TOKYOMANGO

Defense Minister Fears Alien Attack

Defense minister Shigeru Ishiba is scared. Not of North Korean missiles or terrorist attacks. He's scared of alien invasions.

While he made it clear that this was his own fear and not that of his ministry, he went on and on about it in a very random tangent at a press conference completely unrelated to aliens. We deployed the self-defense forces when Godzilla attacked the country in the movie, he said, so why not do the same for an alien attack?

"There are no grounds for us to deny that there are unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and some life-form that controls them," he told the press last week. If they descended, saying 'People of the Earth, let's make friends,' it would not be considered an urgent, unjust attack on our country. And there is another issue of how can we convey our intentions if we don't understand what they are saying. We should consider various possibilities. There is no need at all to do this as the defence ministry, but I want to consider what to do by myself."

 

Link (Thanks, Kenji!)

Boy Dies When Head Gets Trapped By Mattress

In a freak accident earlier this month, a 4-year old boy died when his head got stuck behind a reclining bed. When reps from the National Consumer Affairs Center went to the house to investigate, they found that the mattress moved without even touching the Recline button. Dangerous!

The father found his kid with his neck wedged between the mattress and headboard (see diagram to the left) on December 9th.

Link

Hibiya Park Christmas Lights

My mom and brother took this photo of the Christmas lights in Hibiya Park. Pretty cool!

The Chipmunks Christmas Song By Two Chinese Boys

Merry Christmas! I'm in Lake Tahoe with these two silly people (Brian and Jonathan). We just opened presents and made this video, and now we're gonna hit the slopes for a few hours.

"First" White Geisha Not Really First, Will No Doubt Write A Book Anyway

This is Sayuki, who claims to be the first officially white Geisha girl. She started work in Asakusa last week.

Actually, Sayuki is an Australian anthropologist with quite a pedigree—an MBA from Oxford, bragging rights for being the first white girl to enter Keio, film director credits at the BBC and National Geographic, and several books she authored.

Some blogs and news sites have been touting this as a breakthrough moment in the 400-year history of geishahood. Not me. I think "Sayuki" is a brillliant anthropologist who will no doubt write a book about her experiences in a couple years.

Sayuki.net via 3Yen

UPDATE: Actually, Sayuki is NOT the first foreigner/white geisha. As reader Jenn points out, Liza Dalby did this decades ago, as a geisha named Ichigiku. Pics here. (Thanks, Jenn!)