WHAT WAS ON THE TUBE (FEB. 11-15)
The following are the lengths of time six “wide shows” on four channels in the Tokyo area devoted to certain topics. The programs cover everything from politics to celebrity gossip.
The listing is provided by Reservia Corp.
1. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party decides to field Yukari Sato in the Tokyo No. 5 constituency in the next Lower House election. Sato was sent to the Gifu No. 1 constituency in the previous election as an “assassin” to take on Seiko Noda, a “rebel” who openly opposed then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s project to privatize the postal services.
2 hr, 49 min, 28 sec
2. There’s nothing like a bit of flesh to raise controversy–and publicity. Crowds flock to a festival in Oshu, Iwate Prefecture, which came under the media spotlight after a debate over its posters. East Japan Railway Co. refused to put up the posters in its train stations, saying a man’s chest hair and several near-naked butts on the posters could offend female passengers.
1 hr, 52 min, 9 sec
3. A 52-year-old man in Tokyo’s Adachi Ward commits suicide after killing his mother and wife with a hatchet. One of his sons, 15, is found with both hands nearly severed. The other son, 18, was out taking a university entrance examination. The man, who ran a shop that repairs and sells secondhand machines, apparently had run into money problems.
1 hr, 36 min, 2 sec
Tetsunori Nanpei, 39, of Tokyo must have thought it was Halloween
Who in the Hell needs air traffic controllers when one has an urgent need to fly?
A 40-year-old Nagasaki high school teacher on trial for fondling two of his female students said he just wanted “to learn about the state of the muscle in [their] breasts and to give advice” about dieting.
It was reported that an unemployed 37-year-old man in Ota-ku made over 2,600 phone calls to NTT’s free directory service between June and November last year because he was lonely and “wanted to talk to women.”
Our nutty neighbors to the south
A 33-year-old Yokohama man who identified himself as a member of a right-wing group was arrested for throwing red paint at the LDP headquarters in Nagatacho to protest Japan’s participation in the Beijing Olympics.
Police say that a Yokohama Municipal Government official busted for possessing 1.6 grams of stimulants claimed that he “intended to use them for myself.”
A citizens’ group in Kanagawa is seeking an apology from the US military over an incident in which an American soldier at a supply depot in Sagamihara pointed a gun through a fence at a 49-year-old Japanese housewife. A military spokesman said there had been no threat and chalked up the incident to “a gap in perceptions.”
Authorities in Hyogo are investigating the illegal disposal of abandoned tombstones that were found dumped in a pile 5m high and 60m2.
Karate teacher uses below the black belt skills to master schoolgirl seduction
A public high school teacher who parlayed his martial arts skills into becoming the darling of the girls he taught has been arrested for allegedly taking one of his students to a love hotel and having sex with her, according to Friday (2/22).Tetsuya Enodoki was once a member of Japan’s national karate team and he finished runner-up in his division in the 1993 Asian karate championships.