Author: Adamu

Adam Richards “can knock people out”

I start my new career on February 19, so watch your ass:

PRIZE FIGHT PROMOTIONS PRESENTS THE RETURN OF ADAM RICHARDS HEAVYWEIGHT PROSPECT BACK IN ACTION ON FEBRUARY 19

It goes without saying that in 2005, boxing needs some new blood to rejuvenate the heavyweight division. Prize Fight Promotions believes it has just the fighter to do the job, and is pleased to present the triumphant return of up and coming prospect Adam Richards on February 19 at the Isle of Capri Casino in Lula, Mississippi.

“I’m looking forward to seeing Adam Richards back in the ring on our February 19 show, and I believe he is just what the heavyweight division needs to get it back to where it used to be in the minds and hearts of the public,” said Brian Young, President of Prize Fight Promotions. “Adam has a stellar amateur background, he’s a personable young man, and maybe most importantly, he can knock people out.” Continue reading Adam Richards “can knock people out”

TSA to Offer Shorter Lines if You Bare it All for them: MF Has a Suggestion

The TSA (Transportation Security Agency or as some people call them “Thugs Standing Around”) has officially announced its Registered Traveler Program:

New travel plan would require in-depth checks

Beyond shorter lines for airline passengers, benefits are vague.

WASHINGTON – The government is asking airline travelers to give up potentially a huge amount of personal information for what, at this point at least, could be little more than shorter waits at airport security checkpoints.

The Transportation Security Administration announced details of the Registered Traveler Program on Friday, but officials said the benefits for travelers were still being worked out and might not include an exemption from security searches.

Under the voluntary program, which begins in June, travelers would have to submit fingerprints and allow officials to conduct in-depth background checks, including in some cases providing access to personal and financial histories, to prove they aren’t terrorists.

No incentive, you say? Why not integrate this new background check with the government’s security clearance process? If I could put government clearance on my resume without actually having to work for the government, that would be more than enough reason to give up my personal information.

Thoughts?

Quick Koizumi Awesomeness

  • Koizumi rides in Keio University-designed electric car, loves the “awesome speed.” (For video, go here in Internet Explorer, wait for it to load, click “skip,” click “1ch,” then click the 3rd link down with the picture of the car. Worth all the effort I promise!)
  • Koizumi has to teach notoriously unsophisticated former PM Yoshiro Mori how to do the Japanese tea ceremony while wearing awesome kimono. (Click “300k” for video)

Saaya Irie, cohorts to Stop Posing in Bikinis — MF Breathes Sigh of Relief

In an earlier story that provoked a lot of interest here at MF, we reported that Chinese internet forums were humming with interest over model Saaya Irie, an 11-year-old girl with gigantic breasts, pictures of whom were apparently uploaded by Japanese trolls (Good background at Wikipedia as usual).

Message to the sick perverts who flooded me with confounding rationalizations for why it’s OK to get wood to an 11-year-old: You should be ashamed! Your intense pedophilic interest for an 11-year-old girl has creeped her and her associates out so badly that she has decided never to pose in a bikini again, reports Nozomi Online (a Jpop news site in need of a proofreader) in October 2005:

As a result of all this attention, the members of [Irie’s] singing troupe “Sweet Kiss,” which include 13-year old Runa and 11-year old Jessica, have also considered no longer posing in bikini’s [sic]. A statement by Ishida Yuuichiro, the groups management, revealed that they had never expected such feedback from the internet and adult magazines. He concludes that although the media attention was beneficial for the group, he didn’t want them to focus on Saaya’s large breasts and wanted the group to be recognized for talent and not Saaya’s large breasts.

I and all other rational souls out there commend the decision to keep the girls clothed (But wait a minute! Run your mouse over the “News” section of Sweet Kiss’s official site — bikinis!). But one look at the cleavage-centric photos in question makes it clear that Ishida is being, shall we say, a little disingenuous. I can believe that he was surprised, and even disturbed, at how well the exploitation worked, but his claim that the supposedly immense “talent” of a group of preteens is getting unfairly outshined because of one member’s unfortunate growth spurt goes beyond ludicrous. In this light, Nozomi Online’s take on the issue is puzzling:

The most terrifying aspect of Sweet Kiss might be that the fledgling group, with next to no ties to the music and television industries, might depend on the media stir caused by the oversized bust of a girl yet to enter her teenage years. Only the future holds the answer to whether or not the artistic integrity of the group can overcome an overflowing F-cup.

Indeed, it is terrifying to think that the public exploitation and sexual objectification of young girls are considered normal in Japan. But don’t be so quick to exculpate the people who took the photos in the first place! Continue reading Saaya Irie, cohorts to Stop Posing in Bikinis — MF Breathes Sigh of Relief

Jenkins Pulling a Debito!

Looks like he’s had it: Charles Jenkins, the American who defected to North Korea 40 years ago and wound up marrying Hitomi Soga, a Japanese woman there against her will, has decided to turn his back on America once again, only this time he’s doing it legally. As early as next week, the former US Army Private (who is living on Japan’s Sado island with his wife and children) intends to apply for Japanese citizenship.

Note: Check out the video (will probably be taken offline shortly because TBS sucks) for great footage of him doing some weird thing in a swimming pool.

(Japanese story follows)

Continue reading Jenkins Pulling a Debito!

Nippon TV’s Online Video News Site Improved

The video news site of Nippon TV (日テレ) has undergone a rebirth; no longer known as Nippon News Network 24, they have renamed themselves “NTV News 24.” In addition, the video streaming is much smoother at 300kbps and comes in clearer. Try the full-screen version!

Now all they have to do is make it a constant stream for it to be perfect. I wouldn’t mind if they included commercials even, as long as it kept me up to date on the goings-on in Japan. Sometimes the print news sites (such as Asahi with its appallingly tiny photographs) just don’t cut it.

“Time is precious, but truth is more precious than time”

That’s what my fortune cookie once told me. And despite being a flavorless and generally unneccessary part of my Chinese food experience, it’s right. So keep it real folks.

I turn 24 this year, and if the Chinese zodiac is any guide, when your age is a multiple of 12, you’re supposed to have an unlucky year.

So far, 2006 has been pretty good, actually. I started the year in Japan, seeing my precious Mrs. Adamu for the first time in three months (She currently lives in Thailand doing world things).

Hm, that’s all I’ve got for now. Expect some pictures of Japan among other personal posts I’ve got lined up including a trip to New York I took a few months ago to eat ramen that ended up being really crappy.

DPJ’s Hatoyama-owned Izakaya Closes: Business Suffered from Artificially Low Prices

Hatoyama
I have far too much class to make a crass comment about this story. No, I won’t be calling it “exemplary of the DPJ’s unrealistic approach to economic policymaking,” nor will I point out the dubious authenticity of Hatoyama’s claim that democracy is originally rooted in izakaya (though wouldn’t it be great if that were the case?). I will, however, mention that the establishment has “Hato-bo” (dove sticks, a play on Hatoyama’s name) on the menu. Guess what they are? Chicken meatballs on a stick! With a special sauce!

The izakaya (Japanese-style pub) “Tomoto” opened by (main opposition party) Democratic Party of Japan Secretary General Yukio Hatoyama and a friend was set to be shut down on December 28.

With the motto “Democracy’s very basis is an izakaya where [politicians] can interact with the citizens knee-to-knee,” [tr: “knee-to-knee” refers to the Japanese practice of kneeling on the floor at Japanese-style restaurants, etc. The Western equivalent would be “face to face”] Hatoyama himself often showed up at the establishment, but business apparently suffered in part due to the fact that prices were kept low in order to allow customers to cheerfully relax.

Before the Democratic and Liberal parties merged [in 2003], Hatoyama would often invite Liberal Party members such as then-party president Ichiro Ozawa, turning the pub into a “political stage.”

Hatoyama was quoted as saying, “I was happy to have met various people and have them enjoy a point of contact between politicians and salarymen for 3 years. Now we are closing shop, but the memory of Tomoto remains, and I would like to reopen it given another chance.”

Translation of Goro Miyazaki’s blog 12-27-2005

Here is some more of Ged War Journal director Goro Miyazaki’s blog, in which he rather obtusely outlines the history of Studio Ghibli. As you can see from this and the last post, he’s still being vague about why his father didn’t want him to direct the film (my guess is because he’s not qualified?):

December 27 – My Father and Producer Suzuki are my Forerunners in [living] “lives that do”

The “life that does” is a life in which one has a goal and tries to achieve it.
The motivation for such a life varies from those who want fortune or fame to those who want to move people emotionally.

On the other hand, “the life that is” is a life that is not one lived having an ambition, be it for the sake of oneself or others, but a life lived satisfied with daily work.

Recently, I have gone and chosen to “do” the directing of “Ged War Journal,” but those who first come to mind as my forerunners in “lives that do” are my father, Hayao Miyazaki, and Producer (of Ged War Journal) Suzuki.

I doubt either man thought that their company would grow to encompass 170 employees when they started Ghibli Studios in 1985.
In any case, they most likely only thought “I want to make Castle in the Sky, Laputa!” (the film they were planning at the time).

However, once you makes a movie once, you are then tied by that movie’s results.

While making movies, [Ghibli] became involved with various people, the movies it made garnered social praise, and finally in April of this year the company became independent from Tokuma Shoten and the joint-stock company Studio Ghibli was born.

The president of that company did not necessarily wish for that. It came to be that Producer Suzuki was to assume that role [of president].

Translation of Goro Miyazaki’s Blog 12-26-2005

Following up on my previous effort, here is another entry in which the Ged War Journal (Gedo Senki in Japanese) director Goro Miyazaki (son of Hayao Miyazaki) talks about why he chose to go into animation:

12/26/2005 – I went and chose a “life that does”

I got some free time due to the long vacation, so I will write a little more on “lives that do and lives that are.”

Ged’s words, which explain the importance of “a life that is,” had an impact on me because I, just at that time, was trying to throw my hat into the world of animation that I had previously avoided.

What Ged was saying was not the importance of stopping where you are and thinking, but the more fundamental issue of what type of life one should choose.

Seen one way, “doing” can seem to be the verification that you are free.
However, isn’t that, in fact, making you unfree?
Ged poses that question.

Up to now I as well had thought “to do” something meant “to be free.”
However, to do something produces results and people are bound by those results.
Then, based on those results, people are to do something new.
No, they must do it.

When I considered going on to college when it came time for my high school graduation, while I had an interest in animation, I concluded that if I devoted myself to that world I could never in my life surpass my father.
So, I entered the agricultural department of Shinshu University in an attempt to enter a field as far from animation as I could.

After graduation I was employed full time at an architectural firm. After working there for almost 8 years, I suddenly got an invitation from Producer Suzuki: “Won’t you be involved in the opening of the Ghibli Museum?”
It is here that I made a big decision “to do,” but at that time I felt that a museum and animation were separate things and this would not mean that I am entering the world of animation.
However, the result of that is as you can see.

So, the lines that I quoted from Ged in my previous post, far from skipping them, I felt them as if they had happened to me. Ironically, I chose a “life that does” after being enchanted by the charms of Ged War Journal, which preaches the importance of “a life that is.”