Japan Probe

Dramatic Prairie Dog meme reaches Super Bowl commercial status

James — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 08:10:42 +0000

The famous “dramatic chipmunk” internet meme has been used in a CarMax commercial that aired during the Super Bowl:

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In case you were wondering what this has to do with Japan: The footage of the prairie dog that became the “chipmunk” of internet legend was from an episode of the Japanese TV show ” Hello! Morning.”

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Rich Chinese come to Japan for medical tourism

James — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:24:36 +0000

“Mezamashi TV” reports on a tourism organization that is encouraging Chinese to come to Kyushu for medical check-ups:

The group of rich Chinese people came to Nagasaki to undergo cancer checks at a hospital (and do some shopping). They are given the results of their check-ups on the same day. Although they can get a similar tests in China at a much lower price, the tourists say that the equipment used in Japan is higher quality and much better than what they would get back in Shanghai.

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Japanese TV program introduces “pot dealer” Kiwi husbands

James — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:12:19 +0000

On Saturday night’s episode of “Sekai Fushigi Hakken,” TBS sent a reporter to New Zealand to tour beautiful areas of the country and find out what’s so great about Kiwi husbands. At one point in the program, she interviewed a group of New Zealanders who were wearing “Pot Dealer” t-shirts:

Apparently they were not actual marijuana dealers, but had named their touch rugby team the “pot dealers.” They tell the reporter that kiwi husbands help out around the house by cooking and cleaning.

She visits the home of one “pot dealer,” a former professional rugby player who has a Japanese wife. He is shown teaching his son, a future Kiwi husband, how to clean dishes. His wife says he helps out a lot, while he says she also does a lot for him.

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JAL reportedly to stay with American

steve — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 02:37:16 +0000

On the news this morning I heard that JAL has made yet another about face and will be sticking with American Airlines and the Oneworld Alliance. From the AFP:

Japan Airlines has decided to maintain its current tie-up with American Airlines and will end talks with Delta Air Lines, local media reported on Monday.

American Airlines and Delta Air Lines are competing to take a stake in JAL despite its bankruptcy filing last month with 26 billion dollars of debt — one of Japan’s biggest ever corporate failures.

Japanese media had previously said JAL planned to switch to Delta and its SkyTeam airline alliance from American Airlines’ Oneworld alliance as part of its recovery plan.

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JAL plans to tell Delta as early as this week that it will terminate the tie-up negotiation, while together with American the Japanese airline will apply for anti-trust immunity with the US Department of Transportation within this month, the Nikkei business daily reported.

It had been previously reported that JAL had chosen Delta for a partner. Someone at the Dallas Morning News (AA’s parent company AMR is based in Ft. Worth, TX) seems to think this would make a great reality TV show.

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Contributor Bio: Steve has been splitting time between the US and Japan for the past 10 years or so and is now a post doctorate fellow at a large, lumbering University in Tokyo, where he gets paid to play with dirt.

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Al Jazeera English reports on Japan’s Ainu community

James — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 21:04:00 +0000

A pretty interesting report from Al Jazeera English about Ainu activists who want compensation from the Japanese government:

101 East looks at Japan’s indigeneous people and their fight for cultural survival and acceptance. Over the last century, they have seen their traditions and their language stripped away, along with their ancestral lands. But after generations of oppression, racism and forced assimilation, change is in the air for the Ainu.

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Bear reads newspaper to find out about global warming

James — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 21:03:45 +0000

The latest in a series of commercials for Nisshinbo follows up its “we shave bears to help them deal with global warming” with a new episode:

Now the bear is crying as he reads a newspaper article about polar bears.

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Blue hood used to protect the privacy of criminals

James — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 21:03:30 +0000

If you’ve watched the TV news in Japan a lot in the last few months, you’ve probably noticed that criminals seem to be wearing blue hoods over their faces when being escorted into vehicles by police officers. Here’s a clip that explains what’s the deal with them:

Apparently the hoods are part of a jacket that police in Chiba prefecture use to protect the privacy of individuals who have been arrested. The blue hoods can be adjusted to different levels depending on just how much a person wants their face to be blocked from the eyes of the media and the public. They’ve been in use for a few years now, but didn’t get much attention because there had not been many high profile crimes in Chiba until recently.

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Sitting Dog in Japan

James — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 00:55:21 +0000

Meet Ban, a dog in Ibaraki prefecture that loves to a climb and sit atop a wall:

Her owners claim she learned to do this on her own, probably because she was bored with being restricted to a narrow space and wanted a better view of the neighborhood.
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Another collision between Sea Shepherd and Japanese whalers

James — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 23:56:00 +0000

Radical animal rights group Sea Shepherd was all over the news last month when a collision with a Japanese whaling ship left one of their boats heavily damaged. The media attention had died down, but they’ve managed to get themselves back into yet another collision.

Here is a video filmed from the deck of the Sea Shepherd ship:

Sea Shepherd founder Captain Paul Watson said by satellite telephone that the Japanese ship rammed the Bob Barker—named after the U.S. game show host who donated millions to buy it—as it blocked the slipway of the Japanese fleet’s factory ship.

Japanese officials were not immediately available to comment on the incident, and Watson’s claim that the Bob Barker was deliberately hit could not be independently verified.

No video from the Japanese side has been posted to the internet yet, but it will probably appear on YouTube sometime in the next 24 hours, but here is a video from yesterday showing Sea Shepherd aiming a laser beam at the eyes of the Japanese crew:

Statements have been issued from the Japanese side denying that their ship intentionally rammed the Sea Shepherd vessel:

Institute spokesman Glenn Inwood says the impact was far from deliberate.

“Japan is doing a legal operation there. It has no need to ram anyone. This is all the work of the Sea Shepherd group.”

Mr Inwood says the Yushin Maru was trying to avoid acid bombs being lobbed by crew on the Bob Barker and in doing so, the vessel made a dramatic turn, clipping the Bob Barker. He also claims the protesters had been repeatedly firing a high-power green laser device at the Nisshin Maru crew.

Sea Shepherd admits to actively blocking the slipway of the Japanese whaling fleet’s factory ship when the collision occurred. It was trying to prevent slaughtered whales being loaded onto the vessel.

Meanwhile, in Europe, the Dutch parliament is considering a new law that could lead to the de-flagging of Sea Shepherd’s ships:

The amendment to the law on the nationality of ships would deprive Dutch-registered vessels of certificates of registry issued by the Dutch government “when harm is done to a ship, its crew or load or when it would be used in such a way that relations with other countries could be affected negatively,” according to the draft text of the legislation.

Should the Dutch government allow Sea Shepherd to use their flag?

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Japanese Hostess Union

James — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 23:18:29 +0000

The story of some Japanese hostesses forming a labor union was reported back in December by several English language news outlets, but they didn’t make video reports about it.

Australia’s ABC apparently noticed those old articles and dispatched a camera team to interview the hostesses in question. Here’s their report:

[hat tip to Rob]

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CoCo Ichibanya Curry House in Okinawa: Popular with the U.S. military

James — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 22:22:32 +0000

Curry House chain CoCo Ichibanya has hundreds of restaurants throughout Japan, but two of its top three most profitable restaurants are not located on the main islands of Japan. They are in Okinawa, and, as this news report shows, they are successful because of the patronage of Americans stationed at the military bases there:

The main focus of the news report is on a CoCo Ichibanya located right outside of the gate of Kadena Airbase. When the reporter checks inside the restaurant, she finds that almost every single customer is American.

It is noted that the Americans have eating habits that differ slightly from typical Japanese customers. They really like to order lots of toppings for their curry, as well as consume a lot of the tsukemono (it’s free). Although the monthly total of customers who eat there is less than at CoCo Ichi restaurants in Tokyo, the Americans order more per meal, making it the most profitable Coco Ichi restaurant in Japan. [It may also have something to do with the fact that they are exchanging dollars to yen at a rate of 1 dollar=80 yen. Ouch.]

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Aerial view of snow in Tokyo

James — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 22:20:02 +0000

It rarely snows in Tokyo, so when it does, it’s big news. Here’s a video from the Asahi Shimbun showing what the snow on February 2nd looked like from the sky:

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Cops stop Josh Sehrer

James — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 22:18:34 +0000

Remember that video clip of Josh Sehrer acting stupid in Shibuya? Here’s another one, apparently showing him being taken away by the police:

Given the absolutely terrible quality of the video, it’s hard to figure out what is going on. However, Josh provided some details via e-mail:

As you probably know I was just in Tokyo for 72 hours to get publicity, well more like 48 hours. Thursday night when I arrived I had a coat but no shirt underneath, my belly button/tattoo of Shibuya’s 109 building was the only thing showing not either of my nipples.

Fans had been filming when literally all of Shibuya’s police force apprehended me, and you’d think it’d be over yelling that I love the foreigner girls walking past but as you can see from the superimposed time the police showed up about 15 seconds after we walked back.

I was apprehended because my belly button was showing and because of it I lost nearly 24 hours of my trip, detained without food or water!

And it was caught on tape! Please share this, not to promote my friends music but to put an end to this abuse rarely caught on tape!

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Songs for women around 40-years-old

James — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 21:31:35 +0000

A commercial advertises an album for women “around 40″ who want to re-experience the days when they were young and wild:

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Japanese beverages supported by foreigners

kirin — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 21:31:18 +0000

What Japanese beverage do you like best?
Melon cream soda, CC lemon, Calpis, vegetable fruit juice, canned soup…and more?

Japanese beverages are very popular in Thailand, but they are of course arranged for Thai preferences.

Nowadays Gogo-no-koucha is selling well, but originally it was not common in Thailand to drink tea from a PET bottle. If they use the PET bottle same as what they do in Japan, the color of straight tea looks like “nam pla” and lemon tea looks like cooking oil, which doesn’t make Thai people feel like trying it. They learned that they had to change from bottle design to target Thai consumers. Tea is also very sweet compared with Japanese one, because Thai people like strong taste.

Ajinomoto is also a very popular Japanese company in Thailand. They do not sell beverages in Japan, but their canned coffee named “Birdy” is really successful among Thai consumers.

What Japanese beverages do you like or dislike?

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Contributor Bio: Kirin is a Japanese woman spending her life so far somewhere around Tokyo. She now works from home and is also spreading Japanese kawaii culture and etc. through her popular blog, Tokyo Kawaii,etc.
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Leona Lewis interview on Japanese TV

James — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 21:27:46 +0000

Another week, another “Mezamashi TV” interview with a foreign celebrity that involves the presentation of weird gifts:

Leona Lewis was singing the “Avatar” theme song before a gathering of Japanese fans, some of whom got very emotional. Mezamashi put one of the pretty girls who models trendy new products every morning The interviewer is a big fan of Leona and presents her with a card expressing her feelings (–we’ve seen what happens when announcers try to read such cards aloud–). Because Leona Lewis’ new album is named after a fairy, Fuji TV decides to present her with some little Ge Ge Ge No Kitaro figures, since yokai are pretty much the same thing, right? Having no clue what the characters are, she is nonetheless asked to pick her favorite.
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Using dolls to explain the Haiti earthquake

James — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 21:27:14 +0000

NHK’s kids news program explains the earthquake in Haiti, Japan’s somewhat slow response to it, and the legal barriers to sending an SDF peacekeeping force overseas:

Somebody went through a lot of effort making little dolls and cartoon cut-outs to make everything easier to display, and I must say it is visually impressive.

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Asashoryu announces his retirement

James — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 12:59:54 +0000

Mongolian-born sumo Grand Champion Asashoryu was set to be almost certainly banned from the sport of sumo this week, but it seems he has preempted the Japan Sumo Association’s formal decision by announcing his retirement:

“I will retire,” he told reporters. “So many things have happened. I have caused a lot of trouble but I have no regrets about my sumo.”

The alleged attack took place on 16 January in the middle of a major tournament which he went on to win.

Reports in the Japanese tabloids said the 150kg () wrestler, who had been drinking heavily until the early hours, left his victim with a broken nose, a split lip and heavy facial bruising.

During an occasionally tearful appearance before the media, Asashoryu recalled the pride he felt when he defeated the then grand champion, Musashimaru, during his parents’ first trip to Japan to see him compete.

“That was my best moment,” he said. “I’ve been under a lot of mental stress and right now I want to get some rest.”

According to some of the Jap-hating comments I’ve already had to delete today, I think it would be fair to say that quite a few Mongolian internet users are not happy about what has happened. It seems that even their government officials are saying this is all part of an anti-foreign conspiracy:

One high-ranking official said, “I believe the Japanese side basically made use of this ‘violent incident’ to get him to retire from sumo. I feel that they did not want him to break the record for most titles. This behavior is unjust. The Mongolian people disapprove.”

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Swan, Prominent Japan Vlogger, Passes On

Claytonian — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 07:53:25 +0000

I was a causal viewer of Roger Swan’s movie reviews, but my surprise at his sudden passing pales in comparison to the outpouring of shock and grief that I have seen around the YouTube community in the last week or so. To be honest, I don’t have the chops to eulogize him properly. I just didn’t know him well enough, which I regret. But here are some things I want to share with you.

There was a touching video made quite quickly by Tokyo Cooney. You can see that here. There were many other video tributes as well.

And there was a really powerful tribute by Kevin Allen at the blog Dogen, where Swan contributed articles. He says:

If you’ve ever seen the Truman show, then you may be able to understand Rodger’s existence, and its importance to everyone that knew him. He was that normal guy that was on video–all the time. He was that normal guy that everyone watched grow up. We saw him turn from a boy into a man. We saw him grow! And those of us who began watching, be it out of friendship or even a sympathetic curiosity, we all became hooked and hypnotized by Rodger’s complete lack of ego.

Please see the whole post here.

As I was a fan of the horror movie channel he put out, I offer his last video in that vein as a small tribute to a truly interesting vlogger’s memory.

I identified with Swan, as we both shared interests in Japanese novels, movies and culture. His death is a grim reminder of my own mortality, and I think the best thing I can do to honor him is to live my life to the fullest. For I’d like to think he died feeling quite content with all that he had done. Would that we all could heed such a lesson.

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Contributor Bio: Claytonian blogs and vlogs about Japan, language, and news at The Hopeless Romantic.
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Toyotathon of Death

James — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 04:31:23 +0000

A massive recall of Toyota vehicles with safety problems has damaged the company’s image, as you can see from this portion of Tuesday night’s Daily Show:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c

Toyotathon of Death

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Political Humor

Health Care Crisis

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American politician: Healthcare in Japan sucks

James — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 03:15:56 +0000

As part of her campaign against Obama’s healthcare policy, Republic representative Michele Bachmann has been bad-mouthing Japan’s healthcare system:

“In Japan…to wait in and get health care is almost impossible. You get on a list and you wait and you wait and you wait. But he said this is something people don’t know: in Japan, people have stopped voicing their opinion on health care. There are things that are wrong with Japanese health care, but people [aren't] voicing. ‘Well why is that,’ I asked. He said it’s ‘Because they know that would get on a list and they wouldn’t get health care. They wouldn’t get in. They wouldn’t get seen. And so people are afraid. They’re afraid to speak back to government. They’re afraid to say anything.’ Is that what we want for our future? That takes us to gangster government at that point! And absolute abject corruption.”

It’s all based, apparently, on what a former resident of Japan told her.

When it comes to organ transplants, Japan does have a big problem with a lack of donors, so those with money often end up traveling to other countries to pay such procedures. I have not, however, heard of anything about terrifying “lists” that people have to wait on before getting medical care. I’ve never had to undergo a major medical procedure here, but everyone I’ve talked to has been pretty satisfied with the level of healthcare over here.

Chris Matthews has responded to her trolling with ridicule, saying he can’t wait until Japan hears about it:

Do you think the healthcare system in Japan is terrible?

[hat tip to Eric]

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McDonald’s New York Burger

James — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 20:53:42 +0000

Coming tomorrow to McDonald’s restaurants across Japan, it’s the New York Burger:

The limited time run of the Texas Burger has come to an end. The New York Burger will be a quarter pounder topped with bacon, tomato, Monterey Jack cheese and mustard sauce on a special bun.

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Annoying Mr. Naruhodo advertises Mercedes-Benz in Japan

James — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 20:53:30 +0000

Mercedes-Benz has a new series of commercials starring a character named “Mr. Naruhodo” who repeatedly says the word “naruhodo” (“I see”) in a annoyingly stupid accent:

Is this the German equivalent of Mr. James?

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Activist allowed to return to China

James — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 20:53:02 +0000

After 92 days of living inside Narita Airport, human rights activist Feng Zhenghu has been told that he will be allowed to return to China:

Feng had already announced Sunday that he had decided to end his protest after meeting with officials from the Chinese Embassy last week. But it wasn’t clear until Tuesday whether China would allow him to re-enter the country – he had been denied entry eight times since June, prompting his protest.

“Chinese officials told me that they are giving me permission to go back to Shanghai,” Feng, 55, told reporters Tuesday at the airport terminal, where reporters were allowed in by security.

He said he planned to enter Japan on Wednesday before heading back to Shanghai for the Chinese New Year in mid-February.

Feng said Tuesday that he was certain that this attempt to return home would be successful.
“I won’t be rejected again. That would be impossible,” he said. “If that happens, it’s not my problem. It’s the Chinese government’s problem.”

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Setsubun in Space

James — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 03:38:53 +0000

Today is Setsubun. I hope you’re all driving away demons by throwing beans! Here’s a couple clips of Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi celebrated by scattering some beans on the International Space Station:

[hat tip to Pandabonium]

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Roots Music in Japan

fatblueman — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:31:04 +0000

Maybe it’s a sign that my youth is slipping away, but I noticed lately that the hip-hop and rock tracks on my iPod have much lower “play count” numbers than the more acoustic-leaning, folk and roots tunes. Performance-wise it’s the same – interest in playing quiet coffee-houses is winning out over rock gigs. Fair enough, time to embrace the change, I thought, and went looking for Japanese music in the same vein.

Roots music back home usually consists of bands influenced by bluegrass or Celtic sounds, and weirdly, that can even be found here. Witness the hottest salary-man band this side of Kentucky:

These guys are good, but I was looking for something that was more an expression of Japanese roots, rather than Western ones. Some friends suggested Okinawan-influenced rock, which they said is often referred to as Japanese roots music. I’d love to hear suggestions. One that I’ve found that I particularly like is Miwa Sasagawa. She’s not from Okinawa, but she has a rootsy sound that’s just what I am looking for. Actually, she sounds a little like Susan Aglukark, an Inuit singer from Canada.

Luckily for me and the band, we found a singer with similar tastes. And with her in the lead, we altered an Odani Misako song in the direction of a rootsy/folk sound. Odani is not a roots artist, but she is a good songwriter so her songs can be interpreted easily into other genres. Check it out:

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Contributor Bio: JJ, shockingly, teaches English, but would prefer to do other things (shockingly). So he writes songs or comedy or the occasional theological treatise. Sometimes he tries to combine all of them. This is most easily observed at www.youtube.com/fatblueman.
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Take me to your cheap sushi

James — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:28:14 +0000

A man is so surprised by the fact that Kappa Zushi is selling sushi at 90 yen a plate that he fails to notice a group of space aliens:

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Sakamoto Ryoma rescued by Daihatsu

James — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:26:32 +0000

Daihatsu wants you to know that its Tanto Exe is so spacious that Sakamoto Ryoma would have preferred it to the interior of the Teradaya Inn:

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Review and Preview: Lala Pipo

Claytonian — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 07:01:14 +0000

lala pipo

Lala Pipo was handed off to me a long time ago to read and review, but it took me a long time to get to it because the cover–one of Chip Kidd’s few failed designs in my opinion– presented the book in a way that looked like it was, well, not something I would want to ever read. But the cover image has nothing to do with the contents. It seems like I could reference some saying here. Uh… “Don’t judge a…” It will come to me later.

What Lala Pipo is about is a lot of people (that’s where the title comes from) who’s lives are tangentially linked by the sex and pornography trade in Japan. It is divided into separate stories that follow pitiable characters as they trade their dignity for money or pleasure. The first story, amusing though it was, had me wondering once again why I had bothered to pick up the book, but pretty soon the connections of the overall narrative and theme came into focus and I realized that I had a work of impish genius in my hands.

This is a black comedy. Black-black-lose-hope-in-Japan-at-times black. It is a satire of modern, rotting, money-driven and materialistic Japan, but it does what satire does best: makes you think and challenges your perspective. I hope Japanese people are giving the original Japanese version a read.

If you are interested in buying it, here is the Amazon America link, and here is the Amazon Japan one as well.

I noticed recently (and far too late) that there is a movie adaptation of the novel. It seems to have taken a slightly surreal take, but looks pretty promising. Find it embedded below. Here is the link for the DVD: Amazon.jp.

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Contributor Bio: Claytonian blogs and vlogs about Japan, language, and news at The Hopeless Romantic. He saves the creepy-covered books for last.
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Post 1945 section of joint Japan-China history project will not be made public

James — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 06:42:12 +0000

Japanese and Chinese scholars published the results of a three-year joint history project the other day, and the international media has put is focus on the disagreement over the death toll of the Nanking Massacre.

Here’s an excerpt from the AP article by Mari Yamaguchi:

The massacre was one of the worst incidents during Japan’s invasion of China in the first half of the 20th century, with Beijing claiming as many as 300,000 people died, but Tokyo saying the toll was far less.

The report was written by Japanese and Chinese historians appointed by the two governments. In it, Japanese scholars confirmed Japan’s Imperial Army “massacred” war prisoners, soldiers and citizens in the city of Nanking, now called Nanjing, in the December 1937 attack, and committed repeated rapes of women, arson and looting.

But the two sides failed to agree on the death toll.

The Japanese listed figures ranging from 20,000 to 200,000, citing differences on the definition of “massacre,” the area and the span of the event. China, which compiled data from records of domestic and international tribunals, put the death toll at more than 300,000.

Absent from the article is a real evaluation of the views of the Japanese historians. The average international reader will be left with the impression that the Japanese are once again trying to “whitewash” history.

It is disappointing that the AP article and other English language articles about this story don’t go into detail and note that credible historians who are not right-wing nationalists do have widely differing views of the death toll. Few outside China take the 300,000 figure seriously, unless one greatly increases the time frame and area of land involved to a point beyond what anyone would reasonably consider a single massacre in a single city.

Japanese media reports have mentioned the Nanjing disagreement but have also touched a rather interesting thing about the report. Although it was meant to involve post war history, it is completely missing anything about the period after 1945. The Associated Press didn’t think it was worth including in their article, but the AFP actually bothered to mention it:

The report did not disclose the outcome of discussions on post-World War II history at the request of the Chinese side.

Japanese media attributed the exclusion to China’s caution on sensitive events including the bloody military crackdown on pro-democracy protests at Tiananmen Square in 1989.

In other words, China is fine with joint-history projects as long as they don’t include any period of history in which the People’s Republic of China existed. Reflection on past wrongdoing is something only other nations should engage in. The Japanese side, wanting to better relations with China, seems to have meekly agreed with this view and will not to make the post-1945 section public.

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Apple iPad on Docomo?

steve — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 01:32:58 +0000

According to a Yomiuri article (Japanese), Docomo is considering to sell SIM cards for the Apple iPad, which will be sold “unlocked” by Apple. The iPad uses the smaller micro SIM card for 3G data connectivity and has no voice capabilities, so it is not a replacement for a cell phone.

The rest of the article includes a few interesting tidbits in line with rumors of Docomo offering SIM cards for unlocked cell phones.

The 3G model will be SIM-lock free, and if Docomo proceeds with its plan to sell SIM cards for the iPad, it would be the first major domestic telecommunications company to sell SIM cards that are not bundled with handsets. Docomo aims to tap into the telecom needs of iPad users, the sources said.

…

Meanwhile, Google Inc. plans to introduce the Nexus One cell phone in Japan in the near future. Its users will be able to freely switch carriers by inserting different SIM cards.

Therefore Docomo also is considering selling SIM cards that can be used in different cell phones.

However, T-Mobile in the US offers a subsidized and SIM-locked version of the Nexus One with a standard contract. It is possible the phone will be sold in a similar fashion in Japan.

The article also claims that the wifi-only version of the iPad is coming to Japan in March, with the 3G version to follow as early as June. Pricing for the iPad in Japan has not yet been announced by Apple, but the device will start at $499 in the US.

Do you plan to buy an iPad?

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Contributor Bio: Steve has been splitting time between the US and Japan for the past 10 years or so and is now a post doctorate fellow at a large, lumbering University in Tokyo, where he gets paid to play with dirt.

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Japanese commercial: get relief from seasonal allergies

James — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 20:57:36 +0000

A commercial for a product that claims it can block allergens from entering your nose:

Japanese people may not watch much American football, but they can still appreciate the sight of somebody getting owned.

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Do you believe in power spots?

kirin — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 20:50:11 +0000

There are several places in the world that are well known “power spots.” Above all, the one in Hawaii is very popular among Japanese women.

Especially since Japanese models and celebrities liked to go there, many people crazily visit power spots. They are just following the trend. It seems some people feel something on the spot. Some start crying for no reason. It looks weird, but I guess they are just too much stressed out of everyday life.

94 Japanese people that visited the power spot shown in the video in an hour or so of filming, but when it comes to American people it was only 3. This illustrates how passionate the Japanese are about power spots. No, I don’t think so, it’s just a fad. I guess these people will not be seen there this time next year or a few years from now.

Have you visited power spot? Did you feel anything? Does that change anything in your life?

Do you believe power spots actually have a special power to them?

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Protect yourself from static electricity

James — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 20:47:23 +0000

Highly annoyed by static electricity shocks from door knobs and other objects? Here are several products being sold in Japan that offer to protect you:

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Inject drugs into your baby doll

James — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 20:46:47 +0000

A baby doll for little Japanese kids who want to play doctor:

But it now, and you get a free cute surgical mask!
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Leonardo Dicaprio wants you to buy Japanese tires

James — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 20:56:23 +0000

Leonardo Dicaprio is starring in commercials for eco-friendly Bridgestone tires:

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Fun factoid: Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama is the grandson of the founder of Bridgestone Corporation. Hatoyama is currently in hot water over $13.8 million his mother, heiress to the Bridgestone fortune, donated to his political organization.

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Mr Bean in Tokyo

James — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 20:55:07 +0000

No, this headline is not about the comedy character. Apparently there is a chain of soy milk restaurants in Singapore called Mr Bean and they have just opened their first location in Japan. Here’s a clip from Japanese TV about it:

Japan’s first Mr Bean is located at Tokyu Shibuya Station in Tokyo. The company plans to open 3 stores in Japan this year.

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Michael Jackson’s “This Is It” breaks sales records in Japan

James — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 20:54:13 +0000

Variety reports on some record breaking sales in Japan:

DVDs and Blu-ray discs of the Michael Jackson documentary “This Is It” racked up $18 million in sales on the title’s first day of release in Japan — a new record, according to the Oricon rating service.

DVDs accounted for $11.3 million and Blu-ray discs $6.7 million on Jan. 26. This smashes the previous DVD opening-day record of $6.2 million held by the Hayao Miyazaki toon “Ponyo,” which was the bestselling DVD of 2009.

Apparently in an effort to make as much money as possible through disc sales, Sony is not letting stores rent it out. (How can they do that?)

As you can see from the commercial above, American TV commentator Dave Spector has been appearing in commercials promoting the documentary.

Also active in promotional activities has been Orianthi, the guitarist who plays on stage with Michael in the film. Below are two clips of her appearing on Japanese TV and giving guitar performances:

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World Investors Travel Cafe

James — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 20:53:58 +0000

The weather man for NTV’s “Real Time News” visits the WorldInvestors Travel Cafe in Roppongi:

The cafe is a place where important businessmen are supposed to meet and talk about important deals. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evening the cafe hosts live webcasts about business and financial news, with discussions by experts such as the Russian woman shown in the clip above.

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Smiling dog in Japan

James — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 01:29:10 +0000

Meet Chii, a shiba inu in Okayama prefecture that smiles whenever her master is nearby:

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The End of Asashoryu?

James — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 01:19:26 +0000

Mongolian-born sumo grand champion Asashoryu is in deep trouble after drunkenly assaulting a man in Tokyo:

The latest indiscretion by sumo’s perennial “bad boy” purportedly took place outside a nightclub in Tokyo’s Nishiazabu district in the early hours of Jan. 16 during the recent New Year Grand Sumo Tournament.

Asashoryu is alleged to have punched an unidentified man, who reportedly works at the nightclub where the wrestler was drinking, causing the man injuries that included a broken nose, lacerations of the lip and bruises to the back of the head, as reported in the Feb. 4 edition of the weekly magazine Shukan Shincho.

The JSA is set to determine what punishment, if any, Asashoryu will face after its board of directors election Feb. 1.

A few more details from ABC:

….the wrestler punched the man while leaving the club, then offered to talk things over in his car.

It then quoted the victim as telling Asashoryu that the incident was “water under the bridge”.

Asashoryu then reportedly told his driver to take them to a river, saying he would kill the man there.

The man only escaped after screaming out to police who were attending a nearby accident. He was left with a broken nose, a busted lip and bruises to the head.

Unlike the soccer-playing scandal of 2007, this is very serious business. It’s fine for sumo wrestlers to occasionally act like arrogant jerks, but assaulting and threatening to kill people is too much.

Polls, such as the one in the video below, show that the public expects Asashoryu to be banned from the sport:

The last known incident like this took place in 1987, when yokozuna Futahaguro allegedly assaulted the wife of his stablemaster. The JSA voted to accept his “resignation.” Many believe the JSA will follow this precedent and force an end to Asashoryu’s career.

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Should Asashoryu be banned from sumo?

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Fishermen care for stray pelican

James — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 00:44:52 +0000

A short news report about a pelican in Chiba prefecture that relies on the kindness of local fishermen for his survival:

Apparently the bird was a pet and never learned how to catch fish. When he was found abandoned in the area 15 years ago, local fishermen started to care for him. They have given the pelican the name “Can” (Peli-can), and they seem to enjoy feeding him fish.

Also in the clip: Some jerk abandoned a pet goose in the area just a few days before the report was filmed. Take care of your pets, people!

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Blue-skinned man Paul Karason visits Japan

James — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 23:24:33 +0000

It’s already been established that Paul Karason turned his skin blue by self-medicating himself with colloidal silver, but a Japanese network TBS flew him to Japan anyway because his condition supposedly needed examination by Japanese experts. Not wanting to turn down a free trip to Japan, Karason agreed to fly to Japan for the TV show:

Spoiler alert: A Japanese doctor examines Paul and finds out that his skin turned blue because of…..colloidal silver! Wow.

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Sunday Valentine’s Day makes Japanese chocolate companies frown

James — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 23:19:48 +0000

This year’s Valentine’s Day will fall on a Sunday. This is bad news for Japanese chocolate companies, because it means almost no women will be in their offices that day to give “giri choco” to their male co-workers:

According to a survey cited in the above news clip, 58% of respondents said they will not give anyone “giri choco” this year. Some stores are hoping to lure customers with fancy stuff like chocolate fondue sets, but it’s unlikely to make up for the loss of obligatory chocolates for co-workers.

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Japanese addresses: Weird, or just different?

James — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 07:11:17 +0000

Derek Silvers gives a TED talk about how there’s a flip side to everything:

[hat tip to Bradleyjx]

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Glasses crushed into pavement in Japan

James — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 05:48:56 +0000

Asahi TV’s “Nanikore” folks discover a street in Saitama prefecture where one can see the remains of a pair of glasses that were smashed into the pavement due to a road construction mishap:

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Cat goes on business trip

James — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 05:38:16 +0000

Are you a cat and need to go on a business trip? If so, you might want to use Jalan to book your hotel:

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Transfer to new server successful!

James — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 03:50:48 +0000

If you can see this post, it means JapanProbe’s transfer to a new host has been successful. Welcome!

[Note on the comments: The Intense Debate comment plugin is in the process of converting the old comments over to the new system. This may take some time.]

Akebono: “Don’t stop believing”

James — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 00:30:55 +0000

Retired sumo grand champion Akebono Taro has been starring in some fun musical promos for the Japan release of the Fox TV series “Glee“:

[hat tip to Mark B]

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Learn to wear a kimono for your foreign boyfriend

James — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:11:18 +0000

A new series of commercials for kimono wearing lessons features a Japanese woman with a foreign boyfriend (Chad Mullane).

In the first commercial, they are admiring a kimono and the boyfriend says he thinks it would be great if she wore it when they meet his parents (is that a proposal?). Unfortunately, she seems to have forgotten how to properly wear a kimono, so she quickly phones the school to get some lessons.

The second commercial has her getting ready to go to her kimono lesson and the boyfriend commenting on how she seems a lot more excited than when she gets ready to go out with him.

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

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A cat on a cat’s back

James — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:10:49 +0000

A cat in Japan with a cat-shaped spot on her back:

More photos can be found at this Japanese blog.

[link submitted by Japanjin via Twitter]

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Daiwaman X

James — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:01:45 +0000

Oh crap. Daiwa House has got some new Xevo houses, and the crazy director from their previous commercials thinks that Koji Yakusho should be playing the role of a new superhero, Daiwaman X:

Yakusho does not want to put on a ridiculous super hero costume. He suggests to the director that a younger actor, such as Toshiaki Karasawa, would probably be more appropriate for such a role.

To his surprise, Karasawa suddenly appears and happily volunteers to become Daiwaman X. The director thinks he’s perfect, and Yakusho is shocked and possibly even jealous.

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Battle of the Japanese deliverymen

James — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:02:04 +0000

A Japanese TV show picks a location in Shibuya that is of equal distance from three food delivery businesses [Domino's Pizza/ Shanghai Express/Hishizen Sushi] so it can test who can make and delivery meals at the quickest speed:

The results are as follows:

Hishizen Sushi – 19 minutes 55 seconds
Shanghai Express – 20 minutes 3 seconds
Domino’s Pizza – 20 minutes 14 seconds

The delivery times are so close that no chain gets bad PR out of the television appearance. At the very least, each place seems to have known exactly which order was to be filmed, so it might not be a good idea to take this as an example of typical speedy responses. [From my experience ordering from nearby pizza places, it usually takes about an hour in the evening.]

Do you think the results were rigged/staged?

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Josh Sehrer in Shibuya

James — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 20:51:16 +0000

If you liked Jimmy the Supa Gaijin, you’ll probably enjoy this video of Josh Sehrer [the Ghettocities Clothing guy] being interviewed on the streets of Shibuya (warning: contains graphic language):

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Fast fashion beats big name brands?

kirin — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 08:54:10 +0000

A three-piece set of outfit that looks like a fashion magazine costs only 3,890 yen at Don Quijote. It’s “Tokyo Cover Girl”, Don Quijote’s fast fashion brand. The secret of such cheap price is in Guangzhou, China. They study Japanese fashion magazine and manufacture similar designed clothes as well as custom designed clothes very promptly at a low cost.

GUCCI in Ginza fashion district is going to withdraw at the end of February 2010, and the place will be replaced by Forever 21’s second store in Japan. (At a moment, Forever21 has only one store in Harajuku.)

Other high fashion brands cannot stop opening their sister shops that offer low-price clothing one after another, because this is the trend today brought by foreign fast fashion brands. For example, FREE’S SHOP produces FREE’S MART and moussy produces AZUL by moussy. Don Quijote is not exceptional.

It will only take about 3 weeks for Don Quijote’s “Tokyo Cover Girl” to be available at stores. It has to be that fast and fresh.

I have to say it’s very natural we jump to fast fashion under such a bad economy, while I am worried about it that cheap things may be thrown away very easily. When we can get things at a very low cost we may forget the spirit that we have to cherish them.

If you are interested in the fashion, here’s a related post about it.

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