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!

Obama's bow to emperor pisses off conservatives

Some conservatives are pissed off that President Obama bowed at the emperor and empress during his visit to Japan this week. I'm not sure I agree with them. I think they might be thinking of the bow as a subservient gesture, whereas it should probably best be interpreted as the standard form of formal greeting in Japan, much like the handshake in America.

Link

New magazine for people living with facial scars

A new magazine aimed towards people with physical disfigurations will launch next spring. It's called My Face, and it's the pet project of a self esteem support group called MFMS, or My Face My Style. The magazine will include interviews, medical information, and advice on how to fight discrimination at work and at school for the estimated one million people in Japan who suffer from facial injuries or deformities. These people aren't legally considered as physically handicapped, so there's little support. The founder, 42-year old Hiroko Togawa, told Mainichi:

You never know when something like this can happen, such as those of us who have been involved in an accident. I hope the magazine will help take the worry out of finding hospitals and dealing with symptoms.

Link

The 10 most common Japanese last names

Last week, I posted about a JT story that researched the complexity of the historically super long Japanese naming system. I also asked if you could guess what the 10 most common Japanese last names were. Here are the answers:

1. Sato 2. Suzuki 3. Takahashi 4. Tanaka 5. Watanabe 6. Ito 7. Yamamoto 8. Nakamura 9. Kobayashi 10. Kato

Japan has 100,000 last names, compared to about a million in the US, several thousand in China, and 200 in Korea.

Link

Video: Top 10 middle school textbook graffiti genres

In a funny Top 10 list created by the popular TV show Spring of Trivia, a team of researchers went through the pages of 10,000 middle school textbooks and tallied what kind of graffiti was the most common. Among them — bloody noses, unibrows, forehead wrinkles, faux wigs, and the #1 most common type of textbook graffiti = speech bubbles.

via Spoon and Tamago

Asashoryu gets in trouble for putting arms in air after victory

Sumo star Asashoryu got in trouble yesterday for expressing his happiness in winning a match by raising both arms up in victory. His stablemaster had to later apologize to the Sumo Association head for the lewd act. Asashoryu, who is originally from Mongolia and has been the subject of several behavioral controversies in the strict sumo world, later explained that he got too excited and forgot that he wasn't supposed to do that.

Personally, I feel like this isn't such a big deal. The art and sport of sumo has had some trouble maintaining its pure image as of late, and perhaps loosening some of its less important rules, like how victors rejoice, will give it some breathing space and help it survive.

Link (Japanese) (Thanks, Yushi!)

Photos from New People World, the new J-pop center in SF

I finally visited New People World, the new entertainment complex in San Francisco's Japantown. It's small, but really cool! The shop has tons of awesome design-y Japanese things that I actually wanted to own, the cafe has delicious — albeit overpriced ($10!) — pork cutlet sandwiches, the art exhibit by Yoshitaka Amano was stunning, and I really want to go back to see the Yayoi Kusama movie at the cinema.

This is the 6% Doki Doki store, where you can buy super cute hair accessories and colorful earrings that spell out Japanese words like "arigato."

This amazing piece of art by Yoshikata Amano was made specifically for the US showing of his exhibit, Deva Loka. It's created much like the way a car is painted — with automotive paint on aluminum. And if you look carefully, it actually spells out "America" in katakana. アメリカ. The photo does it no justice, but all his works are strikingly bold and amazing! This one's price tag was around $40-50K. Made me wish I had real money to spend on art.

New People World home page

Aso tells poor young people not to get married

Taro Aso is getting some heat for a statement he made about money and marriage in front of a group of young Tokyoites on Sunday night. Here's an excerpt of what he said:

If you don't have money, you'd better not get married... Marriage isn't something that you do because you have money and you don't do because you don't have money. It depends on each individual. However, you can't be confident unless you earn a living. It's difficult for you to be respected if you don't earn money.

Some youngsters found this offensive since they're struggling really hard to find work but can't. I see his point about people gaining respect by earning money, but I don't necessarily think that has to be a prerequisite for marriage.

Link

Children Full of Life, a moving documentary about kids sharing emotions in school

My friend Alyssa sent me a link to a 2003 documentary called Children Full of Life, now viewable in its entirety on YouTube (also embedded in this post). The film features a very unique 4th grade class in Kanazawa, where the teacher encourages students to keep journals, read them out loud in class, and then share deep, ordinarily inaccessible emotions with the rest of the students. For example, in the first section, they talk about death. Most teachers would shy away from talking about such subjects in class &mdash they might deem it inappropriate, or opt to spend the time doing other stuff, or maybe it's just not customary to talk openly about such deep emotions in school. I certainly don't know that many classrooms, even in the US, where this is actively encouraged. But this teacher, one Mr. Kanamori, tells the children that their primary goal is to be happy, and that sharing feelings is part of the path to happiness.

AFP story claims Japan is "getting its mojo back" through marriage parties

The AFP has a story about Japan's new marriage craze, whereby young unmarried people flock konkatsu parties and search for viable partners. The story's headline is: Fad or Crisis: Japan's 'marriage hunting' craze. I'm sure the facts in the story are true, but this is kind of like if a very credible Japanese news organization did a huge story about single Americans speed dating or bachelorettes going to male strip clubs and calling it some kind of meta crisis that is plaguing American society. Women have ticking biological clocks everywhere &mdash why is it that when it becomes a Japan story all of a sudden it becomes framed as a giant cultural phenomenon brought on by strained social lives, busy work hours, and an entire nation "getting its mojo back"?

(Thanks, Walter!)

Railway company to require employees to pass a smile test

The Telegraph reports that workers on the Keihin Electric Express Railway will soon be required to monitor their smiles using a smile scan software made by Omron. Basically, the company wants all their employees to look cheery on the job, so it's going to take photos of them, rate their smile on a scale of zero to 100, and then show messages of encouragement on the company computer screen so they are reminded of what they should be doing better.

I know this might sound horrific to some people, but I think it's okay. Japan is big on customer satisfaction, and if a simple added gesture can make customers feel better about a company's service, then it's probably worth it. (A cab company called MK Taxi provides super-polite white-gloved drivers that open doors for you &mdash and I always feel like I've lucked out when I hail one.)

Also, smiling is something that the Japanese have been working on for awhile now, and there are even gadgets to help with it, like the oral grip machine and the Beauty Smile Trainer.

Link (Thanks, @Brainopera!)

CNN discovers love hotels

Check out this CNN report on love hotels &mdash apparently, love and sex are recession-proof. Good to know.

To learn more about love hotels, check out these books:
Love Hotels: An Inside Look at Japan's Sexual Playgrounds by Ed Jacob
Love Hotels: The Hidden Fantasy Rooms of Japan by Misty Keasler

Link

Economy gives rise to a new population of protesting youth

There's an interesting article in the NY Times today about a group of young Japanese who are gathering on the streets to protest the shortage of jobs in the current economy.

Demonstrating in public is not common in Japan, and often has the connotation of a radical, peace-disrupting, unwanted activity. “This is the most significant rise in activism I’ve seen in years,” one Tokyo University professor quoted in the article says. “A movement is brewing among young Japanese.”

Interesting! (Thanks, Brian!)

Japanese astronaut shows off his flying carpet

Astronaut Koichi Wakata is having fun in space and keeping his fellow citizens on earth entertained by doing stuff like, flying on a magic carpet.

via Engadget

Geeky portable shrine worships gadgets and figurines

The geekiest shrine ever is this portable mikoshi designed by a maid cafe employee in Akihabara. Instead of Buddhas and mochi, this shrine features a TV screen, a keyboard, anime figurines, laptops, game consoles, and tons of cell phone handsets.

via Japan Probe

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

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.

Pico Iyer: Japan is at once an old lady in a miniskirt and a wise old man

Remember the survey conducted last year that showed that the Japanese have the least amount of sex in the world? Well, the government decided that 12-hour work days have a lot to do with it—so much, in fact, that companies like Canon are encouraging employees to go home early to procreate. Canon made it company-wide policy for its workers to go home early twice a week to make babies at the encouragement of Keidanren, a corporate group including 1300 companies. The birthrate in Japan is 1.34, way lower than what's needed to sustain population numbers:

The 5:30 p.m. lights-out program is one simple step toward helping address the population problem. It also has an added benefit: Amid the global economic downturn the company can slash overtime across the board twice a week.

Link (Thanks, Jess!)

Boing Boing's guest blogger Charles Platt took this great photo of a pharmacy in Aomori. It sells happy drugs! And by that I don't think they mean that their aisles are lined with weed like at Dave Chappelle's workplace in Half Baked. Platt writes:

It seems to me, the name Happy Drug is quite accurate, because that's the whole point of drugs, whether they are pain relievers, blood thinners, or laxatives. Their ultimate purpose is to make our lives less miserable and, therefore, happier. The interesting question is why we in the west find this so difficult to acknowledge.

Link

Lonely? Why not rent some love! Pet rental companies are a growing business in Japan, but if you don't care much for a furry friend, you could choose to rent humans instead. A BBC article shines a light on the wide array of rental businesses in Japan, and brings up the topic of family leasing services. For a fee, you can hire anyone from rentable husbands to mother figures that would sooth your worries:

The website says the "dad" will help the children with their homework. He will sort out problems with the neighbors. He will take the kids to a barbeque or to a park. He could also appear at the daunting interview with a nursery school head teacher which parents are required to endure in order to persuade the principal to give their child a good start in life.

Link (Thanks, V.S.!)
(By Emily Co)

What did you dream about last night? Try to remember, because according to Japanese tradition, your "hatsuyume"—first night's dream—is a symbolic prophecy of the year to come. There are three lucky items that you want to appear in your hatsuyume—an eggplant, a hawk, and Mt. Fuji. So if you dreamt about any of those things last night—or even if they show up in your dream tonight—consider 2009 your lucky year.

New Years is one of my favorite times in Japan. People party, of course, but it's a lot more than that. It's a time to reflect on the year past, and think ahead to the one in front of you; it's a time to get together with family and pray, not in a religious way, not even necessarily in a spiritual way, but by getting in touch with your most sincere wishes and desires for yourself and the world around you. And it's a time to eat.

I'm not in Tokyo this winter, and chances are you aren't either. But here are a few things you can do anywhere in the world to have a taste of a Japanese New Year:

1. Stick some bamboo in the bush in front of your house to create your very own kadomatsu—a traditional new year decoration.

2. Send nengajyo—postcards with well-wishes for the New Year—to all your friends, business contacts, and acquaintances. The Japanese post office works their ass off for the couple weeks before January 1 to make sure these get to their destinations on time, on the morning of the 1st. My dad gets hundreds every year!

The very elegant businessman Haruka Nishimatsu is the CEO of Japan Airlines. He was featured on CNN last month because his humble salary and way of living is in such stark contrast to the excesses enjoyed by his US counterparts. When the economy tanked, he cut his own luxuries and salary first. It's definitely true—in Japan, the companies themselves bear the brunt of hard times and try to cushion the employees from it as much as possible. That's just how Japanese employment law and corporate culture works.

In Japan, we have a tradition of giving omiyage—little gifts—every time we see someone or go somewhere and come back. When I went to Tokyo with Studio360, one of the producers asked me what she should bring from NY for her Japanese interviewees. And I gave her this list, which I thought I'd share with you since it might serve useful. If you're not from NYC, you can substitute NYC with almost any city or town:

1. Cookies or chocolate from a famous hip store in NYC.
2. Small coin purse or other portable accessory from a famous hip store in NYC. For 1 and 2, make sure you mention that it's from a small hip store in NYC.
3. If your giftee has never been to the US, even a cheesy Times Square t-shirt will do.
4. If they're techies, a sticker for their laptop with the Studio360 brand (if you guys have one) is good too. They all put stickers on their laptops.
5. Something with the Studio360 brand is okay. I sent my fixers Wired t-shirts once after reporting a story in Japan, and they loved it—because you can't buy it, it's like a collectors' item.
6. If you know they use Macs, iTunes gift cards from the US are a godsend because you can't buy American content on Japanese iTunes with a Japanese credit card.

Giving a child or dog a foreign baby name is totally in right now. My Italian-Japanese friend has a beautiful baby girl with a Persian first name and a Jewish last name. My dog, Ruby, has a Hawaiian middle name. I'm sure some of you might be interested in giving your child a Japanese name. Here's a list of the most popular Japanese baby names of 2008. I decided to throw in the kanji spellings, too, because those are important to know in case your kid grows up and decides to get his name tattooed on his back, or something:

Girls:
1. Aoi 葵
2. Yui 結衣
3. Hina 陽菜
4. Rin 凜
5. Yua 結愛

Boys
1. Hiroto 大翔
2. Ren 蓮
3. Yuto 悠斗
4. Yuto 悠人
5. Yuto 優斗

Do you ever feel so angry that you just want to smash a plate against the wall? I think a lot of people do—but they don't do it because cleaning up broken plates is a big pain in the ass. This little truck, called A Place for Venting Anger, is a special space just for smashing and throwing plates. The sign advertises that it's 200 yen per session for the ultimate stress reliever. I think you can close the door, too, so that you can scream and cry and be alone with your demons. Alyssa took this photo on her recent trip to Tokyo.

The Underwire has a funny article today about a Japanese DVD that helps geeks combat shyness. An excerpt: 

Nordic-looking blondes can be particularly terrifying to look in the eye. Take a deep breath, then hit Play. If you can get through the first 30 seconds without curling up in the fetal position under your desk, you're home free.

Link

If you ever spent summers in Tokyo watching those freaky psychic ghost shows, you know about Jukai, or the suicide-inducing forest at the foot of Mt. Fuji.

Pejk, one of the Studio360 producers I've been working with this week, went there a couple days ago by himself. Brave guy! If you talk about going to Jukai to any Japanese person, their first instinct will be to think, Is he ever coming back? Apparently it's the second most popular suicide spot in the world (Golden Gate Bridge is #1)!

Pejk came back safely, and he wrote a really eloquent blog post about his experience there.

Link

Every year, Yufu City in Oita prefecture hosts a shouting contest where people are invited to vent their frustrations at the top of their lungs while judges measure how loud it is. The winner two years in a row has been Eizo Ito, a 49-year old whose rant was 111.4 decibel loud. We don't know what he said, but apparently some of the other participants said stuff like: "I want to eat safe rice!" and "I'm going to cut your allowance because stock prices are down."

I'm trying to think what I would have yelled if I was in the contest.

Link

I love surfing the Classifieds in the Tokyo weeklies. I find the intersection between serious fetishism and gross stereotypes in many of the ads very interesting. Here are some of my faves from last week's issue of Metropolis:

American boyfriend. Very pretty and glamorous Japanese female, in great shape, with sense of humor, seeks manly American male for serious relationship. I like men in uniform, so US Military gentlemen are welcome. lady-xxxx@yahoo.com.

JF? Missing hot passion? European male, warmhearted, healthy, kind, well-educated, blue-eyed, would like to share passionate touches, massages, kisses, and body communication with you. xxxxsuki@livejp.

Ice cream! Black socks, short skirt, and a sweet cute smile when eating ice cream... I think that's so sexy. I want to see you looking cute and sexy eating ice cream! green.teaxxxx@gmail.com.

Very attractive sexy JF is ready to start an incredible journey with a wonderful partner. Would you be a successful executive white American, over 35, MInato-ku area? xxxtokyo@yahoo.com.

Cowgirl in Tokyo, 27, Gemini, seeks older gaijin men, 35-70, for no-strings-attached fun around Shirokanedai. I'm beautiful so no ugly people please. Relationships are a dance between two people, so let's tango. xxxxxtokyocowgirl@ yahoo.com.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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!)

Gymnastics is one of my favorite events to watch at the Olympics. As expected, China won the gold. Japan took the silver medal, and the US ended up with bronze. No major surprises there. But as I watched the medals being announced on TV with a bunch of friends in Hawaii, one of them said: Wow. The Japanese really don't know how to be happy, huh?

While the American and Chinese athletes hugged their coaches and teammates and shouted words of excitement, the Japanese men gave each other a pat on the back and then stood there tacitly as the scores were read out loud.

But it's not that they weren't excited. I think what we were seeing here is a classic example of how the Japanese experience emotion. Behind the stoic front, these men were crying tears of joy and pride. The same can probably be said for a chunk of the audience, both in stands and in front of TVs at home. Some might say, Yatta! and others might just sit there in silence, teary-eyed. Both of these are totally normal ways of expressing happiness in Japan. Yelling a prolonged "woohoo!" or screaming as loud as you can just aren't a dominant part of the culture.

There's a really interesting interview with Hiroyuki, the founder of 2-channel whom I wrote a feature about in the June issue of Wired, translated into English by Japan Today. Yes, he has attitude, but I believe his stance that the Internet is just a medium, not the source of evil, is rational. He's a lone warrior fighting against the mainstream paranoia that the Internet is breeding crime. Some excerpts and a link to the entire interview below:

The suspect in the Akihabara rampage has told police he killed people because his messages were ignored on 2ch.

That case has nothing to do with us. I don’t believe he killed people just because he was ignored online. He says he doesn’t have friends. But it’s not surprising people like him don’t have friends. But that alone cannot be a reason for murder. It’s too simple to think the Internet causes such crimes.

The Internet is just a tool and all tools have side effects. Look at cars. Do you blame car makers when accidents are caused by speeding? I have my own logic to justify what I’m doing. People can submit information freely on the Internet. Anti-Internet people are just afraid of the unknown potential of the Internet which has a short history.

Link to interview (Thanks, Tim!)
Link to Hiroyuki feature on Wired

At lunch the other day, my mom, aunt, cousin, and I all folded little boats out of the paper wrapping on our chopsticks and turned them into chopstick stands. As you all know, origami is a traditional Japanese art form that people of all ages enjoy, and which has inspired high fashion and astronauts alike. Fact: if you sit at a casual dinner table with a bunch of Japanese people, it's likely that most of them will fold their chopstick case into some kind of origami creation. I do it every time. This morning, I am contemplating why we do this, and here are some reasons I came up with:

1. It's fun.
2. We have fidgety hands. (I do, at least.)
3. We are culturally inclined to make things compact.
4. It's a conversation starter—everyone knows how to fold something. In this case, it was a group activity, and then we discussed the quality of our boats.
5. Resting chopsticks directly on a table isn't that sanitary.

Alyssa just sent me a link to a funny list called Stuff Korean Moms Like. It's a parody of Stuff White People Like, and I find it pretty entertaining. I don't have a Korean mom, but one could probably do the same thing by picking up stereotypes from most cultures.

Here are some of examples:
- saving wrapping paper
- never saying I love you ("The three magic words that a Korean Mom will say only 5 times to you. 1) When you are born. 2) When you get into Harvard. 3)When you marry someone who graduated from Harvard. 4) When you buy her a house. 5)When you have a son.")
- stealing napkins and condiments
- interpreting dreams
- scrubbing...their skin off.

Link

We're seeing two different population trends in Japan these days, one that indicates that we will live longer than ever, another that points at an increasingly multi-ethnic country. This year, life expectancy for men and women are at record highs—79.19 and 85.99 years, respectively, according to a recent government report. Japanese woman have the highest life expectancy rate in the world. (For men, Iceland and Hong Kong are a little bit ahead.)

On a separate note, a survey found that 1 out of 30 babies born in Japan in 2006 had a non-Japanese parent.

A new BoingBoing TV video brought back memories of a playground I used to frequent in Tokyo called Miyashita Park. It was a mile-long strip of gravel along the Yamanote Line between Shibuya and Harajuku which featured some scant playground equipment and a dried up pond. As a teenager, I got high for the first time on the Miyashita swings; that was also where we ended up with liquor store-bought cocktails on warm summer nights.

The park had a weird mix of couples making out, homeless people living peacefully under blue construction tarps, cops doing their early morning training drills, and kids like us just screwing around. I was always curious about the homeless people—they seemed to have a nice little life set up there, with makeshift kitchens on tree stumps and blankets set up like beds and water from the public toilet to wash their clothes in. The homeless in Japan never beg for money or food—they just make do with what they have, and then scrounge through trash when people aren't looking.

In a college creative writing class, I wrote a story featuring a bum from Miyashita and the sage advice he gave my friend Ben in exchange for a cheeseburger at the nearby McDonalds. So it was nice to see this video—it brought back memories. The video was shot in 2006, and they have since cleaned up Miyashita Park—repaved the streets, kicked out the bums, removed the blue tarps. I wonder where those guys went. Anyone know?

Update: A reader just wrote in saying he walked by there yesterday, and there were still a lot of homeless people living there peacefully.

Akiba is great for Japanese otakus, but what about the thousands of geeks that flock electric town from places like the US and China? The Tokyo Anime Center in Akihabara just opened a new tourism office that offers information on Tokyo's geek heaven in English and Chinese. The guides are dressed in cosplay, of course, and they'll tell you all you need to know to navigate the figurine stores, aisles of manga, and multiple floors of electronics here. Pictured left are Jane Fong, the Singaporean CEO of Akiba tourism company GI Jane, and her Shanghainese maid friend Cherry Drop.

Link

Related stories:
Maid taxi offers otaku paradise on wheels
Video: Cosplayer off-kai ends in police raid

In Japan, rock paper scissors is called jankenpon. Kids play it for fun. There are also games based on that that are even more fun that we used to play as kids. Here are four of my favorites:

1. The Glico/Pineapple/Chocolate game—like hopscotch, but you can only move the number of squares that correspond to the syllables in the word you won with. (Rock is "gu" for Glico, 3 syllables; Paper is "pa" for pineapple, 6 syllables; Scissors is "choki" for Chocolate, also 6 syllables.)

Being a cab driver in Tokyo is no easy feat. The last taxi I took there was driven by a twenty-something year old newbie who picked me up in front of my parents' house. It was pure coincidence that he drove by—it's a quiet residential neighborhood and he was lost, trying to get back on the main road. I raised my hand, he stopped, the automatic door swung open, and I plopped down on the lace-covered backseat. He was facing forward, both gloved white hands on the steering wheel. "I am a newbie!" he said out loud. "Would that be okay?" I said that was fine. I was just going to the office, and I could direct him there.

"But you have a GPS," I asked. "Doesn't that help you?"

The newbie replied that the GPS was provided by the taxi company, and was at least a few years old. The road map had changed significantly since, and it sometimes brought him more trouble than good. To pass taxi driver school, he was tested on a map of Tokyo—but like most cases of rote memorization, things only linger in your head while you need them.

A new TV drama series that started last week stars pop heartthrob Takuya Kimura as the prime minister of Japan. Whaat? I thought Japanese prime ministers had to be old, bushy-eyebrowed, and totally incapable of making a woman swoon or laugh. (Koizumi LINK may have been the exception.) A weekly magazine took a poll to find out which celebrity they felt would make the best prime minister. The winner? Takeshi Kitano, of course. "He seems like he would understand Japanese politics from a global perspective," one woman writes of the famed movie director-turned-fiction writer. Not surprisingly, the top 10 had a good number of other comedians—George Tokoro, Tamori, and Akiko Wada all made the cut. In Japan, post-war politics has been a pretty dull, stagnant game across the decades. It's no surprise that the people want a little fun and flair at the helm.

This is an old NY Times article, but I just had to shed light on this blue Chihuahua issue. To get smaller, cuter, and rarer dogs, backyard breeders in Japan are doing screwed up things like mating dogs repeatedly with their own offspring to make rare recessive traits show up more often. Pictured here is one of these blue-tinged chihuahuas that were so very trendy a couple years ago. People paid up to $10,000 for these. And of course, horror stories that come with excessive in-breeding abound: some of these pups have brain disorders that make them just run in circles all day, and others had "bones so frail they dissolved in their bodies." Apparently, genetic defects in dogs are 4x more common in Japan in the US or Europe.

Good thing Ruby's a red minpin, not a blue chihuahua.

Link (Thanks, Brian!)

This rare snapshot of Godzilla circa 1955 shows the not-so-giant monster getting ready for a shoot.

Link

Canon offers employees time off to make babies

Remember the survey conducted last year that showed that the Japanese have the least amount of sex in the world? Well, the government decided that 12-hour work days have a lot to do with it—so much, in fact, that companies like Canon are encouraging employees to go home early to procreate. Canon made it company-wide policy for its workers to go home early twice a week to make babies at the encouragement of Keidanren, a corporate group including 1300 companies. The birthrate in Japan is 1.34, way lower than what's needed to sustain population numbers:

The 5:30 p.m. lights-out program is one simple step toward helping address the population problem. It also has an added benefit: Amid the global economic downturn the company can slash overtime across the board twice a week.

Link (Thanks, Jess!)

Pharmacy in Aomori sells happy drugs

Boing Boing's guest blogger Charles Platt took this great photo of a pharmacy in Aomori. It sells happy drugs! And by that I don't think they mean that their aisles are lined with weed like at Dave Chappelle's workplace in Half Baked. Platt writes:

It seems to me, the name Happy Drug is quite accurate, because that's the whole point of drugs, whether they are pain relievers, blood thinners, or laxatives. Their ultimate purpose is to make our lives less miserable and, therefore, happier. The interesting question is why we in the west find this so difficult to acknowledge.

Link

Companies rent husbands and mothers by the hour

Lonely? Why not rent some love! Pet rental companies are a growing business in Japan, but if you don't care much for a furry friend, you could choose to rent humans instead. A BBC article shines a light on the wide array of rental businesses in Japan, and brings up the topic of family leasing services. For a fee, you can hire anyone from rentable husbands to mother figures that would sooth your worries:

The website says the "dad" will help the children with their homework. He will sort out problems with the neighbors. He will take the kids to a barbeque or to a park. He could also appear at the daunting interview with a nursery school head teacher which parents are required to endure in order to persuade the principal to give their child a good start in life.

Link (Thanks, V.S.!)
(By Emily Co)

Hatsuyume, the first dream of the year

What did you dream about last night? Try to remember, because according to Japanese tradition, your "hatsuyume"—first night's dream—is a symbolic prophecy of the year to come. There are three lucky items that you want to appear in your hatsuyume—an eggplant, a hawk, and Mt. Fuji. So if you dreamt about any of those things last night—or even if they show up in your dream tonight—consider 2009 your lucky year.

5 ways to have a Japanese New Year anywhere in the world

New Years is one of my favorite times in Japan. People party, of course, but it's a lot more than that. It's a time to reflect on the year past, and think ahead to the one in front of you; it's a time to get together with family and pray, not in a religious way, not even necessarily in a spiritual way, but by getting in touch with your most sincere wishes and desires for yourself and the world around you. And it's a time to eat.

I'm not in Tokyo this winter, and chances are you aren't either. But here are a few things you can do anywhere in the world to have a taste of a Japanese New Year:

1. Stick some bamboo in the bush in front of your house to create your very own kadomatsu—a traditional new year decoration.

2. Send nengajyo—postcards with well-wishes for the New Year—to all your friends, business contacts, and acquaintances. The Japanese post office works their ass off for the couple weeks before January 1 to make sure these get to their destinations on time, on the morning of the 1st. My dad gets hundreds every year!

Japan Airlines CEO makes less than his pilots

The very elegant businessman Haruka Nishimatsu is the CEO of Japan Airlines. He was featured on CNN last month because his humble salary and way of living is in such stark contrast to the excesses enjoyed by his US counterparts. When the economy tanked, he cut his own luxuries and salary first. It's definitely true—in Japan, the companies themselves bear the brunt of hard times and try to cushion the employees from it as much as possible. That's just how Japanese employment law and corporate culture works.

Omiyage: what gifts to give Japanese people when you visit them

In Japan, we have a tradition of giving omiyage—little gifts—every time we see someone or go somewhere and come back. When I went to Tokyo with Studio360, one of the producers asked me what she should bring from NY for her Japanese interviewees. And I gave her this list, which I thought I'd share with you since it might serve useful. If you're not from NYC, you can substitute NYC with almost any city or town:

1. Cookies or chocolate from a famous hip store in NYC.
2. Small coin purse or other portable accessory from a famous hip store in NYC. For 1 and 2, make sure you mention that it's from a small hip store in NYC.
3. If your giftee has never been to the US, even a cheesy Times Square t-shirt will do.
4. If they're techies, a sticker for their laptop with the Studio360 brand (if you guys have one) is good too. They all put stickers on their laptops.
5. Something with the Studio360 brand is okay. I sent my fixers Wired t-shirts once after reporting a story in Japan, and they loved it—because you can't buy it, it's like a collectors' item.
6. If you know they use Macs, iTunes gift cards from the US are a godsend because you can't buy American content on Japanese iTunes with a Japanese credit card.

Most popular baby names of 2008

Giving a child or dog a foreign baby name is totally in right now. My Italian-Japanese friend has a beautiful baby girl with a Persian first name and a Jewish last name. My dog, Ruby, has a Hawaiian middle name. I'm sure some of you might be interested in giving your child a Japanese name. Here's a list of the most popular Japanese baby names of 2008. I decided to throw in the kanji spellings, too, because those are important to know in case your kid grows up and decides to get his name tattooed on his back, or something:

Girls:
1. Aoi 葵
2. Yui 結衣
3. Hina 陽菜
4. Rin 凜
5. Yua 結愛

Boys
1. Hiroto 大翔
2. Ren 蓮
3. Yuto 悠斗
4. Yuto 悠人
5. Yuto 優斗

Trucks lets you break plates to relieve stress

Do you ever feel so angry that you just want to smash a plate against the wall? I think a lot of people do—but they don't do it because cleaning up broken plates is a big pain in the ass. This little truck, called A Place for Venting Anger, is a special space just for smashing and throwing plates. The sign advertises that it's 200 yen per session for the ultimate stress reliever. I think you can close the door, too, so that you can scream and cry and be alone with your demons. Alyssa took this photo on her recent trip to Tokyo.

DVD helps geeks fight shyness by forcing eye contact with blonds

The Underwire has a funny article today about a Japanese DVD that helps geeks combat shyness. An excerpt: 

Nordic-looking blondes can be particularly terrifying to look in the eye. Take a deep breath, then hit Play. If you can get through the first 30 seconds without curling up in the fetal position under your desk, you're home free.

Link

Man visits suicide forest, returns unharmed

If you ever spent summers in Tokyo watching those freaky psychic ghost shows, you know about Jukai, or the suicide-inducing forest at the foot of Mt. Fuji.

Pejk, one of the Studio360 producers I've been working with this week, went there a couple days ago by himself. Brave guy! If you talk about going to Jukai to any Japanese person, their first instinct will be to think, Is he ever coming back? Apparently it's the second most popular suicide spot in the world (Golden Gate Bridge is #1)!

Pejk came back safely, and he wrote a really eloquent blog post about his experience there.

Link

Man wins shouting contest (again)

Every year, Yufu City in Oita prefecture hosts a shouting contest where people are invited to vent their frustrations at the top of their lungs while judges measure how loud it is. The winner two years in a row has been Eizo Ito, a 49-year old whose rant was 111.4 decibel loud. We don't know what he said, but apparently some of the other participants said stuff like: "I want to eat safe rice!" and "I'm going to cut your allowance because stock prices are down."

I'm trying to think what I would have yelled if I was in the contest.

Link

SJF seeking American prince: excerpts from the Tokyo classifieds

I love surfing the Classifieds in the Tokyo weeklies. I find the intersection between serious fetishism and gross stereotypes in many of the ads very interesting. Here are some of my faves from last week's issue of Metropolis:

American boyfriend. Very pretty and glamorous Japanese female, in great shape, with sense of humor, seeks manly American male for serious relationship. I like men in uniform, so US Military gentlemen are welcome. lady-xxxx@yahoo.com.

JF? Missing hot passion? European male, warmhearted, healthy, kind, well-educated, blue-eyed, would like to share passionate touches, massages, kisses, and body communication with you. xxxxsuki@livejp.

Ice cream! Black socks, short skirt, and a sweet cute smile when eating ice cream... I think that's so sexy. I want to see you looking cute and sexy eating ice cream! green.teaxxxx@gmail.com.

Very attractive sexy JF is ready to start an incredible journey with a wonderful partner. Would you be a successful executive white American, over 35, MInato-ku area? xxxtokyo@yahoo.com.

Cowgirl in Tokyo, 27, Gemini, seeks older gaijin men, 35-70, for no-strings-attached fun around Shirokanedai. I'm beautiful so no ugly people please. Relationships are a dance between two people, so let's tango. xxxxxtokyocowgirl@ yahoo.com.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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!)

Why Doesn't Japan Cheer Out Loud at the Olympics?

Gymnastics is one of my favorite events to watch at the Olympics. As expected, China won the gold. Japan took the silver medal, and the US ended up with bronze. No major surprises there. But as I watched the medals being announced on TV with a bunch of friends in Hawaii, one of them said: Wow. The Japanese really don't know how to be happy, huh?

While the American and Chinese athletes hugged their coaches and teammates and shouted words of excitement, the Japanese men gave each other a pat on the back and then stood there tacitly as the scores were read out loud.

But it's not that they weren't excited. I think what we were seeing here is a classic example of how the Japanese experience emotion. Behind the stoic front, these men were crying tears of joy and pride. The same can probably be said for a chunk of the audience, both in stands and in front of TVs at home. Some might say, Yatta! and others might just sit there in silence, teary-eyed. Both of these are totally normal ways of expressing happiness in Japan. Yelling a prolonged "woohoo!" or screaming as loud as you can just aren't a dominant part of the culture.

Is the Internet Evil? Hiroyuki Responds

There's a really interesting interview with Hiroyuki, the founder of 2-channel whom I wrote a feature about in the June issue of Wired, translated into English by Japan Today. Yes, he has attitude, but I believe his stance that the Internet is just a medium, not the source of evil, is rational. He's a lone warrior fighting against the mainstream paranoia that the Internet is breeding crime. Some excerpts and a link to the entire interview below:

The suspect in the Akihabara rampage has told police he killed people because his messages were ignored on 2ch.

That case has nothing to do with us. I don’t believe he killed people just because he was ignored online. He says he doesn’t have friends. But it’s not surprising people like him don’t have friends. But that alone cannot be a reason for murder. It’s too simple to think the Internet causes such crimes.

The Internet is just a tool and all tools have side effects. Look at cars. Do you blame car makers when accidents are caused by speeding? I have my own logic to justify what I’m doing. People can submit information freely on the Internet. Anti-Internet people are just afraid of the unknown potential of the Internet which has a short history.

Link to interview (Thanks, Tim!)
Link to Hiroyuki feature on Wired

Why We Fold Origami at the Dinner Table

At lunch the other day, my mom, aunt, cousin, and I all folded little boats out of the paper wrapping on our chopsticks and turned them into chopstick stands. As you all know, origami is a traditional Japanese art form that people of all ages enjoy, and which has inspired high fashion and astronauts alike. Fact: if you sit at a casual dinner table with a bunch of Japanese people, it's likely that most of them will fold their chopstick case into some kind of origami creation. I do it every time. This morning, I am contemplating why we do this, and here are some reasons I came up with:

1. It's fun.
2. We have fidgety hands. (I do, at least.)
3. We are culturally inclined to make things compact.
4. It's a conversation starter—everyone knows how to fold something. In this case, it was a group activity, and then we discussed the quality of our boats.
5. Resting chopsticks directly on a table isn't that sanitary.

Stuff Korean Moms Like

Alyssa just sent me a link to a funny list called Stuff Korean Moms Like. It's a parody of Stuff White People Like, and I find it pretty entertaining. I don't have a Korean mom, but one could probably do the same thing by picking up stereotypes from most cultures.

Here are some of examples:
- saving wrapping paper
- never saying I love you ("The three magic words that a Korean Mom will say only 5 times to you. 1) When you are born. 2) When you get into Harvard. 3)When you marry someone who graduated from Harvard. 4) When you buy her a house. 5)When you have a son.")
- stealing napkins and condiments
- interpreting dreams
- scrubbing...their skin off.

Link

New Japanese are Older, More Ethnically Diverse

We're seeing two different population trends in Japan these days, one that indicates that we will live longer than ever, another that points at an increasingly multi-ethnic country. This year, life expectancy for men and women are at record highs—79.19 and 85.99 years, respectively, according to a recent government report. Japanese woman have the highest life expectancy rate in the world. (For men, Iceland and Hong Kong are a little bit ahead.)

On a separate note, a survey found that 1 out of 30 babies born in Japan in 2006 had a non-Japanese parent.

Miyashita Park and the Homeless in Tokyo

A new BoingBoing TV video brought back memories of a playground I used to frequent in Tokyo called Miyashita Park. It was a mile-long strip of gravel along the Yamanote Line between Shibuya and Harajuku which featured some scant playground equipment and a dried up pond. As a teenager, I got high for the first time on the Miyashita swings; that was also where we ended up with liquor store-bought cocktails on warm summer nights.

The park had a weird mix of couples making out, homeless people living peacefully under blue construction tarps, cops doing their early morning training drills, and kids like us just screwing around. I was always curious about the homeless people—they seemed to have a nice little life set up there, with makeshift kitchens on tree stumps and blankets set up like beds and water from the public toilet to wash their clothes in. The homeless in Japan never beg for money or food—they just make do with what they have, and then scrounge through trash when people aren't looking.

In a college creative writing class, I wrote a story featuring a bum from Miyashita and the sage advice he gave my friend Ben in exchange for a cheeseburger at the nearby McDonalds. So it was nice to see this video—it brought back memories. The video was shot in 2006, and they have since cleaned up Miyashita Park—repaved the streets, kicked out the bums, removed the blue tarps. I wonder where those guys went. Anyone know?

Update: A reader just wrote in saying he walked by there yesterday, and there were still a lot of homeless people living there peacefully.

New Service Offers Akiba Tours in English & Chinese

Akiba is great for Japanese otakus, but what about the thousands of geeks that flock electric town from places like the US and China? The Tokyo Anime Center in Akihabara just opened a new tourism office that offers information on Tokyo's geek heaven in English and Chinese. The guides are dressed in cosplay, of course, and they'll tell you all you need to know to navigate the figurine stores, aisles of manga, and multiple floors of electronics here. Pictured left are Jane Fong, the Singaporean CEO of Akiba tourism company GI Jane, and her Shanghainese maid friend Cherry Drop.

Link

Related stories:
Maid taxi offers otaku paradise on wheels
Video: Cosplayer off-kai ends in police raid

4 Japanese Rock Paper Scissors Games to Teach Your Kids

In Japan, rock paper scissors is called jankenpon. Kids play it for fun. There are also games based on that that are even more fun that we used to play as kids. Here are four of my favorites:

1. The Glico/Pineapple/Chocolate game—like hopscotch, but you can only move the number of squares that correspond to the syllables in the word you won with. (Rock is "gu" for Glico, 3 syllables; Paper is "pa" for pineapple, 6 syllables; Scissors is "choki" for Chocolate, also 6 syllables.)

Confessions of a Tokyo Taxi Driver

Being a cab driver in Tokyo is no easy feat. The last taxi I took there was driven by a twenty-something year old newbie who picked me up in front of my parents' house. It was pure coincidence that he drove by—it's a quiet residential neighborhood and he was lost, trying to get back on the main road. I raised my hand, he stopped, the automatic door swung open, and I plopped down on the lace-covered backseat. He was facing forward, both gloved white hands on the steering wheel. "I am a newbie!" he said out loud. "Would that be okay?" I said that was fine. I was just going to the office, and I could direct him there.

"But you have a GPS," I asked. "Doesn't that help you?"

The newbie replied that the GPS was provided by the taxi company, and was at least a few years old. The road map had changed significantly since, and it sometimes brought him more trouble than good. To pass taxi driver school, he was tested on a map of Tokyo—but like most cases of rote memorization, things only linger in your head while you need them.

Beat Takeshi Deemed PM-Worthy by Japanese Women

A new TV drama series that started last week stars pop heartthrob Takuya Kimura as the prime minister of Japan. Whaat? I thought Japanese prime ministers had to be old, bushy-eyebrowed, and totally incapable of making a woman swoon or laugh. (Koizumi LINK may have been the exception.) A weekly magazine took a poll to find out which celebrity they felt would make the best prime minister. The winner? Takeshi Kitano, of course. "He seems like he would understand Japanese politics from a global perspective," one woman writes of the famed movie director-turned-fiction writer. Not surprisingly, the top 10 had a good number of other comedians—George Tokoro, Tamori, and Akiko Wada all made the cut. In Japan, post-war politics has been a pretty dull, stagnant game across the decades. It's no surprise that the people want a little fun and flair at the helm.

Blue Chihuahua Trend Spawns Lots of Genetic Defects

This is an old NY Times article, but I just had to shed light on this blue Chihuahua issue. To get smaller, cuter, and rarer dogs, backyard breeders in Japan are doing screwed up things like mating dogs repeatedly with their own offspring to make rare recessive traits show up more often. Pictured here is one of these blue-tinged chihuahuas that were so very trendy a couple years ago. People paid up to $10,000 for these. And of course, horror stories that come with excessive in-breeding abound: some of these pups have brain disorders that make them just run in circles all day, and others had "bones so frail they dissolved in their bodies." Apparently, genetic defects in dogs are 4x more common in Japan in the US or Europe.

Good thing Ruby's a red minpin, not a blue chihuahua.

Link (Thanks, Brian!)

Candid Photos of Godzilla with his Friends

This rare snapshot of Godzilla circa 1955 shows the not-so-giant monster getting ready for a shoot.

Link