November 23, 2011

November 23, 2011

November 23, 2011

This week's required reading

By

Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on November 2011

HIDE AND SEEK

  • Apparently, a South Korean magazine, Weekly Chosun, claims to have tracked down Japanese abductee Megumi Yokota, alive and well and living in Pyongyang. North Korea admitted snatching a 13-year-old Yokota in 1977, but they claim she killed herself in 1994.
  • The captain of a Chinese fishing boat was arrested in Japanese waters off Nagasaki after leading the Coast Guard on a chase. Sound familiar?
  • The body of a 35-year-old Iwate man missing since the March 11 tsunami was discovered by his wife in a crushed car being kept at a temporary junkyard.
  • A powered exoskeleton robot-like suit made by Tsukuba-based Cyberdyne, which would come in handy during nuclear accidents, “features computer-controlled, motorized limbs, which respond to a user’s movements.”
  • The Daidogei World Cup of street performers featured 87 acts from 21 countries doing their thing at a Shizuoka park.
  • In an event organized by Panasonic to promote its Lamdash shaver, a world record was set for the largest number of men using the same model of electric razor at the same time in Japan and abroad. According to Guinness World Records, 1,981 men participated at 18 locations.

NICE BIRDIE!

  • The mother and manager of 20-year-old golf superstar Ryo Ishikawa released the following statement to the press: “There exists a woman whom Ryo Ishikawa is going out with. We would appreciate it if the people concerned will treat them with warm patience in order to help the two of them and avoid any trouble to sponsoring companies and competition officials.”
  • Stablemaster Naruto, who was previously yokozuna Takanosato, died of respiratory failure at a Fukuoka hospital a year shy of 60. He was under investigation by the Japan Sumo Association over allegations “that he had let a Czech-born wrestler (Takanoyama) inject insulin to boost his body weight… and that he beat his wrestlers.”
  • Forty-year-old speedskating mama Tomomi Okazaki finished second behind Maki Tsuji in a 500-meter race in Hokkaido. She is hoping to skate in her sixth Olympics in 2014 in Sochi.
  • Japanese tennis ace Kei Nishikori knocked off the No. 1 player in the world, Novak Djokovic, in the semis of a Swiss tournament but ended up losing to Roger Federer in the final. Oh well, you can’t win ’em all.
  • Fagiano Okayama defender Ryujiro Ueda scored what is thought to be a world-record 58.6-meter goal on a header during a J. League second division soccer match against Yokohama FC.
  • Former Baltimore Orioles All-Star shortstop Cal Ripken was in Japan to hold baseball clinics for kids affected by the tsunami and earthquake.

LIGHT-FINGERED GRANNY

  • A 79-year-old Tokyo pickpocket, known as the “Depachika (department store basement) Sato Granny,” was arrested for trying to steal money from a person’s bag so that she could bet on the boat races. It was her 23rd arrest.
  • Not to be outdone, a real estate company employee was in hot water for using some ¥600 million in maintenance fees to bet on the ponies.
  • A taxi driver from Chiba Prefecture and a 15-year-old girl were arrested for running a ring of six high school hookers.
  • A 25-year-old man in Australia was found guilty of manslaughter for beating to death 67-year-old Magno Alvarado in a drunken rage that he claims he doesn’t remember. The killer was apparently yelling that the victim was Japanese and deserved what he was getting, part of an expletive-filled racist rant.
  • A group of enterprising young university students from Shiga Prefecture has come up with a way of making T-shirts from used cigarette butts.
  • The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Peter Webber will direct the historical epic Emperor, “set in the days immediately following the Japanese surrender at the end of World War II.”
  • In Jakarta, 28 girls were chosen to be part of JKT48, “the first official overseas sister group of (Japanese idols) AKB48.”
  • Reina Ikeda, 24, a model who finished second in the “Miss Tokyo Girls Collection” fashion event in 2008 and who went by the stage name Laina, was dinged for illegal drug use.

ROLLING THE GASTRONOMIC DICE

  • The Tokyo Metropolitan Government put out an alert that a fish distributor had “sold up to 14 puffer fish without removing their poisonous organs.” Oops!
  • The Takashimaya department store is selling “award-winning rice from Fukushima Prefecture, grown with organic fertilizers containing Chinese herbal medicine, and tested for radiation.” Yummy!
  • A Fukushima company has come up with a new low-cost (¥18,800) battery-operated Geiger counter for locals worried about radiation leaks.
  • A Tokyo man saddled in debt lost it and took a pickax to his family, killing his wife and son and injuring his daughter.
  • A 28-year-old Japanese woman on an international wanted list since a 2003 murder and dismemberment in Yamanashi was arrested after returning to Japan from South Africa.
  • The landing gear on a new ANA Boeing 787 Dreamliner with nearly 250 people aboard got jammed as the plane prepared to land at Okayama airport, forcing the pilots to make a second approach before manually lowering the wheels.
  • The dead dad and an uncle of Osaka mayoral candidate Toru Hashimoto were yakuza members, according to reports, and a cousin is apparently in jail for manslaughter. Now there’s your smoking gun.
  • Headline of the Week: “Soapland brothel ban in Ishikawa onsen resort town steams residents” (courtesy of The Tokyo Reporter)

Compiled from reports by AP, Japan Today, The Japan Times, The Tokyo Reporter, The Asahi Shimbun, The Mainichi Daily News, Daily Yomiuri, AFP, Reuters, Kyodo, Bloomberg News, Nikkan Sports, The Daily Telegraph and Hollywood Reporter