There are two very large travel companies in Japan, JTB and HIS. JTB stands for Japan Travel Bureau . Sounds official, doesn’t it? It was originally called the Japan Tourist Bureau, and established by the Japanese government. It is currently the largest travel agency in Japan and quite easy to find around larger train stations,…
I thought my next update about this case would be some months down the line, however even at this early date the case has been settled. The victim has agreed to an undisclosed financial settlement with the six men sh accused of rape. The settlement seems to imply that the six Kyoto University of Education…
I didn’t know this news would be so popular when I first wrote about Billy Blanks getting married and deciding to settle in Osaka, but it seems to be a story people are really interested in. I also put up pictures of the happy baby of Billy and Tomoko Blanks (the photos were on the…
This video is shown as part of the chair themed NHK children’s show I mentioned in the NHK Cactus Kids Show post. This is an awesome song for kids. It has enough rock n roll to it for parents to enjoy. It’s written and sung by the lead singer of Ulfuls, named Tortoise Matsumoto. He’s…
A new Kids show called “Mitsuketa” or “I found it” has started up on NHK. For some reason, the show’s main theme is… CHAIRS! There are skits of interactions between a real live girl, a giant talking cactus, and a chair. The cactus plays kind of a fatherly role, settling little arguments between the little…
In a previous post I wrote about six Kyoto University of Education students who raped a girl at a party in February. The university never reported the incident to police until June. There were some pretty outrageous moral violations by the school, such things as refusing to report the incident to authorities, and the fact…
By now, I assume that the big gang rape incident at prestigious Kyoto University (link goes to news story in Japanese) is international news, and I would not like to go into the details of the incident. However, of interest to students of the media and society in Japan are the reasons that Kyoto University…
It seems that people are really interested in Billy Blanks and his move to Japan so I thought I’d follow up on my previous story about Billy and Tomoko Blanks. Billy Blanks and Tomoko Blanks had a baby daughter born at Iwasa Ladies Clinic in November of 2008. A photo of the baby, named Angelica,…
I’ve been doing some research for an upcoming trip to Tokyo. I plan to go by car, but also want to be able to see some of the sights in Roppongi, Akasaka, Shibuya, Shinjuku, and other places. I don’t want to park too far outside of the main area, and if possible I want to…
There was recently an internet poll of three thousand people in Japan asking the following question: Which prefecture do you think of the least? The answer to the above question reveals a list of underrated, underappreciated, and undervisited prefectures… hence a great list of places off the beaten path to visit. The ranking of the…
There are some things you might want to know when you are perusing the shops in a food court or on a busy street and your eye happens upon Japan’s answer to McDonald’s. The food is tasty, and it’s not a McDonald’s clone, although some of the fare is similar. It’s a little more expensive…
Karaoke shops in Osaka are reporting that their shops are packed with students who are off school (and supposed to be at home studying) for the H1N1 influenza outbreak here. Some of the karaoke shop owners are troubled, saying they are concerned about the flu being passed on at these large gatherings, while other owners…