An unemployed 62 year old man has been arrested for interfering with bicycles left in a lot near a bus stop in Kobe. Police were astonished to discover he would polish them up. repair them and give them new locks. They have confirmed he didn't sell any of them or do anything for any monetary gain. The man has admitted to interfering with around 50 bikes and said he did so because he thought they "looked sad" lying around in the lot. Japan's netizens are talking about him as the "mysterious bicycle lot ghost" or the "Mother Teresa of bikes". They are also wondering exactly what he did wrong if the bikes he handled had actually been abandoned. Link (Japanese)
The combined cost of suicides and depression cases to the Japanese economy totaled 2.68 trillion yen in 2009 due to lost incomes from the deaths and social security payments necessitated by the mood disorder, the government said Tuesday.
Health minister Akira Nagatsuma released the figures at a meeting of relevant cabinet ministers on measures to deal with suicides and depression, held at the prime minister’s office, Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry officials said.
The estimated economic losses from such cases, released for the first time, were compiled by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research.
Among the 32,845 people who killed themselves in 2009, about 26,500 were aged between 15 and 69, the ministry said. If these people had lived on and worked until the age of 70, they would have earned an estimated total of 1,902.8 billion yen, it said.
In addition, if depression sufferers had not taken their own lives or did not have to take days off due to their condition, the government would not have had to pay 45.6 billion yen in workers’ compensation benefits, it said. ...
Convenience store robber wearing disposable diapers on his head takes 140,000 yen -- South Korean man arrested (crappy machine-translation) Jiji News headlines | September 5, 2010
Nerima Ward, Tokyo--- Last week a robber burst into a convenience store and escaped with 140,000 yen the according to the Shakujii police station. The robbery suspect was a 55 year old South Korean creatively named “Kim.”
According to the police, Kim burst into the store wearing disposable diapers over his head with holes for his eyes. Kim was said to be using adult diapers on a daily basis because he was suffering from a urinary stones.
At around 5:02 am on August 25, at a Nerima convenience store the suspect theatened the store’s male clerk with a knife by chasing, stabbing at him and yelling in English, “Money, Money!” before being caught while escaping with all the store’s cash of 140,000 yen.
On a beer run to the local Family Mart last night, I noticed that all the magazines were tied up with twine. Not just the girly mags, but everything. Is there some sort of campaign to stop tachiyomi?
Italian news reports are quoting a San Marino track doctor as saying Japanese motorcyclist Shoya Tomizawa has died of injuries suffered in an accident during the Moto2 race on the San Marino Grand Prix track.
Tomizawa lost control of his motorcycle and was hit by two other riders at full speed during the race. He was flown by helicopter to one hospital and then to the Riccione hospital on the Adriatic coast.
ANSA quoted track doctor Claudio Costa as saying that Tomizawa died at 2:20 p.m. (1220 GMT) at the hospital.
Riccione hospital emergency says it is not authorized to give out information about Tomizawa.
. Steve-sama at the Tokyo Damage Report reports how the Jersey Shore look has hit Japan….
"Somehow, where The Rapper failed to translate into Japanese, the Douche is a perfect fit."... Tokyo Damage Report | 2010/09/04: soul japan magazine, 悪羅悪羅！！
Big Think: Is Apple Making Us Japanese?
...The Japanese stand in stark contrast to us. They are exceptionally fond of their machines, which are without exception small and beautifully designed, even cute. Whether it’s their legendary programmable toilets or their meticulously compact coffeemakers, Japanese household machines fit seamlessly into their environment― man and machine locked in a harmonious tango. Japanese homes also contain electronic gadgets that are far from functional, but are just cute and pleasant to have around. Some single women in Japan come home and tell their pink electronic teddy bears if they had a bad day at work. Grown men in the subway carry around cell phones with little dolls attached to them that make noises if you press them. Japanese anime is full of cute little robots like the phenomenally popular cartoon character Astro Boy that nurture the close bond between humans and machines from a very young age. The Japanese are not weird. On the contrary, they are quite forward-looking in their comfort with co-existing with machines...more...
NYT: Japanese Language Program Falls Victim to Economy
The only open-enrollment Japanese language program in the city’s high schools will no longer exist. The courses, at Percy L. Julian High School on the far South Side, are a casualty of budget cuts and teacher layoffs in Chicago Public Schools. Xian Barrett, the Japanese language teacher, said he was laid off last month. “I was absolutely shocked,” Mr. Barrett said. “I don’t understand why there’s not more support for Japanese, because the student interest is there.” Frank Shuftan, a spokesman for the public schools, said the program, in which 151 students were enrolled, had been canceled. Although Japanese and other foreign languages are important, Mr. Shuftan said, “we told the principals to take a long look at their budgets and determine what could be cut”...In addition to the Japanese course, the school is also facing cuts to its robotics, culinary arts and radio/television programs...more...
Without Japanese, robotics, culinary arts & radio/TV studies, how is anybody going to be able to understand Japan?
TokyoDV
A short video tour of adult shops and love hotels; Sex, drugs, and Japanese love hotels.. Happy Valentine's Day!
Sake-Drenched Postcards
Though a young boy at the time, Wallace Andre clearly recollects that moment six decades ago when a U.S. dive bomber began to encounter trouble while paying a visit to his coastal village on the eastern edge of Vanuatu's capital island of Efate. Life during Wartime: Vanuatu in World War I...
. Steve-sama at the Tokyo Damage Report reports how the Jersey Shore look has hit Japan
