Old readers may remember Adam’s original post on the film Sengoku Jieitai or my followup on the author.
I just found a torrent of it here on this site (2 files, no subtitles) and am in the middle of downloading it now. I hope it’s as good as it sounds.
Thanks to Comedy PC Diary:
House Foods to Transform Curry’s Seasoning with Development of No-Fat Stock Cubes
It has been almost 50 years since the birth of household curry stock in Japan. But now a new product has arrived that will likely transform the flavor of curry rice, which has become a staple of Japan’s dinner tables as “the people’s food.”
Its creator is House Foods (based in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo). They announced on Feb. 3 that they have developed curry base that can be packed into cubes without using fat. Since it reduces the amount of fat included in the total base, it will bring out the aroma of the spices and the seasonings of the buillon that were hidden in the fat, making it possible to cook low-calorie, delicious curry.
The new curry base using this technology will be released March 6 under the name “PRIME Curry.”
Due to the progression of an aging society, in 2007 the number of single-person households will overtake the number of married-with-children families. The retirement of the “baby-boom generation” will begin, and the number of married couples eating as a couple at home are expected to rise. Even curry rice, which was considered optimal for cooking when dining with a large number of people, will be required to be healthier and have a more robust flavor corresponding to the increasing needs of people eating in small groups.
House Foods developed this new technology to meet those needs. The new curry has 25-30% fewer calories than previous curry products.
When the company applies for a patent for the new technology, it will also open a new production facility at its Kanto factory in Sano City, Tochigi Prefecture at an investment of 2 billion yen. For the time being, the new curry will only be sold in Eastern Japan (Hokkaido, Tohoku, Kanto, and Shin’etsu regions) due to production limitations, but will debut nationwide next spring.
The “Prime Vermont Curry” and “Prime Jawa Curry” will both cost 300 yen before tax. House predicts annual sales of 3 billion yen.
Since I’m heading back home soon and still haven’t gotten final word about the job I’ve applied for in Japan I was looking around on craigslist for jobs in NYC when I ran across this entry, accidentally searching in the general listings instead of the job section.
Japanese Girls Be Careful of Japanese Language partners!
Reply to: see below
Date: 2006-02-03, 5:05PM ESTPlease be careful of some English language partners.
Some guys pretend to like Japan.
Maybe they want to hurt Japanese girl.My girlfriend came from Japan.
She had a bad experience with New York guys.When my male friend answer their ad, they did not want to meet him.
Please be careful.
Good Luck.
ZAKZAK informs me that it will soon be easier to follow my favorite politicians, like Taro Aso and Sumio Mabuchi (pictured above (left) with Terry Itoh):
(Paraphrased)
Easily Search Diet Member’s Activities… Yahoo! Opens Politics Site
Yahoo! Japan will start “Yahoo! Everyone’s Politics,” a political information site where one can easily search politicians’ actions and proposals submitted to the Diet, from Feb. 22. It will also be possible to read comments written by Diet members and political parties.
Users can search for politicians by name, party affiliation, and election district. In addition to bios and daily political activities penned by the Diet members themselves, they have also instituted a function to monitor members’ voting records.
Yahoo! has been explaining the contents of the service to political parties and Diet members since around the summer of 2005. Some said that inputting all that data would be cumbersome, but there were many who responded positively to the service as an opportunity to directly connect with their constituents. As of now, approx. 200 of the 720 Diet members in both houses have written entries, and that number is expected to grow.
The site will not contain ads from normal companies but will instead display ads related to the political parties and elections. The site can be accessed from the Yahoo! portal, and the company expects approximately 2 million hits per month. Yahoo! users are often in their 20s and 30s, and Yahoo! has commented that they would like this to promote understanding of politics and lead to an increase in voter turnout.
ZAKZAK 2006/02/06
But owning a monkey isn’t inherently political.
Link.
I think what he’s trying to say is that the second ammendment protects my right to bear deadly robotic monkey arms.
Apparently last month Tokyo hosted the Eco-products 2005 trade show.
I’m sure they had a lot of interesting exhibits
but what really stands out for me is their mascot.
September 27, 1945
November 16, 2005
A few quick thoughts I had while reading the following in the Japan Times:
In a document submitted to the Diet on Nov. 18 upon formal Cabinet approval, the government had pledged to send officials to check U.S. meet processors prior to resuming beef imports in December.
Without notifying the Diet, however, the government postponed the dispatch of officials to the United States, claiming it was found that inspections before imports were resumed would be impractical.
Nakagawa has been under fire from opposition parties for changing the dispatch plan without informing the Diet.
Now, I don’t often side with the GOJ on the beef issue. And I don’t know the details of what actually happened leading up to the government’s decision to postpone the dispatch of inspectors. However, it seems that Nakagawa might have been in an even worse pinch had inspectors been sent prior to the discovery of spinal matter in imported beef last month.
Sending inspectors to U.S. meat-processing facilities would have amounted to nothing more than a symbolic gesture at best. It would have been a signal to the Japanese public that the government is taking this problem seriously. But let’s face it – a few Japanese inspectors would not have prevented the gross negligence on the part of the United States that resulted in the re-imposition of the beef ban.
Their presence would, however, have distributed some of that negligence towards the Japanese government. Opposition parties, always eager to sink their teeth into LDP hide, would have then dismissed the government’s inspection measures as ineffective.
In hindsight, one has to ask which is worse for the government: having hidden the decision to delay sending the inspectors and having some spinal material show up in an imported veal shipment, or having sent the inspectors only to have the effort proven completely unsuccessful?
[This post originally appeared on my no longer active Laughing Monkey site on March 12, 2005.]
Recent developments in the ongoing takeover battle between internet upstart Livedoor and old guard Fuji Television for control of Japan Broadcasting are making things interesting for Japan watchers.
Yesterday came the unexpected news that the Tokyo District court had ruled in favor of Livedoor, ordering NBS to halt its intended direct issuance of new shares to Fuji in an effort to dilute Livedoor’s holdings. Yahoo! Asia News ran this rather optimistic analysis of the ruling, describing the court’s decision as, “turning the clock forward on Japan’s capital markets.
Experts say the closely watched decision goes in line with Japan’s goal of easing regulations on the financial sector to gain a global competitive edge, easing worries that foreign investors otherwise might have shied away from making further investments in the country.
But if foreign investors were reassured by this positive news, then surely they were equally disaopointed by reports from sources inside the the ruling Liberal Democratic Party that the government was moving towards further restrictions on the activities of foreign companies.
An LDP panel on legal affairs decided at its meeting Friday to ask the Justice Ministry to change the bills regarding restrictions on M&As by foreign firms to postpone theimplementation of the step to 2007 from the originally planned 2006, the sources said.
The planned bill on M&As by foreign firms also include measures against hostile takeover bids, such as the so-called poison pill, designed to discourage bidders by increasing the takeover costs usually through the issuance of equity warrants.
So while Livedoor appears to have scored at least a temporary legal victory in its efforts to get at Fuji Television through control over its largest shareholder NBS, the successful passage of such a bill by the Diet would ensure that there will be no such future victories.
Why? Consider this observation from Youichi Yanai, chief fund manager at Tokyo Mitsubishi:
Permitting the use of `poison pill’ tactics would leave investors highly skeptical about the overall Japanese market and the very meaning of having a fair and functional capital market…
So much for easing the worries of foreign investors.
And, if these mixed messages weren’t confusing enough, today came reports that Fuji Television may be reconsidering its tactics and might seek out some sort of cooperative partnership with Livedoor.
Fuji Television Network Inc. Chairman Hisashi Hieda said past midnight Friday that his company may form a business tie-up with Livedoor Co., voicing the possibility for the first time in the monthlong battle with the Internet company over control of NipponBroadcasting System Inc.
Hieda has previously categorically rejected a tie-up offer from Livedoor and the about-face was apparently triggered by a court ruling earlier Friday in favor of Livedoor over the acquisition battle.
“If there are some merits, we can consider forming a business alliance with Livedoor,” Hieda told reporters following the decision by the Tokyo District Court to bar Nippon Broadcasting from selling massive equity warrants to his company in a bid to thwart Livedoor’s hostile takeover bid.
So, should these developments to be taken as a positive sign that Japan is finally changing, or might it merely be once again creating false hopes? I’m not holding my breath, but this is one case where I would happily admit to being wrong.
Still, the type of drama currently unfolding in the court system has all been seen before. In a worst case scenario, this may be turn out to be a repeat of the fight late last year between megabanks Mitsui Sumitomo and Tokyo Mitsubishi over a merger deal with ailing rival UFJ. Although Mitsui Sumitomo appeared to be gaining ground early on with its victory at the district court level, the Supreme Court later overturned the lower court’s ruling, effectivly giving Tokyo Mitsubishi the green light to proceed with the merger, much to Mitsui Sumitomo’s chagrin. If NBS appeals yesterday’s ruling, as appears likely, there is a good chance that the Supreme Court will rule in its favor.
In the past, there have simply been too many examples of outsiders, both Japanese and foreign making progress and then having the door shut in their faces by defenders of the good old days.
I have been busy, but apparently Goro-san has been writing a LOT. So I am only going to go after the parts where he talks about the relationship between him and his father. Here we go:
Yesterday I saw a pre-screening of Mamoru Oshii’s latest, “Biographical Vignettes of Dr. Tachigui” at the Ghibli screening room. But before I give my thoughts on that, I’ll tell you an anecdote.
20 years ago, when I was still a high school student, I met Director Mamoru Oshii.
The place was at my grandfather’s cottage in Shinshu (more of a mountain shack than a cottage).
The time was the middle of summer, I remember.
At the time, Oshii-san, in his mid-30s, was the very picture of a rosy-cheeked beautiful (?) youth, and his white running shirt made an impression on me.While we were at the cottage, Oshii-san and my father would argue for hours on end over their theories of animation.
The previous year or so, Director Hayao Miyazaki’s “Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind” and Director Mamoru Oshii’s “Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer” were released.
At the time, I preferred Urusei Yatsura 2, and learned later that my opinion had been communicated to Oshii-san.Anyway, back to what I was talking about.
Maybe because he remembers that, Oshii-san apparently has a unilateral fondness for me, and really wanted me to see “Biographical Vignettes of Dr. Tachigui.”
I wish all the success in the world for Oshii-san.
So my thoughts, briefly:
Once more, on the same theme, I’d like you to make an effort toward entertainment that puts service first.
That is all.
