James's Feed Releases for July 2010

Asahi TV reporters Sahel Rosa and Alain visit an antique photo studio in Karuizawa and try on some costumes: — Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe) dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

It looks like Softbank is planning to bring social games like Farmville to Japan: Zynga, the online gaming company best known for its Farmville Facebook game, has received a US$150 million investment from Japanese Internet company Softbank. The two c...

This 4-year-old kid riding a bullet train to deliver work clothes to his father’s restaurant is probably the most impressive performance I’ve seen on the TV program “Hajimete no Otsukai” (First Errand): Although the kid believes he is making a solo...

A video clip of a Spiny Softshell Turtle that was captured recently in Nagoya: The species in not native to Japan, so it probably found its way into a Japanese pond after being dumped their by an irresponsible pet owner. There have been other sight...

Japan has an ever-worsening shortage of nurses on its hands, and a new article in the Washington Post states that strict Japanese rules regarding the immigration of foreign nurses “may threaten Japan’s future.” The article focuses on the difficultie...

This 68-year-old man is a former karate champion who decided to give up normal life 16 years ago and become a hermit. Here is a TV show visiting his dojo in the hills of Aichi prefecture, where he practices martial arts: As you can see, he is a ver...

NTV’s “Fukashigi Tanteidan“　features short performances using the world’s smallest piano and the world’s smallest drum kit, followed by a jam session using both: — Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe) dannychoo.com – Your portal to Jap...

A new site has been launched that combines Google Earth satellite images with information about the atomic bombing of Nagasaki: The site, dubbed “Nagasaki Archive” (http://nagasaki.mapping.jp/), shows photographic portraits of A-bomb survivors and t...

Kuonji temple in Yamanashi prefecture has a bell so large that it requires monks to use a special full-body technique to produce the necessary power to create a proper ringing sound: When enough power is used, the bell’s ringing can apparently be he...

“Shimura Zoo” puts some adorable tiger cubs together with a baby Japanese macaque and discover that they will play together: When other TV shows have tried similar experiments with other species of animals, it has resulted in pretty messed-up situat...

72-year-old Japanese announcer/actor Shiro Suzuki has a hobby that is unusual for his age group. He likes to play video games. He loves the Resident Evil (Biohazard) series of games, and is quite proud of his mad gaming skillz. Here is he getting a...

The media has been excited the last few days about the rare blooming of a titan arum (the world’s largest flower) at a garden in Tokyo. Here are a few videos of the flower: At the Koishikawa Botanical Gardens — managed by the University of Tokyo...

A news report from Asahi TV about the dangers of improperly using mobility scooters: In the past five years there have been 67 reported cases of mobility scooter accidents, 20 of which proved to be fatal. An investigation concluded that 76% of the...

My head hurts after reading this Mainichi article. Apparently a foreign English teacher is being attacked for using Hangman to help students learn English at a junior high school where a student committed suicide by hanging in 2008. Apparently some...

Apparently Kaela Kimura wasn’t available to film this commercial for Xylish gum, so they used foreign woman who speaks Japanese with a terrible accent as a substitute: — Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe) dannychoo.com – Your portal t...

According to ZakZak and this very popular YouTube video, Rina Nakanishi, a 22-year-old former member of the music group AKB48, has started a new career as adult film actress Rico Yamaguchi: With the AKB48 model consisting of a few very idols at the...

Kim Hyun-hee, a former North Korean agent responsible for the bombing of Korean Air flight 858, is visiting Japan right now. Under normal circumstances, a former terrorist who once used a fake Japanese passport would not be allowed to enter this cou...

The 1:1 scale Gundam mobile suit at Highashi-Suzuoka station will be officially opening for public viewing on July 24th　(to mark the start of the Shizuoka Hobby Fair). Here are some videos of it that were filmed in the last couple days, showing tha...

Masahiro Nakai of SMAP shows off his English proficiency in this commercial for anti-hangover drink Ukon no Chikara: — Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe) dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

Japanese musician Minmi is living in New York now, and as this news video shows, she is preparing to give birth to a baby while readying herself for a possible attempt to break into the American music market: Shown in the video is a performance she...

Fuji TV news reports on how Shinjiro Koizumi, son of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, contributed to the Liberal Democratic Party’s impressive showing in Sunday’s Upper House election: Less than a year has passed since Shinjiro won his first...

As many other DPJ candidates failed miserably on Sunday, Government revitalization minister Renho won with 1.71 million constituency votes, being the only candidate to top 1 million votes and setting a new record for votes in Tokyo. Here’s a clip fr...

Several of the most viewed videos on YouTube Japan today are clips from Asahi TV’s election night coverage. Among them is a clip of journalist Akira Ikegami talking about the links between the Komeito party and the Soka Gakkai religious sect: One o...

An NTV program explains the difference between Japanese toilet paper and Chinese toilet paper: As you can see, the Japanese toilet paper dissolves rather quickly when stirred in water, making it far less likely to clog a any pipes when flushed. Thi...