Japan News

The end of an era : NHK sues people !

You can spot the scene in countless dramas, films or mangas : the NHK employee knocks the door and suddenly the household becomes mute, hoping he will think the house is empty ans leave without claiming the television tax. Television tax fraud may be the more common one in Japan (nevertheless, 78% of household pays the tax, meaning the majority of Japanese people are still honnest).

Till now, NHK did not seem really proactive in preventing the fraud. But on the 16th, NHK filed a complaint against five households at the Court of Summary Offenses in Tokyo.

Those five households own a television set but refuse to pay the tax. NHK says they have been contacting those households since 2004 (with an average of 12,4 visit per household) but they still refuse to pay, pretexting they do not watch TV even if they own a set, they think the tax system is problematic or they do not like NHK’s programmes.

NHK sued companies twice in the past (but withdrew the complaint once the companies paid the tax, before the trial) but that’s the first time they sue private households. It seems it may become more common since they announced they wanted the tax to be equally distributed among all viewers.

What is your degree of happiness ?

If you live in Fukui, Toyama or Ishikawa, it is likely you’re happier than people living in Ōsaka.

I must confess “Are you joking ? There are at least 3,76 okonomiyaki restaurants per square meter in Ōsaka, if this isn’t heaven, then what is it ?” was my first reaction.

A study by Hosei University analyzed each prefecture regarding life expectancy at birth, birth rate, number of criminal reports and other socio-economic factors (40 in total) to determine its “degree of happiness”.

With a low rate of unmarried persons leading to a high birth rate, a high rate of employment for handicapped persons and a high ratio of full time employees, combined with a low number of crimes, Fukui ranked number one.

With a high number of people needing (and receiving) livelyhood pension and a bad public order, Ōsaka and its myriad of okonomiyaki restaurants ranked last…

Blessed with a gorgeous natural environment and people dedicating a lot of time to their hobbies, Toyama ranked second, followed by Ishikawa where the unemployment rate is low and political measures protect the weaks.

Yay for Hokuriku !

(This article is absolutely not related to the fact I’ll be living in Hokuriku next year)

Complete ranking (survey conducted before the Big Tohoku Earthquake) :

Message from the Jidaigeki Supporting Committee

So, as I stated previously, Mito Kōmon is coming to its end…

And (as I stated previously, II), I am not the only one it bothers.

The city and the prefecture of Kyōto sent a request to five national television channels to prevent the disparition of all serial jidaigekis (historical dramas in costume) : with the cancellation of the NHK’s Saturday evening jidaigeki this spring and Mito Kōmon’s one next month, the only serial jidaigeki left on Japanese television will be NHK’s taiga drama on Sunday evening (considering the ratings, it is unlikely this one will be cancelled any time soon).

A lot of jidaigekis are filmed in Kyōto : that’s where is located the Toei’s “Uzumasa Film Village” and the film studio of Matsutake Kyōto, where about 400 jidaigeki serials were filmed during the 60’s and 70’s.

Now, Mito Kōmon is the only serial filmed there.

More than an economical threat (with only one serial, it is evident the golden age of those studios is over), Kyōto fears the loss of a cultural knowledge of costumes and hair dressing that jidaigekis keep alive.

Come on TV channels ! Produce more jidaigekis ! I swear I will watch !

[It’s not directly related, but Nogaremono Orin will return for a second season next year. 11 episode and a 2-hour special. That’s a victory.]

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No, this is not ecological.

Japan faces an ecological problem other industrial countries do not have : disposable chopsticks.

They are everywhere : not only for take-away meals, but even in restaurants. Japan is said to butcher Canada’s forests only with its disposable chopsticks. We’re talking about billions of chopsticks a year.

Don’t laugh, this is a serious problem and for a few years, Japan tried to solve it by spreading the use of “MY HASHI” (“my chopsticks”) : personal chopsticks that you carry with you everywhere, bring back home and wash before you use them again the next day.

My personal two sets of “My Hashi” with their cases.

＊This＊ was a great movement. And now an enterprise announces it will solve the problem by manufacturing disposable chopsticks in PET. Since PET can be recycled, this is supposed to be ecological.

NO. THIS. IS. NOT. Whether it is recyclable or not, something you throw away after one use is not ecological.

Go on with My Hashi, people, this is the right way to save your planet.

Since we’re in space : news from Akatsuki

So, Akatsuki failed at orbiting Venus, which, for a Venus probe, is pretty bad, yes, we know… (Please, do not mention Nozomi, thanks).

The main engine being damaged, a secondary engine (retroaction control system) was ignited yesterday during 10 minutes to correct the trajectory of the probe, a first step in a project that may conduct to an orbit insertion in 2015.

A second ignition is scheduled on the 10th after the analysis of the data received after this first try. A third one will occur on the 21st. There is still hope !

Super Starbust Galaxy discovered !

One shall never write articles about things one does not completely understand. But hey : isn’t this what 80% of bloggers do everyday ?

I apologize for any misconception that may occur in this article. I am not even sure I would have understood everything would have the source been in French either…

An international team of researchers including members from the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan and from Tokyo University published yesterday the discovery of a starbust galaxy (Monster Ginga in Japanese) that seems at least ten times bigger than usual starbust galaxies, earning the title of “Super Starbust Galaxy” (Cho Monster Ginga).The discovery has been published in the English magazine “Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society”, so why isn’t there any report of it on English language websites, pretty please ? (In fact, it seems the discovery has been announced since last July)

The project, using the ASTE telescope to scan a deep-space area called Subaru/XMM Newton, already observed and registered about one thousand starbust galaxies. Starbust galaxies are really common at the begining of the Universe, between 9 and 12 billions years ago. They produced about 1000 stars a year (our Milky Way produces 2 or 3 stars a year). There is a possibility those starbust galaxies are the ancestors of more recents giant galaxies, the ones including a blackhole.

They also discovered Orochi (named after Yamata no Orochi, the eight headed and eight tailed serpent of Japanese mythology) a galaxy located 11,8 billions light-years from Earth, and whose luminosity suggests it’s ten times more active than a classic starbust galaxy, with 10.000 stars (or more) produced each year.

It seems that there is a giant galaxy between us and Orochi (9 billions light-years from us) and we can only see Orochi by gravitational lens effect. This effect could be the cause of the intensification of Orochi’s luminosity, and its real luminosity has stil to be calculated before we can be sure it really is a super-giant-monster-galaxy-of-doom.

Source has detailed explanations about the researches led by each team in the research project + a bunch of illustrations.

Mako-sama turned 20 years old !

My obsession for the Imperial family may seem strange given the fact French people are known to loathe monarchy. Let’s be realistic, we loathe monarchy for France. It’s a perfectly valid political system for other nations. Look at our archennemies accross the Channel : they seem to manage quite well with one.

Monarchy can be a mean to keep a stable symbol for your nation, and given the life span of Japanese gouvernments lately, that’s great there still is an Imperial family in the background.

So Mako-sama turned 20 on Sunday. Her Imperial Highness Mako of Akishino is the older grandchild of the Emperor, daughter of Prince Akishino, second son of the Emperor. Everybody’s still OK ? She is not in line for succession since the Japanese monarchy is under agnatic primogeniture.

She has often been seen at interviews given by her parents, or at events hold by them but on Sunday, as a new adult, she gave her first standalone interview. And she was brilliant.

She answered a lot of questions about her future public and current private life and managed to tell a journalist she would not answer his question, and to cleverly play “I-can-see-what-is-hidden-behind-your-question-and-I-will-not-fall-in-your-trap” with another, both without being rude.

OK, she wore pink. But I forgive her.

I am really looking forward to hearing more from her.

Interview on the NHK

On Fuji TV

On NTV

When she received the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Precious Crown

On another channel

Criminal case of the year… the century.

Yesterday morning, people wandering the campus of Tokyo University had the surprise to see about ten parked bicycles whose saddle had been replaced by red-painted broccoli…

The same prank has been observed on the same campus in September also. Would it be an American detective drama, we would be investigating criminals who experienced detention from September to yesterday. Or maybe calling a team of profilers since it may become a serial case !

I just hope the criminal mind did not steal the saddles, that could be pretty expensive on a student’s budget to have to replace it. But nothing could surprise me from an insane person who paints food !

The real question is : is this case worth a one minute report on Nippon News Network ?

Bears ! Bears ! Bears !

As I said previously, there are bears in Japan. Lots of.

And at the moment, Sapporo is the Place To Be if you’re a bear. Or so it seems since some have been spotted there for three days. 13 eye-witnesses reports have been filed since October the 6th for brown bears (Ursus arctos).

They have essentially been seen in the residential area at the foot of Moriiwa mountain. There are many schools in the neighbourhood and the city is concerned about the security of children going to and coming back from school. They are holding “Brown bear counter-plan meetings” and forbade entry to several streets to non-inhabitants.

One of the bears observed was 2 meters long. Another was a youngling of one meter only. Another was a 1,5 meters long one, seen climbing a tree. The difference in the sizes observed seems to indicate there are several bears wandering the city.

Every child is a genius

It’s funny-social-survey time ! I love funny social surveys !

Disclaimer : all the personal pronouns used to refer to children in the article will be masculine. “Child” is masculine in French and I feel it akward to use neutral for human beings, even not fully grown ones.

According to a study conducted by Benesse, 80% of parents think their child is a genius.

They asked 2884 parents of children from 0 to 6 on their Internet site and at the question “Have you ever thought 「My child is a genius !?」,　「He may have a talent !?」 ?”, 13,3% answered “frequently” and 67,3% “sometimes” : 80,6% of parents think (… have thought at least once…) that their child is a genius.

Asked when (in their child’s lifetime) they thought their child was a genius, they answered “at 2 years old” for 87,1%, “at 3 years old” for 84,6% and “at 4 years old” for 84,8%. The article does not specify if they lost their illusions at 5 years old…

At the question “In which occasion did you think you child was a genius ?”, 30,9% answered “He understands things quickly” and 24,3% “He remembers words quickly”, which can be pretty common for situation in which ones thinks he gave birth to a genius. But there was also “He can remember and sing at once songs that are broadcasted on the telly” (30,3%) and “He can follow the rythm of a music” (29,4%), situations which, I think, may not be relevant to his capacity to prove (or disprove) Polignac’s conjecture…

On a side note, the study also asked the parents what they wanted their child to become in the future and the number-one-dream-job for a boy is “government worker” (10,1%). Come on, you’ve given birth to a genius and you don’t even want him to be the next Stephen Hawking or Oscar Wilde ? Shame on you parents !

On the other hand the number-one-dream-job for a girl is chemist. At least they think she can become the next Marie Curie. Not that bad.