Some of Asahi TV’s foreign reporter team, visits a trash processing facility near Tokyo Bay and gets to see a giant claw in action:

The trash lifted by the claw is burned at 1450°C. The leftover metal is recycled.
In the second clip, they check out the tunnel under Tokyo Bay:

They are given a special tour [...]

Leave it to a clown like Sean Hannity to take a single quote by an American and interpret it to mean that the Japanese are “mortified” by Obama’s bowing before Emperor Akihito.

In the real world (a place far away from the planet Hannity resides on), few in the Japanese media said anything about Obama’s bow [...]

The LA Times went through the 1000+ comments left on its blog post about Obama bowing before Emperor Akihito to pick its favorite ten one-liners:
We mostly enjoyed what readers had to say about the president’s greeting — a mixture of outrage and patriotism, snarky one-liners and more serious diatribes.
Here are the top 10 best comments [...]

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama made some remarks on Saturday about Japan’s policy towards foreigners who settle and work in Japan:
Japan has some of the world’s strictest controls on immigration, and Hatoyama admitted that he was broaching a “sensitive issue”.
But he said that as well as introducing pro-family policies, Japan should attempt to encourage migrants to [...]

Matsuura machinery made this pyramid with a tiny Barack Obama face etched into its top to celebrate the American President’s first official visit to Japan:

The company gave it to that news reporter in the hope that he might have a chance to give it to Obama. He didn’t, but at least the guy mentioned [...]

A short clip showing some highlights of what Barack Obama did in Japan yesterday:

In the late morning, President Obama gave a speech at the Suntory Hall in Tokyo. Beat Takeshi, Jero, the mayor of Nagasaki, the mayor of Obama city, and the families of the Japanese people abducted by North Korea were among the [...]

A group of Barack Obama fans from Obama City in Fukui Prefecture attempted to meet the U.S. president as he entered his hotel on Friday:

They were disappointed to discover that he did not enter the building through the front lobby. Later, they were able to wave at him from the side of the street [...]

A comedy video about life as an English conversation teacher in Japan:

A fly-on-the-wall documentary about Steve, an Englishman who starts his adventure as an English Conversation instructor for a large Eikaiwa chain in Japan.
[via Lets's Japan dot org]
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The DPJ is going through with its plan to prepare a bill that would grant voting rights to non-citizens who have permanent residency. Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, a firm supporter of the bill, hopes that it will be submitted to the Diet as early as next year. However, it is possible that opposition [...]

The Japan Times offers a preview of the new Winter 2009-2010 Softbank commercials, which feature director Quentin Tarantino joining the famous Softbank “White Family” as a wacky uncle:

[hat tip to stears]
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Scott Murphy has a new album out. This time he’s performing cover versions of popular Japanese love songs:

You can watch a sample music video of one of the songs at Universal Music Japan’s official Scotty Murphy page.
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You can save around 1500 yen when you purchase the JR’s Narita Express & a Suica card combo if your purchase it at the airport.  It’s a special deal only for those who can present a foreign passport at the time of purchase. 
Watch this video for details on where and how you can [...]