"No Play" in Yokohama
Topic: Japanese life

"As a dog returneth to his vomit..." Prov. 26:11

There are some fun/foon pictures on this JET Returners site by "marcdano".

Hello Kitty is 'officially' 1870 years old
Topic: Japanese life

Fun/foon typo on the Official Hello Kitty website on Tuesday morning, March 23

The orginal is now corrected, bah.
http://www.dreamkitty.com/hellokitty.html

Tokyo unprepared for "CERTAIN" bio-attack
Topic: Japanese life
Japan should prepare for bio - attack - US health chief
Reuters AlertNet,
TOKYO, March 23 (Reuters) - Japan, like the United States, is certain to be a target of an attack with biological weapons and should be ready to respond ... The government has compiled a manual to improve coordination among ministries in the event of an attack ... security experts worry that progress is too patchy.

Giggling Japanese schoolgirl blog?
Topic: Japanese life

See/read a little more in the inspired livejournal entry:
today in giggling japanese schoolgirl zombie bunny-suit chainsaw news....

Posted by trek/taro at 10:26 AM JST
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106 straight losses & Haru-Horse is still a favorite
Topic: Japanese life

NHK News this morning devoted 15-farkquing minutes to this nag's big 106th "no-win" yesterday. Sheesh.
Even the yakuza couldn't even come up with such a good scam.

Get this. People lined up outside the track for hours before the race to bet. The racetrack had to close its doors at 2pm when it was filled over capacity. People were send to another fairgrounds 5 miles away to bet and watch the race on a big outdoor screen.

Japan Enthralled by Losing Horse...
AP via Sunspot Tue Mar 23 2004 08:12:00 GMT+0900
..."Glorious Spring" -- or "Haru-urara" in Japanese -- was out doing what she does best Monday, losing her 106th consecutive race, even with Japan's top jockey on her back. More than 10,000 fans braved the rain to watch her come in 10th out of 11 horses....
....Kochi Racecourse, travel agents are making a killing off "Haru" tours, and her chestnut face adorns shirts, cups and other tourist trinkets...A pop song about her came out last week....
Her already legendary lack of speed has made betting tickets with her name on them talismans to guard against traffic accidents. And her face is being used as advertising space: She races with a pink "Hello Kitty" riding mask.

http://www.harnesslink.com/www/Article.cgi?ID=10546

According to reports by 6 am there were already 40-50 people waiting to enter the course. The race did not start until approximately 4.35 pm.....
Shortly after noon the Kochi Racing Association's Internet server crashed after receiving a huge number of access attempts.

Thanks for the terabit memories
Topic: Japanese Tech
TokyoNow: Hitachi developing terabit memory chip
Kyodo / Monday March 22, 9:36 AM
The Central Research Institute of Hitachi Ltd... is developing a terabit memory chip that can store a trillion bits of data. Tomoyuki Ishii, chief researcher of the System LSI Research Division at the institute, said that in the future "Everybody will record everything in memory."...
The 1-centimeter terabit chip, which will be ready for practical use 10 years... Ishii recalled that a failure led to the development of large-capacity memory chips....applied pressure to the film, a hole large enough for one electron was created -- which was perfect for single-electron memory. Thus, the staff's mistake led to a big discovery.... There is no limit to the use of a memory. "All images and cartoons I have experienced can be saved and seen any time," Ishii said.

Yippy-Ty-O-Ty-Ay!

Japan's Boobie Army invades Iraq!
Topic: Japanese life
Today's SDF pinup girl in Iraq is fun. Via Nnkobaba


Japan's SDF girl in Iraq

VS


Japan's Shonan Coastal Force

Via the grrreat Nekobaba!

Sexual Harassment Corporation
Topic: Japanese life
Rough draft

Sexual Harrassment Corporation

A Underground warehouse
B Data room
C Commuting SECRETARY is Chinese course
D Night crawling course
E Company internal romantic love course

http://www.image-club.jp/index2.html


Age: 23 years old
Height: 167cm
Three size: B84-W60-H85
Constellation: Being, the seat
Type of blood: AB type
Characteristic impression band: Neck muscle
Charm point: Eye and clavicle
Pride play: Rear end element crotch
Hobby: You play with the cat
Front job: ELEEEoENEa

NG option: Pee masturbation facial discharge AF


eua? 10:00?`12:00 12:00?`17:00 17:00?`EaEXEg
30i? 8,000a~ 9,000a~ 10,000a~
45i? 12,000a~ 13,000a~ 14,000a~
60i? 16,000a~ 17,000a~ 18,000a~

??EvE?ECER?[EX



Message: You will pass to be pleasant together.


* Application qualification - 25 year old rank of 18 year old to or more
* Allowance Above daily wage 35.000 Yen
Complete payment in full day payment
* Treatment Norm the fine altogether it is not
High-class apartment dormitory completion (same OK)
Alibi company possession
Large amount guarantee system possession
Hygienic management perfection
1 day experience and entering the store OK
* Day of duty Free going to work system (even in week 1 day yes) ?
* Time 10:00 - Between rust (application/response consultation) ?
* Traffic JR Shibuya station bee public oral walking 5 minute ?
* Industry type Image club
* Application The mail, or please inquire with ease by the telephone.
Collection private free dial (0120-312-812)

biggest illegal waste dump Japan
Topic: Japanese life
Japan's biggest illegal waste dumping site found in Gifu
Mainichi Shimbun, Japan - 19 March
... Police have been examining a site in Gifu's Tsubakibora district since March 10 where the industrial waste contractor, Zensho, is located. They estimate that as much as 700,000 cubic meters of industrial waste is buried in the surrounding valley.
Investigators bore holes in the surface to determine how much waste had been buried there but had to abandon their efforts after toxic hydrogen sulfide began shooting out...

Posted by trek/taro at 6:17 PM JST
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My favorite gomennasai/sorry letter for Japanese bureaucrats
Mood:  mischievious
Topic: Me
I had fun teasing young gaijin fellow I met last night at Somona Cafe about his expired for months Japanese work visa. :-)

THEN this morning I went down to get my ninth update of my Japanese "ALIEN Registration Card" and the ward office folks treated my to green tea as I waited....only to discover my ALIEN registration had expired. THEY apologized to me but requested I write a "gomennasai" letter. I quickly dashed off my favorite gomennasai/sorry letter from memory that I have used many times for the past 20+ years....

"I am so sorry I have to write this letter to apologize for..."

(It works every time on the suckers, hee, hee.)

"Comic" currency intervention via manga
Topic: Japanese life
Japan's currency intervention takes sinister turn in 'manga' comic
Thursday, March 18, 2004
(Mar - 1 21:03 PST TOKYO (AP) --
The plot is sinister: U.S. officials trick Japanese authorities into intervening in the exchange market to buy the falling U.S. currency -- not to save vulnerable Japanese exporters from the dangers of a high yen, but to keep America's economy from sliding.
This story line from a comic book ["Golgo 13"] now selling in Japan may be implausible. Nonetheless, it highlights growing fears here over seesawing currency fluctuations.
...The story suggests that the White House has concocted a diabolical trap so Tokyo will cough up a massive amount of cash to finance ballooning deficits for the U.S. budget and global trade balance while preventing a crash in U.S. Treasuries.
Big Comic editor Naosumi Nishimura says "Golgo 13" appeals to Japanese readers because it is a fantasy based on realistic portrayals of current events.

free WiFi in Tokyo & the rest of Japan
Topic: Japanese Tech
Japanese guide in vague English to free WiFi spots and Netcafes in Japan. Hell, I even found a 8 freespots in the town near my rice ranch in Ehime, Shikoku.
Japan: http://www.freespot.net/users/map_e.html
Tokyo: http://www.freespot.net/users/map-e/map_tokyo.html
Yokohama: http://www.freespot.net/users/map-e/map_kanagawa.html

See more info the "COMMENTS."

Japanese resumes: Mo' boring, mo' betta.
Topic: adviceS

How to submit a resume in Japan

Guess what happens to EVERY resume submitted electronically at Maybe-the-Largest-in-Japan Inc?

We automatically rip it ASCII plain text and index the keywords. Resumes like the one you're planning with the "complex tables" seldom make it throught that auto-ASCII rip, and SO THOSE RESUMES ARE OFTEN IGNORED.

If you want a mega-coporation job, always email an ASCII resume.

At the interview present them with a resume w/small photo, printed on only 1 page of clean while bond paper and without any font frou-frou. In Japan, the more boring the resume the better. Buy the Japanese form you can get in any stationary store. See the FG thread: Give me the full deal on Japanese resumes

Japanese Nostalgic for Showa haydayz
Topic: Japanese life

ARTS WEEKLY / ART-JAPAN: Nostalgia for Showa Period Is In
TOKYO, Mar 20 (IPS) - Nostalgic for the heady fifties and sixties when Japan embarked on its post-war economic miracle, 68-year-old Hidetoshi Yokokawa goes back to the past through his Showa Retro Products Museum, which displays collections of items from that era.
---> See the pix at BACK TO THE PAST: Japanese Nostalgic for All Things Showa / January 22, 2003

Boring flower news saturates the Japanese media
Topic: Media
YAWN

Cherry blossoms come out in Tokyo, Yokohama, Shizuoka
Kyodo
Thursday March 18, 1:59 PM
Cherry trees started blooming Thursday in Tokyo, Yokohama and Shizuoka, the second-earliest date for the three cities since data were first collected in 1953, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
The development allows for Japan's popular springtime custom of "hanami" or cherry-blossom viewing to be enjoyed earlier than usual.
The earliest blossoming in Tokyo was March 16, 2002, and March 15 the same year for Yokohama and Shizuoka, it said.
YAWN

Finally, a use is found for Japanese 'natto'
Topic: Japanese life
Natto" is vile fermented soy slime and the horror of foreigners in Japan (yes, I eat it).

'Natto' eyed to fertilize world's deserts
Kyodo Press / Mar 18
Toshio Hara, an assistant professor at Kyushu University, has a dream of turning deserts into vast green fields by using a resinous substance deriving from "natto" fermented soybeans mixed with sludge containing nutritious ingredients and plant seeds. His idea is to bury substances generating from natto and sludge in the ground to convert deserts into land covered by vegetation.....

An amusingly misguided alien "geisha"
The internet is a continual source of wonder to me. I was looking for background info on "SAKURA" and I ended up with 'sakuranbu'(sic) which is cherry in Japanese spelled incorrectly.

sakuranbu, the gaijin geisha
Diary of a bdsm gaijin geisha maiden
"....I found the most fabulous geisha-like corset at...""....akuranbu is Japanese for "cherry" Also used by some in Japanese rope bondage to refer to "tying up the cherry..."

St. Pat's Day in Tokyo, Blarney.
Topic: Japanese life
Japanese St. Patricks Day? Read more about it in Tokyo here....
SPRAY...

St. Ex-Pat's Parade or 'Look at me, I'm Irish but I live in Japan!'

...What could be more stupid then St Patrick's day, do I hear you ask? How about St Patrick's day in Tokyo.....

Too early sakura in Tokyo

Today the AIR-CONditioner turned on for the first time on the subway. Now that's Spring!

Along with the very early sakura, the wind is blowing like a Okie twister. Refer to my comments over on the FG Forum. AS for early bloomers, check this out on the right. -->

Surfin' seven hours a day in sleepy Japan Inc
Topic: Japanese life

GHOSTZILLA is the Buddha!

Many people might ask, "How the hell do you stay sane in a Japanese 'Zombie Company?'"
At my Zombie Company (featured in Newsweek Asia's cover story) I surf seven hours a day using the no-images, grayed-out mode of Ghostzilla. Nobody even knows I'm goofing off. In fact even I hardly notice the bent and kinky aspects the Internet I see. The following is an example of what I see on-screen: not very "dangerous" is it?


I use the "GHOST" at least seven hours a day here gray Land-of-Concrete Japan. You've brought a gray joy to my gray life. Now my desk is gray, the walls are gray, my uniform is gray and my company bento-lunch is gray.

Taro, 20 years in the fetid bowels of Japan Inc

See also my comment here.