Tokyo Times

Photographs from a small group of islands

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British brutality

The image of Britain in Japan is a hard one to fathom. The idea of the English gentleman still holds a lot of weight, and it’s a widely held belief that the whole nation grinds to a mid-afternoon halt as everybody sits down for a refined and cultivated spot of afternoon tea. Yet at the same time, this is contradicted by the notion of the English hooligan, an apparently crazed and monstrous beast that can be found in large numbers at every football stadium and pub around the land.

Now how such widely differing viewpoints can be reconciled I don’t know, but the Japanese seem to manage it with surprising ease. And in doing so, these two contrasting stereotypes can be called upon whenever the need arises.

The promotion for the PlayStation 2 game The Getaway is a prime example of this. Forget all that business about afternoon tea, gentlemen, and any other such claptrap. The latest import from Britain is violence. And not just any old violence either, but new violence!

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Click on the picture for the full trailer

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More panty pilfering

On this site you’ll find numerous underwear related stories. From the sale of used under garments, to tales of those going to extraordinary lengths just to get a mere peek of a young lady’s panties. But this latest offering arguably tops them all.

Last week, in Tochigi prefecture north of Tokyo, a man stole a high school student’s underwear. This is bad enough in itself, but what’s even worse is she was actually wearing them.

The unfortunate girl was at a quiet and unmanned station at 9:30 a.m., when a young male in his 20’s approached her. He then unexpectedly hit her, knocking her to the floor. And as she was grounded, he forced her to take off her panties and hand them over to him. Then, once in possession of his prize, he made good his escape.

After the panty pilferer had fled, the girl phoned the police on her mobile, but by the time they arrived at the scene the man had long since gone.

Now it has to be said that buying used underwear from vending machines (or from anywhere else for that matter) is unusual, but this story takes such panty perversion to new depths. And with Tokyo banning the sale of used underwear, will we see a rise in such bizarre crimes?

To be honest it wouldn’t surprise me, although admittedly it would give me plenty of material. With such a huge variety of panty related incidents and stories to cover, I fear I may have to split my underwear category into sub sections!

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Box betrayal

On Wednesday, 64-year-old Hiroshi Ohashi was arrested for locking himself and a male friend of his wife in a wooden box.

Hardly the crime of the century you may think, but Mr. Ohashi was armed with a kitchen knife. Unfortunately news reports didn’t give details about the size of the box, but it was confirmed that they were in there for a staggering13 hours. Presumably without toilet breaks too, which conjures up all kinds of unpleasant images.

Police suspect that the incident occurred because of a dispute over an alleged extramarital affair involving the unnamed man and Ohashi-san’s wife. No information was given about this woman at the centre of the two-men-locked-in-a-box-together-with-one-angry-and-armed-with-a-knife story, but the hostage was a sprightly 39 years old, adding a bit more spice and intrigue to the story.

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The now empty wooden box yesterday

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Pet protection

“The chip will prevent thoughtless owners from abandoning their pets.”

Naoto Kitamura, a Lower House member and licensed veterinarian, on a proposed law to make chip implanting mandatory in pet dogs and cats.

The chip is said to send out the animal’s location and a distress signal when it simultaneously finds itself near a sack, a piece of sting, a heavy object, and a large body of water.

Or so I’m led to believe.

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Troy II?

The hype for Brad Pitt’s (or burapi’s) latest offering Troy, has recently moved into top gear. Or a gallop if you’ll allow me the indulgence of using some equestrian terminology. As below is photographic evidence of the most recent publicity stunt connected with the film.

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Interestingly though, the movie arrives here at the same time as a potentially historic development between Japan and North Korea. As tomorrow (Saturday 22nd), Prime Minister Koizumi will travel to the reclusive nation to discuss (amongst other things) the release of former abductees family members. A positive outcome could have long reaching and beneficial effects not only on the two countries relations, but arguably on the stability of the region in general.

But what you may ask has this got to do with the movie Troy? Well, there have been whispers (most notably around my head) that the horse pictured above is in fact a gift from North Korea. And I don’t need to remind you what happened in the original story. Hmm, something to think about there eh?

So if the diminutive and bouffanted Kim Jong-Il leaps out of that giant horse on opening night, remember that you read it here first. On the other hand, if in the unlikely event that he doesn’t, just put it down to an over active imagination, and a harmless desire to make this lots-of-hype-about-troy-movie story slightly worth reading.

But hold on, could these be the little leader’s getaway horses that I spied whilst out and about this afternoon?

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