Tokyo Times

May 17 2006 3 Comments

Marvelous melons

Getting to grips with a pair of big and juicy melons is a thought that consumes many people’s minds, yet few of us, it has to be said, go as far as Kaijo Suzuki for the chance to slaver and slurp on some fleshy fruit.

Smashing the previous record set last year, Suzuki-san paid a staggering 800,000 yen (3,800 pound) at an auction on Wednesday for two famously expensive Yubari melons. The 53-year-old wholesaler drooling, “I wanted to tell my customers that Hokkaido’s tasty season will begin.”

Officials at JA Yubarashi, an agricultural cooperative where the auction took place, promised to keep the media abreast with any further developments.

May 17 2006 Leave a Comment

Feline felony?

Clearing out an apartment after a tenant had been evicted, the unfortunate real estate employee assigned to the task stumbled upon rather more than a few bits of discarded underwear and some unwashed dishes — the bodies of 100 or so dead cats.

The woman who was forced out from the second floor apartment in March for not paying her rent is said to have kept stray cats there — presumably of the live variety — but the dead ones were found in plastic bags stored in either drawers or cardboard boxes; although whether the animals died naturally on the premises, were brought in inanimate, or were actually killed there isn’t clear.

The latter is arguably the least likely though, as the financially strapped feline fanatic had lovingly written the cats’ names on each bag.

Which was a nice touch.

I suppose.

May 16 2006 4 Comments

Fin-based feast?

Having guests over soon but not sure what to feed them? Looking to impress somebody special with an exotic and elaborate dinner? If so, purchasing this whopping shark fin and knocking out some soup could be the perfect option.

A snip at only 1,260,000 yen (6,000 pound).

Plus between dinner parties you could always ease the concerns of ecologically minded friends by passing it off as an elephant’s ear.

(click images for larger lunch option)

May 15 2006 1 Comment

Book bother

Presumably realising that a brief book burning bash would raise more than a few eyebrows, prefectural officials in Fukui city instead opted to simply remove books they disagreed with from a local library.

It appears that those in charge of promoting gender equality in the region felt that some books were too radical. So radical in fact, that the idea of readers making their own minds up was simply inconceivable, resulting in around 150 books being taken off the shelves. Some of the titles deemed dangerous including one on how to divorce, another on the subject of making schools free of gender and the wonderfully named ‘A Theatre Under The Skirt’ by Chizuko Ueno, a Tokyo University professor and expert in gender studies.

However after some assembly members rumbled the dirty deed, the books appear to be on their way back, library head Riyuko Sadaike rather unconvincingly saying, “We removed the books just to check their contents. We will return them to the shelves as soon as possible as we have received the protest.”

All in all a rather unsavoury affair, although as an isolated incident it’s hardly indicative of a return to ‘the bad old days’. No, surely for that to be the case we would have to see the likes of people clamouring for a change in the country’s pacifist constitution, the forcing of public employees to sing the national anthem and high-ranking ministers suggesting the emperor should visit the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine.

Oh, hold on a minuteâ€¦

May 12 2006 4 Comments

Colossal kite

When it comes to wind-assisted wooden-framed flying contraptions, there are kites and then there are kites. This almost certainly being one of the latter.

The trouble is, due its size and considerable weight, a bit of string here and there to get the beast airborne and under control is far from sufficient. A situation that means the job of chief untangler is a decidedly undesirable one — patience and perseverance being very much the order of the day.

Still, with everything prepared and a large team at the helm, it actually flew.

Quite high too.

And perhaps even more surprising is that those in charge managed to bring the thing down safely, rather than have it career out of control and terrify startled spectators.

Which, admittedly, was ever so slightly disappointing.

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