Balloon Shapes By Cops » Japanese Culture

Tetsujin 28 Statue in Kobe

Silentjim — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 05:36:22 +0000

Finally got around to piecing together and uploading my videos of our visit to the Testujin 28 (Gigantor) statue in Shin-Nigata, Kobe last December.
For those that don’t know, Testujin 28 (or Gigantor as he’s known in the west) is a very long running anime (cartoon) in Japan.

Following on from the Gundam statue in Tokyo, there’s been a spate of these giant anime/pop culture related statues cropping up recently to boost the local economies.

This is Kobe’s…

Tetsujin 28

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Read the rest of Tetsujin 28 Statue in Kobe (83 words)

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Post tags: Anime, manga, Otaku, Tetsujin

Setsubun No Hi – Or Eat Long Sushi Day

Silentjim — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 11:01:02 +0000

Today is “Setsubun no hi” in Japan which means you’re supposed to throw beans out of a window to cast out “oni” or “demons” and eat ridiculously long maki sushi while facing this years lucky direction (South-SouthWest this year) and not speaking.

We don’t have any beans (and I’m not wasting any of my precious baked beans!) but we did eat this sushi…

Ridiculously Long Sushi

Dude, You’re Shaving my Forehead!

Silentjim — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 05:27:41 +0000

Just came back from a visit to the hairdressers, and an interesting experience it was too.

I’ve mentioned in the past about unusual barber practices in Japan such as shaving peoples faces (all of their face!), so I always decline when they offer a shave.

However I’ve started going to a new, trendier barbers in a vain effort to get a better style of haircut – it’s not working out so far!
Amongst all the other special treatment like a brief massage/hitting of the shoulders at the end, there is the usual offer of a shave.

Well today, I decided to risk it.

Whoopi Goldberg

It all looked fine until he put shaving cream on my forehead!

Then he asked me what I wanted done with my eyebrows.
I had images of me walking home like Whoopi Goldberg, so I politely told him to leave them well enough alone.

I’ve never been shaved by anyone before, not even in England, and never used a cut-throat razor myself. I have to say, it was quite a nice experience, especially enhanced by the ever present (in Japan) steam blower.

They really go in for the powerful, healing effects of steam here, as my visits to the ear hospital have shown, and while shaving me today, I was covered in a soothing wave of steam.

So now my forehead is all hairless and smooth – pretty sure it was before but maybe not.

Hopefully it’s not going to grow back thicker than before!
I could have started a never ending cycle!

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Susan Boyle in Japan on New Years Eve

Silentjim — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 04:22:30 +0000

I’ve talked about New Years in Japan before and the traditional four hour long singing competition between the girls and boys on NHK, Kouhaku Uta Gassen 紅白歌合戦, but this was a little bit special as the girls had a ringer on their team…someone who could sing!
Ms Susan Boyle.
(Apologies for any j-pop fans, but lets face it the girls team are generally awful but very cute, whereas the boys team tend to pull in a few singers along the way).

Susan Boyle and Kimutaku (from SMAP)

Here she is with Kimuraku kun from legendary Japanese boy band SMAP (they basically rule Japan pop music, appearing on every tv show, advert, poster and recently movies).

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Read the rest of Susan Boyle in Japan on New Years Eve (273 words)

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Post tags: Monkey Magic, New Years, NHK, Shingo Katori, SMAP, Susan Boyle, Takuya Kimura

Ex-Nova Boss Kidnapped by Yakuza

Silentjim — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 04:37:49 +0000

Exciting developments in the life of Monkey Bridge (ex-Nova boss and now convicted criminal)…apparently while waiting for his appeal to start he’s been staying in a hotel in Tokyo.

Well some members of the Yamaguchi Yakuza clan (based in Kobe/Osaka – actually the boss lives just up the road from me apparently) found out where he was and held him hostage yesterday for 3 hours!

Not sure why they let him go, but they were arrested immediately after.

There were always rumours amongst the staff and teachers at Nova that he was “connected” (some of the Nova investment money was mob money), but they were just rumours….hmm…maybe some-one wants their money back and it’s not just students and teachers!

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Post tags: Eikaiwa, Monkey Bridge, Nova, Teaching English in Japan, Yakuza