Tokyo Times

Photographs from a small group of islands

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Bulging bureaucracy

Perhaps taking the government’s casual cool biz campaign a little too far, a Hyogo Prefecture bureaucrat stepped out last weekend sporting a wig and miniskirt. A not altogether objectionable outfit it has to be said, although on a 56-year-old male it could be regarded as unconventional — risqué even.

a miniskirt
not the man in question apparently

Still, Hiroshi Ikeuchi’s Saturday night out wouldn’t have raised much more than a few eyebrows if he’d just gone quietly about his business. Yet feeling a little giddy in his gutsy garment, the general affairs manager inexplicably opted to expose his genitalia to three female students. The skimpy nature of his outfit presumably facilitating this bit of furtive fun.

Appalled at what they saw however, the three young women overpowered Ikeuchi-san as he tried to demurely depart and handed him over to the local police. The resultant arrest prompting a clearly shocked city mayor to say, “It was an act unworthy of a public servant, and I express my heartfelt apology.” A comment that Ikeuchi may not necessarily agree with, as the fashion conscious felon calmly claimed, “I was steeped in a sense of freedom.”

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Magazine mishap

The people at SO-EN magazine were understandably excited with the publication’s 70th anniversary. Very excited even.

So much so in fact that it would appear that any effort in regards to grammar, word order or even plain old meaning was frivolously forsaken.

magazine muddle

(click image for larger lingo lapse)

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Bovine breakout

In a rare act of bovine bravery, a courageous cow escaped from a slaughterhouse on Sunday morning, evading local police officers and taking out an abattoir worker in the process.

Perhaps sensing that it wasn’t going to be another lazy day standing in a field eating grass, the 730-kilogramme animal shocked the town of Yokkaichi in Mie Prefecture with its bold bid for freedom; leading a group of over 20 policemen on a 6-kilometre chase. An audacious act that sadly ended in tragedy, with the 3-year-old beast dying after running headfirst into a metal fence.

dead cow

The cow’s daring decampment however garnered little sympathy from Masashi Kitabayashi, a local police official. The callous cop matter-of-factly saying, “I don’t know whether it will be processed into meat or not.”

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Rubbish robber

We all make mistakes, but a 58-year-old would-be bank robber in Saitama Prefecture made a couple of behemothic blunders during his fatally flawed get rich quick plan.

The floundering fella’s first faux pas was his complete lack of planning, which became immediately obvious when he asked a confounded cashier, “Any idea how you rob a bank?” Now whilst well versed on general bank matters and the complexities of ATM money transfers, the branch employee was at a loss in regards to larceny, and so referred the request to another member of staff; this quick thinking individual gently escorting the middle-aged man out of the bank, quite possibly with a comforting yet slightly condescending arm around his shoulders.

To complete the humiliation, the hapless robber’s second slip up was his basic lack of knife know-how, as the presence of an unsheathed weapon in his pocket became apparent due to a bloodstain on his trousers. One of the arresting officers confirming this by almost sympathetically saying, “He didn’t brandish the knife at anyone … but he injured himself in the leg.”

Categorized: Odd

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Colossal camera

Despite the prominent display of a poster proclaiming, ‘This is not a dry cleaners’, Mr and Mrs Suzuki were frustrated to find that customers still arrived clutching soiled and sweaty shirts and slacks. A situation that eventually resulted in the couple taking drastic and distinctive action.

huge camera

However as purveyors of the finest fresh fruit and vegetables in Kumatori, it’s difficult to see how things are going to improve — except in regards to their less-than-clean laundry load.

(click image for whopping wide-angle)

*Huge thanks to Ben for the picture.