Marijuana farm inside Japanese apartmentJapanese police raid an apartment being used to grow marijuana:
Mr. Park, the man who was caught inside the apartment with 78 plants, was arrested. He insisted that the plants were not being grown for business purposes.
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Animal Planet to launch Dolphin Wars TV seriesPrepare to see Ric O’Barry and other animal rights activists harass and annoy the residents of Taiji, Japan in their own TV series:
A new television series about the controversial dolphin trade in Japan, tentatively titled “Dolphin Warriors,” has bee...
Taiji disappointed to hear that “The Cove” won an OscarThe Academy Award results are in, and it appears that award for best documentary went to The Cove, a film about American animal rights activists fighting against the Taiji dolphin hunt.
Fuji TV went to the small town of Taiji to see how locals would...
Shaun White in JapanAmerican snowboarder Shaun White, who won a gold medal for his halfpipe performance at the Vancouver Olympics is visiting Japan right now. He was interviewed by Fuji TV and TBS:
Shaun has been to this country some 30 times and DVD’s of his snowboa...
Cola Shock – alcohol + colaAs far as I know, Kirin is not selling its alcoholic “Cola Shock” drink outside of Japan. However, it’s newest commercial shows Meisa Kuroki working as a waitress at a restaurant in some English-speaking country where everyone wants to drink Cola Sh...
Shinjuku CheerleaderHas anyone seen this woman dancing around outside Shinjuku station in Tokyo?
Her name is Aya Sato and she is 33-years-old. She says she once tried to work like a salaryman, but had to quit her job. Now she apparently spends most mornings dancing o...
Sushi PizzaIf you’re familiar with Thomas Friedman’s work, you may have come across his idea of pizza serving as an instrument for sharing cultures:
I take some succor from the fact that the most popular food in the world today is not the Big Mac, but pizza. An...
Cosplaying ChimpanzeeA romantic music video of Ken Shimura and chimpanzee performer Pan-kun from last night’s episode of “Shimura Zoo”:
And a look back at some of Pan-kun’s silliest costume moments:
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Japanese women getting thinner as American women become fatterBlaine Harden of the Washington Post reports on how the average weight of Japanese women has been declining:
“I am quite fat, actually,” said Michie Takagi, a 70-year-old grandmother and retired clothing store executive. She has a body mass index (BM...
Sakamoto Ryoma LattéA cafe in Kochi city that sells a Sakamoto Ryoma Latté:
It costs 860 yen for the special drink. Read more about it in Japanese at this site. You can find a map to the cafe here.
Also spotted recently in Japan: Sakamoto Ryoma ramen chips.
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Akihab...
Dog Washing MachineAnanova reports on a washing machine for dogs in Japan:
More and more people are making use of machines such as one installed at a pet supermarket called Joyful Honda in the suburbs of Tokyo.
It washes and blow dries dogs and cats* for the equivalent...
Richard Armitage on Japanese TVFormer Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage talks to a Japanese TV program about the U.S.-Japan alliance and the issues surrounding the relocation of the US Marine air station at Futenma:
Armitage is introduced as an important member of the Re...
2-channelers respond to Korean cyber attacks by donating money to Chile earthqua...“Patriotic” South Korean netizens are apparently continuing their cyber attacks on 2-channel, Japan’s most popular web forum site. The initial 2-channel response to the attacks was a cyber attack on the website of the ultranationalist group VANK, wi...
Aflac duck and cat at a Japanese weddingThe latest in Aflac’s series of Japanese commercials that have its famous duck dance with a cat:
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Fire Hose + Toilet = Super WashletA special episode of “Toribia no Izumi” aired on Japanese TV saturday night, performing several awesomely weird experiments.
A viewer submitted a letter wanting to know how much blasting power a toilet washlet spray would have if replaced by a fire h...
Onimusha PachinkoA commercial for a new Onimusha pachinko machine:
Pachinko commercials, like the exterior of pachinko parlors, tend to look pretty cool. Unfortunately, the product they advertise is an incredibly boring waste of money.
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Gourmet burger restaurants in TokyoWhat is your favorite burger restaurant?
If you’ve never tried any private one unlike McDonald’s, Mos, Lotteria, First Kitchen, or the ones that you can find anywhere else, here are examples of yummy burger restaurants in Tokyo that are strictly sele...
The Daily Yomiuri may soon disappear?Our Man in Abiko shares some dirt on the fate of the Yomiuri’s English language paper:
1. The boss has been told to trim staff by 25%
2. The paper will be going to one edition in April from the current four.
3. About 10 Yomiuri staff will be shifted...
Japanese cram schoolsA juku chain makes weird and amusing commercials in an attempt to trick children into thinking that cramming for entrance exams can be fun:
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Spotted dog is not a dalmatian“Pochi Tama” introduces Anko, a French bulldog in Japan that has dalmatian-like spots:
When Anko was a puppy, she was mostly white. As she got older, she gradually came to look like she does today.
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Build your own Japanese aircraft carrierBuilding a model Zero is pretty cool, but some might prefer creating a model of an aircraft carrier instead:
Like the Zero, this is a DeAgostini model set released in weekly sets, each costing about 1,390 yen. Once one obtains and completes the ins...
Foreigners shop at SeiyuA commercial for Seiyu (Japanese Walmart) reminds you that it sells cheap stuff for your house, like curtains to give yourself some privacy:
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Highball in an aluminum canNothing says canned highball like singing sailors:
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Massage your face with a plastic bottleThe key to looking young, dear readers, is to take a plastic bottle and mash it against your face for several minutes each day. Just follow the simple steps in this clip from “Professor Ochanomizu”:
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See The Tokyo Marathon Live From a Foreigner’s ForeheadLast year, Joseph Tame made history by recording and broadcasting the 10k of the Tokyo Marathon live via his iphone. This Sunday, he’s looking to repeat the spectacle in a more spectacular fashion to get more spectators watching by running 42 kilomet...
Mao Asada as a Hina dollA company in Tokyo that creates Hinamatsuri dolls has created a special doll modeled after figure skater Mao Asada:
The doll is meant to show their support of Asada in her pursuit of an Olympic gold medal. As the media seems to have noticed it, it...
Kirsten Dunst cosplay music videoLast year, we reported about a sighting of Kirsten Dunst walking through the streets of Tokyo in a weird costume. Here is the music video that she was making [via CNN Go, which warns us about NSFW anime images in the video]:
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Rooftop urinals in JapanA line of urinals on a rooftop in Musashino, Tokyo offer a rather nice view of Mount Fuji:
But don’t worry. Nobody is peeing on the roof. It’s actually part of a facility that trains building maintenance workers. Those urinals are just for repair...
Sakamoto Ryoma made out of moneyAn image of Sakamoto Ryoma made out of shredded Japanese currency:
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Should the Japanese government subsidize North Korean schools?Hiroshi Nakai （Chairman of the National Commission on Public Safety/Minister of State for Disaster Management/Minister of State for the Abduction Issue） is trying to make it so the Hatoyama administration’s plan to subsidize high school tuition wil...
Flying SushiOn a back street just one minute away from JR Shimbashi station, you can find a place run by an 80-year-old man who likes to throw his sushi in the air:
A test at another location reveals that he has the ability to throw it nearly 4 meters into the...
Backstreet Boys Fans in Japan“Mezamashi TV” entertainment reporter Shinichi Karube goes to a Backstreet Boys Concert at the Saitama Super Arena to find out more about Japanese BSB fans:
Since they first visited Japan 10 years ago, the Backstreet Boys have enjoyed a large number...
Somebody else bought that using my iTunes accountFuji TV recently filed this sensational news report about a handful of people who have filed complaints because somebody else apparently used their iTunes accounts to make unauthorized purchases:
Apple has said that no hacking took place on its end,...
Ice Cream TowerA Japanese reporter eats a ridiculously large ice cream sundae:
It is called the “World Tower,” weighs in at 3 kilograms, is one meter tall, and costs 4935 yen.
If you are visitin Nagasaki and want to check it out, you can find details here (in Ja...
Finless porpoise swims up river in NagoyaA finless porpoise seems to have lost its way and wandered up a river in Nagoya:
Officials from Nagoya Port aquarium arrived at the scene after being contacted by police and captured the porpoise shortly after 12:15 p.m. The porpoise was taken to th...
Brown Eyebrow Dog“Nanikore” discovers yet another dog in Japan with eyebrows:
This time it’s Melon, a boxer that lives in Kanagawa prefecture. Since she was born, she has had markings on her head that look like thick brown eyebrows and a little black mustache.
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