Tokyo Times

Photographs from a small group of islands

Odd

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New Year nibbles

For those still feeling a little queasy after some overly exuberant end-of-year excess, indulging in the delicacy of Bizen, Okayama Prefecture, probably wouldn’t be the best of ideas. As quite bizarrely, the mollusc loving maniacs have mind-bogglingly decided to create kaki soft — a heady mix of an ice cream cone topped with two fried oysters.

oyster ice cream

Whether vanilla, strawberry or even the slightly more daring mint choc chip flavour goes best with the soy sauce drizzled oysters wasn’t disclosed, although on a good day around one hundred of the concoctions are apparently consumed.

Tempted?

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Dandy dogs

“Japanese are maniacs for booms, but people forget here that dogs aren’t just status symbols. They are living things.”

Toshiaki Kageyama, a professor of veterinary medicine, commenting on the current canine fad in Japan, and the uncontrolled inbreeding practiced by many unscrupulous breeders in an attempt to produce the ‘perfect’ pooch.

An issue however that doesn’t seem to bother Japan’s growing number of dog lovers, as whether a newly purchased puppy has a brother for a father or a sister as a mother appears to be irrelevant — the cuddly little canine being as cute as a button the main concern.

blue hue dog

And as prices for a Chihuahua with a blue hue or a poodle that’ll fit in one’s pocket reportedly go all the way up to the 1 million yen mark (4,350 pound), proud owners are prepared to pamper their new pooches like never before. A fact not lost on Pet Esthe, a business whose dog dye now seems sadly defunct, but its other products cater perfectly for the crowds of crazed canine lovers.

Like this doggy mud bath for example, designed to replenish the little one’s skin and coat. A treatment that may also be cleverly combined with company’s aromatic essential oil series.

dog mud bath

And if that’s not enough, relaxed and replenished Rover can then be spoiled further with a spot of nail treatment. A choice of ten colours enough to please even the most discriminating of dogs.

dog nail varnish

A product that not only looks pretty but helps protect the animal’s nails when the little fella is out and about. And it washes off easily too, which is reassuring.

Sort of.

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Hidden depth

A quick glance at any video sharing website would probably lead the casual observer to conclude that Japanese TV veers from mind numbing tosh to mere titillation — with next to nothing in-between. Yet a rummage through the nooks and crannies of night-time commercial television reveals a slightly different picture, with some shows taking a decidedly more serious approach.

Like the one below for example, whose fearless guests attempt to get to the bottom of the day’s important issues.

bare bottom

Gallantly sniffing out clues and getting up close and personal with the truth.

sniffing out the truth

Such a penetrative approach producing real, if somewhat unsavoury, results. Allowing Japanese viewers a rare glimpse of the country’s darker side.

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Morbid mobile usage

“I get the sense that people no longer respect the dead. It’s disturbing.”

A freaked out funeral director after seeing a crowd of mourners clamouring round a coffin to get a few final snapshots.

Mobile phone shutter noises have gradually increased in volume to counter the dark art of upskirt photography, but as one avenue has closed, another appears to have opened, with photography of the dead now a growing trend amongst Japanese phone wielding photographers.

Yet despite the concerns of the lady quoted above, and her worries that “the deceased would never want their faces photographed,” she appears to be behind the times somewhat, with social commentator Toru Takeda claiming, “Some can’t grasp ‘reality’ unless they take a photo and share it with others … It comes from a desire to keep a strong bond with the deceased.”

An assertion that may well hold some truth, but with mobile technology now allowing an array of alterations to be made to a photo, it arguably depends on what kind of images are being shared.

As it’s a fine line between the respectful.

lenin

And the perhaps not so respectful.

lenin

Categorized: Odd

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Not nailed

After equipping his shoes with nails back in June, and fulfilling his desire to “injure the legs of a woman with a good figure” by repeatedly kicking a young lady in the calf muscles, Seitaro Kasai finally found himself in court yesterday.

Yet after declaring that the 32-year-old’s actions were “selfish and mean crimes in which the defendant gratified himself with sexual excitement from seeing women suffering”, Tokyo District Judge Yasutsune Kawada let Kasai off with a 2 1/2-year prison sentence — suspended for 5 years.

However perhaps not wanting to be regarded as a complete soft touch, Judge Kawada did order the confiscation of Seitaro-san’s shoes. Two pairs of them no less, sending out a firm message to modified footwear maniacs throughout the length and breadth of Japan.

nails in shoes

Categorized: Odd