Japan Talk #128 is now available on the Japan Talk website and at FeedBurner.

* Cold, cold, cold!

* JAPUNDIT included in Japanzine’s Top-10 Japan Related Blogs

* Yokozuna Asashoryu forced to retire
* Hip-hop monk delivers thugged-out sutras
* Saitama’s John Lennon Museum to close
* White on Rice, a film by Dave Boyle
* Learn Japanese with Anime-Manga
* Eikaiwa Review rates and ranks English schools

* North Korea to ease up on free markets (again)
* Christopher Hitchens on North Korea
* Crying Girl DVD
* X Japan to play main stage at Lollapalooza
* U.S. practicing gangster government against Toyota?
* Kamei warns foreigner suffrage could cause problems
* Chinese Narita terminal dweller headed home
* The story of Japanese Peruvians
* U.S. Congresswoman gets it wrong about Japanese health care
* Rumor: Tokyo metro subway mulling 24-hour schedule
* Michael Jackson’s “This Is It” sets sales record in Japan
* Man fakes robbery to hide unemployment from wife

Music (Japan Files)
* Sweets & Pretty, by C-ZONE
* Snow Breeze C-ZONE

* Middle segment: Weaving Song by Akino

Links Of Interest
* White On Rice
* Big Dreams Little Tokyo
* Anime-Manga
* Eikaiwa Review

* Japan Talk in the iTunes Store

Contact: podcast@japundit.com

Japan Talk #127 is now available on the Japan Talk website and at FeedBurner.

* Busy week
* Some news from the JAPUNDIT aggregator

* Number of foreign visitors to Japan plunges
* Bullet train may be headed to U.S.
* “Fill My Cups” at Singapore nightclub
* Chocolate fondue boom in Japan
* Court awards damages to overworked foreign workers
* 4-year-old survives 8-story fall with minor injuries

* Men’s cosmetics on the rise
* Wasabi smell fire alarm
* Police hotline to accept child abuse reports
* Bullets sent to politicians by mail
* Baseball fans have no right to make noise
* Murder in Japan at post-war record low
* Butcher of Akihabara apologizes

Music (Podsafe Music Network)
* Another Stupid Idea from Japan, by Dogs Must Be Carried
* Japanese People The Argyle Pimps

* Middle segment: Weaving Song by Akino

Links Of Interest
* Child Abuse Hotline
* Child Abuse Hotline: 0120-924-839

* Japan Talk in the iTunes Store

Contact: podcast@japundit.com

Japan Talk #126 is now available on the Japan Talk website and at FeedBurner.

* Bathroom horrors

* 38 years ago tomorrow, Shoichi Yokoi emerges from Guam jungle
* X Japan’s Toshi files for bankruptcy, divorce
* Fake funerals for sale in Korea
* China’s economy now No. 2
* Chinese marathon cheats busted
* J-housewife stashes are shrinking

* Japanese Finance Minister calls for shorter working hours
* Aussie legal action could sink free trade agreement
* Teacher stabbing ruled as on-the-job death
* Denkibukuro (electric bath)
* Japan Immigration to break up another family?
* Love me, I’m a yakuza

Music
* Sea Of Stars
* You Don’t Know
* Lonely City
All music this week by Lisa.

Links Of Interest
* Lisa on YouTube
* Lisa’s Official Blog
* Lisa on MySpace Music
* Lisa on Facebook

* Sento Guide

* Japan Talk in the iTunes Store

Contact: podcast@japundit.com

Japan Talk #125 is now available on the Japan Talk website and at FeedBurner.

* Seijin No Hi (Coming of Age day)

* James Cameron to direct Hiroshima movie?
* Japan slipping into “poverty”?
* J-publishers units against Kindle
* 900 weekly protests by Korean comfort women
* Kim Jong Il admits failure (so far)
* Tokyo cops fall for gaijin prank
* Strange J-beauty products set for world market
* J-doctor charged with trafficking in bear parts
* Uniqlo prez still Japan’s wealthiest

* Ringer Hut to open Bangkok outlet
* Sony timer urban legend
* J-government set for gaijin local suffrage
* Sex-changed man’s son un-registerable in Hyogo
* 61st Sapporo Snow Festival
* Man hired as school principal found to have record
* Transsexual marriage ring busted
* Dice-K confesses to hiding WBC injury
* Woman drives home with body of 80-year-old on windshield
* Happy Valentine Pizza from Domino Japan
* Welfare group busted for tax evasion
* Boys arrested for throwing object onto expressway

Music
* Intro segment: Baja Taxi by Brain Bucket (Podsafe Music Network)
* Middle segment: Weaving Song by Akino (MF247)
* Ending: Sweet Melissa (Live in Tokyo) by Chris Juergensen (Podsafe Music Network)

Links Of Interest
* Chris Juergensen’s website

* Japan Talk in the iTunes Store

Contact: podcast@japundit.com

We seem to be experiencing some sort of problem on the main JAPUNDIT news site at japundit.com.

Please stand by as our technical people take care of it.

Japan Talk #124 is now available on the Japan Talk website and at FeedBurner.

* Whale wars!

* Suzan Boyle scores big for NHK, receives marriage proposals
* Less than half of J-singles looking for a mate
* Seiji Ozawa cancels schedule due to cancer treatment
* Gundam coming to Shizuoka
* Medical history discrimination in hiring
* College students put off by smokers
* Single tuna auctioned for 16.28 million yen

* Electric shock treatment for mushrooms
* Caution required when visiting Osaka maid cafes
* Tiffany robbed by man “trying on” rings
* Hole-in-the-wall gang strikes again
* 14-year-old girls busted for pot
* Woman sets hubby alight
* Nippon TV looking for disenchanted Obama supporters

Music
* Intro segment: Baja Taxi by Brain Bucket (Podsafe Music Network)
* Middle segment: Weaving Song by Akino (MF247)
* EndingWahoo! by Hiryu (Japan Files)

* Japan Talk in the iTunes Store

Contact: podcast@japundit.com

Japan Talk #123 (Backstage Chat) is now available on the Japan Talk website and at FeedBurner.

• Adobe Audition story
• Mixcraft + Propaganda
• Japan Talk (Libsyn) comments

• Play a role in deciding the news that appears on Japan Talk. Visit JAPUNDIT to contribute stories or to vote on stories contributed by others.

* Japan Talk in the iTunes Store

Contact: podcast@japundit.com

Japan Talk #122 is now available on the Japan Talk website and at FeedBurner.

* The Year of the Tiger – Happy New Year 2010
* Chinese Zodiac Story

* Chocolate sparkling soda from Suntory
* Transparent goldfish
* Japan Meteorological Agency to stop cherry blossom report
* Japanese man shoots for paper plane record
* Japanese wine gaining respect
* Japan gang hands out cash to kids for New Year

* Margaret Thatcher turned down karate ladies in 1979
* Macdonald’s Japan to roll out four new burgers
* Dancing to the bath house rock
* Japan suicides over 30,000 again
* Prime Minister pays hefty back tax levy
* Crazy emergency police calls
* Anti-groping gloves
* Man in Japan prefers his collection of dolls

Music – Courtesy of JapanFiles.com
* Melty Vision by BESPA KUMAMERO
* Furusato Jizou by Kouji Fukushima
* Umeboshi Plums (Big Seeds) TsuShiMaMiRe

* Japan Talk in the iTunes Store

Links of Interest
* Furusato
* Jizou
* Enka

Contact: podcast@japundit.com

Japan Talk #121 (Backstage Chat) is now available on the Japan Talk website and at FeedBurner.

• Where was Japan Talk all this time?
• What’s in store for the future?
• Feel free to contribute

• Play a role in deciding the news that appears on Japan Talk. Visit JAPUNDIT to contribute stories or to vote on stories contributed by others.

* Japan Talk in the iTunes Store

Contact: podcast@japundit.com

Got a note recently that says one regular contributor (zichi) is experiencing problems when posting articles to JAPUNDIT.

He says:

The posts used to load very quickly but now they stall after 5 minutes or more I hit the submit button again, wait another 5 minutes and hit it again. Usually on the 3rd try it uploads.

Is anyone else having any problems?