April 18, 2014

City police YouTube channel, AKB48 screws Don Quijote, jumbo goodbyes and more

By Metropolis • April 16, 2014

Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on April 2014

WHAT’S THE JAPANESE FOR “CHUTZPAH”?

A Kagoshima man who bought a PC that had been previously owned by a labor union insisted that the union pay him ¥8 million to “buy back personal information stored in the computer.”
Tokyo police busted an illegal gambling ring being run out of a condo in Shibuya that also serves as the residence of the ambassador from Ghana.
Officials at the Don Quijote retail chain have sued the promotion agency that manages J-pop megagroup AKB48.
The lawsuit claims the management company screwed Don Quijote out of an exclusive licensing deal by letting a pachinko parlor use machines featuring likenesses of the group’s members.

YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK

The MPD has unveiled an official YouTube channel that includes, among other videos, the theme song of its mascot, Pipo-kun.

Education officials in Osaka have ordered 13 primary and junior high schools to remove Barefoot Gen from their libraries, citing the manga’s “many discriminatory expressions.”

Yakult Honsha Co—best known for its sickly-sweet yogurt-like drinks—will collaborate with JAXA to “study the effects of lactic acid bacteria on the human immune system” in outer space.

Government officials say they’ll offer ¥150 billion in loans and grants to the government of Ukraine to help the country “out of its economic quagmire.”

OFF THE RAILS

Although the maglev railway line under construction between Tokyo and Nagoya won’t be completed until 2027, authorities at JR Tokai are offering train enthusiasts the chance to take a ride on a 43km stretch of track in Yamanashi.
Officials at the National Police Agency say 5,152 people died in traffic accidents in Japan in 2013—the lowest figure on record.
Brazil’s fair trade commission is investigating Mitsui & Co and 17 other companies on suspicion of bid-rigging on railway projects.
Weather officials in the Hokkaido port city of Nemuro say 115 centimeters of snow fell there on March 20—the most ever for the first day of spring.

SKYBORNE SAYONARA

The last Boeing 747 operated by a Japanese airline took to the skies for the final time, on an ANA flight from Naha to Tokyo.
One of the passengers onboard was a woman who had flown on ANA’s inaugural 747 flight, way back in 1979.
On hand for the takeoff in Okinawa was Shigeyuki Ochi, who developed the video technology that allows passengers to keep track of the plane’s in-flight progress. Ochi’s efforts are credited with jump-starting Japan’s camcorder industry, which went on to dominate the world in the ’80s and ’90s.
During the peak period of the mid-’90s, a total of 120 of the jumbo jets were operated by domestic carriers.

SAY WHAT?!?

Researchers at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development say Japanese students are third-best in the world at “creative problem solving.”
As part of a proposed free-trade deal between Japan and the EU, officials in Tokyo have vowed to remove all tariffs on imported wine.
The Lawson conbini chain put on sale an “ideal pastry” dreamed up by sixth-graders at an elementary school in Aichi.
Bottom Story of the Week: “Oriental White Stork Flies to South Korea” (via The Yomiuri Shimbun)