Tag: Japan

Strange days

A 43-year-old Saitama man and his 14-year-old daughter were arrested for stealing 20 storm drain covers from a condominium complex in Setagaya.

A North Korean man who claimed that his mother is Japanese scaled a barbed-wire fence and sought refuge at the Japanese Embassy in Laos.

Officials in Chiba handed a 30-day suspension to a police superintendent who ordered his staff to make copies of porno DVDs seized as evidence so he could “take them home and watch them.”

The wild west

Thirteen former PhD students at Nagoya City University who bribed a professor to reveal the contents of their oral exams prior to the tests were allowed to keep their doctorates because their theses were “carried in specialty journals overseas.”

Talk about troublemakers: two junior high school students in Fukuoka are in hot water after a series of incidents that included smashing windows, damaging a locker in the principal’s room, threatening teachers, spitting on other students’ parents, and “peeing from the second floor of the school building.”

WHAT WAS ON THE TUBE (March 17-21)

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. Rioters and authorities clash in China’s Sichuan province, as protests in support of demonstrations led by monks in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa spread to the neighboring area. Chinese authorities mobilize armed police to clamp down on the protesters. But it is difficult to grasp the entire picture of what is happening because of China’s control over the media. 6 hr, 26 min, 1 sec

2. After the opposition-controlled Upper House rejects a nominee for Bank of Japan governor because of his past in the Finance Ministry, the government offers up a new candidate–another ex-Finance Ministry bureaucrat. Not surprisingly, the BOJ’s top post becomes vacant for the first time in postwar history, and also at a time when global markets are in turmoil. 5hr, 49 min, 56 sec

3. The ruling coalition and the opposition camp continue their standstill over road-specific tax revenues. Minshuto insists that the current higher rates, which are to expire March 31, should be abolished. The step would allow the price of gasoline to be lower by 25 yen a liter. But the ruling coalition wants to extend the “temporary” rates for yet another 10 years. 3 hr, 26 min, 9 sec

All hands on deck

Just days after an MSDF destroyer collided with a smaller boat near Chiba, leaving two fishermen missing and presumed drowned, a Japanese destroyer banged into a Cambodian-registered freighter at a port in Vietnam.

And, as if that wasn’t enough, a Vietnamese-registered freighter then hit two Japanese destroyers anchored at a port in Ho Chi Minh City. Revenge of the freighters…

Am I missing something here?

A Ground Self-Defense Forces lieutenant was cited for negligence after he was caught having a conversation with a school-girl while on duty. The 41-year-old told investigators, “I talked to her on impulse.” Whoa … slow down there, Sparky.

WHAT WAS ON THE TUBE (MARCH 10-14)

1. Naoko Takahashi finishes a disappointing 27th in the Nagoya women’s marathon. Q-chan starts lagging behind around 10 kilometers. After the race, Takahashi reveals she had knee surgery in August, but says she wants to continue her marathon career. Winner Yurika Nakamura joins Reiko Tosa and Mizuki Noguchi on Japan’s squad for the Beijing Olympics. 4 hr, 46 min, 34 sec

2. Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara and Osaka Governor Toru Hashimoto are under attack. Members of the Tokyo metropolitan assembly assail Ishihara for his poor oversight of ShinGinko Tokyo bank. Hashimoto, a lawyer and former TV personality, has his remarks struck from the minutes of the prefectural assembly amid heavy fire from assembly members. 2 hr, 13 min, 23 sec

3. Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi makes a rare public appearance after laying low for more than a year. He gives a speech to support Satsuki Katayama, a Lower House member, in her constituency in Shizuoka Prefecture. He also meets political heavyweights, fueling speculation that the man labeled a “maverick” and even a “weirdo” may be up to something. 2 hr, 6 sec.

Oh, that explains it

Chiba police arrested a 30-year-old local government worker for possessing over 100 videos with footage taken by a camera hidden in public toilets. In admitting the charges, the man said he did it “because it’s my hobby.”

A 44-year-old Defense Ministry official who snuck into a home in Gunma Prefecture to steal women’s underwear said he did so “to satisfy my sexual desires.”

After being arrested for punching a convenience store clerk in Kyoto while drunk, noted film director Koichi Yamashita (Kyoto Meikyu Annai) claimed, “I never hit him.”

A 50-year-old Sapporo man who claimed to be blind but who could actually see well enough to hold a drivers license was arrested for welfare fraud.

A female high school student in Oita was found in violation of both the Cannabis Control and the Narcotic and Psychotropic Substances Control Laws after cops busted her with pot and ecstasy.

Red Sox brace for long flight to Japan and 4 games against the Athletics

Big Papi has big plans for the Red Sox’ very long flight to Japan – eat, sleep, and win all of Jonathan Papelbon’s money playing cards.

“He’s a good player, but he’s got bad luck,” David Ortiz says. “So he better bring his whole bank account on the airplane. We always kill him. He’s loud when he’s winning, then boom, he’s quiet.”

Fortunately for Pap – and maybe for Papi – Boston’s star closer was rewarded with a $775,000 contract this month, nearly doubling last year’s salary of $425,000.

Would you like some bug spray with them dumplins’?

A chemical analysis by police of pesticide-tainted gyoza dumplings sold in Chiba and Hyogo prefectures added weight to the speculation that the food was poisoned in China, where it came from, and not in Japan.

On the heels of the nasty gyoza scandal, a deputy commissioner general of the National Police Agency was to visit Chinese public security officials to discuss bilateral cooperation in criminal investigations.

A frozen-food company in Kagawa Prefecture said that pesticide was detected in frozen mackerel imported from China. The fish had been distributed to sushi restaurants throughout Japan.

Obama gets letter from Obama

The Yomiuri Shimbun

FUKUI–The Obama municipal government in Fukui Prefecture has received a letter from U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama, the municipal government announced Tuesday.

In the letter, Obama said he appreciated the support he received from the people of Obama and praised the city’s rich culture, deep tradition and natural beauty.

“I am touched by your friendly gesture,” he wrote.

“We share more than a common name; we share a common planet and common responsibilities,” he wrote.

According to the municipal government, the letter, which was typed and dated from Washington D.C., Feb. 21, was sent by airmail to Mayor Toshio Murakami on Monday.

“The letter will help citizens of Obama feel much closer to [Barack] Obama,” Murakami said.

A Hokkaido Shimbun reporter who was arrested for molesting a female hotel employee admitted the allegations, saying, “I was drunk and don’t clearly remember what I did, but I’m sure I committed the crime.”

A Kyoto court ordered a 26-year-old man to pay ¥670,000 in damages to a woman he punched in the face after she repeatedly told him to remove his bag from an unoccupied bus seat so an elderly passenger could sit down.

A Nagano-to-Tokyo shinkansen was delayed for 37 minutes after an 80-year-old passenger traveling in the Green Car without a ticket punched a conductor in the jaw.

Samurai no Kokorō-e:  Precepts of the Samurai

Ah, another day, another rumbling that things aren’t really going very well.  Many prayers for those in Southern California in the hopes that you and yours get through this horrible fire.  Many prayers that the Turks and Kurds can find some way not to flare into full scale war.  Many hopes and prayers that we can find a way to remove the warmongers Dick and W from office.

With things being so serious lately, what with the SCHIP override coming up and an apparent capitulation on FISA, I thought it was a good time to put some music up for no reason whatever!  🙂

Never Believe What They Say!

The Force Was Not With Him

House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, for example, said the proposal was put together without input from Republicans.

The Hell You Say
Except there’s one little problem Johnny!

That isn’t true. Senior Republicans such as Sens. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee and a fiscal conservative, and Orrin Hatch of Utah helped draft the bill, and 18 Republicans in the Senate and 45 in the House of Representatives voted for it.

The Truth Is Out There

Declaring Torture Abhorrent in 2004

Secret U.S. Endorsement of Severe Interrogations
But soon after Alberto R. Gonzales’s arrival as attorney general in February 2005, the Justice Department issued another opinion, this one in secret. The new opinion, the officials said, for the first time provided explicit authorization to barrage terror suspects with a combination of painful physical and psychological tactics, including head-slapping, simulated drowning and frigid temperatures.

President Bush speaking in Panama City Panama on November 7, 2005 ‘We do not torture’
Lying straight out of your backside orifice as usual.