As you know if you live in Japan, NHK demands payment for its services. In fact, they say that “if you own a tv” you are required to pay. Many non-Japanese people living in Japan think that pretending not to understand Japanese will save you, but they will come back with a vengence, or an…
Twitter Japan was rumored to be starting up premium accounts for which users would have to pay to read. This has since been described to be a “misunderstanding” by someone at Digital Garage Mobile who did a presentation in Japan talking about subscription services. He laid out a plan which may have been just a…
This happened way back in 2007, but as the Red and White Song Battle in Japan approaches, but every year about this time I remember this performance. It was probably the most talked about performance of the year, but DJ Ozma got himself a nice ban from the contest for it… you’ll see it toward…
This year there are only two non-Japanese performances scheduled. One is by the Korean five-man group called TVXQ, known in Japan as Tohoshinki, and American enka performer Jerome White, known in Japan as Jero. I wrote about foreigners on the Red and White Song Battle in the past. People are always vocal about the “selected”…
When I wrote my open letter to Amazon Japan about the Kindle in Japan , we didn’t have a lot of options in Japan. If you live in Japan for any significant amount of time, you may end up accumulating books. Books are heavy and it means either abandoning them upon your return, or paying…
There are groups being formed on the social networking site Mixi.jp and other places in support of Tatsuya Ichihashi, accused murderer of Lindsay Hawker. The one description for the one on Mixi says that they believe he is innocent, and love him because he’s so good looking. Some fans have even put their pictures on…
Japanese entertainment site Zakzak reports that several adult video companies have approached Noriko Sakai with million dollar deals. Adult videos featuring former actresses and idols sell extremely well in Japan. A video featuring Sakai would probably be the best selling Japanese adult film in history. Sakai is a former child star, actress, and idol. She…
Tatsuya Ichihashi was finally arrested at a ferry port in Osaka. An alert traveler at the port contacted authorities to tell them a person matching Ichihashi’s description was preparing to take a ferry bound for Okinawa. When police arrived on the scene, he admitted who he was without a struggle. Ichihashi had been on the…
Recently photos of Tatsuya Ichihashi have surfaced showing what he looked like after having plastic surgery in Tokyo. There are rumors on the net that he has been working as a male prostitute, or somewhere in the gay red light districts of Tokyo. Because of this, and the size of the community, many people think…
A former teacher at Takeda Prefectural High School in Takeda City, Oita Prefecture kicked a student at a kendo team practice in August this year. The boy died as a result of the injuries. The original investigation by police in Takeda City determined that the boy died as a result of heat exhaustion during a…
The Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs has begun broadcasting Japanese network tv stations over the internet using P2P (Peer to Peer) technology. As many newzjapan readers know, the Japanese government has gradually been making an effort to be more of a presence on the internet, including uploading useful videos to YouTube. KeyholeTV is another step…
Sometimes I like to throw in some of these fun posts, like a recent poll of women in Japan about things that women do that turn men off. Anyway, on to the list: 10. Being too fickle about food. 9. Not making an effort to dress up. 8. When it comes time to pay, they…