On a nice sunny day, kids appear to like nothing better than running and playing in the park, enjoying the freedom and fres being pulled around the park by their hot and harassed teachers.
(click image for heftier haul)
Strenuous stroll
General
Tokyo tinkle
For the commuter who simply can’t get enough of being pushed and prodded onto a busy train, help is finally at hand — or at least at the foot of the futon. This awfully geeky alarm clock adding a little rattle and roll to weekday awakenings.
Yet as impressive to look at as this miniature recreation of Tokyo’s Yamanote loop line is, it’s nothing compared to the clock’s chipper chimes. Based on several stations mindless squeeze-in-everybody-the doors-are-about-to-close music, it includes such classic compositions as Shinjuku’s timeless ‘Twilight’, and Ikebukuro’s sumptuous ‘Spring Box’. Melodies so memorable they’ll have even the most brow-beaten salary man bursting out of bed and whistling his way to work. A selection of samples stored on this site give a good idea of some of the delightful ditties on offer.
Such gems make the clock something of a steal at 7,980 yen (38 pound); and for an extra 300 yen it can be delivered to the station of your choice — elevating the experience even further.
Perhaps.
Cosplay confessional
The music started, the chapel doors opened, and there was no turning back — not now. Then, seemingly as one, the guests turned towards the opened doors, and with a last deep breath I set off down the aisle, guiding my shaking legs tentatively towards the platform ahead.
Rather worryingly there appeared to be a lot more people present than anticipated, but I squeezed out a nervous smile and the odd polite nod. Then, checking that the groom was close behind, it was up on to the platform and behind the podium, tightly clasping my bible and ceremony notes. Yes, I was performing my first ‘Christian’ wedding ceremony, and with somewhere in the region of 100 Japanese guests looking on expectantly, I was nervous to say the least.
But why be nervous? If nothing else I looked the part in my newly acquired robe — complete with a rather natty stole and embroidered crosses.
And if that wasn’t enough, surely my 3 hours or so of ‘training’ and the resultant certificate would get me through the proceedings. I was now authorized for goodness sake.
In both English and Japanese.
The trusty robe manufacturers certainly thought so anyway, as I wasn’t plain old Mr Lee Chapman anymore. No, not by a long shot. I was going up in the world, perhaps quite literally.
Such a rapid rise leading me to believe that I’d be a bishop before I knew it. Or at least I would have been if I hadn’t opted for early retirement — it being a lot of Sunday work and all that.
Web wonder
Japan crowned its first ever internet beauty queen over the weekend, after whittling down a winner from around 5,500 entries. Yet in a bid to make sure that the victor didn’t turn out to be a balding and bearded middle-aged man living with his parents and known online as Judith, the organizers asked the 20 best contestants — chosen by internet voting — to appear in person for the final judgment.
The contest’s eventual champion turned out to be 19-year-old Rena Tomabechi, a university student from Aomori Prefecture. A young lady who fortunately for the organizers appears to be anything but a wildly unpredictable web weirdo.
The teenage student managed to bag the top spot after performing a walk in a bathing suit, which received a winning eja evaluation from the juiced up judges. An award that netted her a tidy 1 million yen (4,750 pound) in cash and a free trip to Hong Kong. Triumphant Tomabechi also proving that she’s far more than just a pretty face, wowing the gathered throng during her acceptance speech by saying, “I still can’t believe it. When I wake up tomorrow, I’ll probably be all confused, thinking ‘What shall I do? I’ve won’.â€
High school student ‘Namie’ (pictured below) came a close second.
Apparently.
Plastic fantastic
According to statisticians well versed on such matters, the world uses between 500 billion and 1 trillion plastic bags a year, with the shopping crazed citizens of Japan getting through a rather greedy 30 billion of those — the excessive separation of goods being the main culprit.
Yet under pressure from environmentalists, this practice looks set to change, with the government recently revising a law to reduce the amount of plastic in use; the new system allowing warnings to be issued to retailers that don’t toe the line.
A brief experiment conducted in a nearby convenience store by Tokyo Times found that this recommended reduction in unnecessary bag usage will cut queuing time by approximately 7.24 seconds per customer, although with the huge number of packaging possessed purchasers in Japan, such findings are unlikely to carry much weight. Even retailers themselves appear suspicious of such moves, with Shinji Shimamura of the Japan Franchise Association saying, “We consider wrapping a part of the productâ€. The packaging partisan further adding, “We can’t hand customers a hot lunch box or cold ice cream without a bag. That would be unhygienic and very rude.”
A view shared by many it would seem, as within only a week of the government’s announcement, packaging lovers in the capital are already fighting back, with the harvesting of organically grown plastic bags set to commence shortly.
Scores of researchers feverishly working on techniques to produce larger and more fashionably coloured ‘fruit’.
(click images for larger lame lark)
Bovine breakout
In a rare act of bovine bravery, a courageous cow escaped from a slaughterhouse on Sunday morning, evading local police officers and taking out an abattoir worker in the process.
Perhaps sensing that it wasn’t going to be another lazy day standing in a field eating grass, the 730-kilogramme animal shocked the town of Yokkaichi in Mie Prefecture with its bold bid for freedom; leading a group of over 20 policemen on a 6-kilometre chase. An audacious act that sadly ended in tragedy, with the 3-year-old beast dying after running headfirst into a metal fence.
The cow’s daring decampment however garnered little sympathy from Masashi Kitabayashi, a local police official. The callous cop matter-of-factly saying, “I don’t know whether it will be processed into meat or not.”