General

Jul 28 2004 4 Comments

C for cooking

Or more accurately cooking programs. Well no, that’s not clear enough either. I guess food based television entertainment would be a better description. But seeing as I had another idea for F, cooking will have to do.

Now I must admit that I don’t watch a great deal of Japanese television. For one I have cable, and secondly I don’t share the nation’s intense love affair with food. And whilst a slight exaggeration, it’s fairly true to say that most programs just consist of people obsessing about food.

Whatever they do, or wherever they go (or even if they are just in the studio), tasting different food seems to be the main (and often only) focus. Even if it’s a travel program, all we ever learn about the country is its food. Ok, I know it’s an important part of a country’s identity, but generally there are other places and points of interest too.

But at a pinch I can deal with this. Ok, I can’t (as is probably quite obvious), but it would be a lot more tolerable if it weren’t for the constant and almost orgasmic cries of delicious every time the slightest morsel of food is placed into a presenters mouth. If just now and again they spat the food out and said it was repulsive, I’d be much more inclined to watch. But sadly I fear I may have a very long wait.

Even this would be greeted by cries of it looks so delicious. I kid you not.

Jul 27 2004 2 Comments

B for beer advertising

Japanese beer itself is very nice. A good selection to choose from, not overly expensive, and practically all of it around 5%. Which I can confirm packs a very respectable punch. And when drinking holes serve it super cold and in iced glasses, you could argue that life doesn’t get much better.

Yet remarkably it does.

Go into most bars or shops selling beer, and you’ll be able to buy/drink your beverage of choice whilst having a gander at the tasteful beer posters on display. Most of which consist of young ladies sporting bikinis and clutching beers. All of them presumably waiting for a date with a pot bellied beer drinker.

And just like beer, a second one is always a good idea.

One for the road?

Jul 26 2004 4 Comments

A for Ayu

Or Ayumi Hamasaki to use her full name.

This female singer is arguably the biggest name and most recognizable face in Japanese pop music at the moment. But despite her detractors, Ms Hamasaki (or whoever looks after the singer) isn’t stupid. Her time at the top could well be over before she knows it, especially as Japanese consumers are perhaps even more fickle than their western counterparts, so understandably she is making hay whilst the sun shines. Not only does Ayu regularly release new music, but she also lends her face to countless products, and even has her own fashion label. But who can blame her?

From all accounts, Hamasaki’s childhood wasn’t the happiest, and at the tender age of 14 she moved to Tokyo in search of fame and fortune. But after bit parts in low-budget movies and relatively unsuccessful dramas, the young Ayu was left to wile away her time hanging around in the city’s fashionable Shibuya district. Until that is a chance encounter with a record producer from one of Japan’s biggest labels.

Some accounts say he spotted her on the streets, whilst others claim they were introduced in a karaoke parlour. A few even suggest she used her womanly charms. Yet either way, the rest as they say is history.

Just as Ayu could soon beâ€¦

Jul 23 2004 10 Comments

Homeward bound

From next week I’ll be enjoying a month long break back in the motherland. But regular reader(s) fear not. Whilst I’m away, an A to Z of Japanese life will keep Tokyo Times active until I return.

This daily (well, weekdays anyway) alphabetical attempt will endeavor to maintain the high standards associated with the site. So you can look forward to gratuitous pictures of pretty young ladies, constant reinforcements of long held Japanese stereotypes, and perhaps if you are lucky, the odd interesting fact.

Don’t hold your breath on the latter though!

Jul 22 2004 1 Comment

Flight of fancy

Kohei Shibata, a 24-year-old male, was arrested for fraud last week after attempting to pass himself off as a young flight attendant.

It seems Shibata trawled numerous internet personal sites, pretending to be a 23-year-old female flight attendant called Mizuki Shibata (he obviously couldn’t resist keeping his own family name). This wasn’t just an online scam though. Young Shibata even went so far as mimicking a woman’s voice when he spoke to some of the men he had built relationships with through the sites and in e-mails. Plus he also sent pictures cut from magazines that he claimed were the attractive Ms. Shibata.

After managing to form a particularly promising relationship with a 31-year-old Tokyoite, Shibata-san sent a message saying that he (or should that be she?) had been taken sick and desperately needed a loan to pay for the operation.

Sound suspicious? Too right it does. Yet unbelievably the love-struck victim fell for this and made 6 bank transfers, totaling a whopping 8.2 million yen (40,000 pounds).

Presumably he was hoping for a blissful future with someone like this.

But even still, 8.2 million yen!?

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