I use google alerts as a great way to get news about certain specific topics that I have an interest in. I have a google alert for “kindle japan” because I’ve written about my what I want from the Kindle in the past, my wish that it would be able to handle manga, and that…
I’ll embed the video here. The suicide problem is way too big here and growing. The only issue I’d take with the narration is the idea that suicide is still seen as an “honorable” way out to many people. I think the “honor” of suicide is the furthest thing from the minds of people who…
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…
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…
A man (packing knives) parked his car near a police station and, when approached by a security guard confessed to the killings. Details have not yet been released, although the alternative news media sources (sometimes unreliablle, but often more reliable than some major news sources) are reporting that the man claimed his pet cat was…
… but not for the erroneous murder accusation. Mainichi.jp recently falsely accused a man of murder. Pension Bureau official Kenji Yoshihara was stabbed to death on November 18. His wife, Yasuko, was also critically injured in the attack. The attack is believed to be related to the murders of another former Pension Bureau official, Takehiko…
Mainichi, one of Japan’s news media giants published a story yesterday accusing a Japanese man of the murder of a former Health Ministry official from the Pension Bureau (an expert on the pension problem in Japan). Kenji Yoshihara and his wife Yasuko were attacked at their home in Tokyo on Tuesday, November 18th. The attacker…
If you watch the video, you’ll here some wacky stuff. Now maybe I don’t go to enough “hi tech” buildings to have used the “smart toilet” but this is the kind of over-generalized news about Japan that drives me crazy. Here’s the video about the crazy robo-toilets that are “commonplace” in Japan these days. If…
First a bit about the hydrogen sulfide suicides… I don’t really want to get into details, but in a nutshell, there are two readily available products for the home that you can easily buy which, when mixed together, produce enough hydrogen sulfide to kill people. Recently, there have been so many suicides using this method…
With the extremely successful opening of an Ikea store in Kobe, there was a lot of talk about how the old boys, namely the department stores, home centers, and furniture stores were going to handle coming up against a very unique ad campaign, very low prices, and an international brand. Well, this first, very short…
I have to admit. It’s always seemed a bit funny and surprising to me when I heard friends assert that it wouldn’t rain, even when I could smell it in the air and see the clouds a-coming. I’ve been told on a Sunday that it would snow on Wednesday, and right up until Thursday my…