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The Upper House election is just days away but in my neighborhood
at least the loudspeaker vans are conspicuously absent. I'll never
forget the name of candidate Seki Masao, after my eardrums were
pounded with his name, day in, day out for two weeks some years
ago. I was unlucky enough to live on a main road as all day long,
a woman's high-pitched voice screamed: "Seki Masao, Seki Masao,
Seki Masao de gozaimasu". I don't know if he ever got elected
but I've never heard his name since so I doubt it. I certainly
hope not. Roll on Sunday. If you want to know more about the Upper
House, or House of Councillors, visit their English website:
http://www.sangiin.go.jp/eng/index.htm
-- GIVEAWAY --
So, for the first Japan Zone giveaway, all you have to do is predict
how many seats the ruling Liberal Democratic Party will win in
the forthcoming election (hint: the LDP currently holds 107 seats
in the 252-seat house, of which 46 seats are uncontested in the
election). Those who guess right will have a chance to win a pair
of traditional Japanese geta sandals or a T-shirt for the runners-up:
Now Closed.
Good luck!
Mark McBennett
Webmaster, Japan Zone
Contents
1. What's going on in Japan
2. True crimes
3. Gei-noh news
4. Sports news
5. Make love, not war
6. More Engrish
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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As slow progress continues to be made in the country's structural
reforms, figures are being regularly released for fiscal 2000
that reveal just how bad a state the public corporations are in.
The National Oil Corporation - set to be the first corporation
to be sold off, the nation's postal services (made up of mail,
savings and insurance), the (now defunct) corporation that managed
reserves for public pension plans, and the Japan Highway Public
Corporation all have debts in the trillions of yen. The reports
fuel the debate over PM Koizumi's radical reform plans.
Also a major concern is the rapidly falling Nikkei Index, similar
to the US Dow Jones. It has recently fallen to 16-year low levels
and many fear it will soon break the psychological 10,000 yen
barrier. The index briefly recovered when Koizumi took power but
worries about the degree of inevitable 'pain' that will be caused
by reforms have started to take hold. Perhaps not an auspicious
time for McDonalds Japan to start trading on the Jasdaq, the Japanese
version of the Nasdaq, on July 26th becoming the first McDonalds
operation outside the US to list.
After a diplomatic standoff of several days, US Staff Sergeant
Timothy Woodland was arrested July 6th for the rape of a woman
in her 20's in Okinawa in June. Woodland contends the sex was
consensual. The military handed over the suspect saying they were
reassured he would receive fair and humane treatment while in
custody.
Tensions still flare up regularly between Japan and neighbors
China and South Korea over the issues of history schoolbooks and
the prime minister's planned visit to Yasukuni Shrine. Both foreign
governments demanded changes be made to entries on events both
ancient and modern in middle school texts but Japanese representatives
said that while they have had changes made to factual errors they
cannot enforce changes based on differing interpretations. They
say the constitution, in fact, prohibits the government from doing
so. Meanwhile, the August 15th visit to the shrine where Japanese
war dead, including many Class A war criminals, are enshrined
is regularly seen abroad as glorifying Japan's past militarism
and aggression in Asia. The Japanese side insists that PM Koizumi
neither praises nor glorifies the war. The Koreans have already
taken several retaliatory steps, including cancelling plans to
increase the availability of Japanese popular culture.
Ten people were killed and dozens more injured in a crush following
a fireworks display in Akashi, Hyogo prefecture on July 21st when
some 3,000 people (some estimates say 6,000) crowded onto a footbridge
designed for a maximum of 1,800. The dead were two elderly women
and eight children. Massive crowds gather every summer to watch
displays all over the country but this is the worst such incident
to date.
The extent of corruption exposed in the Foreign Ministry continues
to grow. Two bureaucrats were arrested in connection with the
skimming off of funds for the last G8 summit in Okinawa and they
have indicated that their shady dealings were neither unusual
nor isolated. It's about time the inner goings-on at the elitist
and secretive ministry were revealed.
A man in his 50's kept his father's dead body in a freezer at
his Yokohama home for 13 years in the belief that he could one
day be brought back to life. The man went missing and the power
supply to his home was cut off. Neighbors alerted the police when
they noticed a foul stench. While bizzare, the man's actions are
not illegal and police appealed to relatives to come forward and
have the body cremated.
Oh-gui and haya-gui (eating as much or as fast as you can) contests
are enjoying something of a mini-boom in Japan these days. One
reason is 34-year old Arai Kazutoyo from Saitama Prefecture. Arai
won the famous Fourth of July hotdog eating contest in New York's
Coney Island last year and has become something of a celebrity
at home as a result. This year Arai lost to 23-year old Kobayashi
Takeru from Nagoya who set a new world record of 50 hot dogs and
buns in 12 minutes. The amazing thing is how small and wiry both
these guys are - Kobayashi is 173cm tall and weighs just 60kg.
Video game maker Square Co. released Final Fantasy X, the latest
in a popular game series that saved the company from bankruptcy
several years back. Costing some 35 million dollars to make and
selling for 8,800 yen (70 dollars) the company hopes to recoup
its costs and break the record of 3.8 million units. But with
it only being available for the Sony Playstation 2, which has
sold less than 5 million units, that seems a tough target. A movie
version costing some 137 million dollars was released recently
in the US with top actors such as Alec Baldwin, Steve Buscemi
and Donald Sutherland doing the voiceovers. Despite getting lukewarm
reviews, the movie's director Sakaguchi Hironobu is being touted
as the latest Japanese to "make it" in the US. Final Fantasy:
The Spirits Within will open in Japan in the autumn. Yahoo's movie
site has dozens of video clips and stills:
http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hv&id=1804476698&cf=mm2
A private survey showed that TV commercials for the Liberal Democratic
Party featuring PM Koizumi are as poular as those featuring SMAP-ite
Kimura Takuya or actress Matsushima Nanako.
https://www.japan-zone.com/modern/smap.shtml
https://www.japan-zone.com/modern/matsushima_nanako.shtml
The TV screening of the movie Titanic, which was cancelled because
of the Ehime Maru incident, has been rescheduled for Aug 31/Sept
1. Nine people died when the ship was sunk by a US Navy submarine
off the coast of Hawaii in February.
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2. True crimes
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A car carrying almost 80 million yen was attacked and stolen on
the morning of July 10th in Kanagawa Prefecture. The two men in
the car, who had been collecting cash and checks from Japan Agricultural
Cooperatives in the small town of Manatsurumachi, were both injured
in the robbery.
There have been a series of thefts of safes containing weekend
earnings in the Kansai area of western Japan. The latest involved
52 million yen stolen from five supermarkets and a drugstore in
Osaka, Hyogo and Wakayama prefectures on July 16th.
The number of lock-picking break-ins reported to the police last
year was over 11,000 - about 100 times that of 1996. The word
"pikingu" has even entered the Japanese vocabulary. Companies
such as Miwa Lock, which has a 60 percent share of the residential
lock market, are working round the clock and canceling summer
vacations to try to keep up with demand for newer, more sophisticated
residential and car locks.
An 11-year old boy was detained July 16th for several arson attacks
in Tokyo, one of which resulted in the death of an 86-year old
woman. The boy said he was angry that he was being bullied at
his new school.
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3. Gei-noh news
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R&B sensation Utada Hikaru, who took the Japanese music business
by storm a couple of years back, is set to become the youngest
performer ever to do an "Unplugged" show on MTV on August 10-12.
The 18-year old Utada, whose debut Japanese album "First Love"
sold almost 8 million copies, grew up in New York and is bilingual.
https://www.japan-zone.com/modern/utada_hikaru.shtml
http://www.toshiba-emi.co.jp/hikki/
Actor and comedian Ishibashi Takaaki, one half of the comedy duo
Tunnels and a star of the Major League movie series, threw out
the first pitch of the July 7th LA Dodgers-Seattle Mariners game.
Ishibashi wore the No.16 shirt worn by Nomo Hideo back when he
was with the Dodgers.
US-based illusionist 'Princess' Hikita Tenko is said to have recently
spent time in Russia training for a space flight. It seems she
and boyfriend Jean-Claude Van Damme plan to really get away from
it all on their honeymoon. A suitably eccentric idea for this
pair - while I can see that she's a real pro who works incredibly
hard, I'm convinced that she's a total wacko; and he is said to
be an ego on legs who's probably lost count of the number of times
he's been married.
The relationship between actor Ozawa Yukiyoshi, son of the world
famous conductor Ozawa Seiji, and actress Hayasaka Yoshie is getting
serious after they received their parents' blessings. The pair
appeared together in the 1999 movie Buta no Mukui (The Pig's Curse).
A lot of people were pissed off when actress and TV commercial
starlet Hirosue Ryoko (20) got into Tokyo's presitigious Waseda
University without having to take the entrance examination. Well,
imagine how they feel now that she's decided to drop out! She
is also said to be currently involved with TV personality Kaneko
Ken.
Kuwata Keisuke, vocalist with the hugely popular band Southern
All Stars, realeased his first solo single in seven years. "Nami-nori
Johnny" went straight to number one in the Oricon chart. Southern
All Stars official homepage (Japanese only):
http://www.jvcmusic.co.jp/sas/
Aoi Erina (26), daughter of actor Aoi Teruhiko became the first
Japanese singer to debut as a pop singer in Thailand. She fronts
the hip-hop band Erina & Afro Bros. and sings in a mixture of
Thai, English and Japanese.
Singer Shiina Ringo, who took maternity leave at the peak of her
popularity, has given birth to a baby boy. Many credit her with
starting the current boom in 'gutsy' female vocalists.
Pro wrestler and TV 'talento' Onita Atsushi is one of several
celebrities to run in the upcoming Upper House election. The popular
wrestler has found a new lease of life in recent years, graduating
from both high school and university. The experience was milked
for all it was worth on the popular TV show "Gakko e ikko" and
in bestselling books. Asked why he was going into politics, Onita
said "I finished university after I turned 40. I'd like to use
that experience to make the voice of the people heard." Other
celebrities running include wrestler Tiger Mask 2 and Hayasahi
Hiroko, wife of the late movie director Kurosawa Akira.
Kabuki actor Ichimura Uzaemon XVII died aged 84 on July 8th. Uzaemon
was a national living treasure and head of the Tachibanaya kabuki
family, one of 22 established families, which dates back to the
12th century.
Young kabuki star Izumi Motoya and actress Hano Akiko have announced
their plans to get married in January of next year.
Popular actor Shishido Jo, best known for playing oyabun (yakuza
boss) roles, is set to make his TV comeback after having cosmetic
surgery earlier this year. He will appear in the NHK drama "Heart"
which starts in September. The actor had silicone implants put
in his cheeks many years ago which, over the years, had sagged
to give him a distinctive Droopy look.
Meanwhile his son, Shishido Kai, and sidekick Kane Kosugi (son
of Hollywood ninja actor Sho Kosugi) continue to scale mountains
and ford raging rivers in the famous and long-running Lipovitan
D TV commercials. Next year is the 40th anniversary of the popular
"genki drink" or tonic which includes vitamins, caffeine and nicotine.
The CM's macho copy - "Faito!! Ippatsu!!" has become perhaps the
best known in Japan. Kind of difficult to translate into English,
though. "Faito" comes from the word "fight" but means "Do your
best" while "Ippatsu" literally means "one shot" and is something
like "Give it your best shot". Lipovitan D is made by Taisho Pharmaceuticals
and is just one of a wide range of these drinks that have helped
many a strugglking salaryman or hungover English teacher get through
the working day.
http://www.taisho.co.jp/
Rock group Mr. Children released two albums of the greatest hits
and they went straight to No.1 and 2 spots in the Oricon chart.
Sakamoto-chan is one of the most widely seen faces on TV at the
moment. A guy of ambivolous sexual orientation, his age has been
a mystery since he first became popular on the Dempa Shonen TV
show. The show followed the exploits of this apparent dimwit as
he spent several months confined to one room, studying in an effort
to get into university. He looks and claims to be 'young' - he
talks as if his voice is just breaking - but now that it has been
revealed that he is actually 35, maybe his star will stop rising.
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4. Sports News
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July 10th's Major League Baseball All Star game was the subject
of great interest in Japan, with the appearance of superstars
Suzuki Ichiro and Sasaki Kazuhiro. Both played their part in ensuring
a fifth-straight win for the American League over the National
League. Ichiro got the first hit of the game and "Daimajin" Sasaki
closed the game in the ninth inning. Ichiro had the highest number
of fan votes for the game - at over 3.3 million some 800,000 more
than the second-placed player. But after the All Star game, he
had the longest hitless streak of his career, going 0 for 18 until
he got two hits as the designated hitter in the July 17th game
against the Arizona Diamondbacks. NY Mets outfielder Shinjo Tsuyoshi
returned from injury after a month and drove in the winning run
in a game against the Florida Marlins July 18th.
https://www.japan-zone.com/modern/suzuki_ichiro.shtml
https://www.japan-zone.com/modern/sasaki_kazuhiro.shtml
https://www.japan-zone.com/modern/shinjo_tsuyoshi.shtml
Hawaiian former sumo Ozeki (champion) Konishiki sang the national
anthem before the first of the All Star games on July 21st. His
rendition of Kimigayo was quite impressive and well received.
It should do his budding musical career no harm at all.
Synchronized swimming duet Tachibana Miya and Takeda Miho became
the first Japanese to win a gold medal in their sport at the World
Swimming Championships in Fukuoka on July 20th. The next day,
the Japanese took silver in the team event.
Maruyama Shigeki ended a two-decade drought for Japanese golfers
on the PGA Tour when he won the Greater Milwaukee Open in a playoff
on July 15th. Maruyama is Japan's most popular golfer, as famous
for his smile and energy as he is for his swing. After becoming
the first Japanese PGA winner on the US mainland (Isao Aoki won
the Hawaii Open in 1983) he said his next dream is to "Beat Tiger
Woods!" He still has a way to go - he didn't even make the cut
in the Open.
Sumo Yokozuna (grand champion) Takanohana decided to sit out the
Nagoya basho (tournament) due to injury. This left Hawaiian giant
Musashimaru as the sole Yokozuna and favorite to take his first
yusho (championship) since last September. But Ozeki (champion)
Kaio, who was kadoban (facing demotion after a losing tournament
if he had another losing record) for this basho, stayed neck and
neck and got the yusho - his third - with a day to spare.
https://www.japan-zone.com/omnibus/sumo.shtml
Japan's No.1 women's tennis player Sugiyama Ai was a beaten finalist
twice at Wimbledon, in the women's and mixed doubles. I was surprised
to find that she is ranked No.1 in the world in doubles.
Lots of soccer news:
Japan retained the Kirin Cup with an excellent goal from Inamoto
Junichi in a 1-0 win over Yugoslavia on July 4th. Yugoslavia (world
No.11), one of Europe's stronger teams, earlier lost to world
No.10 team Paraguay 2-0. These cup results should see Japan move
up from the No.33 position it held in June.
Off the pitch, the big news was the signing of several Japanese
midfielders for top European teams. Nakata Hidetoshi (24) stayed
in Italy, moving from AS Roma to Parma for 26 million dollars;
Ono Shinji (21), a vital part of the J-League's most fanatically-supported
team Urawa Reds, joined Feyenoord of Holland. Ono's fee is said
to be between 400 and 500 million yen over four years; two players
are making their way to the English Premier League - Gamba Osaka's
Inamoto Junichi transfered to London club Arsenal (my team incidentally),
while Cerezo Osaka striker Nishizawa Akinori (25) joined newly-promoted
Bolton Wanderers on a one-year loan. Nishizawa had a less than
successful spell with Espanyol in Spain last season.
https://www.japan-zone.com/modern/nakata_hidetoshi.shtml
Also in soccer, the first-stage championship of the J-League was
won by Jubilo Iwata on July 7th with a 2-1 "golden goal" win over
Yokohama F Marinos. Jubilo will play the winners of the second
stage in a two-leg playoff in December.
July 21st saw the end of the J-League first stage and the final
game of Dragan Stojkavic's 20-year career. The hugely talented
and popular Yugoslav international midfielder is the only foreign
player to have spent eight seasons with a single J-League team,
in his case Nagoya Grampus Eight. His final game was a 3-0 victory
over the bottom-dwelling club Tokyo Verdy 1969.
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5. Make love, not war
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TIME Magazine
Always includes features on Japan in its Asian edition.
What, me worry? - former Peruvian president Alberto Fujinmori
is said to have stashed away more than 12 million dollars of money
donated by Japanese supporters to help him fight poverty.
http://www.time.com/time/asia/news/magazine/0,9754,166747,00.html
Make love, not war - Disney is spending big, big bucks to make
sure Pearl Harbor is a Titanic success in Japan.
http://www.time.com/time/asia/arts/magazine/0,9754,166755,00.html
Japan Lite - Japan's Best Humor
http://www.amychavez.addr.com
Amy Chavez writes a humor column for the Japan Times. While the
Best Humor claim might be reaching a little bit, she has some
funny insights into the peculiarities of Japan.
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6. More Engrish
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Didn't come across any new weird or wacky Engrish myself recently
but I did find another website dedicated to the collection of
this 'art form'.
http://www.thejasper.com/Engrish/Eindex.html
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7. Japan Zone updates
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Finally got around to adding some new content. The latest additions
are:
The great Japanese pastime of pachinko.
https://www.japan-zone.com/modern/pachinko.shtml
Japanese literature, from ancient times and in the the modern
era, from the Meiji period.
https://www.japan-zone.com/culture/literature.shtml
https://www.japan-zone.com/culture/mod_literature.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 people looking for info
on Japanese companies, movie directors and next year's cherry
blossoms in Kyoto.
By the way, I found the movie that I mentioned a visitor from
Russia was looking for in the last newsletter. It was a 1979 movie
titled Sengoku Jieitai (or GI Samurai).
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9. Unsubscribe
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you can unsubscribe easily. Just click the link below.
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