Sep 22, 2008
I see this limousine parked outside our place quite often. Actually there are a lot of cars like this parked along our street, black cars used by the presidents of various companies in this little city. It is quite amusing to see them all in a row – lexus’ and bentleys and the like – and to think that there are car parks just around the back of the one star Michelin restaurant they love to frequent.
I mean if you can afford a bentley, you should be able to afford parking for it!
It isn’t very good for the environment as they leave their drivers sitting in their cars as they wine the nights away, leaving the air conditioning on for all that time. Of course I imagine people like that don’t care too much for the world they live in.
Sep 21, 2008
Saw this truck stopped at the lights outside our place and thought it was worth a quick snap. We see these trucks quite often, driving around advertising Japanese pop music stars. They play samples of the music for the masses to enjoy. I wonder how much it actually helps their sales.
Still the music is slightly better than that played by the Japanese nationalists / fascists in their sound trucks.
Sep 16, 2008
We just got a TV with a working aerial plug (long story) and tonight I had the pleasure of listening to the NHK 9pm news in English. Bad news about Lehmann Brothers of course but the thing that really struck me was the English of the people doing the translations.
Why are they so terrible? Having lived in China – which by its’ own admission is a developing country – and heard CCTV and comparing their professionalism to that of NHK got me wondering. Some of the NHK translators would give Benny Hill a run for his money in terms of eloquence.
Why is that?
Jun 9, 2008
Upstairs for thinking has a post linking to the Japan Land and Transport Ministry’s “Japan Tourism Policy” website which makes for an interesting read, answering such puzzling questions as:
Q: Is all the Japanese land urbanized like Tokyo? Is there no natural landscape left anywhere in Japan?
Q: Please tell me where Japan is located. Can I go from Tokyo to Hong Kong by Shinkansen bullet train?
or my personal favourite,
Q: Are there samurai in today’s Japan?
The answers to those questions and more can be found here. Is it just me, or are they taking the piss? Of course there are samurai. Here is a picture of one taken in Nagoya:
(credit: Rumpleteaser 
)
And you have to be very careful and stop and bow when they pass by or they will chop your head off. Actually I was late for work yesterday because this happened!
Some other interesting posts about Japan around the net recently include: Things About America I Didn’t Know While I Lived There from Life Nomadic’s blog. They have been doing a bit of travelling recently and one their travels came to Japan. Their post compares life in Japan, the United States and Panama and makes for a good read. You can check it out here. And, Hacking Japan: Inside Tokyo for Less than New York from Tim Ferriss, author of the 4-Hour Work Week reminisces about his time in Japan. His unusual top four is a good little list of places to visit in Japan (although listing Akihabara is perhaps not the most timely):
The Most Unusual Top 4
Ghibli Museum: This is the real-life Alice in Wonderland. The most incredible museum I have ever visited, hidden in a park and designed by animation powerhouse Ghibli Studios, this gem is a home run. Get tickets at a Lawson convenience store well in advance.
Tsukiji Fish Market: Get up EARLY (around 5am) and see the largest fish market in the world. A single tuna for $40,000 USD? That’s low-end. Wrap up eating the best sushi in the world for breakfast in the outer market. Unforgettable.
Takeshita Doori: The kids and fashion here must be seen to be believed. Indescribable, especially sitting right next one of the most beautiful shrines in Tokyo. Red contacts and outfits that make Marilyn Manson look like Pokemon? Prepare to be amused.
Akihabara: From “maid cafes” (you can sit in a mock living room and have maids at your beck-and-call for food, newspaper, coffee, etc.) to electronics years ahead of the US, this “computer city” is the mecca of geekdom. Otaku central. Moe moe kyuuuuu!
You can check out his post here – along with a beautiful photo from Kyushu!
Finally I found a new blog about Japan that has a nice magazine style layout: check out the sevententotokyo.com blog!
Jun 6, 2008
This sign says “Here is not a toilet! Bad!”
If you relieve yourself here a giant hand will appear out of the sky and poke you in the back. This is a new variation of the time-honoured Japanese art of kancho (here is a Korean flash game you can play if you want to practice (NSFW)). Amazing really the technology advances available to the powers that be in Japan.
I remember when we were driving in Akita, one snowy wintry day, when an old man in a little truck stopped in the middle of the road, got out and began to draw in the snow. The traffic backed up quite a way (Japanese roads are narrower than a narrow thing so no-one had the, uh, balls to pass), but he was oblivious to it all. Nonchalantly he wandered back to his truck and drove off. It was less shocking than seeing a taxi driver in Kyoto masturbating at the taxi stand while waiting for customers, but still it was a little surprising.
Jun 1, 2008
Some great photos of maki-sushi from toxel.com. Yummy!
Rolling sushi so that the ingredients make a pretty picture is quite an art form. You can see more pictures of scrummy sushi here.
May 23, 2008
I don’t know who the artist is (anyone?) but I found this amazing Japanese manga strip whilst browsing over at reddit. Not safe for work, and a little sick / gross at the same time, but if you are offended by such things I don’t really have much time for you. Back to your little hutch.
The thing that I really appreciated about this strip is its’ use of perspective. Never seen nought like that before. Very, very clever….
Apr 30, 2008
# Title: Tokyo Underwold: The Fast Times and Hard Life of an American Gangster in Japan
# Author: Robert Whiting
# Publisher: Vintage (September 26, 2000)
# Language: English
# ISBN-10: 0375724893
# ISBN-13: 978-0375724893
No, Tokyo Underwold isn’t an announcment for yet another visit by British electroheads Underwold tour to Japan to play yet another version of Hello Slippy to all their Japanese fans, rather it is a fascinating look at the seedier side of Japanese life and business.
In 1945 when the Allied forces began their occupation following the surrender of Japan, the country was in a right and utter mess. This left the field wide open to all sorts of dodgy entrepreneurs to set up shop. Tokyo was in ruins after heavy bombing by the allies, and food supplies were very short. The black markets which sprung up within days of the surrender being announced served in many ways to keep the population of Tokyo alive during those very difficult times. Tokyo Underworld starts from this point, and develops by recounting the mindboggling corruption and nefarious goings on in the post war period, including tales of both Japanse gangsters as well as the GI’s of the occupying force who stood to make a great deal of money at this time.
Two characters from Tokyo’s colourful past stood out in particular. First was Rikidozan, a former sumo wrestler who was almost at the top of the sumo ladder when the end of the war brought the sport to a crashing holt. He became a professional wrestler and for many Japanese an icon of the rebuilding as he fought and won against many much larger and stronger American opponents. Little did the populus know, or want to know, that both these fights were fixed, and also of his Korean parentage. Such are the machinations of a defeated nation.
The other character who provides much of the backbone of Robert Whiting’s well-written book, was an American from New York’s Italian East Harlem, Nick Zappeti. An amazing character who was once known as “the King of Roppongi and the Mafia Boss of Harlem” he seems almost to have stepped out of a Martin Scorsese film. Involved heavily in black market trading during the occupation, and then later moving out into more legitimate business Zappeti’s risa and fall, mirrored in an oblique way much of what has befallen Japan in the post-war era.
I particularly enjoyed reading this book and learning a lot about what went on back then, as well as picking a great deal of information about our local areas history. That this is non-fiction, and not fiction, makes it all the more worth reading.
Apr 27, 2008
Well spring is sprung, the rat is out of the hat, and no amount of platitudes could really fail to convince you that you need:
a freakdance records t-shirt
They only have a 100 of these, so get in quick.
Here is what they have to say about all this it glows in the dark goodness:
NEW FREAKDANCE RECORDS SKULL CRACKER T-SHIRTS ARE HERE!
The good-ole Freakdance skull logo has been revamped, reborn and brutally sodomized by label hustler Jere Häkkinen (Luomuhappo) – he has handpainted & re-sketched our company logo by hand and transformed it into a brand new level of fartistical approach!
These brand new Freakdance Records (TM)(C)(R) skull-cracker t-shirts are now internationally available from our webshop in colours such as … well, as Glenn Danzig would put it: “Black, black, The black is back, I am the blackest of the black of time!” – But don’t you worry, in the midst of all this blackness, the beautiful white print on these babies does not only glow in UV light alone, but THESE SHIRTS GLOW IN THE DARK AS WELL! Now how cool is that, you can spook out your acidhead friends in dark rave caves?? HUH ??
Take a look at the shirt here: http://www.freakdancerecords.net/images/fdpaita2_large.jpg
The price is 15 euros a piece and the total print has been limited to 100 copies, so get yours before they disappear from the face of the earth. The shirts are only available for men for the time being, but we will get some models for the ladies very soon! Be patient, o’ titted ones! <3
For our Finnish customers / HUOMIO SUOMALAASET PEOPLE!!!: order two CD’s, get the shirt for 10 euros. It doesn’t get any cheaper than that, and if any of you hippie bums still have the nerve to complain about the prices, we’ll hit you in the face with a hammer. Offer valid inside Finland only, sorry.
Our international web shop is at http://www.freakdancerecords.net -> mailorder
If you don’t want one, you can always order one for me for my birthday. It is only 6 months away you know!
