James's Feed Releases for March 2010

A commercial for NTT Data Group: They give companies the power to change (“kaeru” – which happens to be sound the same as the Japanese word for “frog”), hence the swimming CG frog. — Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe) Dannychoo.com –...

Nick Ramsay over at JapanSoc reports some very bad news for anyone with a PayPal account registered to a Japanese address: Thank you for being a valued PayPal user. We wish to inform you that effective 31 March 2010, you will not be able to send fund...

Every eaten dolphin meat in Japan? Greg Beck has: While I ate Flipper, I found out more. The Aussie who brought it said he loved the stuff, and always ate it raw with soy sauce. He bought it from Taiji, the very subject of the new film “The Cove”, w...

A few days ago, I posted about a Guam tourism commercial that is currently running on Japanese TV. Today, I’ll post about another part of America running tourism commercials, California: They star governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, a celebrity who mos...

Almost nobody celebrates or knows much about Easter in Japan, but Tokyo Disney is making a big deal out of their Easter attractions: — Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe) Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

Here is perhaps one of the most interesting Japanese news reports I’ve seen about the Taiji dolphin hunt and “The Cove.” Unlike some of the other clips I’ve posted on this blog, it spends a considerable amount of time focusing on the issue of mercur...

How Doggy Man dog food is produced: — Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe) Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

Slate has a very cool article up about the story behind the green exit signs used in many non-North American countries: Many other countries use some version of the ISO standard, a symbol developed the late 1970s by a Japanese designer named Yukio Ot...

This is quite possibly the best commercial I’ve seen this year (partially subtitled for your enjoyment): Aliens, awkwardness, and a blonde girl speaking Japanese with a terrible accent. This commercial has got it all! — Akihabara News – Gadgetry f...

Performing Chimpanzee Pan-kun will soon reach sexual maturity, so “Shimura Zoo” has been airing little clips of him going on “dates” with Poko, a female chimp at the same zoo who he will eventually “marry.” So far it is has mostly involved dressing...

Guam is running an advertising campaign on Japanese TV that includes a cute Ko’ko’ bird mascot and emphasis on the fact that it is only a 3-hour flight from Japan: — Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe) Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Ja...

A Japanese commercial for Intel has a couple talking about how their son wants a tuna because every other kid has one. The father decides to give his tuna to the son and buy a new tuna for himself: Intel wants customers to treat Intel computers lik...

A reporter visits Yokohama Hakkeijima Sea Paradise to check out their new haunted house, which offers customers two options – “scary” and “not scary.” Both are too scary for her: — Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe) Dannychoo.com –...

Chef Philippe Batton of Le Petit Tonneau is starring in a commercial for Asahi’s newest fruit chu hai drink: I doubt I’ll try the chu hai, but his restaurant (which I’d never heard of before this commercial) looks pretty nice. — Akihabara News – Ga...

I didn’t want to make a post about this story, but the fact that I keep seeing news headlines about it makes me feel it is something worth posting for discussion here: Tom Hanks, executive producer of HBO’s new miniseries about American Marines in t...

A video from the Sankei Shimbun shows the famous Dotonbori River Colonel Sanders statue back on display at a KFC: Twenty-five years after being tossed into a river by baseball fans celebrating a Hanshin Tigers victory, a Colonel Sanders statue was p...

For the past week, McDonald’s Japan has been selling special California Burgers: I think the spicy cheese and sauce made from California red wine supposedly give it a California taste. It will be sold until the 25th, after which point the Texas Burg...

Japan’s sushi industry has breathed a sigh of relief today, after an attempt by the UN to ban the bluefin tuna trade failed: Canada, Japan and several poorer nations opposed the measure, which was defeated by 68 votes to 20, saying the measure would...

At the golf course shown in this video clip, lions are visible from the green of the 9th hole: The golf course happens to lie immediately adjacent to Gunma Safari Park and it advertises this unique experience to golfers who also want to have a look...

On Saturday night’s episode of “Shimura Zoo,” genius chimpanzee Pan-kun learned how to feed fish to a penguin: — Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe) Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

Shibu Onsen, the town in Nagano that is world famous for its snow monkeys that bathe in natural hot springs, has a bit of a problem: It would seem that some of the monkeys have grown so used to humans that they no longer fear running into houses and...

Pingping, the 21-year-old man who was a mere 29 inches tall, has died: The Chinese-born man, who became a record-holder in March 2008, was taken to hospital in Rome for treatment but passed away on Saturday. It is understood he died of heart complica...

Charlie Angela of Al Jazeera files a highly misleading report about how a species of porpoise “may become endangered” because it is being hunted by fishermen in Iwate prefecture: If the reporter had bothered to go beyond the press release handed to...

Don’t worry about those ominous black ships in the harbor, Commodore Perry is chillin’ and relaxin’ inside this Daihatsu “black ship,” so he must like Japan: — Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe) Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (S...