Tokyo Times

Photographs from a small group of islands

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Avian flu creates ostrich meat boom

The current avian flu scare sweeping across Asia, and concerns about mad cow disease in North America, have created something of a boom for Japan’s Ostrich farmers.

Bird flu has already struck in Japan, but so far ostriches are in the clear. And as the birds’ upper legs and back apparently taste like beef, their popularity is soaring (no pun intended).

One chef even went so far as to claim that “If beef, pork, and chicken are the big three meats, this (ostrich meat) is the fourth.”

So there you go.

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An Ostrich being chased by a hungry mob yesterday

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Mildly amusing Japanese-English #5

kokku-san. This is the Japanese pronunciation of cook (and a word that is also used for chef).

Even though I’ve been here for over 5 years, the cry of kokku-san never fails to amuse me. Kokku obviously sounds like cock, with the added san being a polite term similar to Mr. (or Ms.). So it means that after years of study and hard work, a chef ends up saddled with the name Mr. Cock.

As comedy goes, I know it’s not exactly high brow, but you’ve got to admit it’s pretty funny. No?

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Silver seat

Trains in Tokyo are notoriously busy (this video gives you a good idea), but for the likes of the elderly and pregnant, there’s one saving grace. The silver seat. Situated near the doors, it allows easy access in and out of the carriage, and train manner dictates that these seats be given up to those that need them.

Now thanks to a kind e-mail from Andrew over at Grannybuttons, I have a picture of a silver seat and its sign. It should be pointed out that it may have been altered slightly.

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Oh dear

I don’t know whether you are aware of it or not, but groping on trains is not exactly uncommon in Japan. It’s so prevalent in fact, that it could almost be viewed as a hobby. That’s no exaggeration either (well, not much of one), as why else would there be a need for women only carriages? Yes, sadly that’s how far train operators have had to go to in an attempt to stop such behaviour.

Fairly recently though, women have at last begun fighting back. Singling out perpetrators on the train, and reporting them to station officials. The only down side to this is that unfortunately some men have been falsely accused.

This is when 47 year-old Mitsuru Nagasaki stepped up to join the fray. Kindly taking it upon himself to help a group of falsely accused men. Now the only problem with this is that he has gone and got himself a suspended six month prison sentence.

And for what? Surreptitiously taking a photograph up the skirt of a woman sitting opposite him on the subway. That’s what.

His is definitely the kind of help most of us could really do without.

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The Prescott

This is not Japan related at all, but I couldn’t help noticing that Intel’s new Pentium 4 processor is code-named Prescott. Now I might be barking up the wrong tree here, but could it be named after Britain’s cuddly Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott?

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On second thoughts, maybe not.