Well, the newsletter is still going. The biggest news of the last
month has been in politics, with a new top man and cabinet rocking
and rolling the Nagatacho world.
If you'd like to help out with site promotion, you can do so very
easily - just drop on by the Topsites Japan rankings page.
http://www.japanref.com/cgi-bin/in.cgi?id=tokyoguy
That's it - your visit counts as a vote for the Japan Zone and
they don't spam you afterwards. Topsites Japan is part of the
useful Japan Reference directory site, a good place to look if,
Kami-sama forbid, you can't find what you want on my site.
Thanks,
Mark McBennett
Webmaster, Japan Zone
Contents
1. What's going on in Japan
2. True crimes
3. Just between you and me...
4. Sports News
5. Websites we like
6. What do you spend on pubic works?
7. Japan Zone updates
8. I stiiiiiill haven't found what I'm looking for...
9. Unsubscribe
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1. What's going on in Japan
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Yanai Tadashi, president of Fast Retailing Co which operates the
hugely popular Uniqlo clothing chain, ranked 31st on the annual
list of Japan's 100 wealthiest taxpayers. More attention is usually
paid to the celebrity lists. The top sportsman for the fourth
year running was Suzuki Ichiro. Number one and two entertainers
were the Tunnels comedy duo of Ishibashi Takaaki and Kinashi Noritake,
with actress Matsushima Nanako storming up the rankings to No.
3. The top two slots for musicians were held by members of the
rock band B'z.
The man promised sweeping changes, and during the month since
prime minister Koizumi Junichiro took over the reins, the world
of Japanese politics has indeed undergone something of a revolution.
His cabinet is still enjoying a record-high popularity rating
of over 85%; he impressed many - and upset a lot of bureaucrats
- with his decision not to fight a court ruling that the government
pay compensation to former leprosy (also known as Hansen's disease)
sufferers; his short, heartfelt speech as he presented the Prime
Minister's Cup to sumo Yokozuna (grand champion) Takanohana on
his victory in the summer tournament (see below) was a radical
departure from the norm; he is pushing through legislation that
will shake up how road-related taxes are spent and central government
grants are allocated to the regions - both huge pork-barrel areas;
broadcasts of afternoon parliamentary sessions have achieved viewing
figures normally associated with popular dramas; Koizumi posters
and a video on the making of the LDP's current TV commercial are
selling like hotcakes. Sony Records are even reported to be making
a CD of Koizumi's favorite songs, crediting the prime minister
as producer.
The government has stated that it will, unlike the US, stick with
the framework of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on climate change. With
it being named after the Japanese city where the agreement was
written, I guess it's a bit difficult for japan of all countries
to back out.
On May 30, 34-year old Nakamura Noboru became the sixth member
of the Aum Supreme Truth religious cult to be sentenced to life
in prison for his involvement in several crimes in 1994 and '95.
Prosecutors had asked for the death penalty.
Plans for the Emperor to visit South Korea next year have been
cancelled. Reasons given included security concerns and the current
strain in relations due to Korean objections to what they see
as historical distortions in this year's batch of history textbooks
in Japan - something of an annual 'event' to be honest.
A bill to grant voting rights to permanent foreign residents looks
likely to be shelved yet again. It is not popular with many LDP
politicians but is sometimes discussed to appease their Komeito
party coalition partners. The bill is seen mainly as giving the
right to the tens of thousands of Japan residents of Korean descent.
Many were born into families that have never set foot in Korea
and speak only Japanese but are still viewed as foreigners.
Showing that politeness is still very much part of the Japanese
social structure, a man who robbed 40,000 yen at knifepoint from
a convenience store, apologised profusely the whole time, saying
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
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2. True crimes
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There has been a lot of media attention recently on murder cases
in which the people involved met through so-called 'de-ai kei'
sites. These sites are primarily accessed by mobile phone and
visitors are able to commun- icate directly with each other. The
murders have occured in locations all over Japan and some have
involved people from opposite ends of the country. These include
the murder of a housewife by a minor who travelled halfway across
the country to stalk her, and several cases of forced confinement
of young women by older men they met through telephone messaging
services. Others include:
25-year old Nishijima Hiroaki was arrested May 15 for the murder
of a 19-year old student at Kyoto Women's University. The two
met through an online dating service, or 'de-ai kei' site. Police
are investigating whether Nishijima was involved in a similar
case early in the month.
On May 19, a 43-year old Tokyo High Court judge was arrested for
paying for sex with a 14-year old girl. He met the girl late last
year through her classmate, whom he had met through an Internet
dating service. Muraki Yasuhiro is alleged to have paid the first
girl 15,000 yen to touch her up in a Kawasaki-city karaoke box
and the second girl 20,000 yen for sex.
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3. Just between you and me...
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Rumor about the true nature of the recent marriage between heart-throb
Kimura Takuya and pop-idol Kudo Shizuka: it seems that the founder
of Kudo's agency Burning, which has an impressive satble of female
talent (including Fujiwara Norika, Uchida Yuki, Hamasaki Ayumi)
has long had his eyes on Johnny's, the agency that has churned
out all the top male stud muffins for the last few decades, including
of course Kimura and the rest of SMAP. And with Kudo rumored to
have been the main squeeze of Burning's main man, the Machiavellian
implications are obvious.
Tokyo Sports newspaper revealed in a May article that Nippon Television
Corporation (NTV) issued a top-secret internal memo that US Major
League baseball news was to be blacked out. NTV owns the hugely
popular Yomiuri Giants team and are seemingly worried about the
contrast between the huge attention stars like Suzuki Ichiro and
Nomo Hideo are receiving for their ML exploits while the ratings
for the Giants have fallen badly. The hugely anticipated showdown
between the Seattle Mariners' Ichiro and the Boston Red Sox pitcher
Nomo was not even mentioned on NTV's "News Plus 1" show. This
all came as no surprise to "anti-Giants" like myself who are constantly
irritated by the media adulation of "Japan's Team". It also came
just after the Giants suffered the worst defeat in their history,
a 17-0 drubbing at the hands of the Chunichi Dragons. Happy days!
Oricon CD chart ranking
1. Inoue Yosui - United Cover
2. Suzuki Ami - FUN for FAN
3. The Great Escape - Judy and Mary
4. My all... - Koyanagi Yuki
5. Looking Back 2 - Oda Kazumasa
To be honest, I'd never heard of Inoue Yosui until his - actually
not bad - music was heavily featured in TV commercials recently
as part of a 'comeback'. Only a few years back, he was the most
financially successful musician in Japan for several years running.
You can check out some of his music at his site (Japanese only):
http://www.forlife.co.jp/inoueyosui/
Suzuki Ami is just another one of those cutesy young idols who
make it big every couple of years. But her mysterious disappearance
from the scene last year (due to some 'trouble' with her agency)
was put behind her with the successful release of her new album.
Yawn...
Two weeks ago, Oda Kazamasu (http://www.fareastcafe.co.jp/) at
53 years and 8 months, became the oldest artist to enter the charts
at No 1.
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4. Sports News
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Japan got off to a good start in the FIFA Confederations Cup with
a 3-0 win over Canada on May 31. Bigger hurdles await in the forms
of Cameroon (tonight) and Brazil next week and qualify for the
semi-finals.
MLB star Ichiro is still wowing fans and announcers alike in the
US. He continues to impress with his batting and has made several
amazing fielding plays. Superlatives like "absolutely incredible!"
and "is this guy something, or what?" seem to be the norm. His
performances look like being rewarded with a place in the upcoming
AllStar game.
In a sporting first, the starting pitchers in a May 28th baseball
game between Tokyo University and Meiji University were both women.
The Tokyo Six Major Collegiate League game saw a solid outing
for the Meiji hurler, 19-year old Kobayashi Chiro, whose team
beat 20-year old Takemoto Megumi and her 'Todai' teammates 10-0.
The citizens of Osaka are still reeling from an International
Olympic Committee report on its evaluation of the bids by cities
for the 2008 Olympics. While Osaka, and Istanbul, are still in
the running, their chances are considered extremely slim after
their bids were found to be less than excellent. This has put
Osaka Governor Isomura under a lot of pressure as he promised
to make Osaka a "sporting paradise".
In May, TV personality Hanada Masaru (former sumo Yokozuna Wakanohana)
made two announcements: one was the birth of this third daughter,
the other that he was planning to pursue a career in American
Football in the NFL!
On a related note: his younger brother, Takanohana, proved that
he is still a force to be reckoned. Despite carrying an injury
to his left knee that made him limp and with people recently saying
that he'd lost his edge, the Yokozuna showed what he's made of
on the fifteenth and final day of the Tokyo natsu basho (Summer
tournament). He was easily beaten in his last bout by rival Yokozuna,
the Hawaiian giant Musashimaru, to force a playoff between the
two. Limping and bloodied, it seemed likely that the once almost-invincible
King of Sumo was going down again. But he put up an impressive
show of determination to take the bout and the Emperor's Cup.
His expression of pure grit and "take that, you motherf***er!"
was a bit of a sumo no-no, but you could hardly blame the guy.
Intense.
Okay, I'm taking the sage advice of whoever it was said that you
should always listen to your customer feedback. I've been surprised
by the number of people who've asked me what a Race Queen is/does.
Well, as far as I can make out, to be a successful Race Queen
you have to know how to hold an umbrella and be sharp enough to
know when a racing driver is in danger of fainting from heat stroke,
and ideally you should have the kind of physical appearance that
will appeal to guys who like noisy cars and bikes. Actually I
think you could probably get in without meeting the first requirement.
Still can't quite grasp the idea? Here's some current Race Queens
strutting their stuff:
http://www.zakzak.co.jp/midnight/gal/movie/gal_movie.html
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5. Websites we like
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The latest Hollywood star to jump on a very lucrative bandwagon,
Jennifer Lopez made her Japanese TV commercial debut promoting
the Subaru Legacy Touring Wagon. You may already know that most
Hollywood actors and sports stars, like Tiger Woods, have clauses
written into their TV-slot contracts stipulating that the ads
can't be aired at home. But sure enough, you can find info on
them on the Internet. Some samples:
http://www2.gol.com/users/jhoadley/stars/starssecrets.html (a
list with a couple of Quick Time movies - way out of date but
still of interest to anthropologists)
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Teahouse/5555/commercials.htm (some
photo ads)
http://www.gaijinagogo.com/ (has videos featuring big names but
set up mainly to generate some Amazon revenue)
http://www.cm-watch.com/ (if you really want to see a whole bunch
of TV commercials)
Understanding Japan
http://www2.gol.com/users/coynerhm/understanding_japan.htm
Tom Coyner's site has hundreds of articles from newspapers and
magazines, mostly from the last couple of years, on all aspects
of Japan, where he lived for several years before moving to Seoul,
Korea.
TIME Magazine Always includes features on Japan in its Asian edition.
Some of the recent ones I enjoyed: Nagano Governor Tanaka Yasuo
- 'The Grooviest Guv'
http://www.time.com/time/asia/news/magazine/0,9754,127303,00.html
Foreign Minister Tanaka Makiko off to a shaky start.
http://www.time.com/time/asia/news/daily/0,9754,127645,00.html
Japan Today
http://www.japantoday.com
A relative newcomer to the news scene, this site is run by the
hardened pros who have been churning out the Tokyo Classified
free magazine since the early 90s. The top page is chock full
of up to the minute news and features, which makes it a bit slow
to load. Okay, I'm just jealous!
Japan Reference
http://www.japanreference.com
An English-language directory site that lists thousands of Japan-related
sites. Well organized and pretty comprehensive.
Absolute Japan
http://phototravels.net/japan/photo-gallery/
A guy called Frantisek Staud has a site to show off the photos
he's taken on his travels. This section has tons of wonderful
photos of Japan.
2002 Upfront
http://www.2002upfront.com/
As you probably know, the World Cup is coming to Japan (and Korea)
next year. This fairly new but growing site is in English and
run by members of the Tokyo-based British Football Club.
ELT News: the site for English teachers in Japan
http://www.eltnews.com/
I have to be honest and say that I'm an investor in the company
that runs this website! But that having been said, it is the best
site of its kind. If you're an English teacher in Japan or one
of the thousands thinking about becoming one, this site is an
invaluable resource.
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6. What do you spend on pubic works?
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Most people who've been to Japan have been struck by the bizarre
usage of English here, whether it's in restaurant menus, ad copy
or product names. Some weirdly-named products even manage to stick
around for years and survive all attacks of ridicule. Here are
some old favorites with some newbies added:
A soft drink that doesn't sound too appetising...'Calpis'
A sports drink that sounds even less inviting...'Pocari Sweat'
So-called 'Angel sweets' chocolates..'Asse'
A chocolate bar for you maternal types...'Mother stick'
And one from no less a source than the front page of the venerable
Daily Yomiuri (June 1):
"Heizo Takenaka, state minister in charge of economic and fiscal
policy, presented a draft Thursday that emphasizes structural
reform in four areas - economic revitalization, pubic works spending,
social security and the relationship between the central and local
governments."
Hmm, I know massage parlors account for a serious chunk of the
GDP but I'm not sure that second one is really going to help sort
out the economy.
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7. Japan Zone updates
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Recently added content includes:
A section on the Imperial family:
https://www.japan-zone.com/omnibus/imperial.shtml
Some info for newcomers on meeting people:
https://www.japan-zone.com/new/meet_people.shtml
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8. I stiiiiiill haven't found what I'm looking for...
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The site has such a wide variety of content that there's most
probably lots you haven't seen. If ever you don't find what you're
looking for, let me know. It might be on the site somewhere or
I may be able to help you track it down. I've recently been able
to help out a lady in Singapore who was looking for a map of an
address in Yokohama. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to be of much
use to a US sports agency who were looking to promote their client,
a swimmer entered in the upcoming World Championships in Fukuoka.
All I could do was send some info on sporting swimwear manufac-
turers. I also got the following request:
Hi! My name is Emily R****** I am a 12 year old school girl. In
class we are studing japan. if you would not mined would you e-mail
me some infomation please.
Hmmm, well you could always take a look at the site I guess, Emily-chan.
Another visitor claimed that the red background and page transition
on the main page were "annoying, unprofessional and slow me down".
If you feel the same way, let me know and I'll axe them (maybe).
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9. Unsubscribe
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