Category: Curiosities

I thought I had something to say but I lost my train of thought completely

1) Hip Hop Gospel Mimes — The best in the business. (Thanks SA)

2) Link to DPJ Candidate’s Website Goes to Porn Site Instead — Remember last year’s vice presidential debate? NO?! Well in it Cheney kept repeating some site name, and I thought it would be totally within the realm of possibility for the link he gave out to automatically forward you to goatse.cx.. You know, since he’s so evil and all. Well anyway, Hiroko Mizushima, an opposition party member running for office in Japan’s upcoming election, came close to fulfilling my fantasies. A link to her site posted on the Osaka Prefectural Chapter of the Democratic Party of Japan’s website mistakenly pointed instead to German site “Porn Diamonds” (LINK NOT SAFE FOR WORK). According to Mizushima’s staff, she had changed her site’s address after her provider went out of business, but the Prefectural Chapter just never updated it. Oops!

The face of international togetherness...

3) U.S. Targets Sex Abuse of Exchange Students — Think of it as a little like that scene in American Pie, only instead of an American supermodel faking an accent and stripping in front of a camera it’s a pathetic biology teacher (pictured above) sneaking into a girl’s bedroom and begging for head. Or it’s a fat Asian man feeding booze to Scandinavian boys and then trying to grab their ding-ding-dongs.

I wasn’t molested when I spent my senior year of high school in Japan, but I easily could have been, as the article explains:

Foreign students are among the most vulnerable minors because they usually do not know U.S. laws, are unfamiliar with customs, are dependent on host families or sponsors, don’t know what to do when abused or are afraid to act, according to Lt. Frank Baker of the Allegan County Sheriff’s Office…

“For a predator, this is the ideal situation,” Baker said.

Continue reading I thought I had something to say but I lost my train of thought completely

The Gundam lives!

After seeing my post a couple of days on a homemade full size Gundam robot built several years ago, a reader by the name of Taylor sent in some amazing photographs showing that it has actually been made into a permanent outdoor installation!

He says:

I saw it last month when I was still in Okayama, but it is pretty
popular. It’s right next to a major road, so I saw at least ten people
stop and take pictures with it. Most were older salarymen or ojisan.
It was quite amazing seeing it in person, you can see the size
comparison with me, and i”m not that small of a guy!

I was surprised by how popular Gundam still is over here. When I saw
the recent Z Gundam movie, half the crowd was over 50 years old. It’s
amazing how serious the older generation takes the Universal Century
age Gundam show

And of course, what outdoor art installation or sculpture would be complete without an explanatory plaque?

This robot was placed in Kume-cho by Mister Seiichi Nakamoto (born 1964). He drew up the plans and constructed it himself. The skeleton is constructed of steel and the outer shell of fiber reinforced plastic. The legs can be moved through the action of the hyrdaulic cylinders installed within.

An operator riding in the cockpit can control this versatile bipedal walking machine. After seven years of construction, it was completed in December, 1999.

Height 7 meters
Width 3.5 meters
Weight 2 tons
Passengers 1

Masturbating for 15 Minutes on the Train “Not Public Indecency”?

The masturbation station
ZAKZAK is better than Waiwai:

Masturbating for 15 Minutes on the Train “Not Public Indecency” Says Man Arrested for Said Crime

Nobody likes a woman who thoughtlessly applies makeup on the train, but this case of a man, driven mad with desire for a woman, furiously masturbating for 15 minutes on the train home was a matter for police. This idiotic man, while admitting his unlawful act, claimed he wasn’t bothering anyone — he is said to be giving the absurd excuse that “it’s not public indecency.” He was working for a big company, had a wife, even bought his own condominium… This man, who was fulfilling the Japanese dream, threw it all away in a mere 15 minutes.

“I saw a girl that was my type, so I just went and did it,” said the 31-year-old employee of Dai-Nippon Printing Co. from Sakura District, Saitama City.

According to the investigations of Saitama Prefectural Police, Tokorozawa Precinct, the man got on the Musashi-Urawa Station on the Musashino Line after midnight on August 2 and sat down next to a woman in her 20s, whereupon he exposed himself and began spanking his monkey. He continued to pleasure himself even after he missed his stop at Nishi-Urawa, not stopping until 15 minutes later when he reached the end of the line, Higashi-Tokorozawa.

Since the few people in the train didn’t seem to notice, the housewife who endured this display of perversion finally barked, “What do you think you’re doing?” when her station drew near.

A male corporate worker (33) sitting nearby made himself useful and held the man down, but thankfully, according to the man, “he didn’t ejaculate.” You might think this was the act of a drunken man acting out in the night, but source say he was “totally sober.”

After graduating from a Hokkaido university, the suspect entered the nation’s largest domestic printing company, Dai-Nippon. He married a classmate from college and only recently moved into a condominium he had purchased near the station [ed: Living near the station is a big perk in Japan].

A neighbor living in his building described him as “small and not terribly handsome, but he was a diligent person who would say hello to you in the morning.

“The room he bought cost 20-30 million yen [about $200-300k] and was the biggest 4-bedroom condo in the building.” The neighbor couldn’t hide her surprise over the incident, saying that he thought they planned to have a big family.

Another neighbor spoke to us about the couple’s relationship.

“The wife worked for a charity, so she didn’t pay much attention to fashion, but she is the type of person who normally has a smile on her face. 5 or 6 of her friends from college would often come to visit, and the two of them would often go out together as a couple. I think they got along well.”

“The couple was married in June at a church in Australia, which reminded them of Hokkaido where they met. The pictures of expansive ocean and white beaches were most memorable for me,” says the neighbor.

When we arrived at the man’s home on the night of the 2nd, his wife would only say, “Nothing happened. Leave us alone, please.” I wonder what evil spirit now haunts what was once a life of smooth sailing.

In an unbelievable development, the man at first told investigators with a straight face, “(The masturbation) was just for my own pleasure, so it’s not public indecency.”

This is a man who, instead of just talking to a woman who’s his type, instead decides to sit next to her and jack off for 15 minutes. It was only a matter of time before he was caught with his pants down.

Three noteworthy articles from Waiwai

The Waiwai section of the Mainichi newspaper’s English language website is usually nothing but a collection of sleazy but entertaining lasciviousness, but this week they actually have three very interesting and more serious stories translated from the Japanese weekly magazines.

First, Shukan Shincho reports on newly discovered documents that allege Hitler actually had plans in place to escape to and hide out in Japan after the Reich fell.

As the Soviets relentlessly pounded the German dictator and his cronies holed up in the subterranean fortress in the German capital, moves were apparently afoot to whisk away top Nazis on long-range Condor airplanes to Japan, journalist Eiichiro Tokumoto writes in the prestigious weekly.

Tokumoto cites a top secret letter dated April 24, 1945, that Toshikazu Kase, then Japan’s Ambassador to Switzerland, wrote to Shigemitsu Togo, Japan’s Foreign Minister at the time.

Kase, a career diplomat whose CV would later include stints as Japan’s first ambassador to the United Nations, was then involved with top secret peace negotiations with Allen Dulles, an operative with the U.S.’ Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner of today’s Central Intelligence Agency.

Kase’s letter to Togo shows the diplomat was worried that an already struggling Japan was about to be lumbered with a bevy of nasty Nazis.

Second, Asahio Genio reports that Yoshinori Watanabe, the Kumicho (Don, Godfather) of the Yamaguchi Gumi, Japan’s largest Yakuza clan, has unexpectedly retired.

Hundreds of yakuza gang bosses from across Japan went to the Yamaguchi-gumi’s Kobe headquarters for the July 29 meeting as they were watched by scores of police and media representatives.

Watanabe, 64, announced his retirement in a statement read out by Saizo Kishimoto, general manager of the syndicate’s headquarters.

“I’ve been kumicho for 16 years, but been sick for the past four years and can no longer fulfill my responsibilities, so I’m retiring,” Asahi Geino quotes Kishimoto saying on Watanabe’s behalf.

Apparently, the huge meeting room where the gang bosses sat in silence while the announcement was made, with the hush broken only when some broke down in tears.

This resignation is particularly big news because, according to the article, “Watanabe was the first ever leader of the Yamaguchi-gumi to be alive when his successor assumed office.”

I get such a kick out of the fact that the Yakuza are such a public organization. Can you imagine Tony Soprano’s stereotypically sleazy Jewish lawyer going on Channel 11 Eyewitness News and reading a statement that he has taken over the organization following the arrest of his uncle Junior?

Lastly, we actually do have one about sex. Shukan Post reports that, for the first time ever, Japan’s Administration Commission of Motion Picture Code of Ethics will allow un-mosaiced human genitals to appear onscreen.

But, with the Japanese premiere in late August of “Kinsey,” local moviegoers will get their first unadulterated glimpse of both male and female reproductive organs.

“We discussed it quite a bit internally before deciding the scene where the organs appear is really important for the overall movie and that we wanted it to be screened uncut and without a mosaic,” a spokesman for Shochiku, the distributor of “Kinsey,” tells Shukan Post.

Eirin, which has a strict policy of prohibiting the display or genitalia or pubic hair, has bent when it comes to “Kinsey,” a biopic of U.S. sex academic Alfred Kinsey.

“It’s not on screen for long and, overall, we decided that the scene did not touch on Eirin’s regulations,” a spokesman for the movie ethics committee tells Shukan Post.

I thought Kinsey was a very good film, and it seems a rather appropriate film to break the barrier of onscreen genitalia in Japan. Will they embrace Kinsey’s example in the future? Can Japan’s film board lose their juvenile attitude towards the human body, or will they revert to their old ways and continue to contribute to Japan’s culture of sexual fetishism by blocking ordinary and healthy depictions of sex? Stay tuned.

Photos of homemade Gundam

Saw this page listed over on Gizmodo with a plea for translation, so here we go.

According to their report page, these photos were taken July 30 2000 in a field in the middle of nowhere, Okayama prefecture. The Gundam was constructed not out of “Gundamania” but because they “wanted to build a bipedal walking vehicle.”

Gundam photos in Kume, Okayama prefecture.

For now we just picked it up.
It was heavy, but we managed…
You won’t get any larger photos by clicking.
Sorry, next time.


Photographer: Yohman
Taken from below.
Cockpit closed.


Photographer: Hamu
Rear-view. Bad angle (sweat)
Taken from a nearby field.


Photographer: Yohman
View of the scenery from inside the cockpit.
Continue reading Photos of homemade Gundam

People are going to find this article on search engines for all the wrong reasons and that scares me

GTO, my favorite manga of all time, featured a teacher who got caught doing exactly this except it was more of an outhouse instead of a church:

Pastor Allegedly Videotapes Women, Girls With Hidden Camera
Four Girls On Tapes Were Under Age 10

GREENVILLE, N.C. — A North Carolina pastor is charged with sexual exploitation and peeping after investigators found videos of women and girls at his church undressing and using the bathroom.

The 54-year-old minister, Leon Harris, has been released on bond, but was ordered to stay away from Rose Hill Free Will Baptist Church.

Pitt County detectives said at least eight females were videotaped on June 9, including four girls under the age of 10.

The arrest warrant said the videos are believed to have been recorded by two miniature cameras installed in a church bathroom.

Ew.

Starbugs

Seeing this Boingboing post on international Starbucks knockoffs prompted me to post the photos I took at the famous Taiwanese Starbucks knockoff, ‘Starbugs.’

Up in riverside entertainment/boardwalk area in Danshui, a small city in Taipei County about 30 minutes north of Taipei City proper, you can find this unusually specialized pet shop.

Inside, they sell nothing but beatles, large spiders, and crabs.

If any reader happens to be an amatuer entomologist, feel free to let me know what these little monsters are properly called.

Try reading this story in a Russian accent


Be fit with the help of video-player

18:32 2005-07-14
Lots of people dream of becoming fit and slim. Some of them keep to various diets, others prefer to exhaust themselves with endless physical exercises.

But in Japan people lose weight by playing video games. Dance Dance Revolution, a popular Japanese video game makes players leap around on a platform as instructed by arrows – up, down, right or left – to a throbbing techno beat. The moves get faster and harder as players get better, making the game arduous, addictive and inadvertently aerobic.

Matt Keane, now 21, became addicted by Dance Dance Revolution less than a year ago. At the start his weight was 209 kilograms. Dancing at the game platform he lost 68 kilograms.

A recent Pennsylvania study of 35 adolescents found that, on average, Dance Dance Revolution elevated players’ heart rates to double their resting level over a 45-minute period, according to one of the study’s coordinators, Stephen Yang.

“There is no doubt the games are great exercise,” Yang said, “but first and foremost, they’re fun.”

Usually a sedentary activity, video games might seem an unlikely weapon in the battle of the bulge. Earlier video games were blamed even for mass suicides. But over the past few years “exertainment” – a merging of exercise and electronic entertainment – has helped the industry’s image as well as its profit margins, says the AP.

With dance simulation video games making exercise fun and hip, parents, teachers and doctors are starting to pay attention. And manufactures are hoping to capitalize.

Obesity is quite a problem for many societies. Experts differ in ways to struggle obesity. Some of them advise to drink milk, others suggest not to watch TV, but now we know the correct answer – Dance Dance Revolution is the answer to all the health problems.