Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on August 2010

Shane Busato

WELL, THAT EXPLAINS IT

• A 46-year-old professor in Hyogo Prefecture who was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence tried to dodge the charge by claiming that, instead of alcohol, he had drunk 40 bottles of a health tonic.
• A tour guide who survived a climbing accident in Hokkaido last year recently admitted that forging ahead with the tour, which ultimately claimed the lives of eight people, was a “bad idea.”
• A 40-year-old Hiroshima doctor was arrested for using a hidden camera to take indecent photos of two young sisters during a routine checkup. Prosecutors said the illicit practice had been going on since 2008 and that a number of women had been photographed.
• An explosive situation was diffused in Naha when the Ground Self-Defense Force disposed of 902 unexploded shells found buried near a restaurant.
• Service was disrupted for over three hours on Nagoya Railroad’s Komaki Line after a suspicious object was found on a local train. It turned out be a radio forgotten by a passenger.
• A disgruntled JR West conductor was arrested for tampering with anti-crash equipment on some of the trains he operated in Osaka.

NEWS FROM THE RING

• A 55-year-old man died of heart failure while watching the matches at the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament, which was held under the cloud of a gambling scandal.
• The incident led to the discovery that Japan Sumo Association acting chief Hiroyoshi Murayama had left the venue, a no-no in the sumo world and further proof that all publicity ain’t good publicity.
• The Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry is looking to get Japan’s bodies moving by helping them find their future spouses through sporting activities.
• A concrete table that was used for autopsies on leprosy patients was fished out of the sea in Kagawa Prefecture. The artifact, which was originally from the National Sanatorium at Oshimaseishoen, will be put on display at a local art festival.

IT’S A ZOO OUT THERE

• Middle-aged Japanese women with money to burn have been flocking to “sensual massage” parlors, where they can pay for the, ahem, attentions of strapping young men.
• A 445kg bluefin tuna, one of the largest ever to pass through the Tsukiji Fish Market, was auctioned off for ¥3.2 million.
• A team of Japanese researchers have undertaken what is probably the world’s first experiment to find out how much dolphins use their vision to differentiate between other sea mammals.
• A blind 12-year-old kangaroo named Butii gave birth to a baby ’roo, otherwise known as a joey, at a zoo in Ehime. We mention this because that blind old bat Butii would be about 100 years old in human years.
• After upgrading the fire insurance policy on a vacant house that he owned, an unemployed Fukuoka man allegedly—and rather unsurprisingly—set it ablaze in an attempt to cash in.
• Two men have likely learned to keep it in their pants after being arrested by the “Sakura Police”—a unit formed to combat indecent acts against women and children—for flashing young girls in separate incidents in Tokyo.

DOMO ARIGATO, MR. ROBOTO

• Giant Gundam replicas seems to be all the rage these days, but leave it to Fuji-Q Highland to buck the trend … by constructing a 9m-tall bust of robot Evangelion Unit-01 from the popular anime Neon Genesis Evangelion.
• Lovers of anime and interior design are rejoicing that Swedish furniture chain IKEA has started offering gothic and otaku-styled furnishings at some of its Japanese outlets.
• A Nara man got more than he bargained for when he accidentally fired an antique military-issue handgun while cleaning it in his mom’s house.
• The King of Pop will live on a while longer at Tokyo Disneyland, where Captain EO, a 3D theater attraction starring the late Michael Jackson, was reopened for the first time in 14 years.

MONEY, MONEY, MONEY

• A major shopping mall is being built near Narita Airport to service the expected influx of Chinese tourists now that visa regulations have eased.
• Here comes the bride… and her checkbook. Despite the recession, research company Teikoku Databank found that the wedding industry is still booming—a whopping 69 companies that operate wedding facilities boasted sales of more than ¥1 billion last year.
• Japanese diplomats are scrambling for a way to increase the number of British participants in the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme after an eight-year decline.
• Boston Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka showed his charitable side by announcing he will donate $500 to the Red Sox Foundation for every strikeout he records this season. If he was really in a charitable mood, he would have done it for every walk.

ODD AND ENDS

• Sharp, Sony and NEC all announced plans to introduce e-book devices, while Google intends to enter the market in Japan next year.
• Good news for those who frequent crowded trains in the summer. The heads of Fast Retailing, which operates Uniqlo, and the president of textile company Toray Industries have teamed up to focus on making materials that absorb sweat and suppress smells.
• Bend it like Watanabe? Politician and Your Party leader Yoshimi Watanabe said his spiked hairdo was inspired by English soccer star David Beckham.
• Police are investigating a case in Ibaraki Prefecture where almost two tons of gravestones and grave foundation blocks were illegally dumped at a closed factory complex.

Compiled from reports by Bloomberg, BBC, Japan Today, The Japan Times, International Herald Tribune/The Asahi Shimbun, The Mainichi Daily News, The Tokyo Reporter, The Daily Yomiuri, AP and Kyodo.