Viewing items with Tag: "politics"

June 30th saw armies of otaku (Japanese dorks, geeks, etc.) marching through Akihabara in protest of discrimination against their culture, reclaiming Akihabara as their rightful holy-land and home. The rally was organised by 3 Otaku Alliances, the Otakuism Alliance オタク先鋭派 革命的オタク主義者同盟, Revolutionary Moeism Alliance 革命的萌え主義者同盟 and the Revolutionary Rejects Alliance 革命的非モテ同盟.


The Otoki donned a range of clothing (as you would expect...) from standard protest costumes to darth vader and coke machine lookalikes, and walked 1.5km through the city, holding their banners high with pride. I say fair play to them. We see gay pride and womens rights rallies all of the time, so why not Otaku, stands to reason in my opinion.



My guess is at the end of the walk they all jumped on the train and went home... I would not like to have been an unsuspecting school girl on that chikan train to hell!

Lots of coverage of this event at various online vendors, Kotaku, Japan Probe, etc. but this vid was my favourite for its randomness (despite becoming a little repetetive). Anyway, without further ado, here is Danny Choo in Tokyo, in a storm trooper outfit, dancing.

Well, in response to MeestahJ's disturbed blurb about the newest craze in caring for your unwanted offspring, I thought this would be another good one to "throw out" (Bddum Tsstst). For all you soon to be parents out there intent on living your lives as the Japanese government deems fit, here's another PSA from our friends at the DIET.

Turns out the government has decided AGAINST releasing a plan that encourages breast feeding and discourages the youth of the nation to watch so much TV and be constantly tied to cell phones and the internet.

Sorry guys, I know this is not very sexy (unless you get off by smearing mayonaise all over old politician's nipples) but I think this is at least half as relevant to our lives here in Japan as the overall Japanese view of sex... well 1/4th as relevant anyway.

Maybe it is simply due to little man syndrome, or perhaps he has taken notice at how much cash the Bushes have made off their campaign of war, but it looks as though our hero Prime Minister Abe is at it again; this time looking towards changes in the constitution that will essentially re-militarize Japan. Currently, the SDF (Self Defence Force) is existing in a kind of don't ask, don't tell state of illegality, but the new clause that Abe on high is pushing will "officially grant Japan the right to use arms," according to University of Tokyo Professor Tetsuya Takahashi.

I hate those guys on the streets of any main city in the paper thin black suits and the dragonball Z hairstyles that harrass girls walking down the street to come to their snack bar or to work at their snack bar or to 'go for tea' or whatever, and if the trend is anything to go by these guys could be replaced by robots in the near future! Now this is not exactly true, its a wild guess by myself, but thats the way things are going in Osaka.

Due to new laws introduced in 2005, informing the public about local adult information centers via street solicitors is now against the law. This didnt stop them however, as they were replaced with (mostly old, homeless looking) guys holding signs pointing the direction of these centers, with "ore ni kike" written on them allowing interested clients to ask the guy for more information, which is not considered illegal. Well not until the end of last month.

So have the police and government finally ridden the streets of these nuisences? Of course not. They have come up with an ingenious, very Japanese solution to the problem. Dress a robot in a sailor suit school uniform and give the sign to him! This ridiculously expensive 'touting tool', which underwent a $4000 upgrade since its previous road traffic directing job, will occassionally raise and lower the "Ask me!" banner and attract customers that way.

“It’s a robot, so no problem” says a spokesperson for the information center. Yer and thats gonna last long... I'm looking forward to robot bankrobbers where the owners will be able to give the same argument destroying excuse "but... its a robot! so no probem!"

So do these guys! Ten local politicians have set up a network opposing the blaring of candidates' names from loudspeakers on election campaign cars.

Blaring candidates' names from loudspeakers is a nuisance and its effect is doubtful. We shouldn't waste taxpayers' money.

The article goes on to say ...

In a separate move, 10 incumbent members of the Hitachi Municipal Assembly in Ibaraki Prefecture, who are seeking re-election, are refraining from using campaign cars and instead delivered street speeches using hand-held microphones.

... which makes me feel somehow they are missing the point here... its not the cars that bothers me, its the whole 'shouting in the street through megaphones' part... from a car, from a bike, from a donkey, its all the same! (although I probably would give a politician riding a donkey a second glance!)

Article source from Brendon on ShigaJet via Mainichi News.

Not so long ago Japan was in trouble with China for glossing over Japans wartime aggression regarding The Rape of Nanjing in the 1930s.

Now Japan is off again trying to sweep more of its less proud history under the tatami. They of all people should know that tatami isnt that great for hiding history, and trying to hide these 'incidents' as they call them, is only going to draw more attention to them.

Here are some links to more papers on the textbook war and post-war Okinawa, thanks to Mike over at ShigaJet:

The Battle of Okinawa in Japanese History Books

more papers on post-war Okinawa


and here are some quotes from the article at New York times:

The Ministry of Education ordered publishers to delete passages stating that the Imperial Army ordered civilians to commit mass suicide during the Battle of Okinawa, as the island was about to fall to American troops in the final months of the war.

During the 1945 battle, during which one quarter of the civilian population was killed, the Japanese Army showed indifference to Okinawa’s defense and safety. Japanese soldiers used civilians as shields against the Americans, and persuaded locals that victorious American soldiers would go on a rampage of killing and raping. With the impending victory of American troops, civilians committed mass suicide, urged on by fanatical Japanese soldiers.

So get this: I know its shocking every time a high ranking government official says something offensive, whether it is women being referred to as "baby-making machines" (hey- at least he apologized by saying he only meant that it was their ROLE IN SOCIETY he was referring to... not the actual women themselves), or the occasional "Gaijin are criminals" comments that seem to pepper the papers these days. Never fear though good people, there is a plan at work here. This is not simply random acts of racism, not just pot shots taken in the dark at the Rights of the Individual by a few intolerant individuals. So there is no need for concern. Allow me to illuminate.

Recently, Japan's Education Minister, Bunmei Ibuki (who it seems is also an amature chef, if not a gourmand) has been put over the perverbial flames about a comment he made regarding Human Rights, namely comparing Human Rights to, and I quote, "fatty butter."



This is the education minister here people! How the hell does someone come up with a metaphor like that one? You can't help but to picture this guy eating his grits over the morning paper and a cup of Joe (no offense joe). There he is, reading about another 12 year old commiting suicide due to bullying, and he's squirming in his chair wondering how he's going to spin this one, and a big fat chunk of butter dribbles off the old guy's chin, lands on the paper with a splat, and the dusty light bulb goes on with a "That's it!!!" he says to himself, "FATTY BUTTER, you overweight genious, you, fatty fucking butter."

But it gets better. Not only did he equate an immensely important philosophical concept about how to treat our fellow human beings with a vat of artery-clogging yellow gunk, he went on to say that

"No matter how nutritious it is, if one ate only butter every single day, one would get metabolic syndrome. Human rights are important, but if we respect them too much, Japanese society will end up having human rights metabolic syndrome."

I reapeat for posterity. HUMAN RIGHTS METABOLIC SYNDROME! What kind of bullshit is that? People don't exactly have heart attcks or have to drive around on those little single person golf carts at the supermarket stuffing the free samples down their gullets and choking for air everytime someone doesn't abuse them. I've never met someone who intentionally sucked their Human Rights out of themselves through a tube (Human Ripe-o-suction?)

It sounds to me like our friend Ibuki San has got a pretty bad case of political diarreah. It also seems that this guy should find a new job.

Dietician might be more appropriate.

Or maybe professional Ass-Helmet.


Read the article at China Post.

One can only assume this nerve-touching magazine was published in direct retaliation for the war-time classic "How to Spot a Jap" - I am of course joking but the magazine itself is no joke, and is bound to cause some problems.

It is basically a look at how 'most' foreigners in Japan are criminals, and how we should all "go back were we came from", and stop mugging, raping and pilaging everything we see.

The entire publication was of course written entirely in Japanese with no intention of any translations, but enough 'criminal westerners' can read, write, speak, listen to and understand a lot more Japanese than the author was counting on.

Particularly harsh 'highlight' from the mag, courtesy of Debito.org:
Picture of black guy touching a J.girls ass in Shibuya (obviously consensual too) おいニガー！！日本婦女子のケツさわってんじゃねえ！！
Oi Nigger!! Get your fuckin’ hands off that Japanese lady’s ass!!
(… yes. It really does say ニガー)

Quote by Magazine author, from Japan Today:
On the Japanese side, the "foreign criminal" is a beast who lurks everywhere and wants nothing more than to destroy Japanese people and their way of life. Whether it's a North Korean agent kidnapping our daughters or a Chinese thief invading our homes, many Japanese are convinced that foreigners should be treated with suspicion and fear.

Article Source: Debito
Editor defends the publication: Japan Today

Most of what I post on here is light hearted and funny. This is not. I could not keep the feelings away that someone should do to these "fishermen" what they do to the dolphins. On top of that, they are poisoning the Japanese people with meat that is exptrememly high in mercury. It will not be logn before Japan has killed all its dolphins. Things like this make me wish I was a trained sniper.

Read the article at Japan Times

An increasingly sensitive point is the fact that Japan, keeping to its own traditions, will not stop hunting and killing these huge sea creatures. So much so that Captain Paul Watson of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society offered a reward of $25,000US for the location of the currently active Japanese whaling fleet.

"This time, with the new ship, they can't lose us. If they can't shake us off, I am pretty confident we can stop them. If they get violent towards us I suppose it could get very physical. We are quite willing to instigate an international incident over this," Mr Watson said on departure.

[Captain Watson accused] Japan of putting pressure on New Zealand to remain silent. "This is like a police chief finding out that a bank robbery is in progress but refusing to tell his officers which bank because the thieves asked him not to," he said.

Full story at Guardian Unlimited.