Once Upon a Tokyo

Hey Kids, Comics!

In case you were unaware, Japan has a bit of a reputation for the perverse, and nowhere more noticeable than in their movies and comics. Pornography and borderline pornography and just plain out awkwardly poor taste can be found very easily anywhere you go. For example, all convenience stores have such stuff clearly displayed and accessible for anyone. There have been rare times when I’ve looked over the shoulder of somone on the train and seen images that raise eyebrows.

But to be fair, the key word there is *rare,* as it:s happened maybe a couple of times in my three years here. And while the entertainment may not be as conservative as America, the behavior around that entertainment is still quite conservative, with definite “times and places” where you should enjoy this stuff, and it rarely makes it to the public eye. It:s more like “what you do in your own time on your own ways” and everyone can ignore it.

Which makes this headline very interesting: “Tokyo assembly votes down measure to regulate child porn in comics” from the Mainichi Daily News. It seems the legislature want to crack down on such images and animation.

What’s even more interesting is that within the space of hours, this headline ran: “Minister Arai regrets booking comic-buying costs as political expenses.” I:m NOT saying that Arai was looking at any perverse comics, but the juxtaposition is funny.

Hey, Minister Arai, I know comics are getting expensive, right? 

Even Letterman is getting in on it

See? I told you my news yesterday was making the rounds! Even Letterman is getting in on the joke...

Except maybe the things like cat and elbow jokes are funnier when you are watching it "late night" like you're supposed to.

Political Wierdness Knows No Borders

You may have heard about this one already. It's making the rounds all over the internet.

You see, there's a new prime minister in Japan as of last week, which was a "vote for change" because the ruling political party for over 50 years has been ousted. I'm just not sure what kind of change people thought they were getting. At least, not from the prime minister's wife.

Who, she admits, has been abducted by aliens. Here's one of the news stories.

Among other things, she claims her soul when on a triangular spaceship and visited Venus, which apparently is "really green" for some reason. My favorite part is that she "eats" sunlight by tearing off pieces of the sun and eating them.

And you thought people made fun of Sarah Palin...

Culture Day

Yesterday was Culture Day. A public holiday celebrating culture. Well, more specifically, the arts, as there's always a special showing or gallery exhibition of some sort all over the country.

I can always tell it's a holiday when I leave for work and notice pretty much no one else on the streets when the eerie feeling of being alone replaces the (now familiarly normal) eerie feeling of just being in an Asian country.

Also during this day, Japan awards the Order of Culture award. Here are this year's recipients. Included among them is an actual gaijin--> a japanologist. A pretty specialized field, if you ask me. I wonder if there are americanologists and liechtensteinologists, too?

I wonder how many geeks are appreciating the "culture" of anime and video games today? Not that they need a special day for that excuse.   

"Earthquake Sets Japan Back to 2147"

Japan has a bit of a reputation, you know? If all the nations were in a classroom together, Japan would be the kid who comes from a old, well-respected and traditional family but uses all his energy and effort to get the latest and greatest pop culture thing or electronic gadget, no matter how superfluous or downright lame. And it's not just to show it off, that's that America kid, but just to simply have it.

Officer Hideo Shimura (left) and his cloned selves attempt to free quake victims trapped under rubble.

Which makes the following satire from The Onion so hilarious.
"Japanese government officials confirmed Monday that the damage wrought on Japan's national infrastructure by the July 16th earthquake—particularly on the country's protective force field, quantum teleportation system, zero-point fusion energy broadcasting grid, and psychodynamic communications network—was severe enough to set the technologically advanced island nation back approximately 300 years to a primitive mid-22nd-century state of existence."
From "Earthquake Sets Japan Back to 2147!"