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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Prince Tomohito Dies
Earlier this week, Japan’s Prince Tomohito, a lightning rod in the imperial family and cousin to the emperor, passed away from cancer. In an often mild and uncontroversial family, Tomohito’s opinions sometimes caused heated debates.
When the imperial family was still trying to figure out who will succeed the current emperor, Prince Tomohito was adamant that it not be a female. Even though Japan has had numerous empresses in its history, Tomohito opposed the idea of a female sitting on the Chrysanthemum Throne.
But he also did his fair share of good. Tomohito was an alcoholic, and not afraid to talk about it. In a country that suffers from a great deal of alcoholism, Tomohito’s frankness about his disease and his attempts to battle it helped bring the issue out into the open.
Tomohito, always a controversial figure, will be remembered for both the good and the bad. But nevertheless, it’s a sad time for the imperial family.
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2-channel Bans 5 Major Summary Sites From Reusing Its Posts: Whether you hate it or love it, 2ch is undoubtedly the heart of the Japanese internet. Strangely enough, most people don’t actually go to 2ch – instead of actually visiting hard-to-navigate, ugly site, lots of people visit 2ch aggregators, which take all the most interesting and popular 2ch threads and pretty them up. Well, now 2ch is cutting us off from those aggregators. Looks like people with a jonesin’ for 2ch will have to get the raw, uncut stuff from now on.[/twocol_one] [twocol_one_last]Gundam Themed Hotel Room Planned Near Full-Scale Statue: The full-scale Gundam statue has attracted fans from now over the world, and now local businesses are trying to get in on some of the action. The Grand Pacific hotel announced plans to create Gundam-themed hotel rooms, complete with Gundam decor, themed room service, and Gundam food. The full-scale Gundam is quickly become nerd Mecca. Have you made hajj yet?
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Japan’s Suntory to form beer venture with Tsingtao: One of Japan’s biggest booze companies, Suntory, is teaming up with one of China’s biggest beer brands, Tsingtao, to bring the delightfully watery, dry Japanese beers to China. With the Japanese company tapping into one of the world’s biggest markets, all I can say is: it’s Suntory time, baby! [via Japan Probe][/twocol_one] [twocol_one_last]Officials confirm dock that washed up in Oregon is from Japan: It’s always been a matter of time before tsunami debris washes up on US shores, but it turns out it’s happening much quicker than expected. Earlier this week, an enormous docked washed up on the Oregon coast only a few hours away from Tofugu World Headquarters, and serves as a sign of things to come.
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