several hundred thousand Japanese who emigrated to other countries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries are another problem for record-keepers: they obviously did not feel the need to submit paperwork announcing their deaths to Japanese government authorities.
Here’s a ranking of super elderly Japanese people who were found to be still alive on paper:
Just about all of these super elderly people are listed as alive on Koseki (family registry) documents. Pensions are paid based on residence registry records, which are checked on a more frequent basis, so there is little chance that the government is still paying out pensions to people born in the 1830’s.
At the end of the report, viewers are reminded that life expectancy statistics are calculated using a different system, so they don’t need to worry about Japan dropping in the global rankings.
Categories: Odd / Strange
Categories: Japanese Food, Odd / Strange
The Japan Times is running an article about a Frenchman who is angry that he was denied entry to the Open Base Bon Odori Festival at the U.S. Navy Negishi Housing Complex:
But not everyone is welcome to these biannual events — perhaps surprising considering the international character of Yokohama. Eric Fior, 37, a French teacher living in Yokohama, has been denied entry to the event two years in a row.
“Two and three years ago they let me enter; only last summer they didn’t let me in,” he explains. “You need to show your ID to enter the base. I showed my ‘gaijin card’ to them at the gate. When they looked at the card they said I couldn’t enter. I asked why and he said, ‘Because you’re French.’
“They said there are new rules and French people cannot enter. I asked why and he didn’t give a reason.”
After being denied entry to last year’s event, the guy in the Japan Times article probably should have checked ahead of time to see if he would have been allowed into this year’s event. He didn’t. Instead, he showed up at the gate and was once again denied entry. He tried to argue with the guards, but they escorted him off the grounds of the complex.
It turns out that France is one of the many countries on the U.S. military’s restricted TCN list. The list contains other important U.S. military allies such Singapore, Israel, and Peru. NATO members Albania and Croatia are on the list too, as are several partner nations of NATO. People of nationalities on the list are not totally banned from entering U.S. military bases, they just have to apply in advance if they want to enter the grounds of a U.S. base.
The article tells readers that there is no indication that some nationalities might be turned down at the gate:
“There’s no indication beforehand that some groups aren’t allowed on,” he adds. “This part of Yokohama is very international. I have friends around here from all over the world: Ghanaian, Tunisian, American. I don’t see any problems in this community. If you come a long way for this event and you aren’t allowed in, then you simply have to go home.”
Some Googling found that other Friendship Day events on U.S. Military events often give advance warning that not all nationalities can show up on the day of the event and get in:
If you are not a U.S. or Japanese citizen and would like to attend the festival, call the Public Affairs Office at 042-552-2511 for additional information. [2010 Yokota Friendship Day Festival]
And a few notices could be found written in Japanese:
日本・アメリカ国国籍以外の方のご参加に関しては、現地にて断られる場合がございます。 [Yokosuka Navy Day Festival ]
根岸米軍基地親善フレンドシップデー 2010年4月24日(土）12：00～19：00
雨天：4月25日同時刻開催 場所：根岸米軍ハイツコミュニテイーセンター周辺
問い合せ：根岸米軍基地福利厚生課担当・・045-281-4120・・（日本語でも可のようですがもちろん得意の米語でも）と記載されていますが・・ピストル下げた衛兵というか・・ガードマンというか・・守衛というか・・が日本語で説明するところでは、当日はゲームやバンドライブや飲料などイベントが準備され、一応誰でも受け入れるようですが・・受け入れない国籍の人も有りうるので、パスポート（ビザは必要ないようです）or免許証or住民基本台帳など身分証明できるもの持参したほうがよいのでは・・荷物のセキュリテイチェックという制限もあるそうです・・ゲートの中には日本大使館や領事館はなさそうですからご留意ください！ [Negishi Housing Complex Friendship Day]
I could find a few online notices about the specific event mentioned in the Japan Times article, but most seemed followed the format below, leaving out a warning about certain nationalities being subject to tighter security restrictions:
45th U.S. Navy Negishi Bon Odori Festival
The U.S. Navy Negishi Housing will celebrate its annual Bon Odori Festival. It is an open gate festival. A full day of activities and entertainment is planned including the performance by the U.S. Navy 7th Fleet Band and local Japanese band, both American and Japanese food/souvenir stands, Bon dance, and more!
■Date&Time: August 21 (Sat) 2010 1500-2100 (Rain date is following day, same time)
■Venue: Negishi U.S. Navy Housing Area, Community Center Parking Lot
■Access:
1. From JR Negishi Line Negishi Station: City bus #21 (towards Sakuragi-cho) off at “Asahidai”, 8min. walk
2. From Yokohama Station: City bus #103 (towards Negishidai) off at Negishidai, 1min. walk.
■Fee: Free
■Inquiries: (045) 281-4120 or (045)281-4101●Note:
1. No personal vehicles allowed (please use public transportation)
2. Baggage checks will be conducted
3. ID check may be required. Please bring a valid photo ID, either Driver’s License with permanent address, Passport, Alien Registration Card or Resident Card. For middle school/high school students, please bring student ID. Children under 12 are not required any ID.
4. The entry may be limited depends on the circumstances.
Point #4 might be interpreted as a warning to other nationalities, but it’s too vague to be helpful to anyone. A promotional poster for the event also does not include information about restricted nationalities.
To avoid this kind of bad press, the Navy should have followed Yokota Airbase’s example and used an announcement that clearly notifies non-Japanese that they should check about entry restrictions.
Categories: Foreigners in Japan
Categories: Japanese Girls, Japanese TV
Categories: General Japan
Ushijima Kinji [George Shima] came to America in 1888. He started out as a house servant and farm laborer, but through hard work and thriftiness, he was able to buy some land to start his own farm. It was cheap swampland that few people considered worth owning, but Ushijima apparently knew some traditional Japanese land reclamation tricks that could turn those swamps into suitable farmland. He used the land to grow potatoes, and by 1913 he had over 28,000 acres in production, earning himself the nickname “Potato King.” His economic achievements are credited with helping the growth of Stockton, California from a small town into a sizable city. The video also mentions how he donated lots of potatoes to earthquake victims.
Read more about him in Wikipedia.
Categories: General Japan
In 2008, two members of Greenpeace stole a package from a shipping company’ warehouse in Aomori. Their organization subsequently held a press conference announcing that its members had committed an illegal act of theft. The men were subsequently arrested and charged with theft and trespassing. A few minutes ago, a Japanese court ruled they were guilty, but that they would not be going to jail: they were given suspended sentences.
The package they stole was the property of a Japan whaling ship crew member. It contained whale meat. Greenpeace said it stole the package to expose that the meat was “stolen” and “smuggled” by the man, while the Japanese whaling program said that it is common for crew members to receive whale meat as a gift for their hard work. The Japanese authorities accepted the gift explanation, and deemed that the whalers had committed no illegal act. Greenpeace, on the other hand, had broken the law.
Given the fact that the two Greenpeace members freely admitted that they had entered a private building without permission and committed theft, a “not guilty” verdict was completely out of the question. A suspended sentence as probably the best result they could hope for, yet Greenpeace is already denouncing the court decision:
Greenpeace continues to assert its right to act as an extralegal police force, committing crimes in the name of what it perceives to be justice. It’s quite possible that the lenient sentence handed down today could encourage other acts of vigilante “activism.”
Side note: It’s kind of funny that Greenpeace has encouraged the international media to call the two men “the Tokyo Two” when their crime and trial are actually took place in Aomori, quite far from Tokyo.
Categories: Japanese Food
The criminal, a 55-year-old South Korean citizen named Kim Byung-il, later turned himself in. Kim was unemployed, and told police he robbed the convenience store because he wanted money. Apparently he was unable to afford a typical disguise, so he just cut eye-holes into one of his diapers and used it as a mask. (He regularly wore them because he had some sort of bladder problem.)
Categories: Foreigners in Japan, Odd / Strange
Dolphin Blooper Video
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Is That Castle Burning?
Wild Boar Attacks Buddhist Temple
Golgo 13 Monkey Dies
China Favors Knock-off Arita-yaki Porcelain Over Authentic Arita-yaki
Japanese Man Rollerblades Across America
Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade to Feature Takashi Murakami Balloons
Weird English Conversation
Online Coupon Sharing For Tech-savvy Japanese
Girls Generation in Japan
Japanese Police Shut Down Chinese Brothel Near Yokosuka Base
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