A Dead Shark, Tiny Faces, Carnivorous Men, And More [Sunday News]

Shark found in park was for ‘photo shoot’: Earlier this week, a dead shark found sitting in the middle of a Tokyo park caused quite a stir. Who left it there? Why did they bring a shark to a park? Turns out, it was all a big misunderstanding. A local photographer brought the shark (in a taxi) to the park, snapped a few pictures, and left, meaning to come back later to get rid of it. Things didn’t quite go according to plan. [via News On Japan]

iOS 5.1 will add Japanese Siri support, new lock screen: With the sizable number of iPhones sold in Japan, Apple is eager to push out new features to its Japanese users. As an iPhone owner myself, I’m anxious to see if Siri recognizes my piss-poor Japanese. [via News On Japan]

66% of middle schools to start judo classes: While physical education is fading fast here in the U.S., Japan is going the opposite direction. In a government initiative to promote cultural traditions, most Japanese middle schools will begin mandatory judo classes for their students. Sounds a lot more badass than home ec., that’s for sure. [via News On Japan]

“You would be cute, IF you had a tiny face.” Japanese facial corset promises cuteness in just 3 minutes!: Every culture has its own weird standards of beauty, but only Japan has the kitsch technology to make tools like the “facial corset.” Does the facial corset actually make your face smaller and more attractive? Probably not, but if you’ve ever wanted to look really angry for three minutes a day, then this product is for you. [via Japan Subculture Research Center]

From carnivores to herbivores: how men are defined in Japan: One of the most prevalent ideas in recent Japanese history has been that of herbivore men – Japanese men who are too meek to get a girlfriend, a wife, or a promotion. Japan Today explores a whole spectrum of men including “rolled cabage men,” “science men,” and “cooking men.” The article reads more like a wildlife guide than anything else. [via Reddit]

Boy arrested for stabbing mother after video game confiscated: Unfortunately, headlines like this have become increasingly common in recent years: parent takes away a video game, child responds violently. This story follows the same familiar story, but I haven’t seen any source report the most crucial detail of them all: what game was it? [via News On Japan]

Nintendo 3DS Hits 5 Million Sales in its First Year: Who says that Nintendon’t? Turns out that Nintendo’s 3D handheld has exceeded all expectations and broken sales records. The 3DS has also succeeded in giving me a headache when I tried to play on one, but I don’t think that was Nintendo’s plan. [via CrunchyRoll]

Japanese Shoppers Buying Tomato Juice Like There’s No Tomorrow, Or Like There’s A Fat Tomorrow: It seems like every couple of weeks there’s some new miracle diet plan for middle-aged people looking to shed a few pounds (or in Japan’s case, kilos). The latest trend in Japan is tomato juice, a drink that supposedly cuts down on fat. The scientific evidence is dubious, but that doesn’t stop cans of the gross, thick beverage from flying off shelves. [via RocketNews24]

That’s it for this week in news. Did I miss anything? Which story was your favorite? Let me know in the comments!

Every Sunday we gather the week’s weird Japanese news and present it to you in our Sunday News column. It might not be the hardest hitting news out there, but we hope that it still informs and entertains you. Enjoy!

[Header image source.]

Mushi

Judo class at school would be awesome! Funny that the shark was just a photo shoot, although I don’t know why you would want pictures of a dead shark in a park….
ZXNova

I guess I’m a Gyoshoku/Otaku/Kagaku Danshi?
BTW didn’t know Martial arts was a requirement in Japan. I hope I didn’t read that wrong, but who would have known?
http://twitter.com/shollum Shollum

Of course people are getting killed over video games. Everyone knows that video games make people violent, right?

Well, that’s what people will be saying, anyway. I bet that the kid had other problems and that the poor video game is being cast as an accomplice when all it wanted to do was be played (personification for the win!).

If my school had made us take judo classes, I’d be in much better… wait, I was forced to exercise and be active at school and it didn’t help one bit. Next thing you know, students will be doing all they can to be inactive.
Joyfie

Quote of the week ‘As an iPhone owner myself, I’m anxious to see if Siri recognizes my piss-poor Japanese.’ Hashi, you so funny.
larisa

Funny about the 3DS breaking sales records because it basically flopped, they’re the same price as the DSi XL now and littered all over eBay/ Craigslist.
Kiriain

I clicked on the stabbing article. The kid used a 20cm. Sashimi knife! And it reached her left lung! And all of this for a video game. What. The. Hell.
http://www.japaneseruleof7.com/ Ken Seeroi

That’s a good list. I liked the piece about the tomato juice the most, since everyone is constantly on a diet here (me included). But honestly the most amazing thing I saw all week was this:

http://en.rocketnews24.com/2012/01/12/japanese-artist-paints-breathtakingly-lifelike-3d-goldfish-using-layers-upon-layers-of-resin/

I saw this on the news here in Japan. You can get a sense of the artwork through the pictures, but on TV it looked awesome. They look real, but actually they’re just several layers of flat, 2-D images. Anyway, I thought it was incredible.
JosephBecker

That is some awesome art.
foozlesprite

We had to take PE from K-8th grades, then for one year of our choosing in high school. It was all very bland…some stretching and flag football or dodgeball or jogging, a few times a week. If we’d done something cool like martial arts I’d likely be in better shape today, instead of turned off of the concept of ‘exercise’. Over here moving isn’t presented as fun, it’s either weight training/aerobics/pilates etc. or sports. I wasn’t interested in sports, and the rest wasn’t fun…but judo or aikido? Those would have been fun.

Tofugu

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A Dead Shark, Tiny Faces, Carnivorous Men, And More [Sunday News]

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