Thief stole, "A Reader on Restarting your life”

Source:Yomiuri Shinbun

On May 21st, a 55 year-old unemployed Japanese male who lives in Oshibedani-tyou, was brought to Hyogo prefectural Kobe Nishi police station. He was alleged with stealing a book from a book store, since he was arrested.

The stolen book is entitled, “A Reader on Restarting your life” (人生やり直し読本)” which is written by the nonfiction writer, “Kunio Yanagida”

The report said that, a security guard saw the man leaving the bookstore while putting the book in his backpack, upon seeing this, he then decided to turn the old man to the police.

Apparently, he failed to restart his life.

Popular virtual singer from Japan debuts in Toyota’s CM for the Unites States

Popular virtual singer from Japan debuts in Toyota's CM for the United States. The Japanese car company, Toyota, has decided to use a virtual idol, "Hatsune Miku(初音ミク)", who is adored by some net users, especially those who watch NicoNico Douga - a popular video sharing website in Japan - in their new CM for the United States. She is a Vocaloid that sings songs which are created by users of the voice synthesizer software where her name had been copied. There are some other vocaloids like "Miku" but Toyota chose her because she is the most popular one, with her cuteness among them.

Miku's voice is still somehow mechanical but her cute, animated appearance and voice which is sampled from a Japanese voice actress, Saki Fujita, continue to attract wide range of people. As of now, Miku has released at least more than 15,000 songs which are created by its users including some professional composers. Her popularity is mainly in the internet but few of her music albums debuted at number one on Japanese weekly album chart. Her activity is not only singing songs but also performing live. You may wonder how on earth can a virtual idol play a live show? Here, you can check the movie out and a part of it is used in the CM.

In the commercial, a portion of her live performance was used. In there she is singing, World is Mine(ワールドイズマイン), which is one of her most poplular songs.　

Toyota has launched a special site for their new car, COROLLA, which is tied up with Miku. Her picture can be found on the top of the page.　However, there was an outcry from her fans when they saw that she seemed different, compared to the Miku that they knew.

Original Miku

This different Miku made her fans cry

Toyota says, “Corolla and Hatsune Miku have two very important things in common – big dreams in a compact package.” Miku's appeal is now being widened through singing, live performances, and a commercial. What will she do next? We can’t take our eyes off this new type of Japanese diva.

Devouring passion of Kagawa prefecture for Udon

Zaru Udon

Udon is a type of thick wheat-flour noodle and one of the national food of Japan. This cuisine, which reasonably costs from 300 to 600 Yen on average, is served in several ways. The most common style is to eat with noodle soup and several ingredients as toppings. The other one is called “Zaru Udon”, which dips Udon, served on a zaru (a sieve-like bamboo tray), into chilled noodle soup. The taste varies from region to region. For example, West area uses bland soup but East uses stronger and darker soup. On top of that, each prefecture has their own flavor and quality. So, you can't decide whose Udon is the best.

The red area show the location of
Kagawa prefecure

However, Kagawa Prefecture of Japan which is located on Shikoku Island has an unrivaled passion for Udon. They have one of the most popular Udon brands in Japan, called "Sanuki Udon", which uses relatively tough-textured noodle and the soup based on dried sardines. Here, I will introduce some of their frantic enthusiasm for their soul food.

•  They eat Udons 3 times a day, even 8 times. It's natural.
•  They often face a water shortage because of boiling too much Udon.
• They were imposed a cut on water intake because of boiling Udons too much.
• They think Soba (a type of thin Japanese noodle made from buckwheat flour) is a miscreation of Udon.
• There are no Soba shops in Kagawa prefecture.
• They eat Udon as toshikoshi noodles (Japanese traditionally eat soba on New Year’s Eve. It’s called toshikoshi noodles) on New Year’s Eve.
• They can do an Udon taste test blindly
• The elementary school kids, in Kagawa prefecture, go home if there is no Udon in the school lunch.
•  They treated Udon to a kid, who was in front of a burger store and looked like wanted to eat burgers.
•  McDonald’s were disappeared from Kagawa prefecture.

This is "Sanuki Udon",
which kagawa prefecture is
proud of

Some people address Kagawa prefecture as Udon Ken(prefecture); Are they just merely trying to throw an insult?　No, they also love there and so do I. Unfortunately, I've never been there but if you will understand the passion of the Kagawa citizens for Udon, then you would also like to visit and have a taste of what they love.

Fantastic catalog of HONDA portable gas generator

Last year, HONDA which is a famous car company released a portable gas generator “Enepo” which can produce electricity by a gas cylinder of outdoor camp stoves.

You can find Enepo's catalog in Honda's official web page. It's actually fantastic since its appearance is like that of a fashion magazine giving one the impression that it is convenient and portable. Included in this catalog are phrases like: "You can bake bread outside” “You can use a hair iron downtown” “You can drink a cup of fresh coffee outside with a coffee maker”

The bottom-left sentence says
"Enepo makes your picnic fun"

There are indexes like a fashion magazine on the bottom picture. Future: It becomes Paris wherever I walk♪Extravagant picnic with Enepo. Enepo’s multi-coordination. Why your wish is realized? Tell me the secret of Enepo.

 Enepo is at her feet. It could even look like a carrier bag. But don’t forget Enepo has about 20kg.

The bottom-left phrase says "The welcoming drink is orange juice♪ Birds, butterflies, flowers, glasses, sky, the sun, and everything else is in celebration because of me" I don't even know what the welcoming drink is.

 You can keep your fresh bread hot outdoors through the use of Enepo. You can use Enepo with 2 gas cylinders at convenience stores.

Enpo is not only useful for cooking but also for fashion. “I have always been dedicated to fashion but strong winds ruin my hairstyle. Can't I walk downtown under strong winds? Don’t worry. I have Enepo. Look, if I attach a hair iron, my hairstyle will be restored as perfect as before”

Perfection is the word for me. Even if my hair is a mess, my fashion style won't be.

If you connect a coffee maker to Enepo, you can have a fresh coffee. The top-right statement says “It is good to drink coffee anywhere and anytime, isn't it?　I can always have open-air cafes”　But how was she able to carry the coffee maker, water, and coffee beans?

Enepo can meet appliances with up to 900W of power consumption. The declared power is 900VA. The weight is 19.5 kg.　The fuel is 2 gas cylinders of outdoor camp stoves and they can keep generating for 2.2 hours. The sticker price is 104, 790 Yen (about $ 1,280US). You must not use it in closed-air places such as rooms, cars and warehouses because it emits high levels of carbon monoxide.

Enepo’s strength is that you can carry it conveniently, house it easily, and change the fuel without your hands dirty.

There are some weired things on the catalog, but enepo itself is useful. You can access to the official catalog from here.

Honda/enepo

http://www.honda.co.jp/power-catalog/enepo-book/index.html

Please purchase local specialty products in order to support Fukushima.

Akabeko (赤べこ, red cow) is a traditional
toy from the Aizu region of Fukushima. 

Recently, Fukushima prefecture in Japan has become well-known, now dubbed as the tragic city because of the nuclear power plant’s accident which has still been going on since the 11^th of March. Long before the nuclear power plant accident, Fukushima is already famous for the abundant variety of food products like fruits which are typified by peaches, cherries, pears, and strawberries. And it also has some brand-name rice like Koshihikari and marine products such as bonitos. Also, in case that you are an alcohol-enthusiast, you probably won't miss the many kinds of Sake available there.

If you want to help Fukushima prefecture and the people living there, donation must be the one of and the most efficient ways. Another way will be to purchase its local specialty products like the aforementioned examples.

The red area show the location of
Fukushima Prefecture

However, visiting Fukushima prefecture which is about 250km north away from Tokyo may not be easy because of the distance and concerns of radioactive elements. So, I want to introduce JA Zennou Fukushima(JA全農福島) where you can buy them online.

Unfortunately, this site is written only in Japanese. And probably it won’t ship internationally. However, if you are in Tokyo or nearby, visiting Fukushima Yaesu Tourism and Exchange Center(福島県八重洲観光交流館 address:2-6-21 Yaesu Thuo-ku Tokyo) located near Tokyo station will be an alternative way.

I actually went to Fukushima Yaesu Tourism and Exchange Center. To my surprise, the store was full of customers and there was a line outside of it when I got there on Saturday. I guess there are many people who want to support Fukushima as well as me. 

I bought them. Everything was yummy!

It is certainly a must-visit place and you will not be disappointed. So what are you waiting for? Schedule a visit now and invite more people to do the same.

Thanks, but it’s too much. A ranking of annoying etiquettes

Source:Goo Ranking   

Do you follow some etiquettes pertaining to women, like opening a door for ladies? It can be sometimes annoying for Japanese ladies who are not familiar with it. We asked through internet polling about what the annoying rules of etiquette are.

The first place is, “Putting down a handkerchief on a puddle in order to protect a ladies’ cloths from dirt.” It’s like a story of a shojo manga(Japanese comic books for ladies). If you really did that, all Japanese ladies would escape from you. The second place is, “Blowing on ladies’ hot food to cool it down”  Your kind will think that ladies don’t want to get burned. However, if you try that to a Japanese lady’s hot food, you would also blow off her feelings toward you.

Rules of etiquette come from the United States and Europe. Not a small number of Japanese women may be happy when they experience it while traveling. However, since it's not well-established in Japan they get confused instead. But if you show   appropriate etiquettes to ladies, they will probably appreciate your actions. If you will examine the ranking, you might have second thoughts before you follow the etiquettes.

1.      Putting down a handkerchief on a puddle in order to protect ladies’ cloths from dirt

2.      Blowing on ladies’ hot food to cool it down

3.      Giving ladies a piggyback ride when she's tired of walking..

4.      Lifting up ladies to go over bumps.

5.      Doing ladies’ shoelace.

6.      Carrying ladies’ bag which has their important stuff.

7.      Putting down a handkerchief on a bench when ladies sit down.

8.      Holding ladies in your arms when they get injured.

9.      Ordering all sort of food in a restaurant.

10.  Watching ladies until they disappear from your sight at her leave.

11.  Drafting a chair when ladies sit down in a restaurant.

12.  Lending your jacket when it’s cold.

13.  Gibing ladies a hand when they go down stairs.

14.  Putting on a jacket on a lady

15.  Presenting to eat the food that ladies don't like, instead of them.

16.  Sharing food with ladies when we have big portions of the food.

17.  Locating an empty seat on a train and giving it to ladies.

18.  Opening a car’s door for ladies.

19.  Letting ladies go ahead at elevators or stairs.

The original Japanese site has the ranking until 30^th but I’m tired of translating. Japanese addresses these rules of etiquettes as “Lady First”. Some of the Japanese think that these are the manners how to deal with ladies and they come from the North America and Europe.

“Welcome back, Hachi.” Reunion of a pet dog after 11 days.

Source:Iwate Nippou

Hideko and Hachi celebrated the
reunion after getting over the
tsunami.

On the 22nd of March, a Shiba Inu who was taken care of by an animal hospital when it was still weak in Miyako city, Iware prefecture, was taken back to the owner. It was engulfed by a tsunami which happened on the 11th of March, but somehow it managed to survive. Then, after 11 days, the dog got reunited with its owner and the reunion brought so much happiness to the family's owner whose house was washed away.

The Shiba Inu, Hachi, is owned by Naoshi Iwata, a local official of Kuwagasakishimomachi, Miyako city.

Desperately, Hideko tried to pull Hachi and escaped, but they were swamped by the tsunami. Hideko managed to hold a nearby wire mesh and got out of trouble, but Hachi’s collar came off and he was swamped.

After that, Iwata’s family looked for Hachi, but they couldn’t find him. However, On the 22^nd, they knew that he was receiving care in an animal hospital and they brought him back.

Iwata said, “He often becomes ill recently. Therefore I almost gave him up.” “I’m relieved he was able to hang on.”

Hideko was the happiest among the family for this reunion. She lived in a new rented house through her relative but her sorrow grew when she was alone and she remembered him.

Hideko said, “It is the greatest happiness.” “Even if I lost all of my money because of the tsunami, Hachi would make me energetic.” She strongly held her pet dog.