Tokyo Times

Nov 05 2008 4 Comments

Japanese lay judge lingerie

For the first time in Japanese judicial history, ordinary people will have the chance to help convict their fellow countryfolk next year, when the government is set to introduce a lay judge system, with six such citizens sitting in with three of their qualified counterparts.

A hugely important decision that is now being celebrated — albeit somewhat prematurely — by the release of some law-based lingerie.

The design by novelty bra behemoth Triumph International perfectly capturing the even-handedness that will come from passionate and particularly upstanding people.

Nov 04 2008 14 Comments

Japanese love doll love-in?

With the prices for state-of-the-art Japanese love dolls being almost as preposterous as some of their appendages, it’s perhaps not surprising that rental services, or even love doll love hotels, are popping up all over the place.

A business model that, in the long run at least, not only cuts down on staff costs, but also accommodation, although seeing Hello Kitty making the switch from merchandise to madam is mildly mind-blowing.

Maybe.

(image via Neta)

Nov 04 2008 3 Comments

Sizeable Japanese cemeteries

For many of the major events in a Japanese person’s life, it’s a relatively mixed bag, with an almost pick’n’mix approach preferred. So, while ‘christenings’ are primarily Shinto-based affairs, and weddings may well be western-style, funerals are habitually Buddhist.

But, when it comes to that utterly final farewell, cremation is the one true constant, with a whopping 99.82% of the nation’s deceased rapidly reduced to dust — the lack of a full figure presumably due to the odd non-Japanese who it is deemed ok to be dropped whole into one of the country’s rare and rapidly filling foreign resting places.

A system that I always presumed was primarily practical, as with such a limited amount of living space, huge cemeteries would very quickly become a hindrance, whereas cremation conveniently cuts down on the terrain taken over.

However, not for the first time,

I would appear to be woefully wide,

of the mark.

(click images for super-sized cemetery)

Nov 03 2008 4 Comments

Japanese biking behemoth

With seemingly billions of bicycles jostling their way through Japan’s busy streets, standing out from the crowd takes a distinct amount of doing, although sporting some kind of similarity to a supercharged sibling certainly helps.

A sense of insecurity that surprisingly also seems to affect the motorbikes that the man-powered machine above is trying to mimic, as this beast is apparently doing its best to bear a resemblance to a bus.

And a fairly big one at that.

Albeit a touristy open top type one.

Nov 02 2008 1 Comment

Tokyo tidings

With November now upon us, and Halloween’s borrowed beasts once again carefully cloistered away in their crypts, it’s now considered time in the Japanese capital for that other meticulously acquired custom, Christmas.