How often do you get the chance to go to the races and eat the entrants?

Not often, I’ll wager, but the 20,000 people who visited the Second Inoshishi Festival in Sasayama, Hyogo Prefecture, on the 29th came close. After dining on different dishes featuring inoshishi (wild boar) meat, they got to take in a wild boar race.

The food came first, as several well-known restaurants in the area set up a special area where each offered original wild boar cuisine, including boar meat soup, boar croquettes, and oden. The meals were a big hit with the visitors, as they formed lines to get into one shop while eating the offerings of another. Some restaurants quickly sold out their stock.

Then came the main event, with three wild boars—one of which was named Dekan Showboy—running a spirited race that excited the crowd. The report did not mention the name of the winning boar, nor if parimutuel betting was allowed.

In a story that sounds like it could be straight out of the life story of Frank Serpico, a Shikoku police officer claimed he is being transferred because he exposed how police departments have been systematically misusing public funds for decades.

Earlier this month, police officer Toshiro Semba revealed to reporters of how he had been pressured throughout his career by superiors to fabricate false reports in order to secure public funds illegally. Following his revelations, Semba received word that he had been re-assigned as a dispatcher, a position that does not require carrying of a firearm.

His superiors told him they feared he is a suicide risk or a risk to others if armed. Apparently, the brass think that misuse of the system is the norm, and refusal to go along with the graft is a sign of mental unbalance.

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Mariko Yamamoto, 64, once a member of a group whose very name struck fear in the hearts of people around the world, was arrested the other day in a Tokyo supermarket where she was trying to shoplift about 1,100 yen worth of squid.

Yamamoto was part of the Japanese Red Army Red Army, an ultra-leftist radical group that terrorized Japan and the rest of the world back in the 1970s. The Red Army was involved in various incidents, including the attack on Ben Gurion airport in 1972, which claimed the lives of 24 people. She remained on the lam until 2000, when she was taken into custody by the Japanese government, which gave her a suspended sentence, apparently feeling it wasn’t worth the trouble to lock her up.

A decade ago, Chad Ha’aheo Rowan was one of the foremost figures in international sport, in his or any era. His name and accomplishments are unfamiliar to many because he was a sumo rikishi who fought under the name of Akebono.

Rowan was not merely very good—he absolutely dominated sumo during a career that lasted from 1988 to 2001 and set records in the process. And to scale the summit of this sport, he had to leave home in Hawaii to live in Japan and learn a foreign language, a new sport, and the customs and traditions participation in that sport demands.

Rowan appeared in his first tournament in March 1988. Sumo holds six tournaments a year, and just 30 tournaments later, in January 1993, he became sumo’s first non-Japanese yokozuna, the highest rank. It was the fastest rise to the summit from scratch in the sport’s history. Further, Akebono was the only rikishi to hold the highest rank for nearly two years. Some have likened this feat to a Japanese who has never seen or played football going to an American university and winning the Heisman Trophy four years later.

He won 11 tournament championships, ranking him 7th in the modern era at the time. (After Akebono retired, another foreign rikishi, Musashimaru, racked up 12. Today’s superstar, the Mongolian Asashoryu, who broke Akebono’s records for speed of promotion, has 10 championships now and will likely pass them both this year.) Akebono’s career match record was 654 wins and 232 losses.

His stunning competitive record was not the only reason for Akebono’s popularity among the Japanese. Sumo has a 2,000-year history, and participation demands an attitude and approach that is almost aesthetic. Unlike his fellow Hawaiian Konishiki, who complained that he never made yokozuna due to racism, Akebono pleased even the most demanding purists with his demeanor. (The ranking system is somewhat similar to that of martial arts.) More than a few Japanese thought a non-Japanese would never win promotion to yokozuna, as sumo is a conservative, traditional sport in a country that prizes conservatism in its traditions. But Akebono made history in January 1993.

Forced to retire due to a series of knee injuries, there were a wealth of opportunities to pursue. He could have opened his own training organization, as do many former famous rikishis. He could have parleyed his name and fame into television commercials, as did Konishiki. He could have married a trophy wife, as did Takanohana. Indeed, he could have done all three. He was well paid during his days in the ring, earning US$15,000 a month at his peak, not counting bonuses for tournament victories, and could have made a lot more in any number of ways.

So what did Akebono choose to do after retirement? He became a K-1 fighter.

I don’t know how well known K-1 is outside of Japan, but in Japan it is an extremely popular fighting sport. Venues with a capacity of 45,000 are sold out for matches in an hour. Conducted in a boxing ring, the sport’s promoters claim it combines the martial arts of karate, Thai kickboxing, tae kwon do, and kung fu. The matches seem to be above board, but all the commentators have a background in professional wrestling. Here is their official website.

It is as if Michael Jordan decided to take up roller derby.

But it is not just a case of Akebono deciding to become a K-1 fighter. He is a really bad K-1 fighter. Since his debut on New Year’s Eve 2003 against Bob Sapp, so well known in Japan that Akebono’s debut became a dream match, the former rikishi has fought six times and been pummeled every time.

His most recent loss came last New Year’s Eve in just two minutes and 12 seconds. All his matches have ended in the equivalent of first-round KOs. Yet Akebono says he will keep at it until he starts winning. Why?

It’s probably the 50 million yen he is rumored to be paid each match. That’s a lot of money for one fight, but the sport is so popular and the TV ratings high enough it’s still profitable for the sponsors.

How much humiliation and pain would you be willing to suffer for half a million dollars?

If dramatist Paddy Chayevsky were still alive, he might call this Requiem for A Yokozuna.

Here’s a gift idea that is sure to make this Valentine’s Data a really unforgettable one for you and that special some one in your life.

Chocolate sushi!

Unlike Twinkie sushi, which is merely a reasonable facsimile of a sushi roll, Suedy’s Koo-ki Sushi is so realistic, it’s hard to tell the difference from the real thing. Each piece is carefully sculptured out of chocolate to look exactly like a slab of tuna, octopus, or egg resting on a lump of rice.

And the realism does not stop there.

Suedy’s Koo-ki Sushi is available in a choice of different reusable boxes that are exact replicas of the type of containers that real sushi comes in. You can choose from among the Golden Oke, Kotobuki Box, or Suedy’s Obento.

Koo-ki Sushi got its start back in 1994 when Karen “Suedy” Sasaki started wondering about you can do with confections that has never been done before. Then one day she hit upon the idea of sculpting pieces of sushi from chocolate. After that, Karen and her sister, Janice Murai (neither of whom had any experience in the food business) developed new processes and designed the products that became Koo-ki Sushi.

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Check out the JAPAN RADIO LINKS in the red side bar.

Clicking a link will give you access to Japanese-language Internet radio programs.

These are not live broadcasts, but they are the next best thing.

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Just saw a report on TV about the town of Eromanga, Queensland, Australia.

Claiming to be “the town farthest from the sea in Australia,” Eromanga gets its name from an aboriginal word meaning “hot, windy plain.”

In Japanese, eromanga means “erotic comic book.”

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A world-class food fight is raging and Japan is one of the main combatants.

Countries around the world are clashing over proposed international soy sauce standards, and everybody’s got an opinion. And according to some reports, a few countries have more than one.

The beef started when Japan proposed rules for soy sauce labels requiring manufacturers to state whether they used traditional brewing techniques or took modern shortcuts. The US is opposed, claiming the Japanese proposal would harm producers. They demand that each country be allowed to set its own rules.

Behind their opposition is the growing popularity of sushi and other Asian food in America, and the problems the labeling might cause for US companies.

The Japanese effort is spearheaded by the government and soy sauce industry, particularly Kikkoman. They originally wanted soy sauce to be strictly defined as brewed soy beans, but in an effort to compromise, they’re calling for the labels to distinguish between “natural brewing”, “short-term brewing” and “mixed”.

The traditional method uses only soy beans, salt, and grain. Kikkoman’s method dates from the 17th century and requires fermenting for at least three months.

Western companies use hydrolyzed vegetable or soy proteins instead of the real beans. They also add sugar and either don’t brew the product or use blends. Some add caramel coloring.

In a thrust only an attorney could dream up, the Americans also are basing their claims on tradition. The American food lobby states their products have been in use in American stores for years, and add, “The Japanese proposal does not recognize this history of use and would require these products to be marketed under a different name.”

To which the Japanese say, so what?

Comparing the Japanese report in the Sankei Shimbun (link may go quickly) (1) and the English report in The Star of South Africa shows some fascinating differences.

The Star claims the Japanese have the backing of the South Koreans, the French, the Swiss, and a group in Great Britain. They also say the Chinese are even more hardline and don’t want to compromise at all.

In contrast, the Sankei reporter claims the South Koreans and the Chinese wouldn’t require the “natural brewing” label, but would require disclosure of the manufacturing method. (Perhaps he couldn’t believe that the three countries were allies on the same issue.)

The Sankei also states that Japan’s supporters are mostly in Asia.

One of the wild cards in the mix is Indonesia. They have their own version, called kecap, and they want a definition broad enough to include that. That’s right, the product that was the basis for ketchup is involved in a soy sauce spat. (Though it contains molasses and is thicker and spicier than the contemporary Western product.)

Refereeing the fray is the Codex Alimentarius Commission’s committee on processed fruits and vegetables, which will decide whether the full commission votes on the issue next June.

What’s a better way to spend the weekend than popping over to Harajuku to take a look young kids expressing themselves there?

This particular shot was captured by Cherry Vega, a talented young professional photographer who kindly gave us permission to use this photo.

You can view more of Cherry’s unique work here.

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I’ll bet you thought Hello Kitty was nothing more than a cute cartoon character used to sell merchandise to little girls of all ages. Well, think again!

Catherine Yronwode has a unique take on the phenomenon here.

The being, while alive, was known for his or her monetary helpfulness to those in need (the Bishop gave the poor girls a dowry, the cat drew wealthy Lord Li to the poor Buddhist temple).

After death, the being became an icon of material generosity, underwent a name-change (Saint Nicholas, Maneki Neko), and acquired an iconographic emblem of prosperity (Saint Nicholas is depicted with a bag of gifts, Maneki Neko is depicted with a large gold coin at her feet).

In each case, folk magic and folk religion customs then became associated with the entity (the performance of Saint Nicholas plays in the Europe, pilgrimages to the grave of Maneki Neko in Japan).

By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, images of the entities became popular home and shop decor motifs (Old Saint Nick as a sales device in December, Maneki Neko as a sales device in Japanese shops, especially restaurants).

Then, in the mid to late 20th century, each of these religio-magical icons evolved into a highly merchandised cartoon form, as a short, round, cute, roly-poly character associated with gifts, money, joy, and prosperity (Santa Claus, Hello Kitty).

Even if you gag when you see Kitty-chan, you really ought to read Catherine’s ideas on the cat’s connection to sushi shop decorations and Nang Kwak, the Thai rice and prosperity goddess shown in contemporary statues as wearing a penis glans for a hat. Skip over the quoted text at the beginning of the piece to the explanation below it.

I don’t know whether to believe her, but she sure makes a good case. And if you don’t believe her, you can always buy a lucky mojo from her!

Don’t blame me, JP brought this up.

Why is it that every time the Japanese economy shows the slightest sign of stirring out of its extended catatonic state, some government official grabs a microphone and starts talking about the need to raise taxes?

This time it is the Finance Minister himself, Sadakazu Tanigaki, who told the Diet recently that the fairest way to pay for social welfare would be to raise the country’s consumption tax. This is an idea that politicians have been kicking around for quite some time, with some saying that the consumption tax will need to be raised from its current 5% to 20%.

Why it is fair to tax the entire populace to pay for social security costs when not everyone is eligible to receive benefits is something that is never explained. But even a 400% rise in the consumption tax will, no doubt, elicit nary a peep from the Japanese people, who will be the ones footing the bill. The Japanese submit to mistreatment from their government so meekly that it sometimes seems that what we interpret as polite bowing is actually just bending over.

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I’ll always be thankful that I wasn’t born a woman who has to commute to work or school on a Tokyo train during rush hour.

Everyone’s seen the pictures and heard the stories about the railroad employees at Tokyo’s Shibuya Station assigned to shove people into the trains. The English expression is “packed in like sardines”, and the Japanese say sushizume, which literally means packed in like sushi.

But the pictures show you only the scene from the outside; imagine what it’s like being on the inside.

I live in a small city of about 180,000 and work at home, so getting packed in like sushi is not a problem. Six months after arriving, though, I boarded a local for Fukuoka during morning rush hour to renew my visa. I got a seat, but people living closer to the big city never have that luxury. Just when I thought no one else could possibly fit, more shoehorned their way in. And that went on for several additional stops. People were jammed so close together they couldn’t lift their arms to hold on to a strap. It was the sheer mass of humanity squashed cheek to cheek to cheek that kept everyone from falling over in a heap as the train rocked and rattled its way to JR Hakata Station.

Now imagine being a woman in a country where men take the expression “boys will be boys” and shove it in up to the hilt. A recent survey discovered that 64% of women in their 20s and 30s have been groped on Tokyo trains, subways, or transit stations. Of course the gropers can be fined the equivalent of US$485 if caught or reported, but in Tokyo, police arrested fewer than 2,000 people for train-related molestation in a metropolitan area of more than 10 million last year.

This always has been a problem, and that’s why JR, the national railway system, introduced women and children-only cars in 1947—only to be abolished in 1973 because they “didn’t suit the times”.

The problem of chikan, or molesters, is getting worse, and more railways throughout the country are running women-only cars. The public, both male and female, likes them, but Tokyo companies in particular are resisting entreaties by the police to offer more. The corporate excuses are classic Japan Inc. You can read all about it here in English. My honors for the best excuse go to the company official who protested, “All police are thinking about is controlling crime. It’s not as simple as that.”

There other stories to tell about trains in Japan. Hey, it’s Japan—there are always other stories to tell about everything.

Such as the Kobe trainspotter who was arrested for stealing 10,000 uniforms over 15 years so he was “able to get a look at trains from close range.” Or the Sendai subway driver who failed to stop at a station because he was busy sending a text message. Or the automated Shinkansen that pulled out of Okayama Station without the conductor, who stood on the platform watching the Bullet Train and his pension head south. You can read those stories here. The article is a summary of various adventures with links to the full stories.

Click here to find out more.

Adult content. Clicker discretion required.

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Aomori city in northern has canned two bus drivers for lying on their résumés in order to hide their college degrees.

The two men passed the examinations required to become bus drivers, but the job calls only for a high school diploma. Though one of the men had been working for the city for almost eight years and the other one for almost six years, they were sacked because the government claims their lying undermines public confidence.

There was no word as to how Aomori government was tipped off about truth concerning the two men’s education.

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If someone can explain the North Korean behavior regarding the fate and whereabouts of Megumi Yokota, I’d sure like to hear it.

The North Koreans have to know their latest claim in the controversy makes it even less likely they will receive financial assistance and food aid from Japan, which was the reason they came clean about their abductions of Japanese citizens to begin with. Pyongyang has enough eyes and ears in Japan to know what media coverage and public sentiment has been like. And if Kim Jong Il watches CNN, as reported, he likely has a way to watch Japanese television, too.

Here’s the story to date. Everyone assumes that North Korea admitted to abducting Japanese citizens in the late 70s to create a thaw in relations with Japan so the Japanese would show them some money and feed them out of gratitude. Now that the Hasuike, Chimura, and Soga families have been repatriated safely, the highest-profile case in Japan is that of Megumi Yokota.

Yokota was a 13-year-old middle school student snatched by North Korean operatives on her way home from school. She eventually married and had a daughter, but the North Koreans claimed she later became mentally unstable and committed suicide.

There is a strong possibility that didn’t happen. It turns out that in their initial burst of candor, the North Koreans provided Japan with bogus death certificates for several of the abductees, as well as the bones of an old woman instead of those for a young Japanese man they said had died. It also was reported that people have seen Yokota alive after the date she reportedly hung herself.

Her parents, in their 70s now, have become the most visible symbols of the issue in Japan today, as they have been tireless in pushing the government and driving public opinion, particularly through television appearances.

Pyongyang attempted to gain some traction by allowing Yokota’s daughter, Kim Hye Gyong, 15 at the time, to be interviewed by a Japanese TV network. She does not live with her remarried father and may wind up in Japan with her grandparents. In fact, NK offered to let her go to Japan a year or so ago before the Hasuike and Chimura children were returned—on the condition that the parents come back to pick them up. (As if.) But none of that worked.

The North Koreans finally handed over some of what they said were the cremated remains of Megumi last year. It is very difficult to identify DNA from cremated remains, but the Japanese say they have verified they aren’t those of Yokota. I can think of nothing the Japanese and Prime Minister Koizumi would gain and plenty they can lose by lying about this.

After this news broke, however, the North Koreans played Tar Baby. The Tar Baby just sits there and don’t say nothin’. You’d think they’d be ready with an immediate response—even if the response was, “That’s our story and we’re sticking to it.”

Nope. They let a month go by before saying anything in public. They finally broke their silence by saying that the Japanese fabricated the DNA results. The basis for their assertion was the fact that remains cremated at temperatures of 1,200 degrees cannot be identified. They also claimed the Japanese had promised not to tell anyone they gave the remains back. (These two sound to a lot of people like a tacit admission that the remains were fake to begin with.) They then demanded that the Japanese return the remains. (Why? So they can rebury them in the grave they stole them from?)

This has further angered a country already furious. What did the North Koreans hope to gain by providing any information they knew would be revealed as false, the veracity of their claims about Yokota notwithstanding? Why did they take a month to come up with this story?

Some claim that the North Koreans are not ‘fessing up because the remaining abductees know too much about Pyongyang government and espionage activities. Charles Jenkins, the husband of Hitomi Soga who recently finished serving his time in a U.S. Army brig for desertion, said the reason it took so long for NK to release his two daughters is that they were being groomed as spies.

You tell me. Here are the Japanese and English links to the story.

The Tokyo rumor mill has been churning out some pretty tantalizing gossip about Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi fathering a child out of wedlock with a Korean woman.

“For many years, it has been rumored that the PM has another child in addition to his three children with his ex-wife,” an unnamed LDP politician told Shukan Post. “I’ve heard some high-ranking members of the Mori faction talking about it over dinner, so I wasn’t surprised at all by the rumor.”

According to the Post, Koizumi and the woman met about 10 years ago at a Korean drinking establishment the woman owns. They reportedly had a son, who is now a junior high school student.

However, this revelation is suspicious to say the least, as it comes to light at the time that Koizumi is attempting to face down opposition party opponents, as well as foes within his own party across a wide range of issues. No doubt, the anti-Koizumi forces will use this as cudgel in their attempt to unseat him, by claiming his personal relationship with a Korean woman makes him unfit to conduct sensitive negotiations with Pyongyang.

“People would consider the bilateral talks to be a biased agenda,” said the LDP official, “especially if they think such a scandal was causing the government to drag its feet over resolving the abductee issue with North Korea. Public opinion would have a tremendous influence.”

The government has chosen not to comment about the rumors.

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Some Americans are miffed at what they see as European ingratitude despite long years of economic and military assistance to that continent.

The Japanese may be now starting to understand how those Americans feel, as their billions of yen in aid to China are largely unappreciated by the average Chinese.

When asked if Japanese aid compensated for Imperial Japanese behavior during World War II, one Chinese student majoring in the Japanese language—whose parents likely weren’t alive during the war—sneered, “That’s a cutting question.”

The combination of ingratitude and a booming Chinese economy might well prompt the Japanese to cut aid to their Asian neighbor this year.

Here’s an in-depth report by Ralph Jennings.

Japanese people love Hello Kitty.

Japanese people love sushi.

Hello Kitty + sushi = Hello Kitty sushi!

Sanrio, the creators of the lovable little feline are marketing a Hello Kitty sushi kit that contains molds that you can stuff with rice and create little kitty heads.

Just add your own little eyes and other accouterments and soon you have a nice little crowd of Kitties looking up at you from your plate.

Meow. . .

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We’ve all got problems, but Kenji Kawakami has solutions for problems we never knew we had.

For example, suppose you’re getting ready to prepare a fish for sashimi—particularly one that’s still alive—and you get unnerved by that fish eye staring back at you.

Kawakami’s solution? A fish face cover that slides over the fish head so you can slice in serenity.

Suppose you’re a Japanese housewife whose husband has to get up at 5:00 a.m. Sunday morning to tee off with some customers at a golf course that’s two hours away by car? Kawakami lets you fulfill your wifely duty to see him off in the morning while still asleep by providing an automated waving hand that you can attach to the alarm clock.

These and dozens of other problem solvers are inventions that Kawakami calls chindogu, which means “unusual tools”. A self-described “designer, anarchist, and pathological mail-order enthusiast”, Kawakami is the founder of the International Chindogu Society, which claims 10,000 members.

Another Kawakami term for chindogu is “unuseless inventions”, and I think several circuits in my brain have shut down permanently just by reading it.

Take the plunge and start with this review of Kawakami’s new “Bumper Book of Unuseless Japanese Inventions” that appeared in The Scotsman. (Ignore their claim that chindogu literally means “distorted tools”.)

If you have the nerve to keep going, you should try the website of the International Chindogu Society in English. It has photos of some of these marvels, a few of which were actually shown on TV. (I could not find a Japanese website for this organization.)

If you’re ready for more, you can try this site featuring the Chindogu Manifesto. Number 2 is, “A chindogu must exist”, and declares, “You are not allowed to use a chindogu, but it must be made.
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If you’ve seen the light and want to commune directly with the source, the listing for Kawakami’s books in English at Amazon is here.

“Basically, chindogu is the same as the Industrial Revolution in Britain,” - Kenji Kawakami

A man dressed in a monkey costume attempted to rob a convenience store in Japan’s Mie Prefecture early last Thursday. The monkey man threatened a young employee with a knife and demanded money, only to escape empty-handed when the employee fled into an inner office.

Japanese monkeys are famous for stealing food from visitors and souvenir shops around mountain tourist sites, but this the first report of a monkey wielding a knife to nab some loot.

Local police are at a loss to explain why a robber would dress in such an outlandish costume to pull off a robbery.

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