Tokyo Times

Apr 12 2005 Leave a Comment

Pop pummeling

A woman with a love of loud music was arrested on Monday for playing her favourite tunes almost 24 hours a day. Resulting in her neighbour suffering from insomnia and headaches.

This all day music wasn’t an every now and again occurrence either, as 58-year-old Miyoko Kawahara is said to have kept up her bangin’ barrage from November 2002 right up to March of this year. And probably the police would still be none the wiser but for Kawahara’s 64-year-old neighbour needing a month of medical treatment due to her music induced maladies.

Yet despite her neighbour’s suffering, playing loud music throughout the day and night still wasn’t enough for Kawahara-san. As even though their houses were a mere 6 metres apart, she took the trouble of making a hole in her back door to allow the music to be heard even more.

Ms Kawahara has refused to disclose any possible motives, but it turns out (perhaps not surprisingly) that she has had trouble with her neighbours over noise related issues for the last nine years.

Apr 11 2005 1 Comment

Bloomin’ busy

The last few weeks have seen cherry blossom fever hit Tokyo, and excitable TV presenters have wasted countless hours speculating on when full bloom would hit the capital. Pictures were taken, trees were filmed, and meteorologists gave unnecessarily long-winded explanations of when the blossom could (perhaps) be seen in all its glory.

Thankfully full bloom finally occurred at the weekend, and with its famously short life span (and rain forecast for today and tomorrow), every man and his dog was out and about enjoying a spot of hanami. Meaning that sitting under the blossom enjoying the beauty of nature and composing haiku in the peace and quiet was simply not an option.

Instead it was a battle against the camera wielding and picnic box carrying crowds.

And in popular photograph spots everyone pushed and prodded, desperately vying for a place to get that perfect shot.

But even for a miserable and cynical Englishman, it was a sight well worth the trouble. Not that the rushed photograph below does it justice. Although the inclusion of other sightseers’ heads is a nice touch I think you’ll agree.

Apr 08 2005 2 Comments

Agent Artemis

In 2003, the government designated Fukuoka Prefecture as a special zone for robot research and development.

Now whatever was envisioned when the decision was made is hard to say, but I’d hazard a guess and say it wasn’t a robot being assigned as head of a police station within two years. But that’s exactly what happened on Wednesday, and in a ceremony at Hakadata Station, police chief Kikuo Mori handed the robot in question (which was already kitted out in a police hat) a letter of assignment.

Admittedly the move was part of a safe driving campaign, but the T63 Artemis was nonetheless made chief for a day. Yet worried citizens can relax, as the 157 cm robot can move independently, plus has fully functioning light and sound sensors. And perhaps crucially in the fight against crime, it has the ability to throw coloured balls at anyone it considers to be acting suspiciously. A feature that will surely deter even the most vicious villain.

Take this young female felon for example. The fear of flying balls means she’s going nowhere.

Except prison of course.

Apr 07 2005 2 Comments

Masked mascot

The Japanese do love their mascots, and anybody arriving at Narita Airport may come across this cheeky little chap.

Apart from being a potential security risk, the plump yellow fellow is designed to commemorate the 1st anniversary of the airport authority’s privatization.

Yes, not for the arrival of a new aircraft, or, I don’t know, the opening of another duty free brand shop. But to celebrate the anniversary of the airport authority’s privatization!

Perhaps that’s why the unfortunate little soul doesn’t have a name yet.

Apr 07 2005 2 Comments

Nasty neighbour

A woman was arrested earlier this week in Nara for persistently harassing one of her neighbours.

Natsuko Mitsuyama, a 31-year-old housewife, has been charged with inflicting bodily harm on an unnamed 30-year-old woman who lives in the same apartment building.

As well as the alleged physical assault, Ms Mitsuyama conducted a deranged and determined mental campaign against her neighbour. She repeatedly followed her victim to and from work, and made thousands of phone calls (sometimes more than one hundred a day) to her office. Many of these were abusive, including some to the poor woman’s colleagues suggesting (in no uncertain terms) that she should be fired.

Not surprisingly, being subjected to this mental and physical attack resulted in the unfortunate woman suffering from depression, insomnia, and headaches. But whilst our sympathy lies with the victim, there’s the issue of what she did to warrant such a persistent and perverse campaign.

Was she hosting repeated late-night parties? Playing loud music at all hours of the day and night? Or even bringing undesirable types back to the apartment building?

No, it seems that she once had the temerity to ignore one of her tormentor’s good wishes. â€œIt all started because she ignored my greetingâ€ the maniacal Mitsuyama told the police, before admitting to making harassing phone calls but denying the other allegations against her.

All I can say is that it’s a good job she doesn’t live in Tokyo. I’m lucky if my neighbours can be bothered to glance in my general direction, let alone make the effort of uttering a polite greeting.

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