Gin no Sara 銀のさら is delivery sushi service run by Restaurant Express Co. It’s been around for 44 years and they have a series of very entertaining TV commercials to catch your attention.
So...
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7/26/10,
Potechi bionic potato chip grabber from Japan
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Japanese engineers have invented something completely useless, yet totally cool. This time it’s a grabbing device for potato chips so you don’t get grease and salt all over your fingers and...
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Fit Korean housewife Jung Dayeon has a simple yet effective mix of aerobic exercise and dance she calls Figurerobics セット韓国でエクササイズDVD. The 4 set DVD is being promoted to Japanese women as way of...
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7/22/10,
Saki Akai pretty gravure idol from Kyoto
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Saki Akai 赤井沙希 is a pretty 24 year old 175cm tall actress, model and gravure idol from Kyoto Japan. Her father is actor and ex boxer, Hidekazu Akai 赤井英和.
Saki was working as a model in the Kansai...
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We previously blogged about time laspe videos using tilt shift. We found another fun video of sumo wrestlers that was taken in tilt-shift from youtube user thebittergirls.
Tilt Shift Sumo Video
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7/20/10,
Eri Momoko pitches “Tequila Ball” Jello Shots in Japan
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Pretty Ageha fashion model and entrepreneur Eri Momoka is the face of “Tequila Balls” テキーラボール a type of “jello shot” that was created at the Tokyo Kabukicho bar...
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Japanese electronics maker Sanyo showcased a curious contraption called the Human Washing machine 人間洗濯機 Ultrasonic Bath during the 1970 Osaka World Expo.
Back in those days the engineers at Sanyo...
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7/19/10,
Maria Ozawa, Asami Yuma and Nene are the Monroe girls on Yarisugi Koh Jie Monroe Festival
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Popular late night Japanese TV show Yarisugi Koh Jie Monroe Festival やりすぎコージー モンロー祭り (TV Tokyo) had one episode entitled ” Summer Festival AV dream drama virtual experience ...
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Despite the red seeming somewhat unseasonal, this sensationally-shaped bonsai is still an absolute delight to behold.
And yet rather sadly, having spoke to one of the men managing this one and many others, it seems that who exactly started it, or even saw it through its first century, is totally and utterly unknown.
7/23/10,
To (be able to) squat, or not to squat
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It could well be because of a lifetime of having to squat when squeezing one out, although thankfully that’s mostly avoidable now due to the welcome abundance of western bogs. Or there again, maybe squatting is as compulsory as kanji in education.
But either way, the ability to ‘sit’ in that position for a prolonged period of time without protesting in pain or unceremoniously seizing up is simply amazing.
Continuing what has become a really rather enjoyable routine, I shall once again be leaving Japan for the summer, returning home for five weeks to a land where the national football team is now worse than the nation’s infamous teeth.
However, that’s not to say that whilst I’m away Tokyo Times will stagnate like my country’s national sport, as the site will continue to be updated — just at a slightly slower pace that’s all; the current five posts a week being reduced to a much more manageable three.
And to be sure there is new content to see, subscribing to the Tokyo Times RSS feed could well be the way to go, although if such a system doesn’t suit you, the updates will more than likely be on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
So, with that said, and my suitcase all packed, it’s just a case of hoping that little Abbey will get me to the airport before my aeroplane leaves.
The decidedly Jolly looking face below belongs, I believe, to the perhaps rather aptly named Daikoku — a deity said to bring wealth, food as well as good fortune.
And when it comes to the latter, he is obviously not opposed to also partaking, happily endowing himself, in this case at least, with a member of suitably monumental massiveness. A penis that can be peeked at by clicking on the picture below, although it should be said that it’s perhaps not safe for work, unless, of course, giant genitalia is legitimate.
7/15/10,
Japanese workers (having a rest from) working #30
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After working all morning without the comforting cool of air-conditioning, lunch time is understandably a case of quickly wolfing down some food and then enjoying an exceedingly well-earned forty winks.
Presumably it’s due to Tokyo’s busy roads and pedestrian packed pavements, but when cycling around the city, it would seem that one really can’t be too careful.
7/12/10,
The sorry sight of the Queen Chateau soapland haikyo
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When its doors opened in April 1984, in an area where it was, and indeed still is, surrounded by other soaplands and countless other establishments serving sex-related services, it must have seemed that success for the Queen Chateau was a certainty.
But it wasn’t.
And, according to different sources, it closed those same doors once suggestively thrown open that very same year, or, somewhat slightly less disastrously, several years later in 1987.
But either way, it’s still a mystery why it failed, although at the same time it is fairly safe to say that it wasn’t down to a lack of effort in regards the decor, due to its charmingly restrained chateau-like chic.
However, regardless of such fineries, it’s probable that phone rang more in relation to payment requests rather than reservations.
And the rooms, where the place’s ten working girls once plied their trade, are now arguably more sordid than any of the activities that were once performed in them.
The remaining furnishings hinting at the soapy shenanigans that briefly went on there.
Which, it seems, often involved these uncomfortable looking plastic chairs.
But definitely not their more comfortable and cushion-bearing cousins.
And yet as unquestionably pleasurable as soapland must be for the punter, for those paid to please, it must have been (and be) an especially different experience. One were a couple of drinks or some other concoction can’t have just been nice, but a necessity.
A point that became immediately apparent upon stepping inside the Queen Chateau, as, due to the main doors being boarded up, a rear entry was the only option, instead of a once less difficultly negotiated front one; leading us through a depressingly dark and horribly confined area with packed-in bunk beds and basic cooking and toilet facilities — a part of the building where the staff obviously once slept and spent their free (or possibly not so free) time.
The unlit and warren-like nature of the place meant that taking pictures was impossible, but at the same time, it made the sight of business cards suggesting euphemistic visits to ‘tearooms’ (ティールーム) with the likes of Jean (ジーン) and Claudia (クラウディア) all the more unsettling.
After finally receiving my new iPhone, it’s a fond farewell to its trusty, but at the same time far from fast, forerunner. A once cutting edge piece of kit that only had a life-span as long as this ladybird that for some reason really rather liked it.
7/27/10,
World’s Smallest Piano & World’s Smallest Drum Kit
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NTV’s “Fukashigi Tanteidan“ features short performances using the world’s smallest piano and the world’s smallest drum kit, followed by a jam session using both:
7/27/10,
Nagasaki Archive: Google Earth + A-bomb Information
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A new site has been launched that combines Google Earth satellite images with information about the atomic bombing of Nagasaki:
The site, dubbed “Nagasaki Archive” (http://nagasaki.mapping.jp/), shows photographic portraits of A-bomb survivors and the locations of destroyed buildings on a 3-D map of Nagasaki, allowing users to view the victims’ A-bomb stories and photos of the buildings by clicking them.
“We want to save these tragic past experiences as accessible digital data and hand them down to future generations,” said a member of the site’s production committee.
7/26/10,
Shimbashi Station Gets Whisky Highball Melody
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If you’ve passed through Shimbashi Station recently on a JR train, you may have noticed that it’s got a new arrival melody:
According to the above clip from NTV news, it turns out that Suntory has paid JR for to change Shimbashi Station’s melody to a tune used in its whisky highball commercials. They picked Shimbashi because it is known as a hub for Tokyo’s salarymen, who are known as big consumers of alcohol. The tune will catch the attention of commuters, and seems to have also attracted national news coverage.
According to data from Suntory, the number of stores in Japan serving whisky highballs has risen from about 10,000 to 90,000 in the last two years and it is apparently a popular menu item. It may be a sign of a major change in Japanese drinking habits, or it could be just be a fad/boom that will fade away in a couple years.
7/26/10,
U.S. / British / French Governments Sending Representatives to Hiroshima Ceremony
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The United States is planning to send an official government representative to a Hiroshima atomic bombing memorial event:
It would be the first time for the three Western nuclear powers to ever attend the peace ceremonies. The embassies of the United States, Britain and France in Japan have discussed their presence at the ceremonies since this spring and have agreed to console the soles of A-bomb victims and express their unified will for nuclear disarmament and abolition.
The presence of the three countries, which are permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and have closely cooperated in their nuclear policies, could also send a strong, concerted message against North Korea, as well as Iran’s continued nuclear development program.
The revelation shows a major turnaround for the U.S.., Britain and France, which have never sent representatives to the peace ceremonies in the past. High-ranking officials of their respective embassies in Japan are expected to attend the ceremony in Hiroshima, and possibly the one in Nagasaki as well.
A lot of Hiroshima residents have been hoping that President Obama, who won a Nobel Peace prize for making a speech about nuclear disarmament, will visit Hiroshima. Obama has expressed a desire to make a visit, but it doesn’t look like that will be happening this year.
Meanwhile in Potsdam, the city from which Allied leaders issued an ultimatum to Japan in July 1945, an atomic bomb monument has been unveiled. The monument contains pieces of stone from Hiroshima and Nagasaki and a message declaring a hope that atomic weapons will never be used again.
Kuonji temple in Yamanashi prefecture has a bell so large that it requires monks to use a special full-body technique to produce the necessary power to create a proper ringing sound:
When enough power is used, the bell’s ringing can apparently be heard at a distance of 4-kilometers.
7/24/10,
Video: Baby Monkey Plays With Tiger Cubs
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“Shimura Zoo” puts some adorable tiger cubs together with a baby Japanese macaque and discover that they will play together:
When other TV shows have tried similar experiments with other species of animals, it has resulted in pretty messed-up situations that could easily be considered animal cruelty. However, the monkey and tigers in this case seemed to be getting along rather well.
72-year-old Japanese announcer/actor Shiro Suzuki has a hobby that is unusual for his age group. He likes to play video games. He loves the Resident Evil (Biohazard) series of games, and is quite proud of his mad gaming skillz.
Here is he getting a very high score on Resident Evil 4 that is apparently almost doubled the required point total to be considered a “pro”:
It does not appear to be a hoax, nor are his skills limited to the Wii version of the game. In fact, there are several videos up on YouTube in which Suzuki shows off his Resident Evil abilities, including this one from 2 years ago:
