JAPUNDIT would like to take this moment to wish all of our readers and contributors a very Merry Christmas…. And if you do not celebrate Christmas, Happy Whatever!

We have a clearly defined and pretty strictly enforced policy concerning commenting on the JAPUNDIT News Site, which is posted on the About Japundit page here.

Though everyone is by now probably familiar with our long-standing ban on any discussion or even mention of U.S. politics and policies (except those that are directly related to Japan and East Asia), a comment also may be deleted for other reasons as well, including the following.

• Drive-by sniping
• Complaints or comments about site policy
• Complaints or comments about site content
• Comment flooding with unrelated subject matter in a way that is judged to be placing a damper on an ongoing discussion.

For full details, see our About Japundit page here.

We recently have had people posting in the comments section of the Japundit News Pages about an organization called Automart Japan.

Japundit has never done business with Automart Japan and so we are not in a position to comment either way. However, we are providing this space as a public service to those who have been posting notes on the news pages.

The whole thing started with the following post by member dmogwe.

Early in August this year while looking for a bargain of a used car I came across this site http://www.automartjapan.com. I then made enquiries regarding a particular vehicle that I was interested in and subsequently I was sent an invoice for US 2,300.00. the Name of this company was AUTO MART JAPAN and i was dealing with some people called Richard Bent and Suzuki Junko. subsequently i wired the funds on the 19th. August 2008 and some days later the website changed and these guys were silent. I have tried to get help from The Japanese Used Motor Vehicle Exporters Association without any success. The details of the bank where I wired the money are:
The bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFG Ltd.
Ueno Brach,
1-14-4 higashi Ueno, Taito Ku, Tokyo, 110-0015 , Japan
the account holder: Auto Mart Japan
Account Number: 5463066

to date no one has helped me in getting to the bottom of this.

A lot of bizarreness taking place in the so-called “climate change” front in the U.S. this weekend, and since it does not fit our posting rules, here is an Open Thread for this weekend.

Just about anything else (except spam and real bad stuff, of course) goes.

• Proposed tax on smelly cows, hogs angers farmers…
• Georgia county imposes $500 fine on residents for not recycling…
• State of RI wants to tax drivers based on their mileage…
• Climate protesters demand swifter U.N. action…
• Climate scientists say ‘08 will be coolest year of decade…

I was flittering around on Twitter today and noticed a question posted by someone who had just been in Japan (Dr. Beth Meyer), asking why buffets over here are called baiking (viking).

I replied it was because of: buffet > smorgasbord > From Sweden > Land of the Vikings

Dr. Beth then told me she had found a longer (and much more interesting but unsubstantiated) story of the origins of the term here.

Would any of the Japundits like to chime in on this?

With all of the action here at JAPUNDIT these days, we have decided to raise the required vote threshold for promotion from the UPCOMING page to the TOP STORIES page from 5 to 6.

The following is the general JAPUNDIT policy for handling multiple postings of the same news item.

1. A news item that is double posted soon after having been posted originally will be deleted without notice.

2. A news item that is double posted after some time has passed after having been posted originally will be allowed to stand without deletion.

We really don’t want to get into the business of closely monitoring posts, so the above general policy will be applied solely at the discretion of JAPUNDIT Admin.

The JAPUNDIT News Pages are very lively, with new members joining almost daily. Thanks to all of the members who are doing so much to make the site a success.

A high level of activity also increases the possibility that some overlap will occur in the stories being posted.

The following are some ways contributors can help avoid multiple posting of the same story.

1. Before starting to post a new story, use the search box in the right side bar to search for a key word in your story. If your story is about polar bears, for example, searching for “polar bear” is a good way to find out if your intended topic already has been covered.

2. As you enter a URL, title, and description on the “submit story” tab, a list of related stories will appear at the bottom of the tab. Check these stories to see if someone already has posted something similar.

It is often said that Japan takes its lead from the U.S.

It’s too bad that the umpires who are officiating in the Japan Series between the Yomiuri Giants and the Seibu Lions this year have taken to mimicking the poor performance of their Yankee brethren during this year’s World Series.

As everyone probably knows by now, American-born Japanese heartthrob Leah Dizon recently announced that she is both married and pregnant.

Instructive in this announcement is the childishness with which dating, male-female relationships, marriage, and pregnancy is treated in Japan.

Here is a video of Leah’s announcement at a recent concert. Note the screams of shock and disbelief that a young 22-year-old woman would do such things. At the end of her announcement, Dizon says she will take some time off to have the baby, after which she plans to start performing again. She ends with a plea to her fans not to “toss her aside.”

With attitudes like this, it is no surprise that young people in Japan are shying away from marriage and that the population of the country is declining.

In an Italian trial for a murder in which the victim was found in her bed with her throat slit a day after she wore a bloody vampire costume to a Halloween party, a prosecutor is arguing that a brutal slaying was inspired by a violent manga comic.

Manga also have been linked to a death in Belgium, in which a note found next to the victim’s mutilated body referred to a Japanese comic called Death Note.

Manga also have been connected with the murder of British teacher Lindsay Hawker after piles of pornographic comics were found at the suspect’s flat.

An let’s not forget that Taro Aso is a manga fan…

Full story here.

SiteMeter provides us with visitor data grouped by, among other things, country, referral, and continent.

I was surprised to note on the continent graph for JAPUNDIT visitors recently that we are even getting visitors from unknown continents. And to think that I have been going through life thinking that the world had been completely charted centuries ago. . . !?!

So my Japanese roommate and her friend (also Japanese) were browsing through my bookshelf one day, looking at my English language literature, when they stumbled upon an old paperback of Matsuo Basho’s Oku no Hosomichi (Narrow Road). They picked it off the shelf wondering how haiku, something so intimately Japanese, could be translated to English.

After just a few minutes browsing through the pages, my two fluent-in-English friends burst out into laughter. I overheard the uproar in an adjacent room and went over to ask what the fuss was about.. Apparently, the original message was so unbelievably lost in the translation from Japanese to English, they thought it was downright hilarious. They said it was way too modern and conjured up images of Basho wandering the forest with an iPod Nano, mobile phone (with bluetooth headset), and Macbook (which he of course used to write his haiku).

I have decided to take this idea and run with it for haloween. I’m tentatively calling it DJ Basho, and it’s gonna be rad.

More to come.

In order to avoid confusion that would be caused if we require separate logins here on the Japundit Blog and on the Japundit News Page, we have decided to open up commenting to the general public on the blog.

You no longer will be required to log in to comment, but our commenting rules still apply.

Of course, we reserve the right to remove any comment we feel is in appropriate.

We are happy to announce the availability of a new Japundit Bookmarklet, which makes posting to Japundit quicker and easier than ever.

To use the Japundit Bookmarklet, simply go to the bottom of the Japundit News Story page and click Japundit Bookmarklet link under JAPUNDIT TOOLS.

On the scsreen that appears perform either of the following operations.

To add the bookmarklet to your browser’s Bookmarks/Favorites menu

Right-click Submit to Japundit and select Bookmark This Link on the shortcut menu that appears. This will put Submit to Japundit on your browser’s Bookmarks/Favorites menu.

To add the bookmarklet to the bookmarks toolbar along the top of your browser

Drag Submit to Japundit to the bookmarks toolbar. This should cause Submit to Japundit to appear in the toolbar.

To submit a story to Japundit using the bookmarklet

When you want to submit the page you are currently viewing with your browser to Japundit, simply click Submit to Japundit on your browser’s Bookmarks/Favorites menu or bookmarks toolbar.

This will open a new browser window displaying the standard Japundit Submit Story page with the URL and title of the page you were viewing already filled in automatically.

Make any change you want to the title, select a category, fill in some tags, etc. Finally, click Submit, and you are done.

This in from Mr. Pink.

The following is the winning entry in an annual contest at Texas A&M University calling for the most appropriate definition of a contemporary term: This year’s term was Political Correctness.

The winner wrote: ‘Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end’

R.J.Wiedemann.LtCol.USMC Ret.

Don’t know if the story is on the level, but the definition is spot on!

Let’s all remember that the purpose of the articles on the JAPUNDIT news page is to let visitors know what is at the other end of the link.

If you want to chat with another member or contributor, you can do so in the comments section or you can send a private message after clicking the My inbox link under your user name in the left sidebar on the news page.

Chatty posts will be deleted.

Right now, the number of votes required for promotion from the Upcoming page to the Top Stories page is 4.

Is this enough?

Should I change it to 5?

Or even higher?

What say you, JAPUNDITs?

I don’t know if an Open Thread is even required with our new format, but here it is for this week.

Feel free to sound off about anything you want, including the new JAPUNDIT format.