watashi to tokyo

The Kyūshū Shinkansen is open!

The Kyūshū Shinkansen is a bullet train that runs between Fukuoka and Kagoshima prefectures in Kyushu. The southern 127 km stretch opened on March 13, 2004. The northern 130 km section opened on March 12, 2011. With this portion finally complete, it'll be much more convenient to travel around in Kyushu and more cities will enjoy greater tourism, so the people of Kyushu have been hoping for this for a long time. Here is the TV commercial, you can see how happy people are to have this train.

 

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Cup noodle election, UNIQLO T-shirt Grand Prix

This is the world's biggest Pacman site, try it if you like Pacman. Personally, I hate that game.

Nissin started this event: "Cup Noodle Election". People can choose their favorites from those old, discontinued flavors of Cup Noodle and the top three choices will be released again. I didn't know that so many flavors had been released and discontinued over the years, and actually, I have never tried even one of these flavors. Look at this shrimp in chili sauce! And this is a kimchee and cheese flavor, weird.

Here is another event: UNIQLO's UTGP (UNIQLO T-Shirt Grand Prix) is held every year. This year's theme was Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Finally, they announced the winner. The Grand Prix winner is this one. The winning designs will be sold in international UNIQLO stores. What do you think? I like this one. I will buy it.

Due to some peoples' hysteria about the nuclear leak, TEPCO workers have suffered a lot of abuse. Some had stones thrown at them, some had their tires punctured, many were cursed at in public... I don't think that individual TEPCO employees should be targeted... Here is a good example of the extent of the problem: TEPCO's dormitory had to change their signs and also TEPCO cars need to hide their logo.

 

the documentary video about 311

Oh oh, great! Is this made from toothpicks?

Scott Weaver's Rolling through the Bay from Learning Studio on Vimeo.

Here is a documentary video about 3/11. A month and a half has passed, and many things are recovering in the Tokyo area. We don't have blackouts anymore, the trains run on schedule, and we can buy nattou, yogurt and water without any problems (those items disappeared from stores because manufacturers and factories could not operate during the blackout). However, we are still in crisis mode. Finally, "TEPCO Releases Radiation Map" of the inside of the reactors. And this is a radiation map of Japan which somebody else made (not TEPCO). The green areas are okay and the red areas are over the radiation limit. Now I've realized that we won't be able to swim in the ocean this year. Anyways, we will have rolling blackouts in the summer, which means that sometimes we won't be able to use A/C. If you hate hot weather, summer will not be a good time to visit Japan.

I read in an article that one Hikikomori guy refused to escape and died because he stayed home. Here is a post: Op-Ed: Psychiatric Disorder (Hikikomori) Could Complicate Japan Quake Recovery.

 

Princess Toyotomi is made into a film

Princess Toyotomi, which is a fantasy novel written by Manabu Makime, has been made into a film. The movie tells the story of a group of government auditors who find out that Osaka is operating as an independent country known as "Osaka Kingdom," headquartered beneath the real-life Osaka castle.

What School Lunches Look Like In 20 Countries Around The World. Personally, I think that Singapore's looks good.

 

The top of Tokyo Tower bent a little because of the 3/11 earthquake. This is a video of the refurbishing operation to straighten out the bent top. Wow!

 

Who works the longest in the world!

Guess who it is? Who works the longest in the world? It's not the Japanese.

 

The Japanese Coast Guard's patrol boat "Matsushima" ran into a tsunami in the ocean.

 
 

 

LEGO GBC 20 modules

"LEGO GBC 20 modules". He made this using only LEGOS!

Who thinks this is totally freaking awesome? Ha ha ha, I love this comment: "I love the fact that they take off their shoes before entering these."

 

I laughed at this, ha ha ha.

 

xylophone in a forest

NTT Docomo's new cell phone, the "Touch WOOD Sh-08c", has a wooden body made of Japanese cypress. This model is made of wood from a forest preservation project. I found their viral ad. It's so beautiful.

A Japanese banana artist!! Here are more, how funny!

Anti-Zombie Fortress: new meme

This is a post where you add the most impressive photos from this disaster. I was shocked to see this one. The young woman was quarantined because radioactivity was found on her body. Her mother tried to talk to her.

Ah! A new meme? "Anti-Zombie Fortress". Here is the story. The building is "Shime Kougyousho Tateko Yagura", it was built as a coal mine in 1943 and now it's become an important cultural site in Japan.

I don't know why I find ruins so attractive. I wrote about Gunkanjima before a lot (this is the best gallery). Today, I found this: "75 Abandoned Theaters From Around The USA" It's pretty good.

 

 

a prediction

There is still a custom of exhibiting self-control at Hanami, but now people's sentiments have changed. People are starting to say "Let's Hanami! Drink sake from the Tohoku area! Matsuri (festival) is a kind of prayer, too much control may shrink the economy more!" Also, Tohoku sake brewers unite, urge Tokyo to drink up in support. I agree and I bought 6 bottles of "Akakirishima" shochu (a good one, it's hard to get) for Hanami last night, but one is already gone and I had a hangover today. Whoops!

The Seattle Space Needle, New York City's Empire State Building, and other iconic towers around the world were illuminated in white and red on April 5th as a sign of support for Japan. Thanks! Tokyo Tower looks like it's pink and blue, though it ought to have the best display :-p

Malaysia

Korea

New York

Toronto

Chicago

Seattle

Tokyo

I didn't know about this woman until two days ago, but her name is "Teruko Matsubara" and she is a psychic. I heard about her from a physicist's blog. The scientist wrote that even though Matsubara doesn't have a background in science, her words gave him a hint as to how to remove radiation from the air. And he said that since last year, Matsubara has been predicting an earthquake and tsunami to hit the Tohoku area, and on February 16, 2011, she mentioned exactly where the dangerous areas would be: Iwate, Miyagi, Fukushima, and Ibaragi. She also added a city named "Rikuzen Takada", even though she didn't know where it was. Rikuzen Takada is a small city in the Iwate prefecture, actually I've never heard of it until the earthquake hit, but now it's known as one of the cities most damaged by this earthquake. Since last week, her site has been hard to access because of heavy traffic. Here is her site, it's only available in Japanese. I also found her old site, which has parts that are translated into English. As for the US, she mentioned the words "California" and "volcano". She also predicts that North Korea will have some kind of big change this year, and that President Obama is trying to annouce something very important that has been kept secret for a long time. Anyways, please read these things with a grain of salt. I am interested in these things now.

Nihon Chinbotsu" (Sinking of Japan)

I wanted to watch this movie, but maybe it's bad timing to blog about this. "Nihon Chinbotsu" (Sinking of Japan).