Tokyo Times

Photographs from a small group of islands

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Cheerless chiropteran

With events held to show off their scrapping skills, and hugely popular trading cards designed to pit their purported power and prowess against one another, it’s perhaps not surprising that beetles remain common pets in Japan — at least amongst young boys.

However whilst this popularity is fairly hard to fathom, what’s possibly even more unusual is the prices that are sometimes paid, with these little fellas costing a whopping 20,000 yen (90 pound).

pet beetle

Although arguably that constitutes a bargain, as the prize specimens below sell for more than double. Could they be better with small children perhaps, or maybe even housetrained?

expensive beetle

Yet coming across incredibly expensive insects in a western Tokyo home centre is one thing, but decidedly more disconcerting is the sight of a caged bat placed casually beside the beagles and budgerigars.

pet bat

The miserable mammal no doubt assuming it had arrived back in the place tubby Texan Meat Loaf claims it may once have originally come from.

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Hollering husbands

“She says I wasn’t kind, didn’t show affection. She’s been watching too many TV dramas! Japanese men of my generation don’t go around telling their wives they love them!”

A 63-year-old man attempting to explain why his wife wanted a divorce

Whilst the above quote may well be true for many Japanese men of a certain age, it certainly shouldn’t be applied to males as a whole, and especially not those belonging to the Japan Wife Lovers Association — a group that recently enjoyed its annual although not exactly jam-packed, ‘shouting love in the centre of a cabbage field’ event.

wife lovers

Held in the village of Tsumagoi — which when translated literally means ‘wife love’ — the loud-mouthed love-in allowed the likes of Yasunobu Suga (possibly pictured above) to boldly bawl amongst the brassica, with the 46-year-old unabashedly boasting, “I felt great because I could shout out my message without being embarrassed.”

Quite why however wasn’t disclosed.

Categorized: Odd

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Tokyo tribulations

There’s no denying that Japanese second-hand goods outlet, Hard Off, has a comical and often commented upon name.

hard off

However whilst a variety of bargains can be had in such stores, there’s a certain sadness about the shops too, as although many people do unload the likes of consoles and computers after updating to faster and fancier machines, countless others are forced to sell due to financial problems or drastic changes in circumstances. Such partings being painfully obvious when precious collections, painstakingly built over long periods of time, are seen waiting patiently to be jerked off the shelves and taken to new homes.

plenty of porn

One particularly heartbreaking story is the case of the unique Doraemon-themed death metal outfit, Cataclysmic Cat. After early critical praise, the band seemed destined for greatness with their manga-inspired metal, but constant in-fighting regarding direction and favourite characters led to the group’s early demise. An event that hit chief songwriter Satan’s Spawn particularly hard, with the resultant emotional and financial problems forcing the young musician to sell his beloved Doraemon guitar.

doraemon guitar

(click image for double-sized Doraemon)

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Tokyo tourism

Belinda Carlisle’s 1987 hit single, Heaven is a Place on Earth, was a clear-cut winner, wowing danceable ditty devotees the world over. Yet whilst there can be no doubts concerning the record’s success, where exactly the song’s ‘heaven on earth’ might be found remains elusive, with Ms Carlisle’s frustratingly fuzzy lyrics giving little away in regards to a particular spot or even address:

Oohh baby do you know what that’s worth?

Oohh, heaven is a place on earth.

That said, somewhat controversially several potential locations have been highlighted in Tokyo, with this previously posted picture becoming a place of pilgrimage of sorts for many enthusiasts. A venue however that has now garnered some stiff competition in the capital’s western suburbs, with a recently opened establishment making a bold claim for the heaven on earth honour.

hostess club

And whilst the club’s saucy sirens may appear to cast aspersions on the 48-year-old singer-songwriter’s sexuality*, its name leaves little doubt in regards to its declaration.

hostess club heaven

(click images for heightened heavenliness)

*As of writing, Ms Carlisle has yet to return a call in reference to confirming a specific location — or indeed to comment on her sexual preferences.

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A princely sum

The Tokyo District Court sentenced a man and woman to 26 months in prison on Monday, the two charged with planning and taking centre stage in a fake wedding reception back in 2003; an event the couple claimed was to celebrate the marriage of Prince Arisugawa, but was instead an elaborate money-making scam that netted the not even remotely noble pair the decidedly stately sum of 12 million yen (55,000 pound) in cash gifts.

fake japanese royal

The rather pixilated but ever so slightly princely picture above is of 44-year-old Yasuyuki Kitano, who in the mid-1980’s began going by the name of Satohito Arisugawa, declaring himself a prince of this ancient royal family. But after meeting up with ‘commoner’ Harumi Sakamoto, he and his ‘bride-to-be’ hatched their royal wedding ruse, and after sending out over 2,000 invitations, they quite remarkably received over 360 guests at the event itself; including celebrities, a former Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly member and, perhaps predictably, several members of a Tokyo based rightwing organization.

fake japanese royal

The lavish affair saw 47-year-old Sakamoto (pictured above) wear a traditional 12-layered kimono, and Kitano a full army general’s outfit; however the cost of these and countless other ‘extras’ resulted in the reception costing more than the pair received in gifts, with a court ruling stating that the ingenious yet impractical pair “still owe a part of the fees for the ceremony.”

The presiding judge quite rightly declared that Kitano and Sakamoto “have been refusing to face up to their crime and are escaping from reality”, although he refused to elaborate on rumours that the royal rogues were planning an even more audacious counterfeit christening for young hisahito, the new male heir to the Japanese throne.