A commercial for NTT’s Hikari Wifi service educates viewers about the possibilities of wireless internet technology:

Cute angels from Sakura Gakuin send data with their arrows. The wireless signal also apparently has an impact on tea leaves. WiFi is amazing!

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Haruka Ayase pretends to be a foreigner in this KFC commercial:

It’s a commercial announcing the Japan debut of KFC’s Brazer sandwich. The ads say the Brazer is from France, so they’ve given their celebrity spokeswoman blonde hair and have her speaking French-like gibberish. ( The result is probably about as authentically French as Kentucky Fried Chicken’s French cuisine. )

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“Hajimete no Otsukai” (First Errand) is a Japanese TV show that follows small children as they carry out errands for their parents. Past specials have featured kids traveling across town to buy ingredients for their mom’s kitchen and a small boy riding a bullet train to visit his father’s workplace. Usually, the kids are about 4-years- old, and sometimes an older child will be accompanied by a younger sibling.

Last week, they aired a special that had their youngest-ever solo errand runner. Little Haru is one month shy of second birthday:

Haru’s task is very simple: go down the block and buy some tofu. She still isn’t old enough to talk in full sentences, but she does seem to understand the concept of money.

Japanese people do not regularly send such small children out on errands. This television show always has staff who dress-up like deliverymen or pedestrians. They pretend to not notice the children, but they’re actually there to protect them.

Haru also has the advantage of living in one of Japan’s safest places. She’s a resident of Toshijima, a small island with a population of about 3,000 people. Old fashioned small town life is preserved on the island, with the entire neighborhood knowing each other and collectively making sure children stay safe. It’s not at all unusual for small children to run errands for their parents (although Haru is exceptionally young).

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An English language interview with Tomomi Itano of the pop group AKB48:

The whole interview is unnatural that it’s almost painful to watch. It seems that Itano carefully memorized scripted answers to each question, probably without even knowing the meaning of most the English words she was supposed to be pronouncing.

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A TV program looks at how foreigners view the “duck mouth” facial expression that many Japanese girls make when posing for photos:

A quick check with people on the street finds that 8 out of 10 Japanese people think it looks cute, while only 2 out of 10 foreigners think so.

Maybe if they learn how to make a proper Japanese duck mouth, they’ll appreciate its cuteness? The program has two Shibuya gals give a proper “cute” makeover to the show’s foreign reporter and an American volunteer:

To increase the cuteness of the duck mouth, some special make-up is necessary. For some reason, it looks freakishly horrible….

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A Japanese TV show asks foreign tourists to comment on AKB48 member Aimi Eguchi:

Eguchi isn’t a real person. She is a “CG” idol that was created by combining the facial features of several of AKB48′s most popular members. She made her first appearance in a Glico commercial a few weeks ago, and it didn’t take long for fans to realize that she was probably fake (her weird eyes were a big clue). When she failed to make any real life appearances, TV shows joined in on the CG speculation. A few days ago, to the surprise of very few people, it was announced that she was indeed fake.

In the above video clip, foreign tourists are shown still images of the AKB48 members who appeared in the commercial and are asked to identify the computer-generated girl. Only 3 of the 19 people answered correctly. Many thought all of the girls looked real.

To demonstrate how difficult it is to create a cg idol by combining the facial features of real actresses, the show asks a photoshop pro Tokyo’s Digital Hollywood University to create a mixture of Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson, Halle Berry, Taylor Swift, Anne Hathaway, and January Jones:

The result is horrifyingly sloppy. It’s supposed to be a serious effort, but it looks even worse than some of Conan O’Brien’s silly “If They Mated” images. I really hope that that guy isn’t teaching a photoshop course at that school…

The report points out that Eguchi is hardly the first CG pop star in Asia. Back in 2001, a South Korean pop group apparently had a lead singer that was computer generated (Nazca).

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A Japanese TV show asks tourists from Western countries to guess the ages of Japanese women, and finds that they tend to see them as far younger than their actual ages:

As the picture at the top of the post shows, there were some pretty big gaps between the guesses and the actual ages, especially in the case of the 32-year-old woman. When asked to guess the age of TV announcers (23-27), quite a few people even thought the women were teenagers!

Why do they think Japanese women look younger? A few possible reasons are provided:

• Bags/wrinkles seem to stand out more under the eyes of Westerners.
• Many Japanese women avid the sun by carrying parasols, wearing strong sunscreen, or covering up their skin with clothing. This makes their skin less likely to have wrinkles. (22 countries were represented in their poll of foreign tourists, and apparently tanned skin is seen as a good thing in 17 of those countries.
• Japanese women wear make-up. Of 25 Japanese women interviewed, all 25 were wearing full make-up. Of 25 foreign women, only 2 were wearing full make-up. On average, the Japanese women were carrying 10.6 different make-up products, while the foreign women were carrying 2.7 different make-up products.

They ask one 34-year-old English woman to go through a full course of Japanese-style “natural” make-up. Here is the result:

After her makeover, the English woman says she now understands why Japanese women look so “flawless.” A lot of make-up is used, but the end result still looks natural.

The Japanese woman who taught the make-up technique remarks that the English woman became younger-looking. The English woman’s response presents us with a major difference between their two cultures: she doesn’t want to look like she’s in her twenties.

To test how Japanese and Western women have different views about looking younger, they set up a rigged “let our reporter guess your age” game and have the reporter guess that every woman looked younger. The Japanese women were happy, but the Western women were not.

Their poll found that only 8% of the Western women wanted to look younger than their actual age. In contrast, 76% of Japanese woman thought it would be great to look younger.

It would seem that Japanese women think it is fantastic to look young and Japanese men tend to prefer younger women.

Cultural Anthropologist Masakazu Toki of Edogawa University believes that Japan has a long history of idolizing young women. One 18th century example is given: “three famed beauties of the Meiwa period” (明和三美人), all of whom were 14-15 years-old when they were praised as the most beautiful women in Edo. Professor Toki says things were quite different in Western countries, where religious views made society less likely to treat younger girls as objects of sexual desire.

Note: In this post, “Western women” refers to women from Western countries. It looks like almost every tourist they interviewed was from Europe, Australia, New Zealand, or the Americas. Had they also included tourists from Asian countries, the results of their poll may have turned out differently…

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One of the top-viewed videos on YouTube Japan today shows gravure idol Mikie Hara playing the role of Mystique to promote the Japanese release of the new X-Men movie (you can skip to 1:10 to see a time lapse of her make-up):

For a few more photos, check out Tokyo Hive.

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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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The above-pictured bag contains Peppato, a pepper-flavored rice cracker developed as part of a collaborative project between Iwatsuki Confectionary Company and junior high school girls at Shinagawa Joshi Gakuin. Here’s a short video clip of the press conference announcing the product:

The snack will go on sale at convenience stores across Japan on March 7th.

A reporter tries out the snack, noting that it tastes good and the red, white, and black pepper flavor would match well with beer.

A close-up of the package, showing the name of their high school:

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YouTuber Japanarchist asks his friend Mika to provide an English language summary of the movie “Titantic”:

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Allow me to post about my appreciation for one of the newest YouTube celebrities on the net, Frank Evins (Perfume444). Frank is a diehard fan of the Japanese pop group Perfume, and his bizarre January 12th video birthday message to Kashiyuka (Yuka Kashino) has become an internet sensation:

Here is his bio:

PERFUME 444 CHANNEL IS NOT ABOUT PEOPLE SEEING ME…ITS ABOUT ME THANKING PERFUME FOR ALL THAT THEY HAVE DONE !!!

I have been to Japan in 2003 and 2005.. I play Drums so did 2 small tours in Japan. I LOVE JAPAN !!!! I miss it so much. The Japanese People are so kind and wonderful. I really feel like my soul is Japanese. About Perfume… I got into Perfume in early 2006. I was looking for Japan stuff on youtube, all kinds of music from Japan and I found Perfume. The song Akihabalove was the first one I heard. I fell in love with that song and the girls. I watched the beehive cam on youtube and watched them grow up. So my love for them is like a father daughter love. Not sex because they were so young at the time. Even now I still see them as big kids, NOT sex objects. Anyway…about the Music… I was hooked, It was so different then anything I heard before. my all time favorite song is Seventh heaven…It all ways makes me cry. I also love Secret Secret , Foundation, computer city, Macaroni, Edge , ” jenny in a bad mood ” wonder 2, Polyrhythm,Baby cruising love , Vitamin Drop, yes Its heard to pick just one song. A-Chan is my favorite. If I was 20 yrs old I would want to marry her. But Im not ! Im 55 yrs old. But perfume music makes me feel happy and young I wish I could find some one like A-Chan. She is the most beautiful person I have ever seen. her heart and sole are heaven ! The person that marries her will be the luckiest person on earth.

And an introductory video:

As he video spread around the internet, Frank attracted a lot of trolls who left comments mocking and insulting him. In response, he posted a video announcing that he would stop vlogging on YouTube. However, an outpouring of support from fans convinced him to stick with it:

After a tearful message of gratitude, he is now back to making cheerful videos expressing his love for Perfume:

Some random screen captures:

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Kanebo recently conducted a study comparing women in Tokyo, Shanghai, Beijing, Taipei, and Seoul:

“The biggest difference we saw was the emphasis that Japanese women place on human relationships – in particular they care about being liked by others – while the women in the other cities are more concerned with personal growth through their work or studies,” said Sakae Nomura, director of Kanebo’s Beauty Research Institute.

According to the survey, which covered around 450 women between the ages of 18 and 59 in the five cities, women in Tokyo place more emphasis on personal relationships and achieving a work-life balance, while the women of the four other cities want a high income and “personal development.”

When asked what sort of person they wished to be, Tokyo women most frequently replied “someone who is considerate to others.” Their counterparts, however, tended to reply they wanted to be “cheerful” and “feminine.”

While women in the Japanese capital like to be praised for their appearance – and particularly like to be described as “stylish” and having good taste – the respondents in Beijing, Taipei and Seoul most like being praised for their work abilities.

Tokyo women use makeup more frequently and extensively than their counterparts, the report identifying that 79.5 percent of women apply makeup five days a week. That figure fell to 38.7 percent in Shanghai, 44.5 percent in Beijing, 45.1 percent in Taipei and 58.7 percent in Seoul.

Read more in the Independent and the WSJ.

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Here are some other things said or written in pseudo-Japanese, which was obviously made via machine translation, in the video:
彼はKeyマスターです= He is the key master
やった！= Yesssss!
不幸= unhappiness [actually closer to bad luck]
かんつ= [gibberish that sounds like an English swear word. Perhaps one of these.]
super 騎兵= super cavalry
私を見て= look at me
1000幸せの涙= 1000 happiness tears
米= rice
笑うんち= the kanji for laugh+ poop
愚かな= foolish
nya!= meow
キャッハチャブ= Chibchub [I guess]
寿司= sushi
これは段はアニメキャラクターやジャック方法について映画を見るには、クレジットです= This paragraph is the credits for watching a movie concerning anime character or jack way

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An NTV news entertainment report on how Yuko Oshima, Atsuko Maeda, Sayaka Akimoto, and Tomomi Itano have appeared in the most recent issue of Vogue Nippon:

Their “sexy” adult fashion in the Vogue photo shoot is contrasted with their usual cute idol image. When they are always playing the role of kawaii teenage schoolgirls, it’s easy to forget that several of them are in their twenties.

The “Making of” video:

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Back in August, Yuko Oshima of the idol group AKB48 appeared as a guest on an educational TV special marking the 65th anniversary of the end of World War 2. Oshima was meant to be a representative of the young generation of Japanese, all of whom have not experienced war.

At one point, Oshima was quizzed on her knowledge of the war. She was given a set of flags representing nations that participated in World War 2 and was asked to identify the Axis powers and the Allied powers:

She obviously knows that Japan fought against America, but has trouble figuring out the alignment of other countries. She seems pretty confident that Japan’s Axis partners were Germany and the United Kingdom (this produces some laughter from another guest, so she probably begins to doubt her choice). Italy is placed in the Allied column. Despite the fact that earlier parts of the program were discussing Japan’s war against China, she pauses in confusion for a few moments before she is able to correctly label China as one of the Allies. When she finishes by placing Australia in the Allied column, the presence of Union Jacks on opposing sides must look pretty odd. She finally corrects her mistake.

She explains her error by saying that she knew the Axis was known as the “Nichi-Doku-I“(日独伊) alliance in Japanese, and she mistakenly thought that he “I” stood for Italy ["Itaria"(伊太利亜) in Japanese, while the U.K. is "Igirisu"(英吉利)].

Update/Note to readers: I’ve already noticed that one twit is using this clip to back up the claim that “Japs aren’t taught about the war at school.” What an astounding stupid statement. If you judge the entire Japanese education system based on the comments of an air-headed pop star, you’re dumber than Ms. Oshima.

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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.]

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For years now, such photo booths made girls happy by washing out the colors in photographs to make one’s skin look smoother and lighter. In the last few years, photo booth manufacturers have strengthened these “beautifying” capabilities and have added another key feature: eye enlargement. The result is a photo that looks “cuter” but bears little resemblance to the person who actually stepped into the booth.

Here is what photo booths did to a FTV production staff guy & Mona Lisa:

It turned the man into a freakish alien-like creature, but girls on the street thought that it made Mona Lisa look “cute.” Some informal polling showed that girls are pretty satisfied with the results of their purikura photos. However, when men were asked to compare an actual photo of a woman with her post-purikura face, about half of them preferred the unaltered natural version. Since most girls aren’t taking these photos to impress men, the negative opinions a lot of guys have about them probably don’t matter so much.

Note: Some people may look at this post and assume that the popularity of skin-lightening and eye-enlargement features in purikura photo booths is evidence that “Japanese girls want to look White” or “Japanese girls want to look like anime characters.” Nothing in the report indicates that the girls have any such desire. They seem to just think that bigger eyes look cuter, and the skin-lightening feature erases pimples, wrinkles, and other blemishes that reduce cuteness.

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For some women, large breasts make them feel fat. Others feel like they can’t comfortably wear certain shirts and tops. One woman interviewed said that she can’t wear some t-shirts because the images on the shirt will appear stretched out.

Wacoal’s new CuCute bra helps flatten the overall appearance of a woman’s chest, making it a perfect product for women who don’t want their chests to stand out. Because their product has hit a niche that has pretty much gone unexploited, Wacoal says that the sales so far have been doubled their expectations.

Here is a before/after picture of how the CuCute Bra worked for actress Yumi Usui:

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For a look at the other countries’ 2010 costumes, check out this link.

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“I am quite fat, actually,” said Michie Takagi, a 70-year-old grandmother and retired clothing store executive. She has a body mass index (BMI) of 19.9, which is at the thin end of normal. While the average American woman has gained about 25 pounds over the past 30 years, Takagi has gained 4.5 pounds, typical for her age cohort in Japan, according to U.S. and Japanese government figures.

Skinnier still are Japanese women younger than 60, who were thin by international standards three decades ago and who, taken as a group, have since been steadily losing weight.

The trend is most pronounced among women in their 20s. A quarter-century ago, they were twice as likely to be thin as overweight; now they are four times more likely to be thin. For U.S. women of all ages, obesity rates have about doubled since 1980, rising from 17 percent to 35 percent.

Men and children, however, seem to be gaining weight. The trend among women is explained by social pressure and the media’s promotion of thinness as beauty. There still seems to be some questions about why Japanese women are so easily influenced by what they see in TV and magazines:

“In the United States, you see all these beautiful skinny people on television, and yet Americans keep getting fatter anyway,” said Sasaki, the public health expert at Tokyo University. “Why is that?”

[hat tip to Brian]

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I wonder if there will be a future commercial in which she meets the parents?

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Top Three Handsome Men

1. Hikiti Takazumi
2. Ayumu Sato
3. Joseph Greenwood [aka "Joy"]

All three of these men are models for Men’s Egg.

Top Recording Artists

1. Kana Nishino
2. Juliet – 3 gyaru group
3. Miliyah Kato

Top Politicians

1. Ren Ho – of budget panel fame
2. Shinichiro Koizumi – son of the former PM
3. Kunio Hatoyama – brother of the current PM

Fashion Leaders

1. Hiromi Hosoi (Rohimi) – model for Egg
2. Aya Suzuki & Nicole Abe – models for Ranzuki
3. Maiko Takahashi – model for Jelly

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In a recent article for the Times, Richard Lloyd Parry interprets this trend as a sign that “Japanese ladies long for date with brutal men of history“:

Masamune Date is not an obvious heart-throb for today’s young Japanese women. He has an aristocratic lineage and love of the arts — but he is also a one-eyed ruthless killer. He lost an eye to smallpox and in his relentless pursuit of power is said to have slaughtered his own brother, as well as Christian missionaries, Korean peasants and countless of his compatriots.

The biggest turn-off might have been that Lord Date has been dead for 373 years, having flourished during the Azuchi-Momoyama Period.

In fact, he enjoys a celebrity in today’s Japan that would be the envy of many actors or rock stars. Books, television dramas, films, animations, comics and video games examine his life — and he is only one of several celebrity medieval samurai in the limelight. Japan is in the throes of a feudal warlord boom whose heroes are not smooth-cheeked young men but scarred, disease-riddled, brutal warriors whose kind died out centuries ago.

While I generally like his articles and appreciate his occasional readership of this blog, I cannot agree in the slightest with the message he is sending in both the article’s headline and the bolded sentence above.

It would seem that Parry has overlooked one of the very obvious causes of this trend, something that few Japanese language media reports have ignored. This is a boom fueled by TV dramas and video games, none of which depict the samurai in question as scarred, disease-riddled or brutal.

Date Masamune’s new female fanbase has been linked to the extremely popular Sengoku Basara video games, in which he looks like this:

[hat tip to Ponta]

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Making of clip:

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NTV’s “Zoom In Super” morning show takes on the “History Girl” (rekijo) boom that is hitting Japan (subbed in English):

In testing times like these, “people tend to turn to strong symbolic figures on whom they can project their ideals,” said Hideki Nakagawa, a Nihon University sociology professor and an expert on pop culture.

What started out as a trend among video game nerds erupted into a mainstream craze this year after young women latched onto it. Japanese media quickly found a label for them — “rekijo,” or female history geeks.

In a society where market researchers recently identified a new male demographic as passive ‘herbivores’, “women seek ‘super carnivorous males’,” said Ichiya Nakamura, a media and pop culture researcher at Keio University.

“The warlords were different from the cold-eyed, dispassionate Japanese men of today,” he said. “They stood out because of their strong personalities.”

In a store dedicated to samurai books and paraphernalia, a 17-year-old female fan agreed wholeheartedly, gushing that the “warlords sacrificed themselves for justice and to protect the people.”

Now, she scoffed, “politics purely serves the interests of politicians.”

They seem to be obsessed with an unrealistic and idealized version of history, no doubt because it was presented to them in that way through TV dramas and video games. Still, it is good to see that historical sites are making more money from tourists.

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And here’s a clip of her on stage in a swimsuit and a evening gown:

[hat tip to Brian in Jeollanam-do and 3Yen News]

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An episode of “Majotachi no 22ji” that aired earlier this week had a story about a Japanese single mother who married a Sudanese man:

Instead of appreciating the flavor of each dish she put great effort into preparing, he followed Sudanese custom by mixing the food together. Apparently Sudanese culture expects married men to take care of their single male friends, so almost every night he would arrive home very late and bring a group of loud friends. To make matters worse, he expected his wife to stay up and make food for them.

When she angrily demanded that he stop bringing friends over late at night, he responded by beating her. The narrator does not describe this activity as a consequence of the husband’s Sudanese upbringing [such a conclusion could have been made about a country that practices female genital mutilation and arrests women who dare to wear trousers].

The end of the clip shows the 41-year-old single mother and her children are paraded before a studio audience. The primary purpose of the show was to demonstrate how young and stylish she appears, and viewers can see that she continues to achieve physical beauty despite the difficulties she has faced in her life.

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New research has found that tanning machines cause skin cancer.

In Japan many young women darken their skin at tanning salons, so the TBS News went to the streets of Tokyo to get some opinions from tanned gyaru. Here’s their report (subtitled in English):

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It would seem that a lot of internet users are upset about the “Japanese” national costume that Miss Universe Japan 2009 Emiri Miyasaka will be wearing in the big competition.

A ZakZak article introduces the controversy to Japanese readers, revealing that many comments have criticized the design and American blogs are calling it something a porn star would wear. Photos of costumes worn by the two previous Miss Universe Japan representatives are included in the article, but neither is quite as ridiculous as the one Emiri will wear.

Itai News has posted a record of comments left by Japanese net users, most of whom agree with the negative views expressed about the costume. In some she was described as:

• a national disgrace
• making fun of Japanese traditional clothing and culture
• a stupidly designed stupid costume for a stupid person to wear
• vulgar / perverted
• like a kyabakura hostess
• something akin to the emperor’s new clothes – is she surrounded by nothing but yes men?

There are also a few comments from users who don’t see much of a problem with the costume. However, the majority of comments seemed to be negative.

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Female students at a high school in Fukui participate in a screaming contest:

The report doesn’t mention anyone being named the winner of the contest, but their teacher does a pretty good job of loudly shouting an insult at the guy.

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A Japanese reader named Mika has written to ask how the foreign readership of this site views Japanese girls with yaeba:

I research what foreigners feel about Japanese culture.
Especially I am interested in Yaeba.

Yaeba means double teeth/crooked teeth.
As I understand, Only Japanese feel it cute.

I am Japanese girl and have Yaeba.
Japanese say to me your teeth is cute.

Please comment about Yaeba in your blog.

Those seeking more information on yaeba are asked to check this blog post in English, as well as this slide show of Japanese girls with yaeba.

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A man who comes up and says “You come here for big anaconda,eh?” Do you find him appealing? He is just mocking you. So whenever someone says this to me, I stare at his crotch, put my hand on my hip and say “Im dead or wha? Mi no see notten between yu leg! Though mi see dem big one inna Japan” and walk away. This anaconda talk is not a come on. It’s funny though.

Those who call you “manko” (Japanese word meaning “c-nt”) or those who say “Mi can give you a good loving” on a street. It is so obvious what they want. They just want a different dish. Tell them “you can’t manage me” with a smile and walk away.

But sadly (or happily?), there seem to be some Japanese women who take these insults as come on. And this myth was born. I think you don’t have to go out with rude men whom Jamaican women ignore. Decent people have decent manners. And any relationship is built step by step, as is done in anywhere in the world.

Also worth checking out: Jamaipanese, a blog about Japan from a Jamaican perspective.

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Here’s my humble recap, in video form:

Folks who gave me their card:

• Webnet IT An IT services company
• CScout A trend researcher. Also, there is a blog.
• Samurai Factory Internet tool creators
• Bluebridge They created a tool to facilitate communication and scheduling.
• Jib TV An online TV content distributor; unfortunately and ironically not viewable within Japan (yet), but those of you outside can watch as much as you want.
• six apart Makes blogging tools.
• my Gengo A quick and inexpensive human translation service

Bloggers I met:

• Kynapple A very smart model from England. Also, check out her Youtube link in the video.
• I Rub Your Brog A photoblogger.
• Clement. A post-grad Malawian student in Japan.

Japan-based Youtubers I met that weren’t linked in the video annotations:

• http://www.youtube.com/user/hikosaemon
• http://www.youtube.com/user/cruxay
• http://www.youtube.com/user/channeireview

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Apparently it’s a good workout and helps improve posture. Will this be the “Billy’s Bootcamp” of 2009?

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This guy was following us around almost from the moment we stepped out of Ueno station telling me I shouldn’t be with a Japanese woman (I was standing beside a friend’s wife, and the friend was standing on the other side of her. Why he assumed she and I were together I do not know). So we decided to do an interview.

Friendly guy with strong opinions or right-wing nut? You be the judge.

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Ms. Yamamoto says she has long adored pink and wanted to dress in feminine clothes, but felt shy about her plump figure. After losing about 33 pounds in recent years, she got hooked on Diamante’s tight-waisted dresses adorned with huge rose patterns, and estimates she may be spending $2,000 or $3,000 a month. Her husband, an architect who loves Europe, pays for most of her purchases. Her parents, who live nearby, send the couple food so they have more money for Ms. Yamamoto’s shopping sprees.

“I figure it’s OK as long as what I’m buying is pretty,” she says.

[hat tip to Brian]

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The site appears to be a promotion for a television show that airs Monday nights at 9:00PM on TV Tokyo.

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Leo Lewis of the Times has examined the impact of the financial crisis on Japanese women who hang out at a bar in Roppongi Hills hoping to meet rich foreign bankers:

In its prime, the 54 storeys of the Roppongi Hills office tower were a focal point for much that was positive about Japan: it was the spiritual home of Japan’s kachigumi – society’s “winners”. By 9.50pm, back at Heartland, two foreign men in suits have finally made a move. Haruna and Etsuko clutch new vodka tonics, but are sipping quickly: the suits worn by the men who bought the drinks don’t fit right and the ties are domestic, they could even be polyester. The would-be wooers stumble on the question of what it is they actually do “in banking” and are quickly sized up as frauds, or possibly IT consultants.

The girls make excuses and head to the station for the hour-long ride back to Kawasaki: they understand economics enough to know that they will probably never find the banker ready to induct them to the “Hills Tribe” of well-dressed women living and shopping around Roppongi Hills.

“I think Heartland and the stock markets are the same thing,” says Masabuchi, drawing a downward spiral in the air, “so it is not surprising that the bar has had a kind of ‘shock’ of its own. Bankers have always gone to certain bars in Japan, but the ones around Roppongi Hills are different – they became part of Japanese culture as much as expat culture.”

A true shame for shallow money-obsessed women.

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[via EatFeats]

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*Warning: Headline may not match contents of video.

For those hikikomori of you who need practice staring at mostly expressionless, blinking women of various ages/ethnicities, your friends at Avex Group have just the thing for you: Miteru Dake (Just Looking) on DVD,with your pick of 50 ladies who will “just look” at you.

Thanks as always to clast.

Miss Universe Japan 2008 Hiroko Mima was selected as one of the top 15 contestants at today’s Miss Universe pageant, but the crown ultimately went to Miss Venezuela. Hiroko Mima had been a popular choice among online gamblers, some of whom may have expected Japan to win the contest two years in a row.

Here’s a photo of Miss Universe 2007 Riyo Mori crowning Miss Venezuela:

Japan has decided on its representative to this summer’s Miss Universe pageant: 21-year-old Hiroko Mima has been crowned Miss Universe Japan 2008.! Here are some photos from last night’s ceremony:

For more photos, check out Mainichi’s huge gallery of pics from the event.

[hat tip to Neil Duckett]

TokyoGraph reports that Tokyo Girl Collection has awarded the title of “Best Girl of 2007″ to Yui Aragaki:

This time, the event established a new award to honor the female celebrity who had the most successful year. The recipient of the “Best Girl of 2007″ title was actress Yui Aragaki, who said she was nervous as she appeared on stage. Although she used to primarily be a model, she has reportedly walked a runway only once before.

If you watched much Japanese TV in the last year, you probably saw Yui Aragaki in her popular series of Pocky commercials, one of which is embedded below:

Apparently there is a “Race Queen of the Year” contest, and this year’s winner was 23-year-old Yuuki Aikawa. Here are some photos for your consideration:

More photos can be viewed at this gallery at Sankei/MSN.