Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on August 2011

CAN’T SAY WE BLAME THEM

• Barbecued beef restaurants in Japan found sales were down after reports surfaced that caesium-laced beef had been distributed across the country.
• Bombastic Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara said a new power plant will be built in Tokyo “with the electricity generation capacity of at least 1 million kilowatts,” but he refused to provide any details.
• PM Naoto Kan came under fire from members of his own Cabinet for “advocating a society free of nuclear power in the aftermath of the crisis in Fukushima.” That’s news to us, claimed members of his cabinet.
• South Korea voiced “strong regret and disappointment” over Japan’s month-long ban on its diplomats flying Korean Air. The ban was put in effect to protest a special flight by the airline above some disputed islets.
• Yukari Miyamae, a 61-year-old Japanese-American female, has achieved a cult-like following after being arrested for grabbing the boob of an airport security agent in Phoenix and, according to the police report, “squeezing and twisting it with both hands without the victim’s permission.”
• Meanwhile, a Facebook page dedicated to acquitting Miyamae of the sexual abuse charges apparently drew over 1,000 supporters, “with some calling her a hero.”
• Out of four hardy souls with artificial legs who set out to climb to the top of Mount Fuji, three actually made it to the summit.
• People at disaster relief centers in Tohoku are finding plenty of warm winter coats and sweaters among the donated goods, but few lighter items adequate for Japan’s hot, steamy summer.
• In related news, fears of excessive heatstroke numbers in Japan increased as residents took steps to save electricity by cutting back on power consumption.
• Just a week after attending the premier of his latest film, actor Yoshio Harada died of pneumonia at a Tokyo hospital. He was 71.
• Oops! Toshiba admitted that personal information from over 7,500 people may have been leaked from the customer database of its U.S. sales company “due to fraudulent access.”
• An insider was apparently the whistle-blower who brought to light a scandal involving the Kyushu Electric Power Company sending out emails portraying local support to restart nuclear reactors.

OVERACHIEVERS

• One Japanese high-school student won a gold medal and three others claimed silver in the International Chemistry Olympiad, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology said.
• While Japan’s Women’s World Cup soccer victory grabbed all the headlines, the local rugby team was also doing the nation proud. The Brave Blossoms topped host Fiji 24-13 to win the Pacific Nations Cup for the first time.
• 39-year-old Ozeki Kaio put his name in the sumo history books when he notched his record 1,046th career win during a tournament in Nagoya, edging past previous record-holder Chiyonofuji.
• Talk about a good day on the golf course. 23-year-old Chie Arimura had both an albatross and a hole-in-one in the first round of the JLPGA’s Stanley Ladies Tournament. Arimura drained her second shot from nearly 200 yards for an albatross on the par-5 eighth hole, before she aced the 135-yard 16th.
• Researchers with the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake Tsunami Joint Study Group have determined that tsunami waves generated by the March 11 earthquake reached a record 40.5 meters above sea level when they hit Miyako, Iwate Prefecture.

SNAP OUT OF IT, BOYS!

• For the first time in 11 years in the major leagues, the batting average of Seattle Mariners star outfielder Ichiro Suzuki was below .300 at the All-Star break (.270).
• Meanwhile, another once-mighty ballplayer from these shores, Hideki Matsui of the Oakland A’s, was mired in the worst slump of his nine-year MLB career with an anemic .209 batting average at the break.
• The only representative of Japan at this year’s Midsummer Classic in Arizona was a batting practice pitcher—San Francisco Giants trainer Taira Uematsu, who threw BP for the National League.
• The Sauber Formula One team was fined €20,000 for an incident in the pits involving driver Kamui Kobayashi at the British Grand Prix, when he banged into Pastor Maldonado’s Williams.
• A blind man in Iwate Prefecture has been scarred psychologically after experiencing the deadly March 11 tsunami, saying the smell of seawater now brings him back to that horrible day.
• Due to a poor harvest for the second straight year, the price of eel—a traditional summer dish—was up in Japan.
• Sentence of the Week: “But for an increasing number of adventurers seeking a laid-back, low-cost lifestyle, the dream can turn to disillusionment, loss of vital organs or even death.”—From an Asahi Shimbun story on Japanese men hooking up with younger Philippine women and moving to the Philippines.
• Headline of the Week: “14 children pronounced brain dead in past year did not donate organs despite legal changes”—Courtesy of The Mainichi Daily News

BAD MEDICINE

• A doctor with Kyoto University Hospital was arrested for possession of marijuana after weed was found in his pockets and on the dashboard of his car, when he was stopped by cops for entering a no-drive zone.
• Thanks dad. A Tokyo doctor “told his wife he would have nothing to do with his newly adopted son after getting a kidney from him.” The 21-year-old donor was told by a yakuza boss that his debt would be waived if he agreed to be adopted by the doc and hand over his kidney.
• The Supreme Court ruled that, despite three lawsuits claiming the fees run counter to the consumer contracts law, “it is reasonable for landlords to seek renewal fees in renewing housing rental agreements with their tenants.” Damn!

Compiled from reports by AP, Japan Today, The Japan Times, The International Herald Tribune, The Asahi Shimbun, The Mainichi Daily News, Daily Yomiuri, AFP, Reuters and Kyodo.