Japan Probe

Shibu Onsen, the town in Nagano that is world famous for its snow monkeys that bathe in natural hot springs, has a bit of a problem: It would seem that some of the monkeys have grown so used to humans that they no longer fear running into houses and stores to steal food. In some [...]

Pingping, the 21-year-old man who was a mere 29 inches tall, has died: The Chinese-born man, who became a record-holder in March 2008, was taken to hospital in Rome for treatment but passed away on Saturday. It is understood he died of heart complications. Here’s a video of PingPing when he visited Japan last year: If you [...]

A Fuji TV report about the American media’s sensational coverage of safety problems with Toyota vehicles: The report focuses on the very questionable claims made by a man who called 9-11 screaming about how his Prius was out of control. [See these two articles for details.] It goes on to tear into Southern Illinois University [...]

Charlie Angela of Al Jazeera files a highly misleading report about how a species of porpoise “may become endangered” because it is being hunted by fishermen in Iwate prefecture: If the reporter had bothered to go beyond the press release handed to her by animal rights activists and actually checked IUCN data from 2008 she would [...]

Don’t worry about those ominous black ships in the harbor, Commodore Perry is chillin’ and relaxin’ inside this Daihatsu “black ship,” so he must like Japan: — Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe) Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

An investigative report by NTV’s “Bankisha” into the companies and individuals who financially support the violent animal rights activism of Sea Shepherd: The Animal Planet TV network, for airing pro-Sea Shepherd propaganda Celebrities like Paul McCartney, Sean Penn, Pierce Brosnan, the Dalai Lama People who use a special Sea Shepherd Visa card that donates a little bit of [...]

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has a bit of a wardrobe malfunction while touring a factory that recycles metal from old mobile phones: Some sort of hat liner….or proof that he is a secret Muslim?? We report – you decide. — Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe) Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

An American who has apparently operated an private English conversation school for decades in Japan has been arrested for molesting his students: An American man running an English school in Fukuoka Prefecture has been indicted for allegedly shooting pornographic images of a girl who was his student, investigative sources said Monday. The 69-year-old resident of Fukuoka City [...]

“I’m not interested in Japan. I’m not interested. I don’t care if everybody in Japan supports us or doesn’t support us.” – Paul Watson, president of Sea Shepherd On Friday, a whaling ship returned to Japan carrying Pete Bethune, a member of the radical animal rights group Sea Shepherd. As soon as it [...]

A behind-the-scenes look at the latest of Tommy Lee Jones’ Boss Coffee commercials (includes some comments from Jones): Jones’ co-stars in the commercial are a group of over-35 athletes who exhibit : boxer Daisuke Naito, baseball player Takeshi Yamasaki, and sumo wrestler Kaiou. As the athletes buy fortunes from the shrine at which Jones is [...]

One of the biggest news stories in Japan for the last couple weeks has been Princess Aiko’s absence from school due to anxiety about the behavior of other students: She developed the symptoms “after confronting the wild behaviour of a few boys,” said Imperial Household Agency official Issei Nomura. However, he denied that the boys had bullied [...]

Cute kid + Japanese spoken in weird foreign accents = advertising success? — Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe) Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

Hugh Jackman is the new face of Asahi Super Dry beer: In addition to the above commercial, he is also appearing on billboards around Tokyo. — Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe) Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

Asahi TV’s Japanese-speaking foreign reporters visit a narrow concrete house: Apparently 4 people live in the house. Their bedrooms are only big enough to fit the beds themselves, and in the case of the parents, the area under their bed serves as a storage cellar. It’s a bit cramped, but looks pretty nice inside. — Akihabara [...]

A restaurant in California has been caught serving meat that allegedly came from an endangered species of whale: Two undercover diners requested whale as part of a $600 “chef’s choice” meal. The women were working with producers of the Oscar-winning documentary, “The Cove,” to videotape the meal. Court records say they pocketed a sample, and testing confirmed [...]

Around 60% of Japanese consumers in their 30’s want to try the products before they actually decide to buy them. Sample Hyakkaten gathers 1000 monitoring women to the event site 6 times a year where the participants get a lot of free samples of over 50 different items that are worth more than 30,000yen. The [...]

Akio Toyoda, CEO of Toyota, appears on the “Late Show With David Letterman” to comment on the safety of the vehicles his company produces [skip to the 1 minute mark if you don't want to listen to Letterman's intro]: Also worth watching: Toyoda comments on Letterman’s treatment of Conan O’Brien. [via JapanSoc] — Akihabara News – Gadgetry from [...]

A few updates on topics covered by previous posts: — Prime Minister Hatoyama is still not sure if his party’s plan to help subsidize high school tuition should be applied to people who send their children to private Pro-Pyonyang High Schools that teach students loyalty to North Korea and hatred of Japan: “I suppose it will take a [...]

Sado Island’s program of raising Japanese crested ibises and releasing them into the wild has suffered a serious setback after a marten slipped into the breeding center and killed several birds. The intruder was caught on camera: Two male birds born in 2009 and seven female birds born between 2004 and 2008 were reportedly killed. [...]

“Mezamashi TV” takes a look at some of the new snacks hitting convenience stores and supermarkets: Snacks that appear in the video: Banana Milk/Cereal Crunky Strawberry Cake Toppo Kinako and Brown Sugar Kinoko no Yama Matcha Milk Takenoko no Sato Sakura Matcha Kit Kat Fuwamaki Milk Cake made to look like a cow Milk Tea Cakes — Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe) Dannychoo.com – [...]

Japanese police raid an apartment being used to grow marijuana: Mr. Park, the man who was caught inside the apartment with 78 plants, was arrested. He insisted that the plants were not being grown for business purposes. — Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe) Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

Prepare to see Ric O’Barry and other animal rights activists harass and annoy the residents of Taiji, Japan in their own TV series: A new television series about the controversial dolphin trade in Japan, tentatively titled “Dolphin Warriors,” has been greenlit by Animal Planet. The series picks up where the movie leaves off and, like the film, [...]

MTV interviews Japanese actress Chiaki Kuriyama [whose name is apparently now written as "CHiAKi KURiYAMA"]: The interview is about how she is trying to launch a successful music career. You can view her new music video here. — Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe) Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

Video: Fujita as a guest on a conspiracy theorist radio program The Washington Post has run an editorial asking why the hell 9/11 truther Yukihisa Fujita is holding an influential position within Japan’s ruling party: As chief of the DPJ’s international department and head of the Research Committee on Foreign Affairs in the upper house of [...]

I don’t know what kind of creepy animal is sitting on Takuya Kimura’s lap, but it does seem that it enjoys using Gatsby hair spray: — Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe) Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)