Posts Tagged ‘tokyo’

Brazilian president makes fun of Japanese politics

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva mentions his rivals at a press conference celebrating the victory of Rio de Janeiro’s 2016 Olympic bid:

“I have a message to my close friend, the Prime Minister of Spain Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, to Barack Obama for whom I have high hopes, he’s a great fellow, and to the Prime Minister of Japan who I don’t know because it’s like that in Japan – you say ‘good morning to one Prime Minister and ‘good afternoon’ to a different one!”

[hat tip to Isaac]

Why did Tokyo fail so spectacularly in the IOC vote? The Japan Times quotes claims that Tokyo just didn’t have enough flair.

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

2016 Olympics: Say No to Tokyo

International Olympic Committee will meet in Copenhagen today to decide which of the four candidate cities will get to host the 2016 Olympic games. Hopes are high that Tokyo will win the honor, but is it really something residents of Japan should want? Trans Pacific Radio has an editorial arguing that the games will be ridiculously expensive and offer very little in return:

We can take the bid as saying it will cost roughly $14,194,537,000 for the Games themselves, plus the $48 million for the bid itself, which makes. . .
US$14,242,537,000
. . . which is a little over $1,114 per resident of Tokyo.

Read the full article here.

Related link: According to online gambling sites, Tokyo has very slim odds of winning the vote:

Their odds on Madrid getting the nod have been cut from 16/1 to 9/1, while the Windy City heads the market on 4/6, Rio has been eased out slightly to 7/4 and Tokyo is now a longshot at 25/1.

A Tokyo victory may be so improbable that we don’t even need to worry about the projected costs of hosting the games.

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

Ancient Egypt in Shibuya

A short video clip of the Ancient Egyptian Museum in Shibuya:

The museum is a private collection that is open to the general public on weekends and national holidays. It’s a 5 minute walk from Hachiko, not far from the 109 building. General admission is 1,500 yen.

Note: The “konkatsu” diety that the museum guide points out is Hathor, goddess of feminine love, motherhood and joy.

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
• Kirainet.com – A geek in Japan (Subscribe)

Contest: Win free tickets to “Honiefaith”

I am pleased to inform Japan Probe readers that the Tokyo International Players will be once again offering readers of this site an opportunity to win free tickets to one of their stage products.

This time, the free ticket will be to the Sunday, June 7 matinee performance of “Honiefaith,” a production based on the events surrounding the murder of 22-year-old nightclub hostess Honiefaith Ratilia Kamiosawa:

When a Filipino hostess’ dismembered body is discovered in a Tokyo coin locker, Manila newspaper reporter Victor Balmori is dispatched to Japan. Balmori is looking for a story, he finds a nightmare.

Written by long-time Tokyoite Monty DiPietro, “Honiefaith” is a three-act play about people pushed into extraordinary circumstances demanding difficult choices. The premiere of “Honiefaith” at OUR SPACE in Hatagaya, opens the Tokyo International Players’ new “Second Stage” series, and is being directed by TIP president Jonah Hagans.

Jonah Hagans (director): “I’m very excited to be working directly with the author on a production, this is the first opportunity I’ve had to build a piece up from the very beginning. ‘Honiefaith’ involves so much interpersonal dynamic — the challenge for me working with the actors has been developing the connection to the character and each other, and bringing out the genuine emotion and feeling to maximize the play’s impact.”

Monty DiPietro (playwright): “In the spring of 2008 I read a news report about the death of Honiefaith Ratilla Kamiosawa, and began imagining characters and their reactions to the tragedy. The ideas became notes and the notes became a script. I’m honored that TIP is producing ‘Honiefaith’, watching Jonah and the cast bringing the story to life has been thrilling, and a little terrifying.”

“Honiefaith” is based on real events. Some scenes contain violence that may not be suitable for small children.

To enter the contest, your readers should send an e-mail to “tip.contest@gmail.com“, with

• “JapanProbe.com” written in the subject line
• Your name & telephone number in the body of the e-mail

At 6:00 pm on Monday, June 1, a random selection of one e-mail will take place and the winner will be notified telephone. A pair of tickets will be waiting under the winner’s name at the theater, to be picked up 20 minutes before curtain.

For more information (and ticket purchasing info), check out this link!

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
• Kirainet.com – A geek in Japan (Subscribe)

YouTube Live Tokyo 2008: low quality and not live

Bad news for those of you who expected that the YouTube Live Tokyo 2008 concert would be equal in quality to the American live concert YouTube streamed yesterday: YouTube Live Tokyo is not being streamed live.

The live event was supposed to start at 3:00PM. Hours have passed and it now seems that the event is in progress, but visitors to the Tokyo Live YouTube channel will find that it does not have streaming live video. Instead, we are asked to watch a playlist of pre-recorded videos. There is nothing live about YouTube Live Tokyo. It is just a set of videos uploaded after being recorded, all of which were shot from the same boring angle.

The YouTube user reaction in the comments’ section of the videos ranges from the confused to the angry:

AngelxDear: When does Tokyo Live start? Anyone know?

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begirlinc: I only wish they can give us more than one angle…

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Intershark: Low-budget YouTube Japan… This event in Tokyo is extremely awful and disappointed.

Compared to YouTube Live in San Francisco, this event in Tokyo is catastrophic.

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hajiketobu:LOL It isn’t Live muahaha!!!! ARE YOU KIDDING YOUTUBE JAPAN???

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3561920: so where is the actual show?

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As of 5:35PM, the most recently uploaded video was a performance by Otofuke Kenta (Uploaded around 5:00PM). According to the officially advertised YouTube Live Tokyo schedule, his “live” performance was supposed to have taken place at 3:40.

Quite a terrible disappointment.

Update: Boa’s performance was uploaded sometime late last night, and it seems there was actual camera work and a special stage for her act. The videos of other main acts – Blue Man Group and Kreva – are not yet available.

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
• Kirainet.com – A geek in Japan (Subscribe)

Rhino escapes at Japanese zoo

Zookeepers in Tokyo conduct a drill involving an escaped rhino:

[via BoingBoing]

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
• Kirainet.com – A geek in Japan (Subscribe)