The Hikone, Shiga town mascot ひこにゃん received 43 chocolate gifts from female fans nationwide.
On Valentine’s Day in Japan, only women are supposed to give chocolate to men. But how do the ladies know “Hikonyan” is male? And where does all that chocolate go? Does the mascot keep it?
If you own a TV, the law requires payment of a fee to NHK (Japan’s Public TV broadcaster.)
And, that fee goes towards purchase of the best programs! I’ve been watching a lot of the original Charlie’s Angels TV series aired in the USA in the mid-1970’s. Farrah is awesome!
Following up on Japundit’s post about the October 2007 introduction of the earthquake warning system, and a Tokyo cable TV company’s earthquake warning service, the cable provider has an instructional video on it’s site (scroll down to the second video).
Could you remember everything this woman does in 10 seconds, while this warning “siren” sounds?
Despite railway operators requesting passengers to switch off their mobile phones near priority seats, many passengers are disregarding the rule, which is designed to prevent cell phones from having a potentially deleterious effect on certain medical devices….
According to the Japanese Heart Rhythm Society, which comprises heart disease experts, no report has yet been made of pacemakers malfunctioning as a result of mobile phones…
However, a pacemaker users association is calling on the public to be more aware of people fitted with the medical device…
Why request cellphones be turned off only on trains? What about people with cellphones on the platform? Or elsewhere in public? Pacemaker users can’t avoid people using cellphones on the street, or in the supermarket or… anywhere.
And how do we know if a person has pacemaker installed? Why turn off our cellphone if we don’t know if that elderly citizen on the train is relying on a pacemaker to keep on ticking? Maybe “Pacemaker Inside” buttons could be made available, like those Baby badges” maternity buttons.
So for the trains in Japan, here are my two pacemaker protection systems:
Hello Kitty debuts in Macy’s Thansgiving Day Parade, one of three new giant helium balloons. The other two new balloons:
Shrek, and “Sesame Street’s” Abby Cadabby. There are 11 giant helium balloons in the parade.
A new cell phone model from Softbank Hello Kitty Collection offers a choice of 7 colors, and each color comes with 7 snap-on Hello Kitty faceplates and inner sheets. And it comes with an original Hello Kitty strap, jewelry box and shopping bag.
The label seems to imply there is a smell unique to Japanese or Japan.
Ingredients include the exotic kikui nut oil. Mrs. Hai.Kuoriti, a lifetime expert in cosmetics (purchases¥¥¥) here in Japan, has never heard of this mysterious “kikui” nut.
The text on the necktie is also conveniently upside down, so employees need only gaze downward if they forget who they work for.
This guy works in the post office in my neighborhood. He said he has two ties.
The guns-for-hire at Blackwater don’t just roam the streets of Baghdad and New Orleans. Turns out, they’re in Japan, too — protecting the country’s controversial ballistic missile defense systems.
In Shariki, a tiny village near the Sea of Japan, about 100 government contractors work with AN/TPY-2 radar, “which points high-powered radio waves westward toward mainland Asia to hunt for enemy missiles headed east toward America or its allies,” according to Stars & Stripes.
The contractors “work for Raytheon and Chenega Blackwater Solutions, who, respectively, run the missile radar and provide security at the base.” Two soldiers supervise the 100-person team…”
Noticed this new brand on display outside a lot of drugstores and supermarkets recently.
…you’d be wrong to assume the name has anything to do with either of the activities usually associated with toilet paper. Alas, here’s a case where a little Japanese knowledge goes a long way.
“Popee” is one of the acceptable English spellings for the Japanese word ポピー, which means “poppy.” Like many countries, Japanese toilet tissue design and marketing often employs floral themes—and the poppy happens to be the the one chosen for this brand. In Japan, many people feel that brand names are more attractive when rendered in Roman rather than Japanese script. In this case, writing the brand name in English has unintended consequences—amused or incredulous non-Japanese. But consumer remains naturally and blissfully unaware.
Rather than spend a huge amount of time and money developing proprietary machines and installing them nationwide, Nestle has cleverly found a means of piggybacking on existing infrastructure. They’ve come out with new packaging that allows Kit Kats to be sold through the 2.7 million beverage vending machines that already populate every village, town and city in Japan.
The Kit Kat Jar is shaped like a soda can, holds four individual packs and costs ¥200. Japan Marketing News
Following a series of accidents in which children and elderly people have died after choking on jelly products containing konnyaku, industry associations whose members include manufacturers of the products has unveiled a warning label.
The label, which warns children and the elderly not to eat such products, will be placed on the packaging of these products on a voluntarily basis by three organizations that have konnyaku jelly manufacturers as members…..
….They also plan to print in a red-lined box on the package’s back advice on what to do if the jelly gets stuck in someone’s throat.
….According to the National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan, 14 cases of death by choking on konnyaku jelly have come to light since 1995. Eight of the victims were children aged 7 or younger, and five were 65 or older.
….The center said that, apart from advice relating to allergies and excessive consumption, placing a warning against eating a food product was quite unusual.
A broadband and communications provider serving parts of the Tokyo area, will offer an earthquake advance warning sytem to subscribers beginning October 1, 2007. The “Urgent Earthquake News Flash”, issued from Japan’s Meteorological Agency, will be transmitted to specially installed terminals that use fixed-line phone lines.
The system forecasts the quake arrival time and the seismic intensity of the tremor, 10 seconds in advance, 24/7.
A voice will automatically announce, in Japanese, “The earthquake of four in the seismic intensity will come in ten seconds. 10-9-8 etc.”
The cordless units can be set up in each room of a residence.
Main unit: 23,000 yen. Cordless unit: 13,000 yen. No monthly fee.
Police will file papers Wednesday with prosecutors against a deceased man from whose house in Yokohama they seized a submachine gun, a pistol and 179 rounds of ammunition in June.
The man, 52, died of an unnamed disease at his home in Isogo Ward, on May 28, and his sister, 55, and nephew, 26, found a 9mm automatic pistol and 159 rounds of 9mm ammunition inside a desk in a study on the first floor on June 10.
….The police will file papers with the Yokohama District Public Prosecutors Office against the man on suspicion of violating the Firearms and Swords Control Law.
In Japan, TV commercial viewers are directed to search for the company on the web. Maybe the URLs are too long to remember.
Many TV ads now have the search box, which could imply a turning point that indicates the sponsors are catching up and now feel the majority of viewers are comfortable using the internet.
A new cell phone model from 
