TOKYOMANGO

Why older couples are getting divorced

I was reading a woman's weekly on the airplane that analyzed why the divorce rate among Japanese couples over 55 is on the rise. (The overall divorce rate is on the decline.)

- Greater life expectancy means more life to live. Back in the day when people only lived until they were sixty-something, it seemed reasonable to stick around even after the kids grew up, since there wasn't much time to start over anyway. Now, with the average life expectancy in Japan being much higher, people see the post-child-rearing era as an opportunity to start over, to find romance again, or to travel, or whatever it is they haven't gotten out of their system.

- A couple years ago, in my very first TokyoMango blog post ever, I wrote about a new law offering half of the husband's pension to his divorcee. This, of course, enables housewives to survive financially without being at their husbands' beck and call.

- Women forget that men need to be babied. One woman expert commented that women take care of the men in the early days of marriage, but by the time their husbands are getting ready to retire, they aren't as enthusiastic about it anymore. Treat your husband as you would your son, she suggests.

- Women are sick of being disrespected. One male expert commented that many husbands are super rude to their wives, not treating them as equals and shunning their efforts to make things work as a couple. It serves them right that the woman finally feel empowered to get up and leave.

- One woman expert, divorced, reminds older couples to try everything possible to make amends before making the final split.

Serial purse snatcher caught after 11 years

Tomoki Matsuyama, 32, is a master purse snatcher. Since 1997, he is thought to have stolen 1,025 purses in Saitama prefecture with a total of 79 million yen in them. That means he started when he was 21! He's jobless and has no fixed address, but he did carefully log each theft in a little notebook so that he could avoid hitting up the same spots when cops might be on the lookout for him. Seriously wow. He finally got caught and is now on trial for robbery, inflicting bodily in jury, and theft.

Link

Bottle Keep

In Japan, there's a custom called bottle keep. Frequent customers to a bar or restaurant get to keep a bottle of sake at the establishment with their name on it—that way, if they just want a couple of glasses without the commitment of drinking a whole bottle, they can just save the rest for later. It's a good way to keep customers coming back, but it's also really great for the customers. It almost feels like coming home—they officially become regulars there, and they don't even have to bring cash. I went to a restaurant the other night that had a rack overloaded with bottle keeps. Each name is neatly labeled on a wooden panel hung over the neck of the sake bottle.

Gyoza kaikan, old ramen shop in Karuizawa

This past weekend, we went to Karuizawa, a popular vacation spot in the mountains that's about an hour train ride from Tokyo. It was the first time in 15+ years that I had gone there, but not much had changed. One of my fave spots from childhood is this little hole-in-the-wall ramen shop called "Gyoza Kaikan." It's at the edge of town, tucked into a tiny alley that you could very easily miss if you didn't know what you were looking for. I remember going there and lining up to get a seat when I was a kid. The food tasted  the same = pretty damn good. Afterwards we went to see a waterfall.

The 10 commandments of a maid cafe

A maid cafe is not an excuse for you to be naughty. Here's a list of 10 things that are totally illegal, as clearly stated on the door of a maid cafe in Akiba:

1. Touching a maid's body.
2. Asking for a maid's phone number.
3. Asking for a maid's email address.
4. Infringing on a maid's privacy. Ask what time she gets off work.
5. Stalking or persistently picking up a maid.
6. Waiting for her to come in and out, or lingering outside the cafe.
7. Harming the employees, guests, or neighbors of this cafe.
8. Taking photos of the maids or the interior and exterior of the cafe.
9. Bringing outside food or drink into the cafe.
10. Smoking on the stairs outside the cafe.

The sign at the bottom claims that the cafe has teamed up with the secret service for surveillance and enforcement of these rules.

MangoBot: How to buy figurines in Tokyo

This week on MangoBot, I wrote a guide to figurine shopping in Tokyo with a bunch of photos I took last week on my trip to Akiba. I also did a quick phone interview with blogger Danny Choo to get the deets. Here's an excerpt, and a link to the full article:

In Akiba, fans don't just buy figurines in boxes. A subset of talented geeks pick up kits and then fine tune the products into perfectly painted, customized collectors items that they then resell in little glass windows rented by the hour for about $500/week. Why buy figurines that have been modded by other fans? With kits, you often don't know what you're going to get inside, but this way you can pick and choose what character you're getting. The more skilled fans also add extra super-intricate coloring and detail to the standard finish, enhancing the aesthetic. It's kind of like getting any product customized—cookie cutter factory-made goods transform into one-of-a-kind collectors' items. Radio Kaikan, a famous seven-story department store built in the 60s, used to exclusively sell music components, but as the demand for music players dropped and the demand for figurines soared, the display of stereos have been replaced by rows and rows of figurine-encasing glass windows.

Read How to buy figurines in Tokyo: An Illustrated Guide

DIY portable hot tub kit

We've toyed with the idea of getting a hot tub for a long time, but there's always the problem of where to put it. This neat little build-it-yourself hot tub kit solves that problem. All the wood panels, the heating unit, and the tub itself fold into stackable pieces that can be neatly put away when it's not in use. The unit fits up to four people inside, and you can purchase a detachable bar counter and a faucet.

Product page via Hobby Blog

The new minister of declining birth

Yuko Obuchi is former prime minister Keizo Obuchi's 34 year old daughter. She has an interesting position in Taro Aso's new cabinet. Her title is Minister of Population and Gender Equality in English, but in Japanese, she is the 少子化相 (shoushika-sou), or Minister of Declining Birth.

Call me crazy, but in my slightly feminist mind, gender equality and declining birth are NOT the same thing. The job title "minister of declining birth" is kind of horrendous—it takes a lot of power out of her hands already by defining what her role as the person in charge of gender is. Women don't get to choose their path in life, they just need to have more babies. That's kinda how that title resonates with me.

The fanciest vegetarian restaurant in the world

Last night, I went to a restaurant called Daigo. It's probably the fanciest vegetarian restaurant in the world. I'm a total carnivore, and this was the first time I ever actually felt stuffed from eating vegetables. This was one of the appetizer plates we got. The meal was full of rare Japanese fruits and veggies, like the little red thing in the white lacey cover. I can't remember what it was called.

Suicide prevention train platforms

Newer train lines in Japan have suicide prevention platforms. 5-foot walls span the entire platform, with doors that only open when the train has safely stopped at the station. Jumping in front of a moving train is one of the most common suicide methods in Japan—it was, at least, until people started spreading information on how to gas themselves at home.

New PM Taro Aso depicted as a local hero in Akihabara

I knew that our new prime minister Taro "Rosen" Aso had a special connection with the manga geeks in Akihabara, but was pleasantly surprised to see him honored in such a big way—a cartoon depiction of him decorated the facade of a building. Around the corner, there was this lovely poster of him in various cosplay.

This poster says "He is OUR Taro" and has him in various Japanese costumes with notable quotes. Let's see if he lasts longer than Fukuda and Abe.

Instant ramen in a can

Geeks don't have time to eat a real meal when they're figurine shopping in Akihabara. That's why every fifth vending machine on the street sells real warm meals in a can, like oden, ramen, beef&potatoes, and Chinese noodles. Each one is about $3. They first started selling these canned dinners in front of an old school electronics store a few years ago, and it was a huge hit. Now it's all over town. But only really in Akiba, I think—has anyone seen it elsewhere?

I was gonna try one but my brother stopped me. Why ruin my appetite with this junk when I was about to go get a real meal? Maybe next time.

Brian's virgin maid cafe experience

I don't think I've ever seen Brian look so happy. This was taken at a Maid Cafe in Akihabara earlier today. The pic with the cat ears and the bubble lettered love message cost 500 yen, but the joy it brought him was apparently priceless. Meow.

Digital clock tracks pets' ages in human and animal time

This looks like an ordinary digital alarm clock, but it's made specifically to track time as experienced by our pets. By inputting your pet's size and age, it gives you both the real age and the estimated human age (we think that pets age 3-7x faster than we do), and even sings happy birthday on its every human-age birthday.

Sega Toys via Impress Watch (Japanese)

Kanreki = turning 60 and being reborn as a baby

My dad turned 60 last night, so we had a big party for him to celebrate his kanreki. In Japan, turning 60 is a major big deal. It's when your life has come full circle, when the clock resets and you start a new cycle of life. Interestingly it's usually only a major celebration for males—I guess women don't want to celebrate turning 60, not so much. One of the traditions honored at kanreki is the wearing of a red chanchanko, a padded sleeveless kimono jacket with a matching silly hat (no, that's not my dad in the pic.) Red in Japanese is aka. Akachan is the word for baby. So it's a play on words signifying that the person is back to baby status.

So now that my dad's a baby again, I am going to go back into my little cocoon and wait 30 years to be born. Bye bye!

Yamanote line digital watch

I'm not a super train geek or anything, but I do know the Yamanote line pretty well. It's the green-and-silver train that does a big loop around central Tokyo, that takes you from Meguro to Tokyo Station in 19 minutes and from Shinjuku to Shibuya in precisely 7. I used to take it everyday to school and now I ride it all the time to get places. Now, with this strange-but-kinda-cool digital watch that looksl ike the train station sign announcing the arrival of the next train, you can wear the Yamanote line on your wrist.

Link

Related stories:

Yamanote Line tape measure
Yamanote Line cell phone straps

Manga about wine triggers new wine boom

In Japan, manga is used to teach a lot of things. In the case of Kami no Shizuku, it helped revive the country's interest in fine wines. The manga, written by Tadashi Agi, is a 15-volume series about a wine connoisseur named Shizuku, the son of a famous wine critic who is on a mission to find the 12 best wines in the world. Real world critics are saying that this imaginary character's opinions are influencing the nation's taste buds more than any sommelier or wine magazine. Half a million Japanese read its installations every week, and the translated versions are a huge hit in other parts of Asia, too.

Anyway, I just thought of it because my mom's a huge fan and left a giant stack of these manga in my room. Link

Giants vs Tigers, the oldest baseball rivalry in Japan

Last night, I went to the Giants vs. Tigers baseball game at Tokyo Dome. Somehow, we scored front row seats in a section where you're given a helmet and a glove, you know, in case the ball flies straight at you (it didn't). Tokyo's Yomiuri Giants and Osaka's Hanshin Tigers are the two oldest teams in Japanese baseball, and it's a rivalry as intense as the Yankees vs. the Red Sox. It was an extremely important game for the Giants—it brought them one game ahead of the Tigers in the Central League, late in the season after a 13-game deficit. The Giants scored 8 points in the bottom of the 5th inning to gain the lead, and then kept it to win 9-5.

Tokyo Dome is a 1.2 million square foot facility that was built for the Giants in 1988. It was pouring out last night, but as you can see, the 55,000 spectators and all the players are perfectly dry and comfortable. I actually went to the opening game at Tokyo Dome with my dad and my little brother. Dad took us out of school to go on a weekday, saying this was a special event in history that was worth ditching math class for. I thought he was such a cool guy for doing that. (But neither my dad or my brother remember going, haha.)

Continue reading for video and pics of the Hanshin Tigers cheering squad and the awesome bento I ate while watching them.

Mom kills son with a cell phone strap

This morning, a 35-year old Fukuoka mother admitted to having strangled her 6-year old son with his cell phone strap. The boy was found dead—wedged in between a column and wall of a park bathroom—four days ago. The mother claimed that the boy had disappeared while she was peeing—a search immediately followed, and neighbors found the unconscious body nearby and his cell phone tossed into a nearby bush. A reporter on the scene was on TV today, explaining why the mom was under suspicion throughout the short-lived investigation—for example, she was crying his name out desperately while neighbors looked for clues, but when they finally found the body, she refused to look at it. Also, the GPS-enabled cell phone, which she had urged investigators to track in order to find the boy, had no fingerprints on it. She must have wiped it clean before tossing it aside.

It's common for elementary school kids to carry around GPS-enabled cell phones so parents can keep track of there whereabouts. In Japan, kids start commuting to school on their own from as early as kingergarten.

How to fight jet lag from US to Tokyo?

I usually arrive at my parents' house in Tokyo right before dinner. Flights arrive around 4, and it takes 2-3 hours to clear Narita and settle down at destination. I'm always starving. I eat, and immediately get sleepy. Last night we had a big feast—shabu shabu, sashimi, potato salad, white asparagus (in season!), sweet edamame, kimchee-and-squid, rice. Persimmons, figs, and nashi (Japanese pear) for dessert. I unpack/shower. Pass out at 10PM. And then, almost without fail, I wake up in the middle of the night and stay up and listen to the city sleep. In the dead of summer, you hear cicadas all night. Tonight, I heard some other critter chirping outside my window until about 5am.

I know it's 5am because the first trains hit the tracks, and I hear them speeding across town and the house shakes just a little bit. It's also right around the crack of dawn, so the room starts to light up. Then the mean crows start cawing and the newspaper guy comes around in his little moped and I hear him doing the stop-and-go around the neighborhood. Then my dad wakes up. And I start to get sleepy again, but I usually eat breakfast and stay up til about 4PM, when I take a super power nap, and stay sleepy throughout the night until about 2-3AM the next morning when I wake up and do the same thing.

After all these years of going back and forth, I still don't have a good strategy to fight the brutal California-to-Tokyo jet lag. I'm open to tips!

TokyoMango blogging from Tokyo soon!

I'm getting on a plane tomorrow to Tokyo, and won't be back in the US for a month. What does that mean? A couple of things:

1. I probably won't blog tomorrow.
2. I will be collecting lots of blog-worthy photos and ideas through osmosis, and from walking around town, and working on stories. It should be fun! Stay tuned.

Toy sushi maker for creative sushi parties

Planning a sushi party? This awesome little boy from Bandai makes sushi rolls shaped like hearts, teddy bears, flowers, and rabbits.

Product page (Japanese, via Impress Watch)

The Yatta song featuring lots of almost-naked dudes

This is a very happy song called "Yatta!" The phrase was made universally famous by Hiro from Heroes, but it's long been a part of the expression of joy in Japan. Part of this song's chorus goes: Yatta! Yatta! All you need is one leaf.

I think somebody linked to this video in the comments somewhere, though I apologize because I can't remember where it was.

Speed Racer-themed gas stations

The US remake of Speed Racer was horrible, but in Japan, Maha GoGo is legendary. According to Boing Boing, there are even Maha GoGo-themed gas stations. Looks like this one is in Kyushu. Gas stations in Japan are fully serviced and usually, the gas comes from the sky—although this one looks like it has ground-based pumps like the US. Interesting...Also, if you're wondering what that little green-and-yellow sticker on the back of the van at center is, it's the "rookie" sticker—anyone who has had their drivers' license for less than a year is required by law to put it on.

I wrote about the original Speed Racer on MangoBot back in May. Read it here.

Fake dead body was some guy's virtual girlfriend

Just under a month ago, a couple walking their dog in the woods found a dead body, bound and wrapped in plastic. They called the cops, who unwrapped not a human corpse but a sex doll. It was all over the news. Investigators finally figured out who was responsible for this scare. They also found that that this wasn't a prank, but the real "murder" of a man-on-plastic romantic relationship gone awry. 

Pink Tentacle writes:  

According to investigators, the man had lived with the sophisticated doll for several years after his wife passed away, but decided to part with her after making plans to move in with one of his children. “It seems he grew attached to the doll over the years,” said the chief investigator. “He was confused about how to get rid of her. He thought it would be cruel to cut her up into pieces and throw her out with the trash, so he proceeded to dump her illegally.”

The guilty owner was a 60-year old unemployed man who may be fined for violating the Waste Management Law.

The one-man spade orchestra

Joe Masao is a one-of-a-kind musician. His instrument of choice is a spade. It's basically a shovel with strings, with a bottle opener as a plectrum. The 66-year old Miyagi native was kinda interested in the shamisen, but he chose a spade instead to defy convention.

"I don't like things that are conventional," he told Mainichi.

He got his bearings around shovels when he worked as an assistant steam locomotive engineer in his 20s. Now, his goal is to try to put together an orchestra of 20-30 fellow spade players.

Guy who makes sculptures out of mikan peels

Yu Sasakawa has a funny hobby. He likes to make things out of tangerine peels. He uses bamboo skewers to slice ripened mikan into the desired shapes. Other creations (besides this cute little guy carrying a backpack) include an elephant, sunglasses, panties, a sunflower, and Doraemon. A few more pics after the jump.

Danny and Jimmy Choo on CNN

Yay for Danny Choo being on CNN! I hung out with him last time I was in Tokyo, and someone whispered to me: you know, Danny isn't just some goofy guy that likes to dress up as Stormtrooper. He's Jimmy Choo's son!! And I was like, hmmm. It's true, I don't know that many other Chinese people who spell Choo with two o's instead of a u...and he must get his enterprising spirit from somewhere. Well, now the little rumor is all over CNN. I hope Danny gives me a pair of size 7 shoes his dad designed next time I see him. (Please?) Just kidding. Kind of.

Me on Asian Week talking about the importance of toilet jokes in Japan

I was quoted in an article in AsianWeek titled Cool Japan: Why Japanese remakes are so popular on American TV, and where we're getting it wrong.

Basically I just spouted off my opinion about I Survived a Japanese Game Show and other silly things to the reporter. Of course, my kicker quote had to do with toilet jokes:

“To make a really successful Japanese variety show, you have to have really crass humor and there’s a lot of slapping involved and there are a lot of violations of basic rights to privacy,” Katayama said, referring to shows where people are pulled from toilets or shot into the sky from porta-potties. “That would never fly in the U.S.”

Link

Nagi Noda's last music video and kuroko, an old theater trick

Last week, I posted about the unfortunate, way-too-soon death of one of Japan's leading ladies in contemporary art, Nagi Noda. The last thing she worked on was this music video and album art for Japanese singer MEG. In this video, Noda uses kuroko, a traditional Japanese theater technique involving several stagehands dressed completely in black, to make things appear to be moving on their own. Maybe I'm biased, but I think it's really cool how Japanese traditional arts blend so seamlessly with contemporary aesthetic—everything from this video, to kimono fabrics in fashion, to zen influences in interior design.

(Thanks, Aaron!)

Hello Kitty-branded roomba

This may be the closest you'll ever get to having a real live Hello Kitty running around your living room.It's a Kitty-branded Roomba. It's the first branded self-maneuvering vacuum ever made by iRobot. About $800, and you can get it either on the iRobot Japan web site or directly from Sanrio. Sweet! (?) 

Link (Japanese)

H&M makes its way to Tokyo

H&M is my favorite cheap clothing store to get semi-stylish stuff that doesn't last forever. I love it. Yesterday, the Swedish clothing line debuted in Japan with the unveiling of the Ginza flagship store. It's four stories high! Of course, the Uniqlo store down the street is probably much bigger, but it's interesting to see the once-uber-high-end-only shopping district turning Herald Square on us. A Harajuku store opens in November. H&M has 1600 stores around the world. Mostly in Europe, and often times there is more than one per block, and the lines for the dressing rooms are always out of control.

Link

Tetris-tiled bathrooms

If I ever make enough money to buy my own house and redecorate my own bathroom, I will get Tetris-tiled walls next to my bathtub. Can you imagine how fun that would be? Tetris Tiles were created by a London company that believed tiled walls should be more interesting than just stupid little cubes. I couldn't agree more. 

Product page (Thanks, Adora!)

Related story:
I was programmed by Tetris to be a better person

Today on MangoBot: Tokyo Zombie!

Today on io9's MangoBot, I wrote about an awesome zombie comic book and movie called Tokyo Zombie, which is just making its way stateside:

What if zombies took over Tokyo? How would a slow zombie fare in a cage fight against a martial arts expert? Has a zombie ever offered you a blowjob? These questions and more are answered in a funny, slightly X-rated Japanese comic book and movie called Tokyo Zombie.

Read Tokyo Zombie: Zombies, Cage Fights, Oral Sex, and Martial Arts

Pigs having sex. Maybe NSFW.

I don't normally post animals having sex on my blog, but here goes. The reporter is talking about how the pigs are being isolated at this Ibaragi pig farm because germs from human apparel are affecting their health. She is describing how delicate pigs are when she turns around to see two giant pigs going at it. Judging from her outfit and the conservativeness of her reaction, I'd guess that this was a newscast from the 80s?

Link

Is Kim Jong-Il dead, paralyzed, or alive and well?

Nobody knows for 100% certain what exactly is wrong with Kim Jong-Il. Many news outlets are now reporting that he most definitely had a stroke recently. South Korea's National Intelligence Service, a collective of spies that supposedly has the most information on North Korea anywhere, announced on Wednesday night that he was recovering from the rumored stroke, but that the left side of his body may be paralyzed. Of course, nobody knows for sure, because nobody ever knows for sure what is going on north of the Korean border. I just checked the Korean Central News Agency, North Korea's official news portal to the rest of the world, but as always it's chock full of propaganda—flower baskets and honorary hymns by foreign countries who love to celebrate their Dear Leader. Some say that Kim didn't make his usual highly anticipated appearance at the country's 60th anniversary celebration. Kind of a big deal. But again, I wasn't there, so I don't know if it's true.

One Waseda University professor, Toshimitsu Shigemura, believes that Kim Jong-Il has been dead for years, and that he's being represented publicly by a body double. Who knows? This could be true too. Or maybe it's all just rumors created to make us start talking about North Korea again, or to distract us from the apocalyptic nuclear attack they've been planning for years.

Trend report: women who want to date withered old men

There's a new dating trend in Japan. No, it's not beautiful Korean boys or geeks from Akiba—those are so last year. Now young women are looking for "kareoyaji", or withered old men. Here are some of the traits of this highly desirable, elder guy, according to a book titled "Do you like ojisan?":

- He likes alone time.
- He looks good in back alleys.
- He drinks beer out of bottles, not cans.
- He likes cats more than dogs.
- There's a neighborhood a bar that he frequents alone.
- He's a nonchalant know-it-all.
- He doesn't aggressively chase after money or women.
- He accepts his age.

On a side note, Details Magazine has a funny article about younger guys with grandpa syndrome. (Thanks, Mary!)

Nagi Noda, super-talented Japanese pop artist, is dead

Nagi Noda, talented, internationally famous artist and director who put her own unique artsy-girly high fashion sense on the international art scene map, died on Sunday.

Noda was born in Tokyo in 1973. She went to some really good art schools in the city before establishing her own studio, Uchu Country, in 2003. Since then, she went on to create ads for Nike and Coca-cola, album covers and music videos for artists ranging from Hikaru Utada to the Scissor Sisters, and a whole bunch of creative cool shit like the artsy poodle exercise video I posted a few months ago. In the US, she was represented by Partizan Entertainment and well-known in the NY art scene for being super-fun to hang out with. One of her newest now-posthumous creations is the upcoming album cover for Japanese singer MEG, which comes out on 9/17.

Her death was apparently due to complications from surgery she had after a bad car accident last year. She must have known she was going to die, because she got dressed up for it—she was wearing a Mark Ryden dress, Chanel boots, and Viktor and Rolf black lace eyelashes. 

Noda kept a scantly updated English language blog, where she wrote about nights out with fellow Partizan director Michel Gondry and other designer/artist friends. Her last post was in June—she blogged about going to a Miu Miu show wearing one of her awesome animal hair hats.

Pretty vacuum cleaners that don't take up space

I never understood why American vacuum cleaners have to be so bulky. Look at this beautiful, space-saving, stylish sucker from Japanese company Electrolux. It has the same cyclone system as a Dyson but it only weighs 5lbs. Plus it comes in pretty colors like magenta, diamond sand, and havana brown.

Link

Baby panda conceived by artificial insemination dies

Sad news for zoo pandas. A baby was born last Tuesday to a 12-year old panda named Tan Tan at the Kobe Zoo; it was the first one conceived through artificial insemination in 20 years. The little thing was dead by Friday afternoon. Zoo officials suspect it may have been because of rough handling or not enough milk from the mom. I don't know if that has anything to do with the artificial insemination factor. The dad was another Kobe Zoo panda, Ko Ko.

Link

Me in a Brazilian magazine

A Brazilian magazine called Made In Japan (which I unknowingly snapped a photo of in Sao Paulo) wrote a profile about me but I have no idea what it says. What did they write? "Lisa has a silly blog and a cute dog"?

Link

Origami presidential candidates

Want to wrap your favorite presidential candidate around your finger? The site foldUScandidate.com lets you print out origami finger puppet templates of the Obamas and McCains for free. They even have a Hillary puppet for those who wanted the Clintons back in office. (Thanks, Yuval!)

Takahashi Meijin, the first gamer geek ever

Before gamer geeks became a dime a dozen, there was Takahashi Meijin. Takahashi was hugely famous and all over TV from the mid-to-late 80s because he was so good at every Family Computer games. Game software company Hudson actually hired him under the title "Meijin" (or expert)—his job was just to be really, really good at all their games. He can push a button with his finger 16 times per second. If you watch him play, he has absolutely no wasted movements—not even an extra blink, ever!

In this video, he says: "I'm actually pretty clumsy. It's possible that you might be better at the next new game than me." It shows his life story—born in Sapporo, dropped out of college, got a job at a supermarket, then eventually became a game software salesperson in Akihabara. He decided it would help him be a better salesman if he was good at the games, so he went home and practiced until he became the world's first gaming expert. (Thanks, Baker!)

Fukuda: serious PM or silly web meme?

Yasuo Fukuda's heading out the prime ministerial door, but before he did, he accidentally became a web meme. Pink Tentacle reports:

At the end of the press conference following Fukuda’s resignation, a Chugoku Shimbun reporter told the Prime Minister that many people thought he often seemed detached when he spoke, almost as if the problems facing Japan were none of his business. The reporter suggested that Fukuda also sounded distant in his resignation announcement and asked what impact he thought his sudden resignation (which comes just one year after previous Prime Minister Abe suddenly resigned) would have on the country. Seemingly perturbed, Fukuda fired back at the reporter: “You said I sounded detached, but I am able to see myself objectively. I’m different from you.”

Fukuda’s jarringly out-of-character words came as an awkward exclamation point to his resignation and threw some people for an extra loop. The phrase has been percolating for days on 2-channel, where dozens of popular threads with the words “anata to wa chigau n desu” (あなたとは違うんです) in the title have been posted, many containing Fukuda-inspired ASCII art.

Somebody even made this MC Fukuda remix. Silly, silly.

Real live Pokemon auctions for $925 million

On a Yahoo! Japan auction site a few years ago, somebody sold 20 real live Pikachus for $925 million. Here's a quick and dirty translation of what the listing said:

We capture each one after your order, so we guarantee its health! These are Pikachus plucked straight from the natural Pikachu forest, so they're of much higher quality than ones you'd get from a breeder or in other regions. Great for those who are lacking in good conversations with family, who want solace if living alone, who need a new hobby, who love cute and trendy things, or who are looking for a present for a girlfriend or a child. Limited edition! Limited to only 20! First come first serve! We'll include a 60-minute video on how to raise a Pikachu if you buy 3 months worth of Pokemon food.

Link (In Japanese) (Thanks, Ichiru!)

Occupation era letters found in Nebraska bookstore

A used bookstore owner in York, Nebraska found more than 1000 pages of correspondence written by Elizabeth Ryan, a woman who lived in occupied Japan after World War 2. In letters to her family, Ryan wrote in detail about the daily lives of US service members in Kobe and Tokyo. She had been working as a court reporter for the inspector general of SCAP in Kobe at the age of 31. There were also 250 black-and-white photos.

Ryan wrote about how common venereal disease and juvenile delinquency were in occupied Japan. She also talked about how over 120 mixed-race babies were left at an orphanage in Yokohama, the result of affairs between US servicemen and Japanese women. An excerpt:

The social problem of VD — one that is hush-hush at home and in polite civilized circles, is common talk here. A unit is given a commendation when it goes for several weeks without any new cases of VD. Can you imagine the Army requiring dance hall hostesses be examined at the dispensary twice a week — to be sure they are not infecting the boys?

Fascinating!

Link

Uniqlo NY will have robot shopping guides

The UNIQLO SoHo store in NY will soon be the first Manhattan shopping venue to have humanoid robots walking around to help you find stuff. Wakamaru the Robot was created by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, with the initial intent of helping elderly people. He makes his stateside debut around the second week of September.

Link (Thanks, Brian!)

Ex-Megadeath Guitarist is now a Japanophile

Marty Friedman was the lead guitarist for Megadeth, but after he left the band in 1999, he moved to Japan and is now a TV celebrity/musician there. Who knew?

Apparently, he now lives in Shinjuku and guest stars as the guitarist for lots of Japanese bands. He was a regular on a TV show called Hebimeta-san (Mr. Heavy Metal), and gives YouTube guitar lessons. Pretty random!

Marty Friedman's web site (Thanks, Mary!)

TokyoMango Two-Year Anniversary!

I just realized it's been two years since I started TokyoMango. To celebrate, I am taking a few minutes this morning to revisit the early days, and talk about why I started it and what I used to write about.

The Creation Story
I created this blog on a lazy Sunday afternoon. I guess I had a lot of things to say but nobody to say it to. Figured I could blabber about them online. I was also I was going to call it Tokyorgasmic, but didn't want to attract porn-seekers. I didn't give the name TokyoMango that much thought. I am from Tokyo, and I like mangoes.The site was hosted on Blogspot until March 2007, when I bought my own domain.The awesome design did not take effect until a few months after that, when I held a design contest and amazingly talented and generous James won and created the beautiful template that you see today.   

The First Post
My first blog post ever was an image-less perspective piece about the baby prince and the divorce rate. I said: "If Divorce In Japan was a publicly traded stock, I would be buying so many shares on e*trade right now." I was all talk. Didn't even have an e*trade account until a couple months ago.

My First Big Trackback
It was from Gizmodo, on a post about a strange digitized log with speakers that's supposed to soothe you with nature noises. Naughty now-editor Jason Chen photoshopped little pictures of my face all over the log, and I was super embarrassed. Remember, this was before I started writing for Gawker blogs myself, pre-Boing Boing guest blog, maybe even earlier than the now-defunct Wired blog Table of Malcontents. I had not yet built up my now-stealthy super armor against mean commenters and libelous content online.

The September 2006 Archives
In a way, my early posts were more fun and fresh and well thought-out than my new ones. That was when I was a totaly virgin blogger, and I'm pretty sure nobody was reading. You write differently when you know you have an audience. I had a lot of personal stories about my friends, train fights with school girls, my favorite ramen shop, my friend Alyssa's YouTube Japanese lessons, made-up dialogue by potential prime ministers, and why American staplers suck.   

Thanks so much for reading, you guys!

Sexy model wears bikini backwards in her calendar

This sexy swimsuit model is moving up in the world—she became so popular that she came out with her own calendar for 2009. But now everyone's making fun of her because she wore her bikini top backwards in the top right photo. I think maybe she did it on purpose...what do you think?

Link (Japanese) (Thanks, Ichiru!)