This week’s “Nanikore Chin Hyakkei” had a segment about a samurai wedding at Matsue Castle:
The wedding was modeled after the kind of celebration that might occur if the groom had been a feudal lord. Their friends and family were dressed in samurai attire, taking on the role of the lord’s retainers.
The couple got to have this unique wedding because they had submitted the prize-winning entry to a contest celebrating the 400th anniversary of the castle. A local tourism NPO helped set everything up, so the ceremony only cost 30,000 yen ($337).
For tourism info about Matsue, check out this page.
A Fuji TV news report about how protective masks that offer “99%” virus protection are selling well:
A study conducted by the National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan found that most masks are far less effective than their packages claim. Of the fifteen brands of 99% anti-viral masks tested, twelve had filters with below 95% virus-blocking capability. Six of those twelve, six were below 80%. When one considers the fact that masks will not be a perfect fit for everyone’s head, the effectiveness of the masks is almost cut in half. Even the masks with very good filters are unlikely to provide total protection from the flu virus. The government will advise mask producers to change their packaging to better reflect reality.
Of course, this will have little effect on those who are buying and wearing these masks. Even when confronted with evidence that the masks are probably ineffective, people said they were going to wear the masks anyway because they need any protection they can get.
If this product has convinced you that you need an ultrasonic ion brush, you can buy it here, but I think the sound will melt your brains.
I could go on about the infamous dentata of the Japanese archipelago, but I am sure the comments will take care of that.
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Contributor Bio: Claytonian blogs and vlogs about Japan, language, and news at The Hopeless Romantic. He is rubbing his tongue against his teeth right now.
NTV’s evening news weatherman reports from the Akiba:F blood donation facility in Akihabara, checking out some of the figures and high tech gadgets on display:
Japanese and Indonesian researchers filmed this rare footage of a “prehistoric” fish:
The creature was found on October 6 at a depth of 161 metres (528 feet) in Manado Bay off Sulawesi Island, where the Indonesian coelacanth was first discovered, according to the researchers.
Video footage showed the 31.5 centimetre (12.6-inch) coelacanth, coloured blue with white spots, swimming slowly among rocks on the seabed for about 20 minutes.
“As far as we know, it was the first ever video image of a living juvenile coelacanth, which is still shrouded in mystery,” said Masamitsu Iwata, a researcher at Aquamarine Fukushima in Iwaki, northeast of Tokyo.
A 39-year-old employee of the Nara city government is caught in the act of using his mobile phone camera to take a photo up the skirt of a high school girl:
A fan of the idol group AKB48 has stolen mail belonging to group members by taking advantage of the fact that Japanese post offices apparently do not ask for ID when you turn in change of address forms:
In the specific case of which Shibuya is accused, he registered his address as that of one member of the group between September and October last year, and received two items of mail addressed to her. The deception was uncovered in May this year after a member of the group reported to police that her mail wasn’t being delivered.
An ensuing investigation found that he had registered his address as that of 11 members of the group in total, after getting their addresses from other fans. There are over 40 members in the group. He said the post office never asked him for the pop group members’ ID.
[...]
Police say Shibuya managed to get his hands on around 200 pieces of mail in total, including mobile phone bills and training schedules.
“I just wanted some of their stuff, I didn’t care what,” he said.
Leave it to a clown like Sean Hannity to take a single quote by an American and interpret it to mean that the Japanese are “mortified” by Obama’s bowing before Emperor Akihito.
In the real world (a place far away from the planet Hannity resides on), few in the Japanese media said anything about Obama’s bow until they discovered Fox and other American media sources had made it into a big story. What we now have on our hands is a strange story about how many Americans have overreacted to simple bow and handshake. Unlike the bow itself, which drew little attention, this story actually does make America look stupid in the eyes of many Japanese viewers.
A very popular video on YouTube and Nico Nico Douga features clips of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama spliced together to make it look like he is questioning himself over a funding scandal:
, appeared on Monday’s episode of the Daily Show to talk about his encounters with the yakuza:
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