The reason I put “still” in the title of this post is because lately there’s been a sort of politically correct type of trend here. People don’t like people to talk about people being elite. They say that people should not talk about education and things like that… but the reality is this – Reuters…
Although I haven’t had any problems yet with a car. I owned an old Light bodied “kei” car before, and currently earn a big hybrid car that gets about the same kilometers per gallon as the kei car did but seats eight. A very long time ago I wrote about getting a license and some…
I’ve been waiting for this story to hit national headlines because it’s been a big deal here in Kansai, but it’s another story that would be international news if it happened anywhere else. Here it’s local. I’ll give the story chronologically, and succinctly. A woman’s body was found in a cooler box at a moving…
In my previous post I showed the Mecha Ike Japanese Comedy Egashira 2:50 version of the Ponyo on a Cliff song. The song is big and was featured on the Red and White Song Battle this year. It features a little girl singing a bit out of tune and later an older guy in a…
If you watch wacky Japanese tv, you may have seen Egashira 2:50. Often voted as the most despised tv personality in Japan. He definitely stretches the line between what you can and can’t do on tv and leaves viewers (and I’m sure co-stars and producers) open mouthed. Egashira 2:50 often appears and is put down…
This year, Jero will be one of the featured performers on the annual Red and White Song Battle which is televised on NHK every New Year’s Eve. The show is considered a Japanese tradition (although ratings have been dropping in past years). Jero is an American guy with a Japanese grandmother who grew up loving…
Have you ever watched Japanese tv and wondered, “How much does THAT guy make?” Well, here’s one example of a guy: This is Yoshio Kojima, one of the big strange character type comedians going around. I think he’ll have more staying power than the others because he’s a smart guy (Waseda University grad) and there’s…
The craziest comedy show of the year (and a lot of the runners-up) are on during winter holidays when a lot of people around the archipeligo are at grandma’s house watching tv on an old tv set. It’s the season for singing contests, impersonation battles, manzai comedy shows, and the king of all wackiness, “Downtown…
This is an interesting video that’s been going around. It was aired about three years ago on the popular tv show “Kin Suma” or “Kinyobi SMAP” which is hosted by Masahiro Nakai, leader of the uber-popular and ubiquitous SMAP. The show generally targets women and covers topics such as women with interesting jobs and some…
The trial for the Junichi Yamamoto (formerly Tokitsukaze), head of the Sumo stable that ordered the “discipline” that resulted in the death of sixteen year old Sumo wrestler Takashi Saito is yet to be held. The three senior member of the stable that carried out the beatings that caused the death have been sentenced to…
If you want to read books online, you have several options. Google recently announced a new deal with several authors and publishers to increase the available digital library. Although it remains to be seen how this will affect users from outside of the United States (international publishing rights will still be a speed bump for…
I’ve been in Japan close to 15 years now, so when I read a recent article in The Telegraph about JR (Japan Railways) starting a campaign to improve people’s manners on trains, the following paragraph: Five years ago, it would have been unthinkable for passengers on Japan’s crowded trains to witness a female office worker…