Some people on the internet have been reporting that while people with Chinese flags were allowed to enter the goal area for the Olympic torch relay in Nagano, people with the Tibetan flag were not. According to this report, about 200 Tibet supporters were led to the back side of the park and told that…
So I’m watching tv tonight, having dinner… I’m watching Kin-Suma(Kinyobi Smap) and they were doing a profile of different women with interesting careers. One woman was a woman who test drives the new models of Nissan cars. Another woman was an ex-champion table tennis player. Yet another woman came on wearing a black suit. A…
Continuing from the previous post here is are worst ten for life expectancy in Japan. Just an obvious observation, but if you are a man in Japan and you want to live the longest life you can, maybe Aomori Prefecture is not the best place to settle down! Check out the list below. Worst Life…
The longest life expectancy in Japan belongs to the women in Okinawa Prefecture’s “Kitanaka Gusuku” A village which has about 16,269 people. The life expectancy is 89.3 years. The shortest life expectancy belongs to men in Osaka Prefecture’s, Osaka City. Specifically, in Nishinari Ward! These guys only get to enjoy life until they are 73.1…
I’m referring to some news making the rounds in the Japanese media, one article about the shoplifting epidemic in Japan. (in Japanese) “Hon no Manbiki, Nenkan 40 oku-en” or “Book Shoplifting, 4 Billion yen a year” One quote at the bottom says it all, “People’s feelings toward shoplifting as a crime have thinned.” That is…
As most people reading this blog know, Japanese officials usually carry out executions before informing the media or next of kin. What I didn’t know until reading this article in Mainichi Online was that Justice Minister Hatoyama has been carrying out executions at a pace of once every two months! Here is the article: Four…
The end result was 70% for handsome but poor, with only 30% choosing ugly and rich. Here’s a link to the article in japanese, but it has some pictures of the girls who were interviewed so you can see what kind of girls want the handsome but poor guys. Of course one good point also…
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…
This time they throw in the term “geisha guys” for creditability. Check the article here, entitled: Japan’s ‘geisha guys’ the latest accessory CNN could report on stories about the Prime Minister’s approval rating, the murder of the taxi driver by a U.S. marine, even the murder of the Filipina hostess I wrote about just today…
Note: I emphasize that the perpetrator in this case is Japanese not because it is unlikely but to put emphasis on the fact. While the really big news in Japan is about crimes committed by non-Japanese here, there is a lot of types of crime here which seem to be growing exponentially. Domestic Violence is…
If you, like most of the major journalists in the U.S. (see my pop-Japanology posts), are under the mistaken impression that Japan is an unassuming, grin-and-bear-it type of society, here’s a great list of some of the things today’s Japanese parents are expecting from their kids’ preschools. “I’m busy in the mornings so the day…
Possibly contrary to popular belief, milk and bread are also staples in Japan… everyday expenses that a caring government should only tax lightly if at all. Well, the GOVERNMENT is going to raise the wheat prices it sells to millers by 30% which will send up the prices of udon, ramen, pasta, and of course…