The video has already been taken down, but caused much consternation when it was discovered early in the morning on Jan. 30.

According to Nishida’s representatives, it is believed that someone hacked into Nishida’s YouTube account — which the Diet member uses to post videos related to his political activities on his website — and posted the obscene material.

Screencaps and backup videos are available via 2channel aggregate blogs (maybe NSFW – although women appear to be fully-clothed).

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The cover-up has come to an end! Prime Minister Noda has removed his eye patch:

He’d been wearing the patch for the last two weeks:

Complete with patch – more surgical than piratical — the premier later explained to reporters that the self-inflicted blow came in the dark as he rushed to try to pick up an unexpected call.

“The phone suddenly rang in the middle of the night,” the prime minister explained, “so I got up and rushed to get it, and then bumped into a pillar.”

Now he’s just wearing makeup to hide the bruises.

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In early 2011 Japan was treated to the heartwarming story of “Tiger Mask”, an masked hero who donated dozens of randoseru backpacks to orphanages across the country. Randoseru are tough, super-expensive backpacks that all elementary school students are expected to own. The anonymous donations, apparently mostly from old men and women, were unusual in a country where people usually like to take credit for their good works and sparked conversations at water coolers across the country.

One year later, it’s randoseru season again, and anonymous philanthropists have returned… with a weird twist. At 4pm on Friday the 13th, two men in their 40s walked into a police station in Yokohama and asked for assistance with donating 10 randoseru (roughly 200,000yen, or $2600) to orphan kindergarteners. When the police asked for a name, the men responded that they’d rather be anonymous, and perhaps thinking of the slasher film series “Friday the 13th,” one of the men shyly replied, “Say they came from Jason.”

The police department said that they were very grateful to receive the gift and that the backpacks would be distributed to social welfare groups in the area. No word on whether the children will be informed of their donors’ questionable choice of pseudonym.

–

Contributor Bio: Avery teaches English somewhere near Takeo. When he is not translating things, he is probably visiting haikyo or researching weird footnotes in Japanese history. He can be reached on Twitter at @ahm.

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What’s a bit more unusual is the unattended stand shown in this video:

The stand in Mie prefecture offers lobster (which fetches up to 5000 yen a head in Japan) and conch, or sazae (about 2000 yen each) for anyone who happens to drive around this bend to stop off and take. What’s more, the anonymous vendor asks for only 500 yen from the locals. On most days, the stand is totally sold out by the end of the day, but it is always replenished.

Soon enough, the vendor walks by to replenish his stand. It seems that he runs an Internet service selling lobster and sazae, and these are the extras he can’t sell. The man with a red jacket and green-rimmed bifocals (an ordinary guy who e-mailed Japanese television about his find) is overcome with gratitude to see such a selfless person and asks to shake his hand. “You’re really a very good person.”

–

Contributor Bio: Avery teaches English somewhere near Takeo. When he is not translating things, he is probably visiting haikyo or researching weird footnotes in Japanese history. He can be reached on Twitter at @ahm.

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Kyoto’s famous statue of Takayama Hikokuro (1747-93) has been vandalized:

At around 5:50 p.m. on Jan. 20, a woman spotted a man standing on the plinth of the bronze statue of Takayama Hikokuro in Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto, and pouring white paint on it. The man fled the scene by bicycle. The woman alerted officers at a nearby police box.

Police are searching for the man, who is believed to be around 30 years old, on suspicion of damaging property.

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A couple days ago, pitcher Yu Darvish signed a $60 million deal with the Texas Rangers. When he arrived in in Texas, he was wearing a very strange shirt:

Darvish arrived about three hours earlier at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, where he was greeted by a large group of media cameras and a handful of Rangers fans.

There was a bit of a stir created by the photos of the arrival, when Darvish wore a T-shirt with the phrase “I Will Survive” surrounding the image of a Japanese Maple Leaf, which looks similar to a marijuana leaf.

“In Japan, anything that’s like a T-shirt with English words on it,” he said. “We just tend to wear it, we don’t really actually know what it means.”

It’s true, shirts like that are sold all over Japan. And most people don’t really see them as a bad thing. To them, it just looks neat.

Related video: With its usual wackiness, Taiwan’s NMA reports on Yu Darvish.

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A TV news report about the arrest of a Thai “new half” (ladyboy?) who was arrested for scamming Japanese tourists:

Nice t-shirt!

The suspect approached a Japanese tourist on the streets of Bangkok, claiming to be a Korean tourist who had lost her passport and money. She said she would soon be receiving money from family in Korea, but needed to use the Japanese man’s bank card. After taking a considerable amount of money from the man’s account, she disappeared.

Thai police arrested her for a similar scam, in which she had told another Japanese man that she was a tourist from Singapore. It was later determined that she was also responsible for the “Korean” scam. In both instances, she had used broken English to convince the unsuspecting Japanese tourists that she was a non-Thai person who needed their help.

The Japanese embassy in Bangkok has warned that this kind of scam is not rare.

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Japanese comedian Yoshio Kojima performs Beyoncé’s “Crazy in Love”:

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For the past 16 years, Japanese police have been looking for Aum Shinrikyo member Makoto Hirata. Images of his face have appeared on thousands of wanted posters, but police failed to find Hirata.

All of that changed on the night of December 31st, when Hirata tried to turn himself in to police. But before he could find someone willing to place him under arrest, he was given several opportunities to change his mind and remain a fugitive.

• Before 9:00 PM – Hirata went to the Osaki police station in Tokyo, but couldn’t locate its entrance.
• Shortly after 9:00 PM – Hirata tried used a pay phone to call up the police and report his willingness to surrender, but after about 10 attempts he could not get through to them.
• 11:35 PM – Hirata traveled across town to the police HQ in Kasumigaseki, found an officer on guard duty, and announced his identity. The officer thought Hirata was joking, and told him to surrender himself at a normal police station instead.
• 11:50 PM – Hirata walked 600 meters to the Marunouchi police station, where he finally found an officer willing to place him under arrest.

A truly mind-boggling series of events. One can only hope that the officer who turned away Hirata was not a representative example of Tokyo police officers. (And if it actually is so hard to call up the police and report a sighting of a wanted criminal, the Police really need to make some improvements.)

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Video of a whale that washed ashore in Kanagawa prefecture this morning:

The whale, which was a male humpback, apparently died several days ago. The Odawara city government is looking in to disposal methods (which will probably not include eating the whale, as few people like rotten meat).

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Meet Hisaki Nasu, a 77-year-old farmer in Miyazaki prefecture with a hands-on approach to beekeeping:

This man sticks his bare hands inside the hive! He claims that they don’t sting him because he’s being gentle. (And the honey bees apparently do not sting the camerman either – but don’t try this at home, kids.)

The honey from his farm has a particularly good reputation for being sweet and tasty. A 1.8 liter bottle sells for over 300 dollars. If you want to order some, you’ll have to get on a 3 year waiting list.

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An 86-year-old woman in Nagano prefecture who isn’t afraid to go sledding:

She has a job delivering mail for the local post office. In winter months it can be quite dangerous to walk down roads covered with snow and ice, so she uses a sled instead!

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A news report about how a holy rock in Miyagi prefecture is becoming a popular pilgrimage site for students:

The rock, located at the Tsuriishi Shrine in the city of Ishinomaki, has long been known for its ability to withstand earthquakes. This year’s massive earthquake only solidified its reputation. Despite its seemingly vulnerable position, it has not fallen.

Japanese use the same verb for “fall” and “fail,” so students who do not want to fail entrance examinations are visiting the shrine in the hope that they can borrow some of the rock’s power.

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The town of Yusui in rural Kagoshima prefecture has some impressive holiday illuminations:

The lights cover about 2 kilometers of the road. It started about 25 years ago, when one resident saw kids walking home on a dark winter night and thought some lights would cheer them up. The idea soon spread across the entire neighborhood. Although many of the lights are Christmas-themed, they keep them up all winter.

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Earlier this month, a Chinese resident of Tokyo was arrested for trying to sell a stuffed giant panda to Chinese tourists. Here is a clip from Japanese TV that discusses the arrest and provides some background information on other stuffed pandas in Japan:

The stuffed animal was displayed in his home in a bamboo-decorated glass cage and was described as “80 per cent real panda”, with its head and ears appearing to belong to another type of animal.
“An acquaintance of mine just left [the panda] with me. I didn’t intend to sell it,” Erqiang was quoted as telling the police in the Daily Yomiuri newspaper.

As pandas are an endangered species, the import and sale of stuffed pandas is strictly regulated in Japan. As of December 2011, there were only 12 stuffed giant pandas in Japan that have registration paperwork that would allow them to be be bought and sold legally.

There are other stuffed pandas in Japan. For example, we are shown one at shop in Tokyo. The owner inherited it, and authenticity paperwork has been lost. However, since it is only being used as a decoration and not being sold as a product, no laws are being violated. Here it is on Google Street View:

Some pandas that formerly resided at Japanese zoos have also been stuffed. For example, Fei Fei, who came to the Ueno Zoo in 1982 and died in 1992, was stuffed and is now on public display.

An eel restaurant in Nagoya that owns a stuffed panda that has proper authenticity paperwork. The owner bought it about 30 years ago. He’s now trying to sell it online: anyone got 38 million yen ($487,000)?

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Most cameras and mobile phones in Japan automatically make shutter sounds when they are used to take a photograph, a feature that makes it difficult for perverts to secretly capture upskirt images. Smart phone such as the iPhone usually allow users to disable all sounds, but iPhones sold in Japan have been altered to keep the shutter sound on.

However, as the Yomiuri has pointed out, some smartphone applications can disable shutter sounds:

On Nov. 12, a man was arrested at a train station in Kawaguchi, Saitama Prefecture, after he took photos up the skirt of a female vocational school student with his smartphone as she stood on an escalator.

The man reportedly told police he used an app that silenced the shutter sound to prevent his target from noticing what he was doing.

A man arrested in September after he photographed a woman’s underwear in Tokyo also reportedly told police he had used such an app to stealthily take photos about 20 times.

According to the National Police Agency, 1,741 cases of illicit photography were reported nationwide last year, a 1.6-fold increase from 2006.

The largest number of snap-happy camera voyeurs was reported in Kanagawa Prefecture.

“About 30 percent of cases involved the misuse of smartphone apps,” a senior Kanagawa prefectural police investigator said.

There are already methods that allow determined people to disable the shutter sounds of non-smartphone cameras. It seems that smartphone apps are making this kind of behavior more accessible to people with less technical ability….

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A 2-channeler has created this colorful map of the area around Japan (click for full size):

The map shows famous and infamous products, people, and events for different areas. It would take a very long time to figure them all out and make a full list, but here’s a few:

• Akita – a Namahage
• Aomori – Apples
• Chiba – Mickey Mouse, representing Tokyo Disney Resort
• Fukui – the Monju nuclear power plant
• Fukushima – A nuclear power plant with a plume of smoke?
• Gifu – A Cormorant, used for traditional fishing
• Hyogo – Himeji Castle
• Ibaraki – Mito Komon
• Kagoshima – the Sakurajima volcano
• Mie – Hometown of AEON’s founder
• Miyazaki – Hideo Higashikokubaru & mangoes
• Nagano – insect cuisine
• Nagasaki – Dejima
• Nara – Sento-kun
• Niigata – rice & the Mangyongbong-92
• Okinawa – a shisa, a flower, and an American fighter jet
• Osaka & Tsushima – Cat mascot representing Koreans
• Sado island – gold mining
• South Korea – Kimchi, Peppers, Hyundai, a burning Japanese flag, food fit for royalty, and pollution in the sea
• Tanegashima – A samurai firing a rocket into the air
• Wakayama – poisoned curry & a whale
• Yamaguchi – smashed up Ferraris

If you can identify some of the other stuff on the map, leave a comment: I will try to update this list to reflect the new information.

Update: Here is the map at a much higher resolution.

And here are some updated descriptions of stuff on the map, from the comments thread of this post (Thanks everyone!):

Russia: Red bear
China: Cheongsam woman, poisonated jiaozi, Guilin (atificially painted), rainbow-color contaminated river
North Korea: Doesn’t need explanation
South Korea: Contaminated kimchi, Pepero, F5 keys (cyber attack), Pepsi logo on Liancourt
Hokkaido: Cape Soya, crab, clione, seal, salmon, “110 km to Jusco” billboard, Hanabatake Farm (cow), Melon Dog of Yubari, kombu kelp, kazunoko, Shiroi Koibito (local cookie), squid
Akita: Namahage hanging himself, referring to the highest suicide rate
Iwate: Ozawa Ichiro
Miyagi: beef tounge
Yamagata: Shinjo mat killing ijime incident, cherry
Fukushima: This is indeed the nuclear plant, but it is also the Internet meme parodying Asahi Kasei Hebel House ad.
Tochigi: Internet meme of the “yankee” boy who said there’s nothing interesting in Tochigi.
Gunma: Internet meme describing Gunma as the “wild uncivilized world”.
Saitama: Saitama Saitamaa! meme
Tokyo: Yaruo who is stocking up foods after 3/11.
Kanagawa: Dim sum (shumai) in Yokohama Chinatowan, Yokohama Minatomirai
Shizuoka: Tea from water tap, Mount Fuji
Yamanashi: Takeda Shingen
Toyama: Scene from “true tears”, as well as the odango hair of the “YuruYuri” character (Both are the anime located in Toyama)
Ishikawa: Godzilla Matsui, Wajima lacquerware
Aichi: Morizo and Kikkoro (Aichi Expo mascots), miso
Fukui: Pana Wave cult
Shiga: Otaku cosplayer who visits Toyosato, a location of the anime K-on!
Nara: Sento-kun
Wakayama: The Sea Sheperd in the bloody coast
Osaka and Tsushima: Notice Nida (Korean cats) are with feces, referring to hongtak (Thornback fermented in human feces, a local dish in Mokpo).
Osaka/Hyogo: Kansai airport island in the position of Awaji Island.
Kyoto: Kinkaku-ji and Kyoto Tower
Okayama: “Okayama is the greatest futuristic metropolis!” meme, Yatsuhaka-mura (horror novel/movie)
Tottori: “Tottori is a huge sand dune with monsters” meme, exaggerating the real Tottori Sand Dune
Hiroshima: Hiroshima Carp, A-bomb Dome and origami cranes. Skull is from Barefoot Gen manga.
Shimane: Izumo Shrine. I don’t get Oki Islands.
Kagawa: Nothing but Udon
Tokushima: Yoshino River, which Kagawa and Tokushima always have disputes over its water
Ehime: Mikan/Iyokan oranges
Kochi: Bonito
Fukuoka: Crimes (gangs and burakumins)
Saga: The land no one notices
Sapporo: Hatsune Miku
Nagasaki: Black Ship
Oita: Prefectural police whose (very peaceful) activities are always reported on the local newspaper
Kumamoto: Bossan, a man who became the another meme for no apparent reason
Kagoshima: A snowman refers to the fact Kagoshima does get snow falls.
Hakodate: ika/Squid
Izu peninsula: green for all of the wasabi that you get with your trips down there for omiyage.

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The Washington Post reports about how the Sidwell Friends School, the elite private academy where President Barack Obama’s daughters are students, has received some complaints about a very strange “coincidental” menu choice for December 7th:

the school cafeteria listed as its “Pearl Harbor Day” menu Wednesday: A heavily Japanese-inspired lineup, including teriyaki chicken and edamame (as well as more generically Asian delicacies like tofu, fried rice, fortune cookies and “oriental noodle salad”). A school rep told us this was just a fluke — not a meal intended to commemorate the 1941 Japanese attack on U.S. forces: The contractor that prepares school lunches randomly assigned an Asian menu to Dec. 7, and the subcontractor that prints the calendars automatically marked Wednesday at Pearl Harbor Day. “It was completely coincidental,” said Ellis Turner, associate head of the school.

This weird story hasn’t been reported in the Japanese media, and probably won’t be. However, if it was, readers would probably be more surprised about the fact that calendars printed in America still point out the anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack.

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A video shows the aftermath of a pile-up involving 14 luxury sports cars:

The accident took place near Shimonoseki in Yamaguchi prefecture. The cars involved included: 8 Ferrari s, 1 Laborghinis, 3 Mercedes Benzes, and 2 Toyotas. The vehicles were apparently speeding down a road at around 150 km/hr when the driver of one Ferrari lost control and collided with a guard rail.

As you can see from the video, some very expensive vehicles were totaled. Ten drivers were taken to the hospital, but none suffered serious injuries.

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Back in August, Manbe-kun, the mascot of the Hokkaido town of Oshamambe stirred up controversy through his Twitter account. The tweets took place during the week marking the anniversary of Japan’s defeat in World War II, a time when many documentaries highlighting the horror and suffering of the war are aired on Japanese TV. It seems that Manbe-kun saw one of these documentaries, and decided to tweet about it.

Here are some translations:

“I watched a TV documentary. Japan back then was just like North Korea today!”

“No matter how you look at it, Japan’s war of aggression started it all. Thank you!”

“Three million Japanese people died. Japan caused the deaths of 20 million people in Asia.”

The tweets pretty much follow the official government and mainstream view of the war in Japan, where public opinion polls have consistently shown that only a small minority of the population does not think that Japan waged a war of aggression.

Nevertheless, it was considered controversial for a town mascot to make such strong statements. Nobody elected him as a political representative of the town’s historical views. The town received a lot of complaints, so they banned Manbe-kun from using his Twitter account and made him take a break from his official duties.

Here’s a news report from 3 months after the incident. It shows Manbe-kun’s first public appearance since the scandal:

When asked to comment about finally being allowed to appear in public again, Manbe-kun expressed no particular feelings about the issue. Looks like they’ve trained him to act like a proper mascot character…

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Over the weekend, the 2011 National Yuru-chara Summit was held in Saitama prefecture. Over 300 regional mascot characters attended the event, and about 135,000 people came to see them. On the final day of the summit, they announced this year’s top mascot character (based on the results of an online poll):

The winner was Kumamon (287,315 votes), a bear who represents Kumamoto prefecture:

The runner-up was Bary-san (245,238 votes), a chicken representing the city of Imabari (Ehime). Third place went to Nishiko-kun (174, 079 votes), the bizarre mascot of Nishikokubunji (Tokyo).

The real surprise was the Nishiko-kun. Until very recently, he was completely unknown, but enthusiastic support from netizens propelled him into the national spotlight:

On November 15th, Nishiko-kun was in 84th place in the poll. After receiving attention from sites such as 2channel, he suddenly received tens of thousands of votes and jumped up to first place on November 20th. Apparently some people may have set up automated voting tools, so thousands of the votes were thrown out, sending Nishiko-kun back down to 10th place. Despite this setback, he able to get many more votes and finished in third place.

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A news report about two teenagers who were arrested for purse snatching in Hachioji:

This isn’t really a huge and newsworthy crime. What is worth appreciating, however, is the effort that Tokyo police put into their presentation to the media. Rows of money neatly arranged on tables next to the snatched purses! And, best of all, the police prepared two dummies on a bicycle in a purse-snatching pose!

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A store that specializes in solo karaoke rooms has opened in Tokyo:

In the past, it has not been unheard of for karaoke chains to rent out group rooms to single customers. However, there were apparently no stores that exclusively catered to customers who want to sing alone.

This new store (ワンカラ / “1Kara”), in front of Kanda station in Tokyo, only offers small rooms designed for solo singers. As you can see from the video, the rooms have offer all one needs to enjoy karaoke alone: a chair, a microphone, headphones, and a small screen.

The owner of this store, a nationwide Karaoke chain, claims that 18% of the customers at its regular stores are solo singers. Who would want to sing karaoke alone? The news report suggests that people might want to practice their singing before attending parties where they’d have to participate in karaoke with friends or co-workers. It might also be fun for housewives who have free time on weekday afternoons.

According to MyNavi, renting a room between 10:00AM and 6:00PM will be 600 yen per hour, and renting between 6:00PM and 6:00AM will be 1,200 yen per hour. They will also have a special late night pack, offering a block from midnight to 5:00AM for 2,600 yen. All plans include free drinks. (It will open on November 25, 2011.)

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A video of a bartender in Hamamatsu who has some amazing drinking skills:

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On December 3rd, the 2011 Tokyo Motor Show will begin at the Tokyo Big Sight. One of the automobiles on display will be the Nissan Townpod, a “fashionable” zero emission concept car.

If you think it looks weird, you aren’t alone. Here are a few look-alike images posted by Japanese users of the 2-channel forums (via Itai News):

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Triumph International recently held a press conference to unveil latest in its line of bizarre gimmick bras. This time it is a bra that expresses support for the “Nadeshiko Japan” team that won the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup:

…for the team’s next challenge, the 2012 Olympics, underwear manufacturer Triumph has released the “Nadeshiko Go!” bra. Covered with purple paper flowers, the bra comes with shorts, bearing the words “Go, Nadeshiko” and a half red circle inspired by the Japanese flag.

Note: Like all of Triumph’s other wacky Japanese bras, this is will not actually be sold in stores. It was created so that the company could receive media attention.

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Some people might be appalled by the concept, but the wrestlers are happy to be given the opportunity to engage in an exciting activity that is usually limited to the able bodied:

Organiser Yukinori Kitajima said he has faced opposition over
the twice-yearly bouts since he started them 20 years ago.
“We have received calls of complaint in the past, with some people
saying a show like this was unpleasant and that they didn’t want to
see the handicapped around in public,” he said.
The able-bodied Kitajima, who used to work as a carer, strongly
objects to how the handicapped are treated in Japan.
“The Japanese traditionally tend to treat the mentally or
physically disabled as something that should be kept out of
sight.
“But they have their own desires. They want to make money and date
girls, living freely just like their peers,” he said. “They aren’t
tame sheep.
“Do you think they are happy just living life on welfare from the
state?
“I want to help change society by showing disabled people doing
something like this and fighting in the ring.”

Videos of matches can be
found on YouTube. You can also check out lots of great
photos at Tony McNicol’s blog.

On the evening of the 28th, a pet monkey escaped from a house in Tokyo and made its way to the Sekimachikita area of Nerima ward (near Musashi-seki station), where it attacked 2 people:

The two monkey bit/scratched the legs of two people, but their injuries were not serious.

The cops were called in, and about 30 officers assembled to deal with the menacing beast. After several hours, it was cornered and netted.

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NTV’s “ZIP!” morning show introduces Keisuke Yamada, a man who has become famous all over the world after uploading photos of his banana sculptures to the internet:

Yamada shows them how he makes his sculptures. All he needs is a banana, some toothpicks, and a spoon. He uses the spoon to smooth-out the surface of the banana, and the toothpicks are used for the sculpting. Each sculpture must be completed within 30 minutes. In the video, he eats the sculpture after he finishes it. [ The two sculptures he makes are: 1) the face shown in the picture at the top of this post, and 2) Zippei, the TV show's canine mascot. ]

For more photos of Yamada’s work, check out this gallery.

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On October 9th, police discovered the remains of an adult male near a resort area of Nagano prefecture. They have since identified the victim and arrested the man who allegedly murdered the individual:

The victim was Michael William Tokuhara, a 37-year-old “new half” (transsexual) who worked as a hostess and/or prostitute in Tokyo. Tokuhara was originally from Okinawa, and had a Japanese mother and an American father. According to one article, Tokuhara also may have appeared on television and starred in adult videos.

Police arrested the man who allegedly dumped Tokuhara’s body in the woods: Hiroshi Ezaki, a 47-year-old resident of Saitama prefecture. He had apparently been in a relationship with Tokuhara.

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Here is my favorite:

See the rest and vote on them them at http://www.reddit.com/r/EFLcomics/!

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Following the recent typhoons that swept through Japan, something odd has happened near Mount Fuji. Near its five famous lakes, a sixth “mystery lake” has appeared:

The tiny new “lake” (called Akaike) is adjacent to Lake Shoji (see the red dot on the map above). Its water is unusually clear and beautiful, so it’s been attracting a lot of attention from tourists.

Experts speculate that it was formed because of an underground link to Lake Shoji. The heavy rainfall from the typhoons, which caused Lake Shoji to rise by four meters, probably also pushed some water up from the ground and made the new pond.

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A 10 million yen ($130,000) cash donation to Tohoku disaster survivors has been found in a toilet:

The anonymous cash donation was left in a bag in a handicapped toilet at the Sakado city hall building in Saitama prefecture. Attached to the money was a note stating, that its former owner was all alone and wanted his/her money to be sent to help people in Tohoku.

Although this is a really great thing, it is definitely not an efficient means of helping earthquake and tsunami survivors. There is a possibility that the money could have been stolen, so they will not be able to use the money immediately. If no rightful owner comes forward to claim the money within three months, it will legally become property of the city government and can be sent as a donation.

The above news video clip compares this strange anonymous donation to the “Tiger Mask” donations of late 2010.

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One annoyed shopper has suggested a solution. It’s called the “I Don’t Have A T-Point Card”:

As you can see from the picture, it has a design based on the original T-point card. One has a big red line through the T-point logo. The other two types have “I don’t have one” and “I don’t need one” written on them.

Its creator has listed three great things about the card:

1. It’s totally free: no membership fees! (Just download the PDF and print it out yourself.)
2. It’s not a credit card, so even children can use it!
3. Instead of building up points, you increase the stress level of shopkeepers.

Some people might think this protest card is pointless. Why go through the trouble to carry a fake point card when you could just carry the real point card instead?

Sure, it might take some extra effort, but how else are you supposed to annoy low level Family Mart employees?

Related Video: Here’s a guy who used a t-shirt instead of a fake card. It seems to have have worked well:

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A few video clips show us a giant statue of a soccer-loving Sakamoto Ryoma on the grounds of the Shimabara Fukko Arena in Nagasaki prefeture:

The giant statue is a copy of the famous statue at Katsurahama beach in Kochi, but there have been some significant alterations to its appearance. His kimono has been painted “samurai blue” colors of the Japan national soccer team and Sakamoto family crests have been replaced with the logos of Adidas and the Japan Football Association. On his feet he wears soccer cleats. A soccer ball is under one foot.

If it looks familiar to some of you, it’s because it used to stand in Tokyo’s Yoyogi park, where it stood during the 2010 World Cup. It’s now been moved to Nagasaki prefecture, which is sort of appropriate because Sakamoto did reside in Nagasaki for a time.

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The Yomiuri reports that tsunami survivors in Iwate prefecture have sighted bears near their temporary houses:

The town’s local social welfare council, which consults residents of temporary housing facilities, has handled about 30 bear-related incidents since mid-August, with residents making such comments as “I saw a bear,” “There’s bear dung and footprints,” and “Some neighbors saw bears and now I’m scared.”

At temporary housing in Kamaishi, which is next to Otsuchicho, there were four reports of bear sightings in July and August, while a garbage collection site at a temporary housing facility in the town is believed to have been ransacked by a bear in July.

Because most low-lying land in Otsuchicho was inundated by the tsunami, the only option was to set up temporary housing units in mountainous areas near bear habitats, according to one town official.

“The bears are probably attracted to the garbage,” said Prof. Toshiki Aoi of Iwate University, who is familiar with the behavioral habits of Asiatic black bears.

So far, there have been no reported bear attacks. Residents are being encouraged to be vigilant and secure trash containers.

There’s no video of these bears, but here’s a video from last year, showing a bear hunt that took place in an another area of Iwate (Morioka):

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Here’s Okenpi, a dog in Miyagi prefecture that seems to have some identity issues:

Okenpi was raised alongside a cat, so he may have learned how to make “meow” sounds from his feline companion. His owner says she has never heard Okenpi make a normal dog-like barking sound.

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A reporter for Nikkan Spa gives us a demonstration of a fake “iPhone 5″ that was purchased in China:

It looks very similar to the legit iPhone 3 and iPhone 4, but it has some quality issues. The touch screen doesn’t respond well to fingers, so it comes with a stylus.

It also supposedly has support for two SIM cards.

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Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has received a special gift from Hokkaido:

It’s a snowman! It was sent by the town of Abira, to encourage Noda, who used a snowman metaphor in his election victory speech:

“Managing a government is like pushing a snowball up a hill in order to make a snowman,” Noda said. “We cannot have any more infighting, as this is like the snowball falling back down the hill and just getting heavier.”

“We must pull together to push the snowball back up the hill for the sake of the public. Together, with all of you, I will work so that the people of Japan will not regret choosing us as the ruling party of Japan,” said Noda.

It’s also great publicity for the town. Abira has branded itself as Japan’s best snowman town, and for the last 25 years, its local tourism association has been selling mail order snowmen (4,000 to 5,000 yen each). The town also has a “Snowman” post office, decked out with a snowman-shaped mailbox and a giant rooftop snowman:

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Fishermen in Hokkaido recently caught this daggertooth pike conger:

Adult daggertooth pike congers are usually about one meter long, but this one is two meters! Apparently that’s pretty rare.

Unfortunately, fishermen couldn’t identify it at the time, so they couldn’t find anyone willing to buy it. It was given away to a local sushi restaurant. They couldn’t sell mystery fish to customers, but they did eat some of it in the kitchen, and they said it tasted pretty good.

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A Japanese TV show visits the Tokyo Sushi Academy to watch a specialist as he creates beautiful and edible works of kazari-zushi artwork:

At about the 2:22 mark in the video, he creates a very awesome sushi Mt. Fuji, snow-capped by white squid.

The last minute of the clip shows a couple TV announcers tasting double-sided sushi art. The female announcer encounters some trouble!

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Meet Ken Andre, a 33-year-old British “ninja” who protects his community from the forces of evil:

The unemployed dad, who has been learning the Japanese art of Ninjutsu since he was a youngster, stalks the shadows of Yeovil, Somerset, when the sun goes down.

He sometimes spends all night out on the streets, waiting to swoop in and save victims of crime – wearing a hearing aid to pick up the faintest cries for help

Ken battles muggers, drug pushers, abusive boyfriends and boy racers with just his martial arts skills and a wooden pole.

The superhero insists he tries to settle the disputes as calmly as possible, but will use force if required, before calmly melting back into the shadows before police arrive.

[via FG]

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“Nanikore” finds a hospital in Yokohama that has its own private monorail line:

The monorail was built 16 years ago to provide free transportation to the hospital, which lies on top of a very steep hill. It takes about 3 minutes for the monorail to travel the full length of its 200-meter track. It may seem kind of ridiculous, but because many patients are elderly or too sick to climb the hill, it provides a very useful service.

(At the end of the clip, they say that the monorail isn’t just for hospital patients. If you want, you can go there and ride it just for the enjoyment of experiencing a mini monorail.)

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Video of a sushi restaurant in Aichi prefecture that is famous for its ridiculously oversized sushi:

It’s mega sushi roll has 20 different foods wrapped inside 2 meters of seaweed and rice. It costs 15,000 yen and requires a reservation 2 days in advance.

For the same price, you can also order a giant set of nigiri sushi (together with a super tiny set). The slab of tuna on top of one blob of rice could make about 40 normal-sized maguro nigiri-zushis.

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Security camera footage shows a thief stealing a sword from a shop in Gunma prefecture:

It was meant to be a quick smash and grab, but the thief experiences some trouble. After smashing a display case with a hammer, he tries to grab the sword by the handle. This causes the blade to come out of the sheath, so he has to turn around and retrieve the sheath (or its certificate of authenticity?).

The thief’s clumsiness gave the shop owner time to react. Unfortunately, instead of grabbing one of his swords, the shopkeeper attacks the thief with what appears to be an umbrella. The beating doesn’t prevent the thief from running off to his getaway vehicle.

According to the Yomiuri, it was a very valuable 650-year-old sword. Because it was stolen along with documentation of its authenticity, police believe that the thief intends to sell the sword.

The thief was wearing a black stocking over his face, so the camera footage does not reveal much about his identity. It is believed that he was somewhere between the age of 30 and 50, and about 1.6 meters tall.

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Decades ago, raccoons were a popular pet in Japan. Unfortunately, some irresponsible owners found their pets to be too much trouble, so they released the raccoons into the wild. Although the species of not native to Japan, 42 of the country’s 47 prefectures now have wild raccoon populations. These alien raccoons damage local ecosystems and destroy crops.

A battle is being waged against raccoon population growth. There hasn’t been much success, but humans have found a secret weapon. Apparently raccoons are attracted to Nissin’s chicken ramen:

Tests show that raccoons prefer chicken ramen over a variety of fruits and vegetables. Traps that contain ramen are far more likely to capture raccoons than traps that use other forms of bait.

Nobody’s exactly sure why the raccoons love ramen so much. It could be its strong smell. Or it could be because pet raccoons were used eating to processed foods. As one guy in the video says, if you want to know why, ask the raccoons.

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Morning commuters experienced delays yesterday on JR’s Keihin Tohoku line because trains had to stopped to allow workers to rescue a trapped kitten:

As the train sped down the line between Kanagawa prefecture and Tokyo, somebody reported hearing meowing sounds from underneath one of its cars. The train made an emergency stop at Kamata station, where workers found a 3-month-old kitten clinging to the space between the floor and the wheels.

The incident caused the train to halt for about 25 minutes at Kamata station, holding up a total of 15 trains. The delay impacted the commutes of about 23,000 people.

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A news report about a man who survived 24 hours at sea thanks to his plastic cooler:

The man had been fishing off the coast of Niigata prefecture, when a wave knocked over his boat and sent him into the sea.

A plastic cooler was also knocked out of the boat. The man grabbed onto the cooler, using it as a flotation device. Hours later, the man encountered a log, and moved onto it (while still keeping hold of the plastic cooler).

The man was rescued 24 hours later, 36 kilometers away from the place where he had fallen into the water.

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An epic stop motion “Blackboard War” between two Japanese high school students:

According to the video description, it was created for a school festival. To complete the animation, they had to take over 2,500 still pictures.

And here is part II (over 3,000 still pictures, with broomstick action!):

And while you’re here, check out these other blackboard animation videos:

And Mario jumping through a Japanese school:

[via Asiajin]

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A 32-year-old underwear thief has been arrested in Tokyo:

After he was caught stealing underwear from a coin laundry in Higashi Ikebukuro, police searched his apartment. They found about 750 articles of female underwear.

The man confessed his crime, saying that he stole from coin laundromats and first flood apartment verandas. He stole adult and child underwear.

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TV Tokyo had some Lego masters build elaborate toys for cats. Here are the results:

Cute kittens + Awesome Lego contraptions = Television gold?

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You know you live in a country with a very low crime rate when something like this makes the national news:

150 watermelons have been stolen from a field in Ibaraki prefecture! The total value of the watermelons was about 90,000 yen ($1,139). Police believe the melon heist may be related to a string of similar crop thefts that have occurred in the area recently.

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As part of its coverage of the last Space Shuttle launch, NTV’s “Bankisha” put a space suit on one of its anchors and built a life-sized fake cockpit in their studio:

Included in the excerpt is footage of Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata‘s reaction to the launch. The clip ends with a very energetic katakana-style “thank you.”

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A bullet train was forced to make an unscheduled stop on Monday after somebody found a snake on one of its seats:

A conductor found the snake on a seat in the No. 3 car of the Kodama No. 642 train at about 9 a.m. Monday. The train originated in Shin-Osaka and was bound for Tokyo.

The conductor asked the sole passenger in the car to evacuate to another coach and closed doors to confine the snake. Staff from the prefectural Animal Shelter in Konan, Shiga Prefecture, captured the snake and turned it over to local police. No one was injured.

It was a Honduran Milk Snake. As its name suggests, it is not native to Japan. Authorities think it was a pet, and they’re looking for its owner.

Semi-related video clip:

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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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