Falconer’s café and reptile café in Japan
A TV show takes a look at some of Japan’s most interesting new cafés:
It starts by showing us a Starbucks in Ueno Park, which has an open and artsy atmosphere. Apparently it’s quite different from the chain’s other coffee shops.
The next shop is a Falconer’s café in Mitaka. The café serves food and drink to people who love birds of prey. They get to meet the owner’s birds, and some hobbyists also bring their birds to the cafe. Japan already has quite a lot of dog and cat cafés, so why not have one for falconry fans?
Next we have a reptile café in Yokohama! Folks who love turtles, snakes, and lizards can finally have a place to relax and drink tea.
If you’re creeped out by hawks and lizards, maybe you’d prefer the final café. It’s stationary-themed café in Omotesando. Each table in the café has a drawer containing stationery, which customers can use to write memos, letters, or anything else they desire. How exciting.
- Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
- Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
Categories: Odd / Strange
Photo of Japanese baseball legend Kazuhiro Kiyohara goes viral as “a Chinese Black”
The following image of “a black Chinese” has made its way onto the front pages of 9Gag and cuantarazon.com, receiving thousands of shares from Twitter and Facebook users:
If the Japanese text in the top corner of the image makes it obvious enough that this probably isn’t a photograph from China. The man in the photograph is Kazuhiro Kiyohara, a former professional baseball player whose face is recognizable by almost every Japanese person who owns a television set. He played in the Japanese leagues for over 20 years, and regularly appears on Japanese television programs.
Kiyohara’s parents were Japanese. He doesn’t have Chinese or African roots (but some netizens have spread rumors about Zainichi Korean origins). But it looks like he’s destined to go down in internet history as a Black Chinese guy.
As someone who spends a lot of time outdoors, Kiyohara is more tanned than most Japanese people. The “Black Chinese” image seems to have been recorded on a day when he was especially dark.
According to Naver Matome, some Japanese netizens were also surprised by Kiyohara’s dark skin tone:
The blog post jokingly asks if Kiyohara is a Black person. Twitter users also commented on how dark he looked.
The images are screen captures from an event that aired on TV earlier this month. Kiyohara was bringing flowers to a retiring baseball player. At some point the image was uploaded elsewhere, stripped of its context. Kiyohara then became a “Chinese Black.”
- Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
- Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
Categories: Odd / Strange
Japanese beer can castle sets Guinness world record
A Japanese NPO has constructed a castle from 35,679 empty beer cans, setting the Guinness world record for largest aluminum can sculpture:
The statue represented the central tower of Takatori Castle in Nara. Majority of the aluminium cans used to construct the statue were recycled from 380 neighboring households, while some were donated by companies. The organisers started collecting cans from January 2012, began constructing in May, and finished making the statue on 28 August.
Judging from the images in the video, it appears that Kirin brand cans were used for most of the exterior, while other types of beer cans were used to fill the inside. Anybody know if Kirin sponsored them?
- Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
- Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
Categories: Odd / Strange
Videos: Japanese Mud Olympics
A video shows the “Dorolympics” (mud olympics) held recently in the Fukui prefecture town of Mihama:
Fifty children and adults gathered so they could run around in muddy water and play an epic game of tag.
A similar event was featured in Episode 56 of Sparkuus‘ “I Live in Japan” YouTube vlog:
And here are various Japanese videos of various mud olympic events. As in the other clips, it looks like they’ve used an empty rice patty for the awesomely muddy games:
- Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
- Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
Categories: Odd / Strange
