Kitty Detective, MacArthur Returns, Osakan Tattoos, And More [Sunday News]

by 14 Comments

Every Sunday we gather the week’s weird and interesting Japanese news and present it to you in our Sunday News column. It might not always be hard-hitting news, but we hope that it still informs and entertains you. Enjoy!
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[twocol_one]Tommy Lee Jones as Douglas MacArthurSneak peek: Tommy Lee Jones in ‘Emperor’: Even though Tommy Lee Jones looks nothing like General Douglas MacArthur and admits so himself (“I bear no resemblance to Douglas MacArthur whatsoever. But a campaign hat, some aviator glasses and a corncob pipe go a long way”), he’s still slated to appear in next year’s WWII-era film, Emperor. Word is still out on who is playing Emperor Hirohito, but I’m guessing it’ll probably be Samuel L. Jackson. Dude is in every movie. [via Japan Probe][/twocol_one] [twocol_one_last]Japan’s Mixi mulls putting itself up for sale: A site that once laughed in the faces of MySpace and Facebook, the future of Japanese social networking site Mixi is looking pretty grim. Facebook and Twitter continue to make inroads in Japan, and there’s a rumor that Mixi’s CEO might sell his majority share in the company. I’m no market strategist, but I’ve got an idea for Mixi: combine with Google and Yahoo! to create the worst social network of all time. It’s so bad, it has to work! [via MarketWatch]Mixi Homepage[/twocol_one_last]

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[twocol_one]Cat policeJapan’s First Police Cat Rats Out Criminals: People in the US like to complain about their jobs getting outsourced overseas, but I’d wager to say that the Japanese have it even worse. The jobs that aren’t being replaced by cold, deadly robots are being snatched up by adorable animals. First there was Tama, the station master cat; then police toy poodles; and now a police cat? Knowing how the Japanese go through Prime Ministers, I wouldn’t be surprised if a four-legged friend was the next to lead the Liberal Democratic Party. [via InventorSpot][/twocol_one] [twocol_one_last]Osaka city gov’t surveys employees over tattoos: The Japanese have a much different relationship with tattoos than people in the West do; they’re strongly associated with the yakuza, so there’s a strong stigma attached. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that there was a bit of a stir when an Osaka government employee showed off his/her tattoo to a group of children, but the government’s response seems a bit disproportional. What – you didn’t get a star tattoo on your ankle when you turned 18?! Please. [via Mainichi Shinbun]Yakuza with tattoo[/twocol_one_last]

  • ですこ

    Douglas MacArthur looks a lot like Bruce Willis, actually. If only Bruce Willis was an actor. Oh well.

  • http://twitter.com/loojer Chansoriya

    Hahahahah
    A fur four legged friend protecting the streets. I surely don’t mind.

  • http://www.facebook.com/Lawnmower16 Daniel Fawson

    Hey Google+ is cool. Nobody uses it is the problem… Buzz was badong though.
    What would make Mixi good is if, you know, people could actually ***ing join it. lol.

  • Guest

    Well, there was a city in America that elected a Golden Retriever as it’s governor, so why not a kitty PM?

  • http://twitter.com/shollum Shollum

    I remember hearing about the cat police. The video showed a picture of the policecat and offered a picture of a certain other kind of Japanese ‘cat’ for comparison. For the record, I preferred the latter of the two.

  • kuyaChristian

    Lololol, I have a feeling they’ll shoot at the Philippines on the same beach MacArthur walked on after fulfiling the promise that he “shall return.”
    I mean, that scene is the banner for this article! :O

    And speaking of Mixi, I remember when Koichi gave us lots of articles to circumvent the phone number requirement. Seems like I won’t be needing that anymore if Mixi is becoming MySpace and [lol] Friendster

  • http://www.tofugu.com/ Hashi

    A lot of people still contact us trying to get Mixi invites. It’s kind of bizarre

  • http://twitter.com/WackoMcGoose Kimura

    And after they changed it so that a Japanese cellphone email is compulsory for all users, new and existing, and your account is frozen (or stuck in creation-limbo) until you provide one… Meh, whatever. If they’re all joining FB and Twitter, I just have to keep a look out for people willing to help with my Japanese. Like this group: https://twitter.com/#!/AsiaNetClub (they also have a FB version, and I’ve made friends on both).

  • http://twitter.com/WackoMcGoose Kimura

    The cellphone requirement is basically an unofficial “we dun want 外国人s in our site”. To keep it from being officially acknowledged and everyone calling hax, they do provide a “外国” option in the “where do you live” question.

  • zhangdisslin

    The ultra-talented Tisci demonstrated his love affair with futuristic elements, grown-up glamor and haute couture style preferences. The Givenchy spring 2012 bag collection grants the public with an amazing repertoire of high-class bags and clutches inspired by the oceanic world. Though Tisci refused to work with playful and bright shades we can still detect a few innovative and fascinating spring design elements. Givenchy     

  • http://mistersanity.blogspot.com Jonadab

    The contract isn’t finalized yet, but current thinking is that the part of Hirohito will probably be played by Jim Carey, assuming his agent can come to an agreement with the studio on payment terms.  Also, Tojo will likely be portrayed by Ben Stiller, and Adam Sandler is being tapped to play Truman.  Remember, you heard it here first.

  • grotesk_faery

    I’d really like to see a whole article about Japanese body modication. Make it happen! (Please <3)

  • http://www.tofugu.com/ Hashi

    I’ve thought about writing about Japanese body modification before, but I don’t think I know enough about it. Beyond yakuza tattoos, I’m totally in the dark.

  • grotesk_faery

    If you make me your intern, I’d be happy to do the research for something like that >.>