Tokyo Times

Photographs from a small group of islands

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Political posturing

“We are sure that we will win. We’ve been strongly motivated. We shall beat them for sure.”

North Korea’s sports guidance director Ri Hyon, saying that the national team’s football players are being promised cash, cars, and houses to motivate them to beat Japan.

As the February 9th World Cup qualifier between Japan and North Korea draws nearer, it would seem the political posturing has now started in earnest.

The coming game will be played in Japan, and due to the importance of the game and the tension between the two countries, it will be interesting to see how the usually impeccably behaved Japanese fans react. When the teams met 20 years ago in Pyongyang, the Japanese were subjected to an intimidating and off-putting silence every time they gained possession. And in another trip in 1989, the team complained about a lack of food. A situation that resulted in some of the players having to eat instant noodles, which fortunately they had taken with them.

But with the 1st leg still unplayed, talk of the return fixture has already started. And rumours have surfaced that in a bid to hinder Japan’s superior technical ability, the North Koreans will let the grass on the pitch grow a little longer than usual.

A story that this picture of Kim Jong-Il and a gang of grinning groundsmen does little to discredit.

kim_jong_il

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Valentine vehicle

In what now appears to be an annual event, the Harumi Triton shopping complex in Tokyo has produced a Valentine Volkswagen. Bucket loads of strawberry flavoured chocolate were used to cover a perfectly good car. Plus a countless number of sweets for added excess.

And if the result wasn’t gaudy enough, inexplicably a dolphin was added to the multicoloured motoring monstrosity.

chocolate_beetle

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Sanyo’s shameless suggestion

After sustaining substantial losses due to the earthquake in Niigata last October, electronics giant Sanyo has hit upon a novel way to claw back some money. As on Saturday the company asked its domestic employees to go on Sanyo spending sprees.

Perhaps if minor purchases had been proposed, this announcement wouldn’t have made the news, but the figures suggested simply beggar belief. Division chiefs have been asked to buy up to 500,000 yen (2,500 pound) worth of products, and regular rank-and-file workers up to 200,000 yen (1,000 pound).

A spokesperson said that if every employee met the company’s specified target, sales would be boosted by about 16 billion yen. And in an act of selfless generosity by Sanyo, it has been said that workers will be allowed to include purchases by relatives and acquaintances in their money-spent-under-duress totals.

That said, perhaps they’ll all be happy to rush out and spend their hard earned cash on Sanyo Winnie the Pooh toasters.

winnie the pooh toast

Or there again, perhaps not.

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Sumo in Vegas

The Japanese Sumo Association has announced that a 110 strong group (consisting of wrestlers, referees, and ushers) will take part in a three-day exhibition tour of Las Vegas this autumn. An event that should produce a few memorable images if nothing else.

Especially if the distinctive looking Toki could manage to squeeze his bulk and his sideburns into a white Elvis-esque jumpsuit.

toki

And it would be even better if the other sumo wrestler to sport sideburns, “tiny” Takanotsuru, joined him.

takanotsuru sumo

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Serial snatcher

The Yokohama District Court found a 16-year-old boy guilty of stealing yesterday, and as a result put him on unlimited probation.

After being rumbled by a record shop owner whilst trying to steal a CD, the unnamed youngster would probably have gotten away with just a slap on the wrist. But instead the boy apologized profusely and promised to go home and get the necessary money to pay for the disc.

Contrary to what most people would have expected, the boy was as good as his word, and amazingly returned 20 minutes later to pay the store owner in full. The only problem was he got the money from an old lady’s purse, which he snatched soon after leaving the store. An act that raises considerable doubts about the boy’s morals, but not it has to be said, his resourcefulness.