watashi to tokyo

He got a death penalty

Finally Japans court sets cult guru's death penalty.  It wasn't only casualties and their families who suffered mental damage from the news of Aum. I heard people went to the mental health clinic because they were traumatized by the Aum news. To learn about the Aum, I recommend the non-fiction book "Under Ground" by Haruki Murakami. At first I was surprised to learn he wrote this book, but I understood he wanted to know WHY.

And finally Japan started to reimport American beef . I forgot to check the label, so I don't know if the beef I bought last week was American or Australian. ( I hardly buy Japanese beef because it's expensive.) After three years blank years, Yoshinoya will start to sell beef bowl again on September 18th, this is the very big news for my co-worker. He says he will ceratainly go eat it on 18th at any rate. Since I am not a fan of Yoshigyu (We call Yoshinoya "Yoshigyu", Gyu means cow), I can't understand such feeling, but it become a hot topic. Then on the Yoshinoya official site, they have a campaign "Good by Yoshiboo".  Pork bowl the main bowl during the import ban. But Pork will bediscounted on the 18th because of the return of beef. But like it matters....

Eraser

It's not cute, but it'll be convenient  "The solar power bag".

When I was an elementary and junior high school girl, I really loved
going to variety shops to look for pretty stationary items. I remember that I used a Snoopy pen case, a Patty and Jimmy triangle ruler, etc.  I was given 1000 yen or so as a monthly allowance from my
mom, so even a 100 yen eraser was a big deal to me.  A good eraser was not cute and a cute one was not good for erasing.  I could spend a couple of hours in the shop.  Since I can use most items from the company's regular stock now, I haven't though about this feeling for a long time. .

Speaking of erasers, the most popular brand and long-selling eraser brand is MONO by Tombow Pencil. (which isn't sold in the U.S.!).). The next would be Rader by Seed. Since Seed is an eraser maker, their eraser collection is big.

Anatas ( "ana" means "hole" in Japanese) is an eraser with 5 holes in ti.  The holes  work as points and corners. The concept  is the same as Kadokeshi (it received the Good Design Award Japan in 2003 and 2005).  Kadokeshi seems that it would break too easily but Anatas looks tough. This is "comi keshi", which is a special eraser for drawing manga. Here is the big eraser, which weighs 2kg. (The eraser curving artist Nancy Seki would love it...)　And there is a puzzle type eraser and Eco eraser made from scallops.They have a gallery of their past erasers, 70's looks very cool.

The man who cannot get married

The TV drama "The man who cannot get married" has a high audience rating and became a hot topic for discussion. (this is the official site) A highly capable architect, played by Hiroshi Abe, has an enviable high degree, high income and high height. However since he is ironic and can't catch the mood, feeling of conversation. ( we say "read the air" in Japanese) He makes impertinent comments often and can't make a good relationship with a woman. For example, he says "after marriage, my income will be gobbled up by the wife and kids". "Marriage will means I will have to have double family problem".

But such guy is easy to find in real society not only in TV shows. I mean a guy thinks of only his own happiness and he is lacking sensitivity is an increasing number after 1990. Formerly a son gets huge pressure from his parents about marriage and also he senses it at his job too. But recently such pressure is getting weaker and weaker, a guy can continue his single life if he wants.

Here is the result of the research "The reason why I don't get married".
1.I don't have an encounter.
2.I can't meet an ideal partner.
3.I have not enough income.
4.There is no reason.
5.I don't want to lose my freedom.
6.I don't want to lose money that I can spend freely.
7.I don't have self-confidence.
8.It is troublesome.
9.I don't care about marriage system.
10.I can't make good association with woman.
11.I Want to Enjoy Hobby and Leisure.
12.I want to enjoy my time. 13.I can't feel "I need it".

Then a funny part is this. "Woman think - this is the reason why he can't (doesn't) get married.-"
1.No matter how old I get, he tris to find 20-something beautiful girl.
2.He hopes a domestic woman.
3.He hopes to find someone who can understand him very much, even thought he doesn't know it by himself.
4.He is ready to back out even if he has a chance.
5.He believes seriously "man should wear just simple, should not be fashionable"
6.He doesn't say "I love you, marry me!" and he is waiting for her saying it.
7.His parents didn't have a happy marriege and also there is no happy couple around him.
8.He has no female friends but he defiantly declares it's no problem.
9.He graduated all-boy school, also there is only guys at work too. He always hung around with guys.

Ha ha ha those are keen comments, don't you think so? But speaking of selfish, women are same though, check out this post and this post too. *

They call out a name for a new train.

Small topics from Tokyo

I wrote about how a lovely Play Station lovely Game "Boku no Natuyasumi" (my summer vacation) has a scary bug "August 32nd". The boy stays at his uncle's home during his summer vacation. Usually the home is always in a happy mood. But in 32nd, there is nobody in home, it looks like a haunted house. In the later part, the boy and his uncle's family members change into blue or yellow body. Some recorded the movie, check this one.

East JR Japan Railway company Nagano Branch put out a call for a name for a new train. Some said it should be called Freeza. Yes I agree.

This site picked the "Top 5 Strangest Japanese Accessories". Do you agree? Except for No.4 "Bandai Cat Paws", all are serious items. Those are all women's "pursue the ideal look of beauty", I don't have any though. I think Bowlingual and Meowlingual are much stranger.

"One bite leads to another snack" in Japan

I wrote a confectionery maker Glico started the unique service "Office Glico". They leave a small box or small freezer at your office. You can eat any item by dropping 100yen into the mouth of the frog. Once a week Glico stuff come and restocks new sweets in the box.

Recently Glico researched guy's need for sweets at office. 20's and 30's guy eat some snack at office almost everyday, but 40's and 50's tend to be embarrassed to eat. The snack they eat are... No1. Chocolate, No.2 Senbei, No.3 Cookie and Biscuit. (I don't think they don't count Gum as snack.) They answer they have an image chocolate work for stress off. Actually, there are chocolate having copy "release your stress".　Women think guys eat snack at office is no problem. But the snack should be chocolate, some with nutrient function claims or this type of bar. Even though they think it doesn't matter, women think eating this type of snacks, ice cream, and cakes are not cool.  Yes I want guys to eat snack casually and neatly at office :-).

By the way, here is a ranking "One bite leads to another snack" in Japan.

No.1 Potato Chips: They don't tell the exactly brand. Japanese like right taste.
No.2　Chocolate: They don't tell the exactly brand too. This year, we have a bitter boom. I really love 99% cacao chocolate.
No.3　Kappa Ebisen:It's a stick type fried snack with crispy shrimp flavor. Their copy is "やめられない　とまらない" it means "can't stop".
No.4　Jyagariko:It's a stick type fried potato. I did know this snack is such popular. I have never eaten this before.
No.5　Kakino Tane:It is a type of bite-sized Japanese cracker made from glutinous rice and flavored with soy sauce.　Kakinotane takes its name from its resemblance to a persimmon seed. (Kaki is Japanese for "persimmon".) Kakinotane are often sold with peanuts, a combination called "kakipi".
No.6　Caramel Corn: puff snack coated by caramel sauce. Their package is so cute. Here is the wall paper download.
No.7　Karl: This is very popular and long seller corn puff snack. I love cheese flavor. I wrote about Karl in entrance exam season. Because they have special package. This is very long
No.8　Bokun Habanero: Super hot fried snack. Here is silly TV commercial site. Here is the wall paper download site.
No.9　Baby Star Ramen: Baby Star Ramen is a super junk food as the same as Umaibo. (Umaibo ranked in 21st). It's soy sauce flavored fried Chinese noodle. I did not know it is sold in the world like this. I don't like it but Japanese guys love it.
No.10 Pringles: Like I tell you in Potato Chips, light salt is the most popular flavor in Japan, so even thought Pringles, they made light salt for only Japan market.
No.10 Happy Turn: Very crispy rice cracker.
I don't know which one is sold in foreign countries. Have you every tried some before?

related link
What is a guy's cute gesture? *

Kabuto Project

Last night I had a Turkey Food Party, it was great, but I must tell you this. In Japan, ethenic food is very expensive. dail is arount 400 yen, and Feta Cheese is almost 1400yen.

So having a ethnic food party cost a lot. This is nice art site "Kabuto Project". There is English page, check it out.

And I was laughed to see this Job? Fuck It! by Packard Jennings. His website is really funny, I love the behind the Wal-Mart project. Check it out too.*

Trauma caused on...

I love "IT" by Stephan King, not only in the book. I read an article some American has a crown trauma (what is the difference from Pierrot?). I don't have this trauma, but when I was a kid, this Youkai Ningen Bem was scary to me. Youkai means specter, Ningen means human being. These three specters want to be human beings and until the day, they fight with another specter to protect people. "I want to be a human-being". That is the statement. This is the opening theme of the anime, you will understand some Japanese kids were scared but also loved it.

At that point, the monsters of Inazuman looks like "comedy" to me. Look at this! But maybe for kids, those caused nightmares.　I like this most.

We don't forget such TV Heroes and his enemies when we watched every day in our kid days. As special effects monster film, Godzilla is the biggest for Japanese, and as a TV program, it will be Ultra Seven and Kamen Rider. Do you have some Japanese friends or co-worker around you? If so, please ask him "please do the Shocker". He should put his hands up while saying "KI!"

"Being" is the job search magazine of Recruit Co., Ltd and their new TV commercial is funny. The theme is "Shocker search job". They use real Kamen Rider footage and add new monologue of shocker to it. This video has all series of that ads. In each ads, shocker monologue "Is there any need that I should do this job?" "my boss asks me too much", " is this job we should do on weekend?" , "I wanna work with female co-workers". The points is...since we saw shocker were weak, never won, never speark, treated like trush by boss. we have some sympathy, poor feeling for even they were evil side. This TV ad work our such common trauma. we see this ads with laughing and pathos.

Parasite Single

This BBS design is cool.

Yesterday Fuji Sankei had an article about the American Boomerang generation. In Japan, we call young unmarried adults living off thier parents "parasite singles". But the there is big difference between the Boomerang generation and Parasite singles. As far as I could tell from the article, the Boomerang generation has debt because of academic fee. In Japan, most parents pay tuition for their childen (many think college is included in parent 's responsibility), so it is not a debt issue. The serious part is some Japanese young adults don't ever find work; they continue to rely on their parents and they become "parasite middle-aged"....orz. This is the page a Japanese guy wrote and this is the funny article "no sex" from USA Today. By the way, this is an interesting graph "The rate of young adults who live in their parent's home". Even if he or she works and gets money by themselves, Japanese tend to live with their parents until they marry. For Spanish, Greek, and Italian guys, living with their parents seems pretty normal, but women don't do that. French, English and Americans are very independent from their families. By the way,  the term parasite single originated from the book "Parasite Eve", which was made into the film.

Speaking of that movie, I have never seen this Canadian movie "Project Grizzly". It looks so funny. Have you ever seen it before? Here is the trailer. Check it out.*

Sumo apron

Sumo is a sport which has a very detailed class system. Jyuryo is the second highest division.  Only the class above Jyuryo can wear Ooicho and Kesho Mawashi. Ooicho means big ginkgo leaf and it is this hair style. (looks like ginkgo leaf?) .  Kesho Mawashi is apron type of costume which sumo wrestler wear in only "Dohyoiri" (entering-the-ring ceremony participated by Jyuryo). Kesho Mawashi is a kind of symbol of each sumo wrestler and usually it was presented by each wrestler's sponsor. The average price of each Kesho Mawashi is over 2 million yen and special craftsman take as long as 2 months to make it.

The design and motif is related to each Spencer. Young Jyuryo have their old school as Sponsor, then they have school symbol like this and this. Takamisakari has the support of Japanese Sake maker "Nihonsakari", then he got this from Nihonsakari.

The Bulgarian sumo wrestler Kotooshu is very popular in Japan. He wore this because Meiji Dairies Corp featured him as a main character of Bulgaria Yogurt TV commercial.  Last year, the Bulgarian ambassador presented this to him. Then this year European Union in Japan called for design submissions . Then they choose this one. But I read the Kesho Mawashi caused a stir regarding the stars. In Sumo rules, they call each match result "hoshi= star".  A Sumo wrestler has 15 matches in one season and each win is called "shiro boshi = white star", each lost is kuro boshi = black star,  win to Yokozuna champion is called kin boshi = gold star. Some said only 12 star on his apron looks like bad luck, as if he can win only 12. But of course they can't change it 15 stars (it's EU symbol!) , so EU twist an argument "he will make three stars more by himself".

Because of sponsor's logo or products, Kesho Mawashi design can be very pop. This is Ameba because CyberAgent of Ameblo sponsored him. This is cute whale, you can see the Robot in the center.　Then finally the cat will appear on Sumo ring. His sponsor is the maker of Kitty products. Hmm the cat appears in unexpected places. Scary...

Flaming is Enjyo in Japanese

Flaming is the act of posting messages that are deliberately hostile and insulting. In Japan we say "炎上" (enjyo), it means the same as flaming. I wrote before about Nathans trouble. At first the part-time worker's blog was flaming, and finally Nathans site was attacked by otaku. And I remember "Enoden bus" one. A woman was pulled over to the curb by an Enoden bus and shouted at from the vehicle's microphone by the driver. Her husband wrote a complaint about the Enoden bus about it on his blog, then the driver and his boss visited him and apologized to him and her. He should have stopped, but he uploaded those two guy's photos and wrote their real names, then kept complaining on his blog. Also some witnessess noticed his writing was different from the fact. So his blog was flaming. Since he replied trollish comment to some criticism, flaming went so bad quickly and his blog had to the end for just one day. Since he wrote individual information of Enoden bus employee, it got to be the matter of the question of responsibility, then he had to quite his job (college employee) in the end. I don't think his blog was so popular, flaming may happen to any body's blog. It's scary.

"炎上"=Flaming is divided into more details now, 1.BOYA(small fire) : After the flaming, the blog return to normal. 2.HANSHO(partial loss by fire) : close comments and TrackBack and return to one way communication web 1.0 type site. 3. ZENSHO (burn out) : the site close. Ha ha ha, It's interesting.

Tanken.com is the great historical photo and picture collection site, the first link contains historical photos (warning :including crucifixion scene) and the second link has old Tokyo photos. Not only Japanese, Indian erotic pics, prohibition law pics etc. I like this most. It's Daikannon temple in MIE pref. This is the God for protecting cancer. I don't know why there is frog orchestra.

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