And so we say farewell to yet another Minister of Agriculture. It’s often said there’s a revolving door at the Min of Ag., and it’s really been on a spin recently.

The Shinzo Abe administration saw 3 Ministers. You wouldn’t have thought there was time, but surely there was. Toshikatsu Matsuoka, who committed suicide in May of last year, was succeeded by Norihiko Akagi. He lasted all of 60 days but you’ll remember him as the chap who turned up at a press conference with an unshaven and bandaged face, looking like he’d taken the wrong route home.

Masatoshi Wakabayashi then warmed the Ministry seat for about three weeks before Takehiko Endo took over officially. Mr Endo then made Akagi look like a stayer by resigning after a mere 8 days in office. Mr Wakabayashi was called back for his second stint in a fortnight.

Seiichi Ota took over the reins at the beginning of August. And today he’s decided to take responsibility (as is the ministerly tradition) for the tainted rice scandal by buggering off and doing nothing at all to help clear up the mess. Very noble, I’m sure.

That’s 6 ministers in 16 months if you’ve lost count. At this rate, within a few years, we’ll all get a go at being the Agriculture Minister.

No need to look uncute as your home and the world as you know it is crashing down all around you with this fashionably pink Hello Kitty disaster kit, which includes:

• Disaster hood (covering Body)
• Flame retardant blanket
• Pouch
• Crime-prevention buzzer
• Bandanas

Price: 9,800 yen

The Mainichi Daily News has decided to discontinue its WaiWai column because “some readers pointed out” that the content of some of articles has been “inappropriate.”

Thanks to Mr. Pink

Japan has once again made world news; this time with a large earthquake which rocked northern Japan.  The 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck at 8:43 am on Saturday in Iwate Prefecture and killed at least 6 people and injured scores more.  On the Japanese scale, the quake measured 6 out of 7.  I felt the quake all the way down in Yokohama and figured it was a big one based on its long duration.

Coverage of the earthquake:

Google News

Mainichi Daily News

Associated Press

Japan Today

Daily Yomiuri

A Tokyo trucker, Masahiro Fujiwara, 47, has been arrested on charges of counterfeiting after using a colour photocopier to produce about 10 ¥10,000 notes.

His plan was to replace the bills in his wife’s purse with the fake ones, and go out drinking.

His wife, of course, had no notion that the money in her purse was fake, and spent two of the bills later. Which is when the fireworks started.

He reluctantly turned himself in to police after he was grilled by his wife, who suspected that the bills in her purse were fake, according to investigators.

Ah, the image that that sentence conjures up…

I’m not the only one to note the strange synchronicity of Ed’s post on recent Japanese earthquakes, and the very large tremor which rocked China this week. It feels a bit strange to blog about a part of Asia, and to not, at the very least, acknowledge the human tragedy, particularly since China has made the unusual gesture of asking other nations for help.

NPR has a rather harrowing, but gripping account of a family’s search for their two year old son. I can’t seem to embed the player, but you can hop over to the site, and click the “Listen Now” button to hear the narration, which will surely put a human face on this sprawling wreck of a story.

On Monday, Fu Guanyu dropped off her young son, Wang Zhilu, at his grandparents’ house so she could go to work. Minutes later, the earthquake hit.

She rushed back home and saw their apartment building in ruins. She says soldiers came right away to help, but they had no equipment.

It’s a situation that almost beggars belief, but a Nagoya man died on Sunday after having doused himself in kerosene and being given a lighter by police.

Police were called to a domestic disturbance on Saturday night in Atsuta.

Six officers were dispatched to the scene and the man walked out onto the road to greet them, carrying an 18-liter jerry can filled with kerosene. He walked about 200 meters along the road, pouring kerosene over his head as he did so on three separate occasions, using about 5 liters of the flammable liquid.

Incredibly, rather than arrange for the man to have a change of clothes, the police interrogated the man while he was still wearing the kerosene-soaked clothes. They then gave him cigarettes and a lighter when he asked them. The report then becomes a little unclear, but it appears he was then left alone in the interrogation room for 15 minutes during which time he smoked several cigarettes, without by some miracle setting himself alight. It was only later being interviewed by three more officers that the fateful spark occurred.

Deputy Chief Michiharu Kondo, in criticising the officers, added rather inappropriately that the man shouldn’t even have been given cigarettes because the police station has a no-smoking policy.

There’s a report in the Mainichi entitled Booming popularity doubles accident rate at Tokyo’s Mt. Takao, which tells that “there were 43 reported accidents on the mountain last year, almost double the average number from each year from 2004 to 2006.”

Those who go unprepared come in for a roasting from Kenichiro Maruyama, head of the Takao Police Station’s Alpine Rescue Taskforce who says, “OK, so it’s only a small mountain, but it’s a mountain nonetheless. Not thinking enough about what’s needed for mountain climbing is inviting trouble.”

Quite so.

Police are urging anybody visiting Mt. Takao to take appropriate preparations beforehand, including having a plan on how to get down the mountain, preparing sufficient equipment such as water, rain gear and flashlights, understand that mobile phones won’t always work in the area and make reports on planned hikes on Mt. Takao before setting off.

To further underline this point about lack of preparedness, the report states that “many accidents are reported among [...] women going to the mountain while wearing high-heeled shoes.”

A group of Japanese mountaineers setting out on an expedition, yesterday

The Washington Post is running an article from Reuters about the consequences of a big earthquake in Tokyo. It contends that the foot traffic from 12,000,000 people would create incredible crowd densities of more than 6 people per square meter! The article also states that:

The Tokyo metropolitan government said in 2006 that a magnitude 7.3 earthquake under Tokyo would probably kill more than 5,600 people and injure almost 160,000. Official estimates of economic damage have topped more than $1 trillion.

It’s easy to forget in normal day-to-day living just how vulnerable Japan is to huge catastrophes.

planning on visiting japan?
thinking you can get by on your bank of america card and local atms?
think you’ll be fine because you told boa’s fraud department you’d be in japan during the dates of the trip and will be making regular withdraws?

think again