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.
Eco life my style
Category: Curiosities
Gaining Perspective from Tragedy
Lock your door at night:
Dorm incident may lead to changes in sex assault law
February 3, 2006
STORRS, Conn. — An incident involving three men accused of masturbating over a sleeping University of Connecticut student is sparking calls to change the state’s sexual assault laws.
The men, who are also students at the school, face disorderly conduct and public indecency charges. But they will not be charged with sexual assault because there was no physical contact with the female victim during the September incident, said Elizabeth Leaming, the assistant state’s attorney prosecuting the case.
“It’s a frustration that there is no ability to charge a sex offense for the kind of conduct alleged,” Leaming said Thursday.
The incident occurred after the woman fell asleep in Skvirsky’s dorm room on Sept. 24.
The young woman discovered what happened after she woke up. She filed charges three days later.
I’ve been accused of being both a Japan apologist and a Japan basher. I admit to both readily. I love Japan, but it is screwed up. I have been somewhat hard on Japan, you might say, by translating reports of some fairly depraved activities.
But at times we all need a bit of perspective. That is why am grateful, in a way, that someone from my hometown (Somers, Connecticut) has helped remind me that Americans can be just as perverted as Japanese people, and sometimes the law is caught with its pants down, so to speak, when it comes to dealing with the devious bag of tricks that is the human imagination.
What a bloody language
Lately I seem to be surrounded by menstruation. Continue reading What a bloody language
Police take on pirates in fake alien frog showdown
Sorry, but it’s all downhill from the headline. It’s not that it’s a bad article exactly. Something about how the new Japanese cartoon Sergeant Keroro (ケロロ軍曹-main character pictured at left) has gotten so popular that toys modeled after the character are being bootlegged, and the anime downloaded illegally all over Taiwan and China. Ok, fine, interesting to know I guess-although seriously, by now wouldn’t you expect the same thing to happen with any even halfway popular cartoon show? I mean, after that headline I was really hoping for something with a little more juice than a story about toy pirates.
Ah well. If you’re curious, you can download bootlegs of the show from this anime fansubs bittorrent site. I’ve seen a few minutes here and there on Taiwanese TV, and while I couldn’t really tell what was going on, what with it being in Chinese and all, it did look pretty funny.
Aso Backs off of Tactless Emperor-Visit-Yasukuni Speech PLUS
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Aso Qualifies Remark Calling For Emperor To Visit Yasukuni
TOKYO (Kyodo)–Foreign Minister Taro Aso clarified Tuesday that his call over the weekend for the emperor to visit the war-related Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo was not meant for the emperor to go there ”in the current situation.”
”I made the remark from the standpoint of the spirits of the war dead enshrined (at Yasukuni) because they died for the emperor. I never said that (I wanted) the emperor to make the shrine visit in the current situation,” Aso told a news conference.
Aso said Saturday in a speech in Nagoya that ”From the viewpoint of the spirits of the war dead, they hailed ‘Banzai’ for the emperor — none of them said long live the prime minister. A visit by the emperor would be the best.”
Nothing witty to say about this guy, but I have discovered a wonderful site dedicated to the man. This site is as fascinating as it is jam-packed with information. Some quick highlights:
Continue reading Aso Backs off of Tactless Emperor-Visit-Yasukuni Speech PLUS
The future is a filthy place
And you thought that Taiwan’s cyborg god-pigs were the ultimate runaway technological threat of the 2030’s. Even though they’re a month old already, I only just ran across these truly disturbing photos of China’s first face transplant, and they are just the first taste of the unspeakable horrors to come.
My prediction: Ten years from now Nicholas Kristof will be doing a series on multimedia heavy columns for the New York Times web site about the sad lack of response byinternational humanitarian groups to the new problem of sex tourists in SE Asia buying children to have them smuggled across the Chinese border to underground surgeries where they are transformed into half human/half beast chimaera to fulfill the deviant sexual desires of men (and a smaller number of women) who wish to realize their fantasies of laying with say, a centaur, mermaid, harpy, or some twisted creation of their own mind.
Imagine the furry phenomenon, except instead of just being stupid and slightly hilarious, it is instead the most evil species of crime ever perpetrated by humanity against itself.
On the plus side, if I get into a disfiguring car accident, I can probably go to China and get half of my face replaced with that of some endangered animal species, like a gorilla, or maybe a lion.
Job opportunity for readers in Japan
I subscribe to the Gaijinpot mailing list just in case something interesting ever comes up amidst the sea of eikaiwa jobs, and today something finally did. If anyone reading these actually applies for the job, please send me some stories.
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foreigners
Sale of a funerals-and-festivals article
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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
Bad Japanese to the 4th power times 12
This ultra dorky gaming blog run by some anonymous American nerd has the most hilariously bad Japanese I have ever seen. This is so amazingly ridiculously atrocious that it makes Engrish.com look like Geoffrey Chaucer.
Nintendo は再度上がる! 反抗して準備ができているか。
Nintendo は再度上がる。Nintendo の回転は実施中にある。準備ができているか。考えるものを忘れなさい知っている。賭博の回転のために準備されなさい。液浸の回転! 秘密によってはハリウッドがBroadway に会うところにがある。 第12 力の時4 への10 は見るものである。ない実際はspec シートでしかし。 eMagin は真実を保持する。 Nintendo は再度上がる。 反抗して準備ができているか。
Seriousgamer007 はRedmond に内部にある。私がであるかだれ秘密は残る。 信じなさい 回転は来ている!SeriousGamer007 は実質及びNintendo の内部にである!
The grammar is honestly so bad that I think the only way to properly convey the effect is to run it through Babelfish.
Nintendo rises for the second time! Opposing, does preparation do? Nintendo rises for the second time. As for the revolution of Nintendo it is in the midst of executing. Does preparation do? Forget those which you think you have known. Prepare for turning the gambling. Revolution of immersion! At the point where Hollywood meets to Broadway depending upon secret bitterly it is. At the time of 12th power 10 to 4 is something which is seen. It is not, but really with the spec seat. EMagin keeps truth. Nintendo rises for the second time. Opposing, does preparation do? As for Seriousgamer007 in Redmond it is inside. Am I or, some secret remains. Believes revolution has come! SeriousGamer007 is inside substance and Nintendo!
He strings together grammatical structures that make no sense together-for ‘immersion’ he uses the word that means literally ‘to immerse something in liquid.’ Gambling? I have no idea. He seems to be trying to say something like “ten to the fourth power times twelve” but instead of actually using the mathematical terms, he just uses the literal words ‘times’ and ‘power,’ enabling the ちんぷんかんぶん that you see before you.
Now, I’m not just making fun of him for writing bad Japanese. Everyone writes stuff just as bad as this in language class. No, it’s not just that it’s bad, but that he clearly thinks he’s so goddamn cool for being enough of an uber-dork to write idiotic nonsense about Japanese videogames in the holy language itself. Even written in English it would have been such fanboyish blather that, after reading it, you might wonder for a second if merely by reading this blog you might be somehow rendering invalid all of the maturity you have developed since the sixth grade. Just look at the kind of blather that he actually DOES write in English.
Thank you for following this blog. This blog has become enormously popular. Gamers from countries all over the world have found this blog. This blog leads the war on gaming dominance for Nintendo.
This blog is at the forefront of that battle. The Nintendo blog to change everything.
This is clearly the guy in your Japanese 101 class who embodies all the stereotypes. His very existence casts a dark cloud over all of us who study Japanese and happen to also enjoy pop culture like video games or manga instead of a strict diet of noh, geisha and zen. In response, I would like to borrow the words of yesterday’s SomethingAwful post.
I would like to take a moment to apologize to the Japanese. The people from the United States and Canada that end up living in your country are almost all horrible and I am really sorry about that. Most Americans don’t really love manga, Pocky and babbling for hours on end about obscure videogame minutiae.
Dynamite-wielding Man Tells Hospital “Give me a Shot or I’ll Blow You Up”
An unemployed 70-year-old man, accused of attempted extortion and violating the Explosives Control Law for taking dynamite to a hospital this July and demanding “Give me my desired injection or else I’ll blow up the hospital!” was sentenced to 2 years and 6 months imprisonment suspended for 4 years by the Wakayama Regional Court today.
Judge Shin’ichi Tanaka scolded the man, explaining, “You inflicted fear and anxiety on the staff of a hospital that cares for more than 300 people.”
According to the judgment, the defendant requested that the doctor give him a shot for stomach pain at a hospital in Gobo City but angered when the doctor refused. The man immediately went home, retrieved the dynamite, and returned to the hospital, demanding the injection from doctors near the entrance. Also, the man was in illegal possession of 150 sticks of dynamite in his home.
The defendant was arrested for a red-handed violation of the Explosives Control Law when he was arguing at the entrance. He reportedly admitted how he got the dynamite, saying, “I was storing the leftovers from my public works job.”
Questions (My Japanese legal experts please feel free to weigh in!):
(Click below for Japanese story)
Continue reading Dynamite-wielding Man Tells Hospital “Give me a Shot or I’ll Blow You Up”