TOKYOMANGO

Get your hand-printed limited edition TokyoMango t-shirt now (2 weeks only)

My friend Ben and I made a test run of TokyoMango t-shirts on Saturday. They're really nice, do you want one? If so, you can buy one here. Below are the details:

- All shirts are 100% cotton.
- Each t-shirt will be hand-silk screened by me and Ben on his Yudu machine. The shirt logo was custom-designed by Ben. Mango design courtesy of my web designer James.
- The Women's tees come in a t-shirt style (pistacio and white) and a spaghetti strap ribbed tank (yellow).
- The Men's tees come in orange and white. In the pic above, Ben is actually accidentally wearing a girl's tee, but you get the idea... the sleeves will be more manly on the one you get.
- You can choose a custom colored tee for $25. Just shoot me an email with your preference after you place the order.
- The sizes tend to run a little big (except for the tanktops). They might shrink in the wash.
- Some of you will receive a free surprise Japanese toy or gadget with your t-shirt! I'm just gonna randomly stick them into bags, so keep an eye out.
- We're taking orders over the next two weeks only, at least for this first printing. They'll ship at the end of those two weeks, when Ben & I will silkscreen them by hand.
- Last day to order is Monday, October 5th.

UPDATE: T-shirts are no longer for sale. Maybe we'll do another round sometime!

Sleek blue game grip for iPhone

This cool-looking GameGrip for iPhone came out today in Japan from Trinity, a company that makes lots of cool-looking accessories for Apple products. The bright blue gaming grip has a silicon sweat-proof lining and neatly tucked in slits for cables in case you're playing while charging or have a headset plugged in.

Product page (Japanese)

Spotted in Izu: cute bird on a cherry blossom tree

I took this photo at the hot spring town of Izu last weekend. These little birds came to a cherry blossom tree at the train station and started happily drinking the sap from the flowers. I took this photo with my Canon G10.

67 patients get eye infections from laser surgery in Ginza

I've been thinking about getting Lasik for a while now, but yikes. This news makes me think twice. Dozens of patients who got laser eye surgery in a Ginza clinic are suffering from corneal inflammation and conjunctivitis after the clinic allegedly used a dirty steam cleaner to disinfect the devices that slice the surface of people's eyeballs. The clinic was aware of these problems, but they didn't tell health officials; instead they got a replacement disinfection device and hoped it would slide. For shame, Ginza clinic!

Link

Jay Horinouchi's lonely axelotl art

TokyoMango reader Jay Horinouchi is having an art exhibit in LA next month. I like this piece a lot. It's called Blind, and it reminds me of Erina Matsui's axelotls. (I interviewed her for my NPR piece earlier this month.) Anyway, here's his explanation of the piece:

I had just graduated from college so I was confused about a lot of things... finding the right job, working through a relationship, etc. The left side represents going with the grain, doing what's expected of me and finding contentment in what everyone else finds contentment in (very Japanese). The right side represents going against the flow, even if I'm alone in doing so. I wanted to evoke the thought of who really is "Blind" in this kind of scenario? To blindly follow your heart or blindly follow the crowd, which is worse? Haha, did that make sense?

Customized 4-digit license plate cell phone strap

Strap-ya has these awesome metallic cell phone straps that look just like a Japanese license plate. You get to choose from six different designs, and then you customize the issuing city & plate number. Unlike their confusingly long, hard-to-remember American counterparts, Japanese license plates are only four digits long, so you could easily put your birthday, or the last four digits of your social, or whatever. Sorry, no vanity plates!

Product page (Japanese)

Music and subcultures at the Japan Society tomorrow

I'm moderating a panel discussion on Japanese contemporary society & subcultures & music tomorrow night at the Japan Society of Northern California. It's only $15 to attend, so come by if you can!

Japanese teens and pre-teens are helping to boost Japan’s sluggish economy as they devour popular culture, from electronics and fashion to books and music. Others are expressing themselves through less mainstream behaviors. How does today’s youth culture reflect deeper, more complex issues—such as race, gender and cultural politics—in Japan? Two experts on youth culture will discuss current trends in music and alternative subcultures as they forecast how these trends may shape future generations.

Details here.

Laptop sleeve makes my MacBook look like a Edo period tidal wave

I've been on the lookout for a good laptop case for my new 13" MacBook forever, but it's surprisingly hard--too big, too flimsy, too ugly, too lumpy... I ended up ordering and returning a whole bunch, but finally, I've found my match. Foofshop in Australia makes these snug, cuddly MacBook and iPod Touch cases using fabrics imported from Japan. As you can see, it makes my laptop look like a cold stormy night from the Edo period. It fits the computer perfectly and isn't too bulky, which is awesome, because the whole reason I downgraded from a 15" MBP was so I could fit it into my purse. It's $42 for the laptop case and $20 for the iPod case which, apparently, is cheaper than usual because of the exchange rate.

New cell phone game pokes fun at the drunken ex-finance minister

A hilarious new invention by Tokyo start-up Liveware Inc parodies Shoichi Nakagawa's drunken stupor at the G7 conference in Rome in a silly but addictive cell phone game. The goal is to try to keep Nakagawa awake during the press conference by "poking" him with the 5 key at the right timing so that he doesn't miss any of the reporters' questions. If he does, you lose. His approval ratings are displayed in big white print at the top of the screen--I don't think they ever get super high, but the idea is to try to keep it from falling to zero. Pretty funny, and a quick and witty reaction to Japan's most recent obsession on the part of Liveware.

Press release (Japanese) via the Japan Times

Related posts:
Ex-finance minister Nakagawa accosted Vatican statue, set off alarms
Finance minister's public intoxication signals need for change

My passport, and why the Japanese post office sucks

I take everything positive I ever said about the Japanese post office back. It turns out that my passport was at the Osaki post office since February 13th, 3 days after my consular appointment. I still missed my flight on the 21st because we never got a notice in the mail, they didn't come back to redeliver, and when we called them numerous times to ask if it was there, they said no. No, no no. It's not here. There's no way we would have lost or misplaced it. Today, finally, I paid the embassy $20 to tell me the tracking number for the package, and when I looked it up online I found out it has been sitting at the post office for 10 days.

I had to buy a new plane ticket and am now on my way to Narita to catch a flight back to SF.

I just reread this post and I realize it doesn't make that much sense. But hey! I'm just glad I'm going home.

Lynchian rabbits posing in front of a gal store in Harajuku

I saw these rabbit-headed mannequins on display at a storefront on Takeshita-dori in Harajuku, and it made the store look and feel like being in a David Lynch movie. These are not cute bunny-ear bunnies. These are serious bunnies that will sit in your living room and talk about really serious things that are beyond your level of comprehension.

RPG gadget tells you whether you're spending too much $

This handy digital device is kinda like Mint.com, a Nintendo DS, a MMORPG, and your mother all bundled up into one little white box. It's called "Cost-Cutting Warrior Wallet Saver" and it's another wonderful little functional toy by Takara Tomy. When you first open it up, you have to pick a team to be on--the yellow warriors, the red warriors, etc. The screen is maneuverable by stylus pen; the goal is to keep the Cost-Cutting Gods happy and to keep the Spending Devil Sisters away.

The game then divides your financial goals by genre--food, fashion, leisure, etc. Every day, you have to log in your spending. Promptly at midnight every day, the machine calculates your spending against your goal, and then tells you whether you're in the red or the black that day. If you've stayed above 50% of our goal, you get to watch a heated battle between your warrior and the Spending Devil Sisters. If you level up, you can continue onto the next stage. The game has over 30 stages, and I guess the idea is that by the time you've gotten to the end, you would have already mastered some great spending habits that will hopefully accompany you for life.

The Cost-Cutting Warrior Wallet Saver is about $35 on Amazon Japan.

Product page via Impress Watch (Japanese)

Ex-minister Nakagawa accosted Vatican statue, set off alarms

Not long after his drunken appearance at the G7 conference last week, ex-finance minister Shoichi Nakagawa set of the security alarm system at the Vatican Museum by stepping over the barrier protecting the famed Laocoon statue, pictured here. Totally embarrassing, and not very strong evidence against his claim that he was not drunk. Would a guy who was so sick that he had to OD on cold meds be misbehaving at a museum with his politician pals just a few hours later? Not so much. He also accosted a few other statues that weren't supposed to be touched (obviously) in front of museum officials.

Quick update: where's my passport?

I was supposed to fly back to the US today, but my passport & visa seem to have disappeared in the mail. My flight was at 7PM, and mail usually comes by 4PM, so my mom, dad, and I hung out at the house and played Wii Fit while checking the mail box every 20 minutes. We finally gave up around 4:30.

And now let me take this opportunity to rant and ponder about a couple of things:

1. Why does the US embassy in Japan insist on mailing our passports back? Most other places, like Canada and Thailand, let you pick it up at the consulate the next day. The embassy in Japan tells you not to book travel out of Japan until you get your passport back, but that isn't always realistic given that some of us have jobs and families to go back to. I do not wish upon anyone the anxiety of not knowing where his or her passport is.

2. Is the Japanese post office really as wonderful as Steven thinks?

Japan's pornographic fetishes in The Onion

The Onion comedically sums up Japan's unique fetishes in this fake quote in an article about "porn that makes people puke":

"We honestly had no idea people did not enjoy this stuff," said Cultural Affairs Minister Kazuhiro Nakai, expressing regret for the thousands of hours of bondage porn, rape porn, utensil-rape porn, food-rape porn, frozen-food-rape porn, vomit-enema porn, elder-care-coma-patient-rape porn, and the kind of a porn in which a nubile youth is kidnapped, stripped, tied down in a wading pool and raped. "We are deeply ashamed for whatever it is about these films that has made people around the world vomit so vigorously. Please know that the content was only intended to entertain and arouse."

Japan Pledges to Halt Production of Weirdo Porn that Makes People Puke (The Onion)

Woman injected with wrong egg has abortion, sues hospital

A twenty-something year old Kagawa woman who had in-vitro fertilization found out mid-pregnancy that the hospital had injected her with the wrong egg--i.e. someone else's baby. Apparently, the hospital accidentally used a left-over egg from a previous operation, found out later, and told her. She had an abortion and sued the Kagawa government, which administers the hospital, for 20 million yen. IVF is pretty common in Japan, but adoption, surrogate births, and most other ways in which you may bear someone else's kid are not so accepted. Abortion, on the other hand, was once (not sure if it still is) the number two method of birth control.

Link (Thanks, Walter!)

Urawaza in the New York Times

I was quoted in the New York Times yesterday, in an article about low-tech fixes to high-tech problems:

Today’s shaky economy is likely to produce many more such tricks. “In postwar Japan, the economy wasn’t doing so great, so you couldn’t get everyday-use items like household cleaners,” says Lisa Katayama, author of “Urawaza,” a book named after the Japanese term for clever lifestyle tips and tricks. “So people looked for ways to do with what they had.”

Link

Humping piggy piggy bank

I've featured a lot of strange piggy banks on this blog (like the one that eats your money, or the one that provides you with a virtual boyfriend), but I think this one might be the strangest yet. The two pigs perched on top of it start humping like crazy when you put a coin in it.

Link

Finance minister's public intoxication signals need for change

The biggest news in Japan right now is finance minister Shoichi Nakagawa's impressive drunken performance at the G7 meeting in Rome. Of course, the guy claims that he wasn't drunk—just drowsy from too much cold medicine—but the global shame he amassed led him to resign yesterday, just a week before he was supposed to publicize his proposed budget plan. Here's a video.

In my opinion, it doesn't really matter if he was drunk on alcohol or high on cold meds. The fact is, he was clearly unfit to be representing Japan in such a public way that day, and he should have stayed in his hotel room. It's embarrassing that he thought it would be okay to have his Finance Minister face on in such a stupefied state.

On the other hand, it's a good thing that these silly old politician dudes are making a fool of themselves. Real change often and only comes after a series of grave errors made by the guys in charge—we know that from looking at the US. Now that the prime minister has proven that he can't read kanji (he also has a near-record low approval rating of 9%) and the finance minister can't stay sober, it's more likely that something good will happen soon. It has to.

iPhone app Bowcam barks, get your dogs attention

You don't have to make silly noises to get your dog's attention for a picture anymore. The Bowcam, made by Japanese start-up Appliya, has 10 different barking noises to choose from to get your pup's attention for the snapshot. The dog in this demo vid just kinda looks over, but Ruby would cock her head to one side and look surprised. I'm in Tokyo right now, but when I get back to Ruby I will try this one out and post some pics! (If I can get my hands on an iPhone, that is.)

Novelist Haruki Murakami claims support for the underdog in Israel speech

Ask anyone who their favorite Japanese author is, and chances are they will say Haruki Murakami. The guy has a penchant for winning foreign literary prizes, the most recent being this year's Jerusalem Prize, awarded by the Israeli president to the best foreign writer. Murakami pondered whether he should go to accept the award because of all the mayhem in Gaza. But he went, and gave a riveting speech to an international crowd in which he made a cool statement about a wall and an egg. He prefaced the metaphor by explaining his decision to be there—he's a rumored hikikomori, but he decided it's better to say something than to say nothing at all—and then said:

"If there is a hard, high wall and an egg that breaks against it, no matter how right the wall or how wrong the egg, I will stand on the side of the egg."

My favorite buy of the week: lotus root jewelry

I fell in love with this gold-and-silver lotus root pendant. I first saw it at this awesome little wa-themed jewelry store in Omotesando, and then bought it online. Each of their designs is linked to a Japanese value, like peace or persistence in hard work. The lotus root represents behind-the-scenes efforts that often go under-appreciated but are nonetheless important because they lead to great success later. I actually just bought it because I like eating lotus root, and I like geometric designs, but hey, the inner meaning is a nice touch.

BMW decked out in anime

If you want your car to have serious cred among otaku, then turn it into an itasha. It's exactly what it looks like—a car decked out in manga, anime, and video game art, removable (thank god) and often depicting cutsey 2D girls. This one has the animated vocaloid Hatsune Miku all over it, and doubles as a major publicity stint for Crypton, Nico Nico Douga, Good Smile, and I guess for BMW too.

Balloon art in Harajuku girl land

Love this balloon art that welcomes visitors to famous girly shopping street Takeshita Dori in Harajuku.

Valentines Day van celebrates porn star Billy Herrington

Happy Valentine's Gay! I saw this van parked on the main street in Akiba today. Billy = Billy Herrington, a gay male porn star from New York who has become a huge web meme on Nico Nico Douga. He even made a special appearance in Akiba today, at an event sponsored by a major figurine manufacturer!

Ayumi Hamasaki to release her next album on a USB drive

Super-famous Japanese pop singer Ayumi Hamasaki has just announced that she will release her next album, which comes out on March 25th, on a USB stick. The diamond-studded heart-shaped pretty little thing is the first album in Japan to ever be released in this format. It's a 2-gig drive with the album taking up about 800-megs, so you get to use the rest of the storage space for whatever you want. Interesting concept. I bet it will sell out really fast since it has that collector's item look and feel.

Link (Thanks, Rik!)

My friend Steven on why he loves the Japanese postal system

My friend Steven posted this pic and caption on his Flickr stream:

my buddy in osaka sent a package to my hotel in tokyo this week. it was supposed to arrive sat a.m., but by 145pm we checked in at the front desk and no package. they apologized, called the post office and told me 'please wait 10 minutes. we're very sorry.' 9 minutes later this postal worker hand-delivered the package. he was out of breath from hustling. just amazing.

I personally have never had this kind of experience, but it's true, the postal system in Japan is amazing. Everything takes one or two days and costs just a couple hundred yen to ship--no extra expedited shipping costs that leave you wondering if you should order it at all. And it's safe, and they accept cash on delivery, and it's always on time, and they never lose your mail.

Link

Obama: first I will start with hot dog reform!

I found President Obama inadvertently promoting hot dogs in Akiba yesterday. Apparently, they're quite delicious. The headline reads: First, I will start with hot dog reform!

I became a maid cafe maid for 30 minutes

Does this photo really need a caption? My friend Hina and I did this today as part of my reporting for an upcoming travel feature.

Hiroyuki Takahashi's awesome lavender cream designs

There's this great temporary store at Meguro Station called Steam Cream. It's sold in the UK and Japan in these pretty tin cans, and right now, they're having this special collaboration with artist Hiroyuki Takahashi. I bought one for 1500 yen ($16) with a nerdy geisha girl (kimono, red-rimmed glasses) on it. I couldn't resist—the design was great, and the cream inside smelled like a fresh burst of lavender and chamomile, and made my skin feel like velvet. Another reason I couldn't resist: I have had this strange urge all week to buy stuff in between interviews. I think I'm working my ass off and I deserve little rewards here and there.

Hamburger comes with splatter-proof paper shield

I had one of my interviews last night at Royal Host, and was pleasantly surprised by this small courtesy that came with my hamburger steak—a neatly rounded piece of paper protecting me and my tablemates from potential oil splatter from the sizzling platter.

Why I love my Japanese social insurance

I found out a few days ago that my Japanese social insurance was still intact, so I decided to see a doctor about my neck and finger pains from a skiing accident a couple of weeks ago. It was awesome. Here's why.

I had no appointment and was a new patient at the orthopedist in Ebisu; but two minutes after I walked in, the doctor was calling my name. I explained what was hurting; he moved my joints gently, asking what hurt, and then sent me to x-ray. Three minutes later, I went straight to the back room where I got a massage and electric nerve stimulator treatment for 20 minutes each. Then they very carefully taped my finger and my neck. Two minutes after that, I was back in the doctor's office reviewing my x-rays on a computer screen. His explanation was simple but thorough, and he encouraged me to come back for more massages for 350 yen each.

Total bill: 6000 yen. Total time spent: 45 minutes.

Next, I bicycled over to Meguro station to get my eyes checked. I forgot to bring a spare set of contact lenses, and my old ones were sticking to my eyeballs. Again, no appointment, just my insurance card. I asked how long the wait would be. There are four people ahead of you, the lady said. I asked her how much it would cost. Less than ten bucks. Four minutes later, I was in the doctor's office, hopping from one eye-checking machine to the other checking for everything under the sun that could be wrong with my eyeballs. Everything was good, and he gave me several options on contact lenses from a folder. Then he gave me a free pair and two prescriptions: one for contacts, one for glasses.

Total bill: 980 yen. Total time spent: 20 minutes.

The last time I went to the doctor was at a hospital in San Francisco after injuring my pinkie in a basketball game. After three and a half hours of waiting, I was given a hasty x-ray by a technician, who told me she thought there was nothing wrong, though she wasn't a doctor so she couldn't say for sure. Then she told me to leave. Nobody ever called me or told me what was wrong with my finger, so I assumed it was fine. I can't remember how much that visit cost, but I got a mysterious bill from a x-ray lab a year later that I am still trying to decipher.

Castle in Ehime for sale on Yahoo! Auction

What's the most elaborate thing you can buy in an online auction? Probably this 15+ million dollar castle in Ehime Prefecture. It's being sold, surrounding forest and all, because the owners are stricken by the shitty economy. The only caveat: it used to be a love hotel until five years ago. But hey, if that doesn't bother you, this is your chance to have your very own 30 bedroom home in the mountains of Matsuyama, which is very close to a hot spring. Bidding starts tomorrow and goes through the 26th.

Link (Japanese)
(Thanks, Alyssa!)

14-year old boy builds Jomon period home, hopes to live in it

Shogo Kasai is a cool 14-year old boy living in Yamanashi Prefecture. He's cool because he's really into archaeology, so much so that he dug a pit in his backyard and made a semi-subterranean straw house that resembled Jomon period architecture. He consulted archaeology books and museum officials and built it out of bamboo and rice straw. Then, in October, he gave up the comfort of his bedroom for a night and spent it in his hut, even cooking himself a eal of shiitake soup—a Jomon period dish—on a charcoal fire. His next step? To make some Jomon period clothes and actually start living in there, at least for several weeks at a time.

Link

Video: Businessman playing Godzilla shooting game

What better way to release mid-day work stress than to tuck into the bathroom and start shooting at a kaiju? That's precisely what this orange Godzilla could be useful for-it has a suction cup on the back and a sensor on its tummy that makes it roar every time you hit the target with the attached water gun.

Strap-ya

Character panties have manga characters on them

I found these cheap character panties in Shinjuku yesterday. Didn't buy any, but in case you want one next time you're there, they are on sale at Studio Alta.

Oden curry from your little manga sister

Yummy, oden curry offered by a cute little manga girl who calls you "big brother." It's a uniquely Akiba-ish fetish that I can't really explain in a blog post...

Artist/technologist Yoichiro Kawaguchi dresses up a traditional temple

Tokyo University professor and world-renowned CG artist Yoichiro Kawaguchi had this amazing exhibition at Yushima Seido, a temple in Ochanomizu, which ended yesterday. Lucky me, I was in the 'hood and caught the last bit of it, including a small closing event held by Kawaguchi himself. I wrote an article about him in Wired several years ago, so we had a little chat. He created these ultra super modern sea animal prototypes and planted them in front of the temple's architecture, creating this stark contrast between old and new that somehow perfectly depicted what Japan is today.

Long peanuts stick found at Akiba bread shop

I ate at this bread shop for lunch yesterday, I think it was called Vie de France. I had three pastries--a Viennese hot dog croissant, sesame bread with burdock root and teriyaki chicken, and spinach bread with corn and cheese. OMG so yummy.

Kinnikuman commemorative beef flavored potato chips

I found these Kinnikuman beef bowl flavored potato chips in Akiba today. Kinnikuman, or Muscle Man, is famous for loving beef more than anything in the whole world combined. Since beef in Japanese is "niku" and the comic series is celebrating its 29th year ("ni" is two, "ku" is shorthand for nine), this is a special commemorative snack.

In Tokyo, eating crazy fresh turban shells and giant oysters

I arrived in Tokyo around 4PM yesterday afternoon, took a shower at home, and then promptly went to a 12-person dinner organized by my friend Hitoshi, a major foodie. He took us to his friend's restaurant, Chiaki, in Tsukiji. Freshest blowfish in Tokyo. The guy who runs the restaurant is pretty cool—his wife is a famous voice actor from Urusei Yatsura, and the guy himself has been the subject of a movie, a manga, and a TV drama. The above was our first dish, a boiled turban shell. More pics of crazy seafood after the jump.

My radio piece on Japanese women artists, and Studio360 in Japan

The Studio360 Japan special airs tomorrow on NPR, but you can listen to all the segments online starting right now. Super exciting! Basically, Studio360—an award-winning arts and culture radio show hosted by Kurt Anderson—got a grant to go to Japan for two weeks and find a bunch of insightful, contemporary stories that will paint a larger picture of what's going on there right now.

I went out and met some amazing young women, including Toast Girl and Erina Matsui, who are breaking the mold of conventional aesthetics and expectations and doing really cool shit through their art. Leital, one of the producers, and I went everywhere from Golden Gai to Takashi Murakami's studio to interview these artists. Then we met up in NY to edit the piece together. You can hear my segment right here:

Everything else is right here:
Studio360 in Japan!

Many Japanese die in ambulances because of strange policy

A 69-year old Tokyo man died two weeks ago because of a huge glitch in the Japanese ambulatory system. Somebody was just telling me about this recently. In Japan, if you call an ambulance, they then in turn have to call around to neighboring hospitals to see if the doctors in the emergency room have time to see another patient. As it goes, emergency rooms are often pretty busy and a lot of them say no. On this particular night, 14 hospitals said they were too busy and refused to take the ambulance in. The guy died 90 minutes after he was hit by a motorcycle. Most of those 90 minutes were spent in the ambulance, even though paramedics were at his side within minutes. He had severe head and back injuries and lost too much blood.

More than 14,000 emergency patients were rejected from hospitals three or more times in 2007. The record is a woman in her 70s who was having trouble breathing. She was denied entry by 49 hospitals. WTF?? One pregnant woman died in 2006 from a brain hemorrhage during childbirth because she was rejected by 19 hospitals.

Note to self: If ever in an emergency situation in Japan, don't call an ambulance. Call a cab instead, because if you show up at the door instead of succumbing to the courtesy system of the ambulances, they'll have to see you.

Link (Thanks, Walter!)

Homeless Japanese women dubbed "love hotel refugees"

Nikkan Gendai recently wrote about what they call "love hotel refugees," a subset of jobless, homeless women who sleep in love hotel rooms.This trend comes after Internet and manga cafe refugees made headlines around the world over the last few years. I met an Internet cafe refugee once. Apparently there are even "Makku" refugees—people who sleep in McDonalds.

Love hotel refugees are women and girls who hang out near love hotels looking for guys to bunk up with for the night, securing a good night's rest on the bed they paid for. (The idea is that the guys will leave after sex, and let the women use the room until checkout.)

Speaking of love hotels, a book called Love Hotels: An Inside Look at Japan's Sexual Playgrounds came out last year and gives a very comprehensive explanation of the whole phenomenon. For some beautiful photos of love hotels, check out Love Hotels: The Hidden Fantasy Rooms of Japan by Natsuo Kirino.

Related:
The most provocative love hotel rooms ever
Love hotels go public

via Tokyo Reporter

Marijuana plants found in abandoned, burned down house

A house in Gunma burned down a couple of weeks ago. Nobody lived there. Neighbors were told that it was being used to run a recycling plant by the people who occasionally went in and out. Anyway, after the fire, investigators went in and found hundreds of pots full of marijuana plants. This could lead to a giant drug bust. Stay tuned.

Link

Hello Kitty brand still going strong with the new glitter bike

I am not a big Hello Kitty fan, at all, but if you are, you should think about trading in your wheels for this bicycle, found on gruntzooki's Flickr stream. What better way to show your dedicated fandom than to go out on the town with this very flashy ride?

It's really amazing how immortal this Sanrio franchise is. Did you know that the first Hello Kitty product ever was a vinyl coin purse made over 35 years ago?

Flickr via 3yen

Cheesy porn about a guy who falls in love with his music teacher

If you ever wondered about cheesy Japanese porn plots, here's a pretty good one about a guy who falls in love with his Electone teacher. The video clip cuts off as she tells him to use his fingers the same way that he would touch a woman.

via Zaeega (Japanese)

New robot TV series features ultimate 12-man transformer

Engine Oh G12 is a new transformer TV series that's super hot in Japan right now. In this clip, a dozen normal-sized motor vehicle robots transform into an indestructible giant mecha with a 12-man cockpit. Even if you can't understand what they're saying, the visuals are amazing. Engine Oh G12 is actually part of a series called Engine Sentai Go-onger, and premiered on TV Asahi last February.

(Thanks, Matsuu!)

List of nearly 6,000 dead POWs found in Washington

A research organization dedicated to honoring the Japanese war dead found a full list of Japanese POWs who died in captivity at the hands of Americans. The list included 5,979 soldiers and military workers; it was collecting dust at the National Archives in Washington, DC. The list, created in 1952, had each deceased's name, rank, prisoner number, date of death, cause of death, and place of burial. The organization hopes to recover the remains of the war dead, which are scattered all over the world (Hawaii, Indonesia, Okinawa, the Philippines) on US military territory, back to their families in Japan.

Link

Related stories:
Dear Miye: Radio show about a Nisei woman during WW2
Occupation-era letters found in Nebraska bookstore
Wings of Defeat: A documentary about living kamikaze pilots

(For more background on post-WW2 Japan, read Embracing Defeat, by MIT historian John Dower.)

Fire station catches on fire

Talk about bad cooking and fire safety skills. A fire station in Japan was set on fire by an absent minded firefighter who left the cooking stove on when he responded to a call. It took ten fire trucks from another fire station to put out the fire. A Nagoya fire department official apologized and said they are considering eating take out instead. Seriously guys, stick to combini food from now on. (by Emily Co)

Link (Thanks, Vatche!)

New cell phone doubles as a fancy petite clutch

Ever wish your cell phone could double as a super-cute clutch? Kyocera has an awesome new handset called the NS01 that has a stylish, adjustable, duo-toned belt on the back so you can carry it around like a purse. The body is simple and sleek, with three colors to pick from—white, sky blue, and black. The handset itself can be configured to double as a wallet or even your housekeys, and it has a 2-megapixel camera and 3G. What else do you really need? Next thing you know, they'll be making cell phones with tiny lipstick compartments.

via Mainichi and Impress (Japanese)