Tokyo Times

Photographs from a small group of islands

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Mitsuoka’s mini monster

Japan’s Mitsuoka Motor Company unveiled a new electric car this week. Clocking in at a tiny 1.99 metres long and 0.88 metres wide, it’s ideally suited for driving around the congested city. And its lithium-ion battery gives the car an impressive 100 kilometres per charge.

That leaves just one problem. The design. I mean, just take a look at it.

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Ok, the production vehicles will have a different colour scheme (and presumably won’t have 100 kilometres emblazoned on the side), but it still doesn’t change the fact that it’s an ugly machine. And in appearance conscious Japan, I can’t see many cool cats wanting to be seen trundling around town in one of these.

I think I’ll stick with my bicycle.

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The life of Mel

Mel Gibson’s The Passion Of The Christ has recently hit these shores, and despite Japan not being a Christian country, the film appears to be doing reasonably well.

I haven’t seen it yet, but I have read a lot of the wildly fluctuating reviews and views of it. Yet none of them matched the wit of Monty Python star Eric Idle’s quote I found in The Observer.

“I gather Mel doesn’t handle the comedy too well, and he seems to totally ignore the singing opportunities of the crucifixion.”

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Judge generous

In a rare case of somebody walking away scot-free from a Japanese court, a 32 year old man was found not guilty of groping a schoolgirl on a busy train last year.

Judge Toshiro Fujii didn’t dispute the schoolgirl’s claim, nor the fact that the accused man had moved in the packed train, but found no direct proof that the man on trial was the actual groper. In his final ruling, Judge Fujii said, “The possibility of a third party being involved cannot be denied.”

The accused had refuted any wrongdoing from the moment of his arrest, claiming that he was simply trying to free his coat, which had been trapped when the carriage doors closed. How convincing this sounds is certainly open to debate, but for somebody to walk away free from a Japanese court is a news worthy event indeed. With the nation’s incredibly high conviction rate, the man in question must be very touched by the Judge’s generosity.

Sorry.

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Buttock botherer

Last week, the Singapore district court fined a Japanese sales executive 4,500 Singapore dollars for molesting two flight attendants on a trip from Seoul to Singapore.

Tomonori Daimon was found guilty of squeezing the buttocks of one flight attendant, and placing his hands on the hips of another. Whist pleading guilty to the charges, and admitting to being a little drunk, Mr. Daimon claimed that there was nothing untoward in his actions, as a quick squeeze of the buttocks was his way of a friendly greeting.

All I can say is that I’m glad I don’t work in the same office as the overly tactile Tomonori.

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Above is a gratuitous picture of a couple of young ladies (who just happen to be wearing bikinis) enthusiastically demonstrating the Daimon-san form of greeting yesterday.

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Cake crazed crackpot

“I wanted to buy some cakes, but the store on the platform I was at was closed, so I crossed the tracks to buy the cakes from a store on the other platform”

This is what 41 year old bar owner Tadakazu Mitsui told the police after his subsequent arrest. Admittedly at first Mr. Mitsui’s actions seem a little dangerous, but nothing to get too upset about. That is until you find out that the platform he performed his daring run on was only for bullet trains. Which nobody needs reminding travel a fair bit faster than you’re average locomotive.

The cake loving dare devil wasn’t content with just one death defying attempt though, as after purchasing his sugary dessert, he made the perilous journey back. And if all that wasn’t enough, to give the feat even more of an edge, Mr. Mitsui was drunk.

Now whilst I have been known to eat the odd cake now and again, if it meant passing in front of one of these monsters, I don’t think I’d bother. Would you?

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No, I didn’t think so.