You can save around 1500 yen when you purchase the JR’s Narita Express & a Suica card combo if your purchase it at the airport.  It’s a special deal only for those who can present a foreign passport at the time of purchase. 

Watch this video for details on where and how you can get it:

It’s a great deal and is highly recommended. Just keep in mind you might be getting off the train at one of the busiest stations in the world.

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If you’re interested in visiting it and trying the ramen, here’s its location on Google Maps:

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A growing number of Japanese seniors are using specially-designed playground equipment as the nation looks to enhance quality of life for its elderly,Chika Osaka reports.

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Japanese police have finally released a photo of Tatsuya Ichihasi’s post-cosmetic surgery face:

Several facial features have apparently changed — he now has double-fold eyelids, a higher nose and thin lips. Two moles that had been on his left cheek have disappeared as well, according to police.

Ichihashi, 30, is wanted in connection with the murder of Lindsay Ann Hawker, 22, an English teacher.

In another development Thursday, investigative sources said Ichihashi had attempted to undergo cosmetic surgery in Fukuoka Prefecture in mid-October before his Oct. 24 face-lift in Nagoya.

The man who appeared at the clinic in Fukuoka Prefecture used the same alias as that used at the Nagoya facility, the sources said, without revealing the alias.

Why the police would release the photo but not the alias is puzzling, as the name he has been using would probably be very useful to the public.

Prior to the release of the photo, an expert consulted by Fuji TV had advised people to pay attention to Ichihashi’s ears, since few people have plastic surgery to alter their ear shape:

If you think you’ve seen Ichihashi, please contact:

Chiba Prefectural Police, Gyoutoku
047-397-0110
gyoutoku@police.pref.chiba.jp

If you don’t trust police, you can alternatively use this contact info.

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The winner, Japan’s 37 year-old Haruna Ai, was overjoyed at press time, but also aware that her beauty and victory would not be well-received among all audiences, including her home country. “The way of life in Japan is more traditional and transsexuals cannot live freely, but in Thailand they can do what they want,” she told the Sydney Morning Herald.

In fact, the pageant, which took place at the Thai beach resort of Pattaya, is taken very seriously and respected for its open tolerance of sexual diversity. The contestants, all born men, were competing for the grand prize of $10,000, a year’s stay at the Pattaya hotel, and a 500-dollar surgical voucher, all of which Haruna Ai took home.

The prize money and the surgical voucher probably seem big to the other contestants, but they wouldn’t even come close to paying the bill for all of Haruna’s cosmetic surgery. In a past TV appearance, Haruna said that she has spent about 60 million yen ($660,000) on various surgical procedures.

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Part 1

About 8 minutes into the clip, he dons a giant rubber gaijin nose and does a little Indiana Jones impression as he introduces some value types of crystals.
Part 2

As reported by Arkansas.com:

A Japanese film crew from Nihon TV covered The World Championship Quartz Crystal Dig in Mount Ida this weekend. The footage is expected to be viewed by 15 million Japanese TV viewers. The event is held annually the second weekend in October. A Gem & Mineral show as well as a Quilt show is also held over the weekend. During the dig, contestants compete for cash and trophies and can keep all the crystals they mine during the contest. Due to rain the crystal fields were quite muddy but that didn’t stop competitors from digging in. Dig sites this year included Sweet Surrender, Arrowhead, and Fiddler’s Ridge (Bear Mountain). The Mount Ida area has been identified as one of the major deposits of quartz crystal in the state and makes up a major “quartz belt” within the Ouachita Mountains.

The official website of the contest has a gallery of photos and a ranking chart that lists Miyagawa as winner of the “Cluster Division.”

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Public service announcements in other countries usually don’t assume that everyone has masks, so people are told to cover their coughs with a tissue or a sleeve:

[hat tip to Adamu]

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Police also received information that a man who looks similar to Tatsuya Ichihashi, 30, had cosmetic surgery at a clinic in Nagoya, the sources said. Ichihashi is wanted for suspicion of abandoning the body of Lindsay Hawker, 22, a language teacher, in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture.

The Chiba police have dispatched investigators to Aichi to further probe into the first detailed information on the suspect since his has been on the run in March 2007.

Ichihashi has gone missing after escaping questioning from police officers on March 26, 2007 at his apartment, where Hawker’s body was found in a sand-filled bathtub.

If you think you’ve seen Ichihashi, please contact:

Chiba Prefectural Police, Gyoutoku
047-397-0110
gyoutoku@police.pref.chiba.jp

If you don’t trust police, you can alternatively use this contact info.

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The preview for the original game is quite amusing as well, with dramatic style English voice-overs.

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The news report mentions how certain yakuza might want to kill Adelstein for writing about an embarrassing secret. He even says that he keeps his window shutters closed to protect himself from yakuza snipers. The death threats do not, however, stop him from making numerous public appearances on to promote his book.

Update: Adelstein has left a comment clarifying that the 60 minutes interview took place several months ago, when the situation was more dangerous with a certain yakuza boss. Things have slightly improved since then.

[hat tip to FG Forums]

Update: Jake Adelstein will be speaking about his Yakuza reporting at Good Day Books in Tokyo on December 6th. (Anyone who wants to attend and ask him questions must buy a copy of the book from the store.) [via TokyoReporter]

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George Bush threw out the ceremonial first pitch in game three of the Japan Series between the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters and Yomiuri Giants at Tokyo Dome last night.

Sporting a Yomiuri jacket, the right-hander tossed a pitch to Shinnosuke Abe of the Giants. The ball bounced in the dirt once before Abe caught it.

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The miniseries is apparently based on E.B. Sledge’s With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa, a book that anyone interested in the Pacific War should read. Unlike the Stephen Ambrose book upon which the “Band of Brothers” miniseries was based, this book is not rosy and sentimental in its portrayal of war.

Consider this video clip of an old interview with Sledge as a teaser for his book:

“In all the literature on the Second World War, there is not a more honest, realistic or moving memoir than Eugene Sledge’s. This is the real deal, the real war: unvarnished, brutal, without a shred of sentimentality or false patriotism, a profound primer on what it actually was like to be in that war. It is a classic that will outlive all the armchair generals’ safe accounts of—not the “good war”—but the worst war ever.”—Ken Burns

If HBO is true to the original tone of the book, this could be much better than “Band of Brothers.”

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Part 1

The next scene introduces his home base in Japan, the Billy Blanks International Studio in Osaka. The reporter is greeted by Billy and his wife Tomoko, who tell the story of how they met. Apparently she visited an exercise studio in the U.S. so she could get her picture taken with Blanks, and he asked her to teach him some Japanese because he was preparing to do some promotional work for his exercise videos in Japan. She began to work as his interpreter, and their relationship soon became romantic. Nine months ago, their daughter Angelica was born.

The studio isn’t just for bootcamp lessons. Billy also teaches classes in kickboxing, karate, and yoga. Since Billy hasn’t quite learned enough Japanese to teach the lessons by himself, his wife backs him up and translates everything he says into Japanese.

The slightly chubby reporter joins Billy and Tomoko in a bootcamp routine. Billy’s stepdaughter, Marika (who is an aspiring model), was also participating in the workout.

Later that night they go out to a yakitori restaurant. Billy loves going out for yakitori, and at this particular restaurant the chef has learned that Billy likes his tebasaki cooked longer than usual.

Marika, who grew up without the presence of a father in the house, says that her stepdad is a very nice guy. Even though he is a world famous celebrity, he is very down to earth and loves his family.

Part 2

Billy says that he always wanted to live in Japan, so when Tomoko asked him to settle in Osaka with her, he accepted.

In the two months since their studio opened in Osaka, Billy and his wife had apparently not taken any days off. When they finally take a break, they are joined by Fuji TV news cameras. The Blanks family goes to Costco and stocks up on all kinds of food, which Billy uses to cook an American-style meal in celebration of his 54th birthday.

As a birthday present, he received a pair of Evisu jeans with “Osaka” written in Kanji on one of its legs. Tomoko also presents him with a love letter, and Marika tells him she is happy to have him as her father. The touching scene brings tears to Billy’s eyes.

A few days later, Tomoko and Marika are shown at an Brazilian festival in Tokyo, promoting new Malasada King Hawaiian doughnut produced and sold under the Billy Blanks name. However, few people are trying to doughnuts because Billy isn’t there to attract their attention. He had business in America and his flight was delayed. When he finally appears, a big crowd forms and the doughnuts start selling well. Japanese, Brazilian, British, and Senegalese visitors to the event all recognize Billy, proof of his international fame.

The event was a big success, and Billy should be exhausted. However, he’s quite full of energy and ready to give his wife a massage before going to bed. The narrator closes the report by noting that Billy loves his family and loves Japan, and they’ll be working together to teach Japanese children karate (and presumably other forms of exercise).

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The remaining time in the program was not enough to air the Billy Blanks’ tape, so they instead dug into their emergency shocking video file. One of the shocking video clips showed a man with a knife attempting to rob a convenience store in South Korea:

The program then immediately skipped to the next shocking clip, as if the incident in the previous video needed no further explanation. I think the video clip itself was supposed to elicit the 驚き response from viewers, but I was more surprised by the fact that there was no information on how the criminal could have bled to death…

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There were no reports of delayed trains or vandalism. The local police did not have to place dozens of officers at every station to maintain order. The party did not provoke rage from 2-channel or nationalist groups.

Here are a few videos of previous Fukui Halloween train parties:

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After his restaurant got featured on TV for its weird vending machine, the owner installed a second manual vending machine that sells 300 yen “royal” burgers (normal burgers with some added tomato and bacon).

If you want check it out for yourself, you can find it here on google maps:

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The situation was described by one commenter on the 2-channel bulletin board:

Anti-Yamanote Halloween party demonstration, intimidates uninvolved foreigners: “Go to hell, get out of Japan!”

Ultimately, it was the Japanese people who caused the most trouble lol
Foreigners either weren’t around, or even if they were it wasn’t for Halloween, but the Japanese still all yelled and threatened them lol

There were some people holding signs in English saying “Go to hell, get out of Japan!” I’ll never forget the faces of the uninvolved white people who saw that lol
They were like (゜Д゜). After seeing that I couldn’t feel anything but pity for them…. lol

It stopped being a demonstration against the Yamanote Halloween party and just became an anti-foreigner demonstration. It made me feel sick.

There were a lot of people holding the Japanese flag, and if that kind of image gets out on Youtube then everyone is going to think that Japanese people are a bunch of racists who hate foreigners.

The protesters apparently came from right wing activist groups such as Shuken Kaifuku wo Mezasu Kai (The Society to Seek Restoration of Sovereignty).

According to one blog affiliated with Shuken Kaifuku wo Mezasu Kai, the cops were erroneously focusing on the protesters instead of the foreigners:

The Japanese police, far from controlling the whites, surrounded Shinjuku Station’s south ticket gate with a large number of police officers and, from the beginning, kept us under surveillance. Neglecting the whites who were disturbing the social order and our peaceful society with their partying, they instead supervised us, who had gathered with the purpose of drawing attention to the party.

In order to break through the ring of police officers, we attempted to violently penetrate the circle shouting ‘If you’re gonna arrest us, go for it!’ For, why should we have our right to come and go freely denied?

Judging from the live video feeds from last night, they were shouting pretty loud.

Here are a couple photos of the protest group:

A quick search of Twitter found that a couple users confirms this:

2-channelers with live webcam feeds followed around a few costumed foreigners. Here are some screen captures:

I’m not sure what is going on in this screen capture, but it kind of looks like police are taking away a foreign participant in the party (anyone know what this was about?):

The Japanese guy who was streaming live video to ustream followed around this Pikachu foreigner. The Pikachu foreigner didn’t appear to be doing much of anything on the train. He eventually ran away from the cameraman:

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“I hate whale meat,” Hatoyama said during a meeting with his visiting Dutch counterpart Jan Peter Balkenende on Monday at the prime minister’s office, the Sankei Shimbun reported.

The Netherlands is one of several anti-whaling countries that allows the radical environmental group Sea Shepherd Conservation Society to register a vessel in the country.

The group’s activists have repeatedly harassed Japanese whaling vessels in Antarctic waters. During the last hunt a Sea Shepherd vessel collided with a whaling ship, sparking allegations that the group was behaving irresponsibly.

Despite Hatoyama’s reported dislike of whale meat, however, he urged Balkenende to take action against the group over its attacks on Japanese whalers in the Antarctic, government officials said.

It doesn’t look like he’s letting his personal opinions on certain types of food get in the way of his responsibility to fulfill the promises the DPJ made in its election manifesto:

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• Packages of Halloween candy sold in the state are huge (this is at least partly because people need to buy a lot of candy to give out to trick or treaters, a fact that the report doesn’t adequately explain).
• American Halloween candy is often shaped like gross and scary things like skulls and severed hands. Japanese Halloween candy is mostly cute-looking.
• The biggest Halloween events in Japan are costume parades. They visit the Omotesando Halloween Pumpkin parade for a look at some of the costumes. Such events were originally started for foreign children, but now most participants are Japanese.
• We are shown 4 women in Kanagawa prefecture who build an eco-themed costume for a costume contest. It seems that most Japanese people prefer cute costumes.
• Viewers are told that scary costumes are popular in the United States. Their America correspondent puts on some make-up and participates in a Zombie Crawl. Onlookers, including small children, are amused by the zombie costumes.
• To highlight the scaryness of American Halloween, we are given a look at the #1 haunted house in the States: Eastern State Penitentiary’s Terror Behind the Walls.
• The last part is about a Halloween camp for Japanese kids. Families participate in a variety of Halloween-related activities, none of them particularly horrifying or scary.

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• The new Sony Vaio X-series of notebook computers, which are really thin
• A small humidifier shaped like a tree – good for Japan’s dry winters. The remote control is leaf-shaped.
• A desk lamp that can be used to recharge USB gadgets
• A cute new memory card reader from Elecom
• Elecom headphones shaped like plastic building blocks
• Transforming Transformer USB memory sticks

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Several readers have sent in e-mails requesting information about Halloween events taking place around Tokyo this weekend. Here are a few links:

This is the most amazing Halloween parade in Japan!!!
The powerful monster parade about 3,000 people dancing along with can be seen only in the Kawasaki city. Don’t miss it !!
【VENUE】
The eastern area of JR Kawasaski station
※This parade will be held if it’s a light rain.
【TIME】
14：30～16：00
※reception for the parade and award participants ：10:30～12:30

Check this site for more details.

Over at Let’s Enjoy Tokyo, there is a Japanese language list of events. CNN Go’s Tokyo section also has links to Halloween parties at a couple of Tokyo’s clubs.

JapanZine has a list that includes parties in other areas of Japan.

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“When the economy slumps, people stay home and celebrate anniversaries for their families. Halloween is about kids and parents spending money on them,” Kase said. “And after all, candy and costumes are cheap. Halloween is a reasonable indulgence.”

Spokeswoman Mayumi Funaki of online mall Rakuten Inc. said sales of Halloween goods jumped 45 percent this year thanks to brisk interest in costumes for women and kids.

Discount chain Don Quijote Co. saw its sales of Halloween-related goods rise 20 percent this year, spokeswoman Aya Suzuki said. She also cited increased demand for costumes.

Daiso Sangyo, which runs ¥100 shops, began Halloween campaigns three years ago and the popularity of goods such as witch’s hats, presents bags and stickers has been growing ever since, spokeswoman Hiroko Kusaka said.

Morinaga & Co., a major confectionary maker, is selling 11 Halloween-related products, up from nine last year, and sales have increased 20 percent from a year ago, spokeswoman Kaori Nakamura said.

Here’s a Fuji TV news report about new snack products and the Halloween events at Tokyo Disney:

During the snack portion of the news report, it is mentioned that more companies are now releasing special Halloween products. Sometimes it only involves changing the outside packaging of products, a move that apparently boosts sales.

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It’s reading week in Japan! Here’s a few updates about e-book reading:

The article mentions one big Japanese publishing company that is not rushing to embrace digital books:

In addition, the Kindle’s Japanese-language book download service is still also under review. Whether publishers will provide books, comics and other content for the new device is going to be a crucial sticking point in its success — however, many, including Kodansha, are choosing to wait and see.

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Those looking for a more manly souvenir can buy a box of dangerous snacks. Mixed among the normal snacks in each box is one single extremely spicy snack.

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• Nippon Institute of Technology – a steam locomotive and old machinery
• Tokyo University of Agriculture – sake, chicks, and food
• Nihon University College of Bioresource Sciences – various animal skeletons
• Musashino Academia Musicae- a large collection of musical instruments
• Komazawa University – Buddhist artwork at the Museum of Zen Culture and History
• Meiji University – an interesting “Japan’s crime and punishment” exhibition

A little bit more information can be found in this Japan Times article, which mentions a Japanese language guide book about Tokyo-area university museums.

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The 38-centimeter-high and 1.6-kilogram robot, dubbed “Ropid,” was developed by the company’s president, 34-year-old Tomotaka Takahashi, over two and a half years. Boasting the highest jumping ability among humanoid robots, the Ropid can quickly bend its knees and ankles and jump to a height of eight centimeters using a built-in belt that links its joints. -Mainichi

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Michio Uchino, 55, and Marissa Floures Ito, 31, allegedly filed a false birth report with the Ushiku municipal government office in Ibaraki Prefecture in April that says the boy was Uchino’s, the police said.

In August, the two also filed a false application with the Justice Ministry seeking the boy’s Japanese nationality, according to the police.

[...]

Ito has told investigators that she thought she could continue to stay and work in Japan if Japanese nationality is granted to her baby, the police said. Ito has given several hundred thousand yen to Uchino, with whom she got acquainted through a friend.

The child was born in Japan, but Japanese law does not automatically grant citizenship based on location of birth. The child would have required a parent who was a Japanese citizen, so Uchino was paid to pretend he fathered the child.

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