For a bit of balance, and following on from our article on blue bees the other day, let’s take a look at the other end of apiological scale.
If those gentle, quiet blue bees were old ladies on trundling mamachari, then vespa mandarinia would be helicopter gunships.
For vespa mandarinia is the giant asian hornet, and if you’ve yet to meet one, believe me, that name is no exaggeration…
(if you’re in any way phobic, leave now)
The Mainichi Daily News recently reported that Kirin will soon start selling a beer with 7% alcohol called, appropriately enough, Strong Seven.
This is both good news and bad news for Japan’s beer drinkers. Good because it’s strong, bad because, well, it’s going to suck. Granted, I haven’t actually tried Strong Seven yet (it hits stores October 22) but I can bet you it’ll taste like crap. Why? Because every Japanese beer priced below the top tier varieties (Asahi Super Dry, Yebisu, etc.—essentially the stuff you can get overseas) is undrinkable.
Strong Seven is classified as a third-category beer. According to Wikipedia, Japanese beer has three categories, largely based on the amount of malt used. The first, which is called simply “beer,” is the good stuff. What you would probably drink if you weren’t homeless or had no taste buds. Drinks in the second category, called happoshu, contain less than 67% malt. The remaining ingredients are made up of things like corn, rice, sorghum, and potato. Really. Lastly, there’s the third category, which is where our Strong Seven falls. Wikipedia says,
Since 2004, Japanese breweries have produced even lower taxed, non-malt brews made from soybeans and other ingredients which do not fit the classifications for beer or happoshu.
Soybeans? Mmm, yummy. The price of 141 yen per 350ml can and 197 yen for a 500ml can reflects this. (To compare, a 350ml can of Asahi Super Dry is more like 200 yen.)
Mainichi says that Kirin is bypassing the younger people that have been buying diet and light drinks lately and going straight for male beer drinkers aged 30-50. Get the job done without a lot of money drinkers. First beer at 7am on the morning train drinkers. Passed out in the park at noon drinkers. Alcoholics.
I’ll stick with Yebisu, thanks.
In Asbury Park, New Jersey:
BARNEGAT, N.J. - It’s the case of the nonexistent ninja. Public schools in Barnegat were locked down briefly after someone reported seeing a ninja running through the woods behind an elementary school.
Turns out the ninja was actually a camp counselor dressed in black karate garb and carrying a plastic sword.
Police tell the Asbury Park Press the man was late to a costume-themed day at a nearby middle school.
The lockdown began shortly after 9 a.m. Wednesday and lasted until 9:30.
Well, it looks like the science is in on you guys. Researchers in the U.S. have concluded that obsessive internet use is a public health problem, which is so serious it should be officially recognized as a clinical disorder
Sufferers spend unhealthy amounts of time playing online games, viewing pornography or emailing.
They suffer four symptoms: They forget to eat and sleep; they need more advanced technology or more hours online as they develop ‘resistance’ to the pleasure given by their current system; if they are deprived of their computer, they experience genuine withdrawal symptoms; And in common with other addictions, the victims also begin to have more arguments, to suffer fatigue, to get lower marks in tests and to feel isolated from society.
Early research into the subject found highly educated, socially awkward men were the most likely sufferers but more recent work suggests it is now more of a problem for middle-aged women who are spending hours at home on their computers.
According to psychiatrist Dr Jerald Block, “The relationship is with the computer. It becomes a significant other to them. They exhaust emotions that they could experience in the real world on the computer through any number of mechanisms: emailing, gaming, porn.” He added: “It’s much more acceptable for kids to talk about game use, whereas adults keep it a secret. Rather than having sex, or arguing with their wife or husband, or feeding their children, these adults are playing games.”
A longtime Japundit reader alerted me to an important beauty treatment now available at New York’s Shizuka salon, a place I went to once in search of a Japanese-style manicure.
a high-end Japanese spa in midtown, has just introduced a new “Geisha Facial,” which promises to cleanse, brighten, and exfoliate a patron’s face—thanks to a secret ingredient: bird poop. For centuries in Japan, both Kabuki actors and geishas used uguisu no fun, or nightingale droppings, to clean off their thick white makeup and soothe their faces; apparently, guanine, found in the droppings, helped their complexions.
Hopefully the bird droppings are not collected from the upper reaches of Hokkaido.
Vanity, after all, can make you sick.
Spam emailers have discovered that eating seaweed can miraculously rid women between the ages of 25 and 54 of the roll of fat around their middlesection.
Just take a couple of sea-weed tablets every day, and perhaps you too will see your weight plummet, so you too can join the ranks of women who enjoy the lowest rate of obesity in the world!
Personally, I’ll stick to weekly misoshiru and some nice sunomono with wakame.
Uguisu photo via.
I often have conversations with a slightly older generation of people in Japan about how cultural values have changed, and how youth no longer respect their elders. An izakaya owner put it to me like this: “They are now more individual, but they do not have the respect for tradition that we did.” It’s a lament you hear constantly.
It was interesting, therefore, to read Haruki Murakami’s thoughts on the subject in a somewhat rare interview published in the Japan Times, which I’d encourage all of you interested in contemporary Japan to read. Some salient quotes:
Murakami, 59, is a baby boomer who is deeply interested in the problems of his generation. “Our generation tended to pick the best of everything by upholding idealism while engaged in a revolutionary struggle without believing in a revolution.”
But once members of this generation graduated from school, many became company employees. “This time, they became corporate soldiers, developed the economy, created a bubble and called it quits by bursting it. The baby-boom generation was at its core. So, I think someone has to take responsibility.”
I found this notion that Murakami’s generation was engaged in revolution–without actually believing in revolution–fascinating, as though there really is a half-way commitment to change. Certainly Japundit has fostered numerous conversations over the years about how slowly change takes place, and how uncommitted people are to seeing it through.
The collapse of the bubble economy in the first half of the 1990s coincided with the collapse of the Cold War structure. Everybody thought peace was at hand, but what came was a chaotic world.
“Especially after Sept. 11 (2001), we live in a world in which nobody knows what will happen next. My novels are about stories in which nobody knows what will happen next. That may be the reason readers have an affinity for my novels.”
The Japanese also harbored the illusion that if they worked hard, they would become rich and happy, but that has been totally crushed. “So, they were forced to face the facts about what they are. But that is very uncomfortable.”
On a somewhat related note, I was curious to see very few Louis Vuitton handbags in Japan this time around. Even a few years ago, the outrageously expensive (and to my eye, bland) Hermes tote bag seemed to be everywhere. I have no real way of proving what I saw–aside from a bunch of photos of people in trains not carrying designer gear. Perhaps there is a change of sorts, more in attitude than anything else, about wealth and the future and relating to the world at large. Others disagree, and perhaps are completely correct.
What do all of you out there think: is the baby boomer generation, as Murakami suggests, not committed to change? And on a shallow note, do you see fewer brand items circulating around?
If Japanese castles are your thing, and you don’t know about it already, head over to jcastle.info, which provides an in-depth guide to all Japanese castles.
The site provides as much information as you would need before visiting, including 5-star ratings, maps and access info, photos, links, and some historical notes.
And in that spirit, here’s a picture of Kumamoto castle, taken during a recent hanami. Kumamoto celebrates the castle’s 400th anniversary this year, with a newly restored section opening to the public at the beginning of Golden Week.
It’s not completely off topic, there’s sushi.
In case you were wondering, here is a list of the 30 most spoken languages in the world and the areas in which they are spoken.
interesting series of photos on this website
I’m a big fan a fuel cells and I was excited to hear that 2200 homes in Japan are now using fuel cells to generate electricity.
The Japanese government is strongly supporting this fuel cell technology. So much so that it has earmarked $309 million a year for fuel cell development and plans for 10 million homes–about one-fourth of Japanese households–to be powered by fuel cells by 2020.
planning a trip with the kids? looking for something a little bit more original than disney? or maybe you want the kids to experience something educational while they’re having fun. well if your visiting japan, korea, china, or vietnam; you might consider the following amusement parks.
probably NSFW
The ever entertaining blog Stuff White People Like expresses its views on yellow fever, and throws out the statistic that 98% of white guys at some point have suffered from it.
Another factor that draws white guys to asian women is that white women are jealous of them.
Take for instance the fact that asian women well into their 30s and 40s retain teen / college girl looks without the help of botox, yoga or a trendy diet (future posts). Asian women also avoid key white women characteristics such as having a mid life crisis, divorce, and hobbies that don’t involve taking care of the children (also future posts). Should white guy / asian girl marry, they produce hybirds that are aestically pleasing, but are very annoying.
I think he meant “aesthetically pleasing.” Wasn’t it annoying that I pointed that out?
Updated: White people like Japan too. But you already knew that.
japundits, as human beings, symbiotic fish, and the transcendent beings known as /4/chans, we must all, to truly live, at some point in our lives be dedicated to a higher purpose. whilst scanning the internet i came upon a website, which along with the recent spat with fg inspired me.
now go forth…and conquer
jk
hat tip to xkcd
below the buzzing metropolis of tokyo in the depths of a high rise building is a microcosm of an agricultural revolution. in a facility staffed by former freeters looking for a source of lasting employment, there are six rooms dedicated the the seeding, germination, and successful growth of various vegetables. why is this anything exciting, you might ask?
while for the last century large scale indoor cultivation has been commonly practiced around the world and indoor greenhouses and grow rooms are used by people as varied as researchers to marijuana growers, what is interesting about this experiment is the intent and unintended consquences. pasona o2, unlike its counterparts has among it goals the employment of that portion of disaffected japanese youth. in addition it is a live testing of the marginal transformation of land to capital in an urban environment.
while at first this may seem unexciting, to me it is intriguing for two reasons. first of all it is an introduction to a field of steady work for moderately educated youth to introduce themselves to both industrial and agricultural technology. while these are seemingly dying arts they are also heavily subsidized industries and thus a safe bet. secondly, while the proprietors may not see this as the future of farming, it was an object of debate in an environmental economics class in which i once enrolled. in an area where land prices are high and the soil quality is poor enough that it must be continually augmented by expensive fertilizers, there could conceivably be a situation, provided a cheap source of electricity, where hydroponic gardens in skyscapers could be the source of food to a nation and the nations to which it exports.
hat tip to pruned
According to this stupid website, Japan is #58 on the list of things white people like.
Here I am thinking I like Japan for the culture and the people, and now I find out I’m actually predispositioned to liking it!
(Thanks Dave Chappelle)
Pileus is working on an Internet enabled umbrella that will allow the user to check out websites while their walking down the street, by looking up at the underside of the umbrella. It works by using a small projector to put the image on the inside of the umbrella. It’s enabled for Google Maps and Flickr.
It’s not quite ready for mass production yet as the projector is still pretty bulky and power-hungry, but it looks really cool.
i give you one of my favorite reviewer’s/critic’s reviews of a game that could only come from japan
best plot ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’ve been playing around with Google Maps recently and came across this mapplet. It’s really cool, you can pick a podcast from whatever part of japan you’re interested in and play it right then and there.
I’ve also made a map of my favorite places in Japan.
In a documentary I saw a few years ago (and alas can’t find online) Masato Ono, an entomologist from Tokyo’s Tamagawa University, described the sensation of being stung by one as “like a hot nail through my leg. It is a pain that you can never imagine until you have experienced it. It is profoundly shocking.”
