Japanese police have arrested a 40-year-old man after he admitted punching and kicking his elderly mother to death because she was unable to get up out of bed.

The man reportedly told his sickly mother that she needed to get up out of bed and move around more. When she refused, he repeatedly punched her and then kicked her in the chest and other parts of the body.

Paramedics called by the son after the beating became suspicious and alerted police, who arrested the man.

Following on the heels of the nation’s worse railway accident in 40 years, the Japanese transport industry took still another hit the other day when all 18 air traffic controllers on duty at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport forgot that one of their runways was shut down for maintenance, and had an incoming plane with 51 passengers and crew land on it. Fortunately, there were no workers or vehicles on the runway at the time, and the aircraft was able to land safely.

The same controller who was handling the first plane also cleared a second craft to land on the same runway, but cancelled the clearance after he realized his error.

After Japanese art collector Tashi Hashiyama decided to sell his $20 million art collection, he found himself unable to decide whether the sale should be handled by Christie’s or Sotheby’s. He solved his dilemma by instructing the two auction houses to play a game of Paper, Stone, and Scissors.

The winner of the game would win the right to sell off his collection, which featured works by Picasso, Van Gogh and Cezanne.

Representatives of each firm wrote their choice on a piece of paper instead of playing in the traditional fashion with hands.

After some research, Christie’s played “scissors” which won the right to handle the auction. Sotheby’s walked away empty-handed, and a representative of the company declared, “I don’t discuss our negotiations or relationships with clients.” I wonder if he would have been so tight-lipped if Sotheby’s had been the winner.

Most Japanese festivals are celebrations of local customs or events, but some feature performances from different areas based on a single theme. One of the latter festivals is the Hana Haru Fesu (Flower Spring Festival) held in Tokushima City last week. The theme was dancing, and the big crowd pleaser in Tokushima this year was an Okinawan dance and drum troupe with 50 members (photo).

I’ve seen performances by similar groups and can testify that it’s an unforgettable experience. Dynamic drumming and dancing by a group in colorful costumes, and chanting Seiya! at the top of their lungs while adding the distinctive Okinawan whistling would be difficult to forget even in the unlikely event you wanted to. The report out of Tokushima is that the Okinawans were the hit of the show, as the audience encouraged them with shouts and danced along with the troupe.

Their performance was part of the festival’s World Dance Carnival. In addition to the Okinawans, the folks in Tokushima were treated to dancing by groups from Hawaii, Cuba, and South Korea.

While people from around the world were dancing on a stage in a Tokushima park last week, they were dancing on tile roofs in tiger costumes in Kami-machi, Miyagi Prefecture. This performance, known as toramai (tiger dance) is part of a tradition that dates back about 650 years and is conducted as a prayer for protection against fire. The festival is based on the fable that clouds obey the dragon and the wind obeys the tiger, and in this area known for strong winds, they need all the help they can get to keep a blaze from spreading. The festival started off bright and early at 7:00 a.m. with fireworks and children pulling wheeled floats into town. The kids, dressed as tigers, then went to each house asking each family to be careful with fire in the household. The roof dancing, shown in the photo, came later in the day.

Karate, judo, kendo, and other Japanese martial arts have become so well known around the world that they have developed large groups of local devotees. One of the lesser-known martial arts, however, is yabusame, in which archers on horseback shoot arrows at targets. The equipment and time required—including resting the horses and picking up the arrows—may be why many Japanese don’t participate in it, much less people from overseas.

Fortunately, there are still enough practitioners to perform at festivals, and a yabusame festival was held this week in Fujikawaguchiko-machi, Yamanashi Prefecture. Known as the Kai no Katsuyama Yabusame Festival, it originated from Minamoto no Yoshimitsu’s offering to a local shrine for his victory in the Later Three Years’ War from 1083 to 1087. It is called the Three Years’ War despite the dates because there were only three years of actual fighting, and yes, there was an Earlier Nine Years’ War.

Those archers in horseback gallop for about 150 meters and fire their arrows at two targets: a 45-centimeter rectangular board and a 15-centimeter earthenware vessel. I’ll wager that last one isn’t easy to hit even when the archers are standing still. The folks in Yamanashi had to recruit six archers from a group in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, skillful enough to put on a convincing performance.

Long time friends of Japundit know the Japanese love festivals whose primary purpose is consuming liquor, but the Dorome Festival in the fishing community of Akaoka-cho, Kochi Prefecture, is eye-opening even by Japanese standards—the main event is a chug-a-lug contest for both men and women. As you can see from the photo, they use oversized sake cups—those for the men hold 1.8 liters of hooch, while those for the women contain a more demure 0.9 liters. The idea is to see who can guzzle it the fastest, and the master of ceremonies and the audience encourage them with shouts of “Drink every last drop!” and “You can down another one!” I’m sure there were also plenty of people shouting Ikki! Ikki!, which is what some fools scream at drinking parties when they want you to finish in one gulp. The festival records are 12.5 seconds for men and 10.8 seconds for women.

The festival’s name is derived from the local term for sardine fingerlings, and everyone in attendance enjoyed a beach party with dorome cuisine washed down by local sake, albeit at a slower pace. Other events included a Dorome Dance by the kids, a fishing boat parade, and a chin-don performance. Hey! Chin-don bands, food and drink on the beach, and women who can knock back a liter of sake in 10 seconds—I know where I’m going to be this time next year!