Tokyo Times

Photographs from a small group of islands

Odd

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Lost in transit

Tokyo is a big and bustling city, so it’s not surprising that things get lost from time to time. Although judging from the figures just released by the Metropolitan Police Force, from time to time is probably something of an understatement. As last year 1.95 million unclaimed items were taken to the police.

Rather predictably the most common item was the humble umbrella, with 330,000 of them being handed in. More intriguing however was the staggering amount of unclaimed money. A whopping 2.4 billion yen (12,000,000 pound) in cash to be exact.

But one marked increase on the previous year was the amount of abandoned animals. The total number was 154, an increase of 42 from 2003. And even more bizarre is that turtles of all things topped the list, with 28 of them currently doing whatever turtles do in police stations across the capital. Other left behind animals included chickens, rabbits, and ferrets.

And I always thought that the ubiquitous branded bag that many Japanese walk around with was simply to hold make-up, magazines, and a mobile. Apparently not…

Categorized: Odd

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Monkey (not so) magic

An unemployed man was arrested yesterday for attempting to rob a convenience store on January 25th.

Using a bit of common sense, 31-year-old Takashi Ishimitsu wisely decided to don a disguise before attempting the robbery. But rather than wearing a simple mask or balaclava, Ishimitsu-san got kitted out in a full monkey suit. An outfit that admittedly concealed his identity, but at the same time wasn’t exactly what you’d call inconspicuous.

monkey suit

And to add insult to injury, Ishimitsu-san left the store empty handed. Even though he was armed with a knife, his comedy outfit didn’t exactly instill fear in his victim. As the staff member on duty calmly alerted his manager, causing the costume clad culprit to flee.

Categorized: Odd

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Fire-loving female

An unemployed woman already facing charges of arson, was hit with another arrest warrant yesterday. This time for trying to burn down the apartment complex where she lives.

The new charge accuses 30-year-old Hisako Kasahara with attempted arson of an inhabited building, as the fire-loving female set fire to a cloth covering a washing machine on the second-floor of the complex. Fortunately however she only succeeding in burning part of the roof, and none of the other residents were injured. Although a few of them did suffer mild smoke inhalation.

During questioning Kasahara-san admitted to the allegations, explaining her behaviour with a unique brand of twisted logic. “I was having trouble paying rent. I thought I wouldn’t have to pay it if the entire apartment complex burnt down.”

A statement that contains an element of truth. I suppose.

Categorized: Odd

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Nasal needs

Whilst I was aware that eyelid alteration (from a single to a double) is the most common plastic surgery procedure for Asians, thanks to Popgadget I now also know that nasal bridge raising is second in the surgery stakes.

I must say though that it came as something of a surprise, as I always thought that the numerous comments I’ve had about my tall nose (yes, a nose isn’t big, it’s tall) were derogatory. Or at the very least my, ahem, noble nose was an unlimited source of mirth and merriment. And the fact that kids in kindergarten often refer to me as Pinocchio has only helped cement such feelings. Cheeky little bastards!

But enough of my nose related angst. Asians do want bigger noses, and if they didn’t, why would a Japanese professor have come up with a nasal bridge raiser? A gadget that supposedly produces a tall nose without the need for surgery.

nose enlarger

The device has a polythene nose piece that vibrates at 7,000 Hz per minute, supposedly creating a gravitational force that excites the growth of the nasal bridge. And its promoters claim that wearing it everyday for 3 minutes or so will produce noticeable differences in just 2 or 3 weeks.

If you find this hard to believe, these thoroughly unconvincing before and after pictures probably won’t change your mind.

enlarged nose

For those of you also sporting prominent noses, I’m sorry to say that despite extensive and overly optimistic research, I’ve yet to find out if the device has a reverse switch.

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Furtive fire fighter

As upskirt photography appears to be relatively common in Japan, a report of every incident or arrest would probably require a site dedicated solely to such material. Although in all honesty it has to be said that Tokyo Times hasn’t exactly shied away from mentioning such shady shenanigans. But last week a senior fire fighter was caught in the act, and his inventive approach makes his case stand out from the rest somewhat.

Rather than hanging around escalators, or taking clandestine pictures on the train, 31-year-old Michinori Okabe took a patient to the hospital along with a camera equipped mobile phone hidden in his shoe.

With incredible dedication to his own unique brand of photography, Okabe made a 5 mm hole in the instep of one of his shoes in order to line-up the camera on his phone. And using the mobile’s movie mode he attempted to film up the skirt of two women.

Despite the ingenious nature of his camera-equipped shoe, Okabe’s technique appears to have let him down, as a patient saw him engaged in a spot of foot filming. Resulting in the fire fighter’s ignominious arrest.

During questioning Okabe admitted to the charges, saying, “I wanted to film women’s underwear. I did the same thing at the hospital on January 4th.” And presumably with the body part pun very much unintended, he added, “I was trying to take secret footage.”

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Lineage lover loses out

A woman in her 30’s has been reported to the Fukushima District Prosecutors office for deleting her ex-boyfriend’s online game data. A crime she committed by obtaining the necessary username and password without consent.

Whilst the man didn’t suffer financially, he did lose lots of data that he’d collected over countless hours sat in front of his computer. Items such as weapons, clothes, and, erm, other such things. The game in question is “Lineage”, which includes characters like knights and magicians. Meaning I probably don’t need to go into anymore detail regarding the kind of data we are talking about here.

lineage

But as interesting as this is in a geeky kind of way (well, it is to me anyway), an added twist is that the man and woman actually met through the game. Although sadly their respective character names and status weren’t revealed.

Unfortunately the relationship didn’t last long, and has now resulted in this sorry state of affairs. Apparently the, ahem, magic just wasn’t there.