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I've cut down a little on the crime, sports and general news.
If you're interested in these areas, you're probably keeping up
to date elsewhere already. I'll keep the entertainment news and
other news stories that you might not have heard about or are
a bit quirky. Speaking of which, Quirky Japan is an interesting
site to check out. And, just how do you pronounce B'z anyway?!
I'll mention again that if you don't find what you're looking
for on the Japan Zone site or have any questions related to Japan
or want to discuss Japanese issues, the Forum is as good a place
as any (well it will be when more people start using it!).
https://www.japan-zone.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi
Mark McBennett
Webmaster, Japan Zone
Contents
1. What's going on in Japan
2. Gei-noh news
3. Links we like - Quirky Japan
4. Japan Zone updates
5. Unsubscribe
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1. What's going on in Japan
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A fire in the Kabukicho entertainment district of Shinjuku, Tokyo
killed 44 people on September 1st. The fire broke out in a mahjong
parlor on the 3rd floor of a building that also housed a hostess
club and a place called Sekuhara Kuriniku (Sexual Harrassment
Clinic). The latter is one of hundreds of strip clubs, massage
parlors and so on in the area. The building only had one staircase,
which was located next to the elevator, and became a kind of smoke-filled
chimney. The building, given the nature of what went on inside,
had few windows, making it a real deathtrap. But anyone who's
ever been out in any Japanese city will have noticed the slack
enforcement of building standards and fire prevention laws, especially
in the grungier bars, clubs and restaurants that give certain
areas their 'underground' charm.
The criticism from China and Korea following prime minster Koizumi's
August 13th visit to Yasukuni Shrine has faded. An interesting
sideline story that came out a few days later dealt with whether
the fact that Koizumi had been purified before worshipping was
in contravention of the constitution's division of state and religion.
It also mentioned that during a visit in 1985 by then PM Nakasone,
the prime minister may have been purified in secret and without
his knowledge. Being purified without even having to make an effort
- that's enough to make a catholic switch over!
During a speech in a ceremony held at Nippon Budokan on Aug. 15th,
Koizumi referred to the suffering caused by "waga kuni" (our country).
This was a departure from the usual references to suffering caused
by "that war" and may have helped to ease foreign criticism.
https://www.japan-zone.com/modern/koizumi_junichiro.shtml
A series of arrests of postal industry officials in western Japan
for vote-rigging in the recent Upper House election is bound to
help Koizumi's efforts to privatize the industry.
The H-2A No.1 rocket was successfully launched on August 29th.
The success was very welcome for the Japanese space industry after
years of failures. However the 8-billion yen H-2A1 wasn't actually
carrying a satellite this time, just a mirror ball. That's one
expensive space disco!
Only in Japan department: The Japan Society for Studies in Cartoons
and Comics was recently established by a professor at Kyoto Seika
University. The society has several hundred members who are interested
in the academic study of manga. For more about manga:
https://www.japan-zone.com/modern/manga.shtml
How serious is train mania in Japan? Well, tickets for the first
Hibari train service between Tokyo and Sendai to run in 16 years
sold out in 90 seconds. The train is not especially fast - it's
not a shinkansen - but the nostalgia factor played a big part.
The platform at Ueno station was packed with young men and boys
with cameras as the train pulled away. Similar scenes can also
be observed whenever a train is taken out of service and various
train simulation video games have been huge hits.
A watery grave: two Japanese, a 33-year old conductor and his
19-year old student were found drowned in Vienna last month. It
is believed to have been a double suicide. Iwashita Kumiko (41)
a journalist known for her book "Why do people become stalkers?"
drowned off the Thai island of Phuket.
Incidentally: the number of Japanese who died abroad in crimes
and accidents last year dropped 3% from the 1999 number to 447.
The number who were robbed and sustained injuries more than doubled
to 435.
A 23-year old Japanese woman studying English in Calgary, Canada
was indicted for the murder of her two children, a 1-year old
son and 3-month old daughter. The children were from a relationship
with a local man.
In sports:
Golfer Katayama Shingo managed a joint-fourth place finish in
the PGA Championship, the best finish by a Japanese in a major
tournament since Aoki Isao was runner-up in the 1980 US Open.
Katayama's flashy style and cowboy hat won him lots of fans. He
said he wears the hat because it makes his "big head look smaller".
Double success for young Tokyo teams in baseball. Nichidai Sanko
high school won the summer Koshien while the Little League World
Series was taken by the Kitasuna team. It was the fifth title
for a Japanese team. The next day they went to watch Shinjo Tsuyoshi
play for the NY Mets. Shinjo hit a home run late in the game and
gave a "guts pohzu" salute to the kids - except they'd already
left. Meanwhile one of their undoubted heroes Ichiro has passed
the 200 hit mark for the season in the MLB.
https://www.japan-zone.com/omnibus/baseball.shtml
https://www.japan-zone.com/modern/shinjo_tsuyoshi.shtml
https://www.japan-zone.com/modern/suzuki_ichiro.shtml
Soccer player Ono Shinji made a shining debut for Dutch team Feyenoord,
setting up two goals in his brief 10-minute debut as a substitute.
In Argentina, striker Takahara Naohiro was cheered off the pitch
at the end of his first start for Boca Juniors despite failing
to score in a 0-0 draw.
https://www.japan-zone.com/omnibus/soccer.shtml
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2. Gei-noh news
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Shortly after his breakup with actress Toyota Maho, Ishida Issei
was arrested August 20th for possesion of 2g of cannabis resin.
The 26-year old actor and singer was arrested at a hotel in Osaka,
where he was appearing in a play. In what appears to be standard
practice in Japan for such a case, all TV shows and commercials
featuring Ishida have been cancelled and his father Junichi, also
an actor, gave a press conference to apologize for his son's behavior.
It seems there is also a wide-scale investigation into drug use
in the entertainment world.
SMAP member Inagaki Goro (28) has turned a relatively harmless
parking ticket into a much bigger incident. Noticing a policewoman
standing in front of his illegally parked car and about to give
him a ticket, Inagaki panicked and tried to drive away, hitting
the woman. She was not seriously hurt but Inagaki was arrested
and his career is said to be threatened. As with Ishida above,
all his commercial tie-ins were cancelled as was the broadcast
of a new 200 million yen TV drama series "Kekkon no Jouken" that
was set to start at the beginning of September. There had been
talk of SMAP breaking away from their powerful agency Johnny's
Jimusho but that has now become next to impossible. Such is the
power of Johnny's that they managed to persuade TV Asahi (channel
10) not to report the above incident on their morning wide show.
But veteran scoop reporter Nashimoto Masaru was incensed and walked
off the show. The next day, he was back and the story was aired.
https://www.japan-zone.com/modern/smap.shtml
https://www.japan-zone.com/modern/johnnys.shtml
Two other stars causing causing trouble with their cars this month.
Comedy duo DownTown's Hamada Masatoshi (38) and former sumo yokozuna
Hanada Masaru (30) were both in the news after hitting other cars.
https://www.japan-zone.com/modern/downtown.shtml
https://www.japan-zone.com/omnibus/hanada.shtml
Nagase Tomoya (23) and Kokubun Taichi (26), members of SMAP stablemates
Tokio, have been in the news for happier reasons. Nagase turns
out to be the boyfriend that Hamasaki Ayumi has been dropping
hints about. A formal announcement was expected to be made but
was put on hold following the Inagaki incident. SMAP and Tokio
are fellow stablemates at Johnny's Jimusho (that also includes
V6, Kinki Kids and Arashi). The relationship between Kokubun and
singer/songwriter Aiko (25) is reported to be getting serious.
https://www.japan-zone.com/modern/johnnys.shtml
Fans of Speed were delighted to hear that the pop group are reforming
for a one-off concert on October 6th. The concert is a benefit
for those still suffering the effects of the 1995 Hanshin earthquake.
The three Okinawa girls have been pursuing successful solo modelling/acting/singing
careers since they broke up in March last year.
Rock group B'z (pronounced beez) lastest single Gold went straight
to No.1 in the Oricon chart, which is nothing new for Japan's
biggest-earning band - it's the 28th time in a row!
https://www.japan-zone.com/modern/bz.shtml
There are plans for Koizumi Kotaro (23), eldest son of the prime
minister, to appear in some 15 TV commercials before the end of
the year, a huge number for any actor. His debut in a CM for happoshu
is almost set. What is happoshu? Read more here:
https://www.japan-zone.com/culture/alcohol.shtml
Sayaka, 15-year old daughter of idol queen Matsuda Seiko is set
to make her official singing debut for Sony Music next spring.
https://www.japan-zone.com/modern/matsuda_seiko.shtml
There is also talk of Imaru, daughter of comedian Akashiya Sanma
and ex-wife Ohtake Shinobu, making her debut.
https://www.japan-zone.com/modern/akashiya_sanma.shtml
Tokumitsu Kazuo (60), presenter of Nippon TV's live "24-hour TV"
show on August 18th had to cut down his on-air time and rely on
the support of Mina Monta during the show due to "health problems".
Tokumitsu only recently got out of hospital.
23-year old Kikukawa Rei's sexy performance has made Cosmo Oil's
new TV commercial the most popular in Japan. The style and "cho
mohretsu" (literally "super aggressive") slogan are taken from
a similar ad back in the 1960's. You can check out the commercial
at the Cosmo site:
http://www.cosmo-oil.co.jp/tvcm/index.html
Suzuki Ami's long-awaited comeback is set to be produced by Utada
Hikaru's father.
Rock group L'arc en Ciel are said to have spent 600 million yen
on the promotion video for their new single, to be released next
month. The video recreates the band as 3D computer-animated characters
from the recent Final Fantasy movie.
Morning Musume has suddenly grown from 9 members to 13! On a TV
show aired August 26th, four young hopefuls were chosen from thousands
who auditioned to join the incredibly popular girl group. The
new members range in age from 12 up as high as 14! It was also
announced that member Goto Maki will be leaving the group in December.
https://www.japan-zone.com/modern/morning_musume.shtml
The solo career of Morning Musume graduate Nakazawa Yuko (28)
moves in leaps and bounds. Apart from appearing on numerous TV
shows and the new stage production of Footloose, she has released
a sexy "shashin-shu" (photo book) called Feather. Meanwhile, Yuuki
(15), a member of new group EE JUMP and younger brother of Morning
Musume's Goto Maki, has been suspended from working for three
months after missing curfew and work the next day. The geino-kai
is pretty harsh!
It always blows me away how many albums Japanese musicians release
over the course of their careers. Singer Yazawa Eikichi is set
to release a new album on his 52nd birthday next month - his 52nd
album!
TV Tokyo plans to broadcast the entire Tora-san movie series starting
from October. Since the "Otoko wa Tsurai yo" series runs to 48
movies, it will take two and a half years!
https://www.japan-zone.com/modern/yamada_yoji.shtml
"I Love You", the biggest hit for the late singer Ozaki Yutaka
is being used in the new Nisshin Cup Noodle commercial. The singer
achieved cult status after commiting suicide in the late 1980's.
Cup Noodle has lasted a bit longer and is celebrating its 30th
anniversary.
The seven-girl unit Lucky Legs are set to make their music single
debut. Each of the members has their legs insured for a 100 million
yen apiece - that's a total of over 10 million US dollars in total!
Oricon weekly CD single chart
1. Mister Children - Yasashii uta
2. Shingo Mama - Shingo Mama no Gakuen Tengoku
3. 19 (juku) - Taisetsuna Hito
4. Hitomi - Is it you?
5. The Alfee - Juliet
All five songs are new entries in the chart. Mister Children (or
misuchiru) are one of the most popular pop/rock bands these days.
Shingo Mama, in case you don't live in Japan and haven't seen
him/her all over the place, is SMAP member Katori Shingo in drag.
https://www.japan-zone.com/modern/smap.shtml
The Alfee are a 27-year veteran band and this is their 48th single.
https://www.japan-zone.com/modern/the_alfee.shtml
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3. Links we like - Quirky Japan
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Japan Today
Keep right up to date with news and developments in Japan. Get
the news delivered by email twice a day.
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=home
TIME Magazine
Includes features on Japan in its Asian edition. Not much at the
moment, though.
Playing the victim: Two half-Japanese sisters seek compensation
for the death of their father in the 1985 JAL 747 crash, the worst
ever incident involving a single aircraft (famous singer Sakamoto
Kyu of "Sukiyaki" fame was also killed).
http://www.time.com/time/asia/news/magazine/0,9754,172586,00.html
Quirky Japan
This is a very funny and interesting look at the "other" face
of Japan. Includes such topics as Cheesy Tourist Attractions and
Disappointments, The Honest Photographer and Useless People.
http://www3.tky.3web.ne.jp/~edjacob/intro.htm
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4. Japan Zone updates
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New content:
A guide to the Japanese health and welfare system, including health
insurance:
https://www.japan-zone.com/new/welfare.shtml
Profiles of some famous Japanese:
https://www.japan-zone.com/modern/bz.shtml (B'z)
https://www.japan-zone.com/modern/komuro_tetsuya.shtml (Komuro Tetsuya)
https://www.japan-zone.com/modern/the_alfee.shtml (The Alfee)
https://www.japan-zone.com/modern/downtown.shtml (DownTown)
https://www.japan-zone.com/modern/johnnys.shtml (Johnny's Jimusho)
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5. Unsubscribe
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