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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Japan Seizes Control of Hair Club For Men: After decades of not only being the president, but a client as well, it looks as if America’s friend of the bald man, Hair Club For Men, is switching ownership from American to Japanese hands. Now as you fight the futile battle against nature and age, you’ll be doing it thanks to our friends from Japan. Thanks, guys! [via Adamukun on Twitter]
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San Diego Comic-Con Gets a Preview of Hollywood’s New Godzilla: Last week, I mentioned that a new Dragonball movie was in the works — apparently, it’s not the only Japanese franchise that’s being revisited. It’s been over 10 years since Hollywood has given the immensely iconic Godzilla franchise a shot, but director Gareth Edwards is giving it one more shot. Here’s to hoping it’s better than the last time around!
Osaka Mayor Caught in Infidelity Scandal: It seems that all men in power decide that, somewhere down the line, they just want to throw it all away and cheat on their wives. Outspoken and often controversial mayor of Osaka Toru Hashimoto has joined that long line of male politicians by cheating on his wife and mother of his seven children with a hostess. Once again Mr. Hashimoto, I have insist — you’re soiling the Hashi name for all of us. [via Shisaku, Transmissions From Tokyo]
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Eye-popping Robot Girls Restaurant Opens in Tokyo!: This past week, a brand-new restaurant opened in Tokyo boasting a unique specialty: giant robotic women. The creators claim they spent 10 billion yen ($1.27 million) creating the club, and I’d believe that it took at least that much money to make the place look as tacky as it does. I’m just glad that there’s a place where men can finally fulfill their fantasies of eating next to motionless, glass-eyed robot women.
Japanese Consumers Reconsidering Rice Loyalty: For decades, Japanese people have been notoriously picky about where their rice came from; if it wasn’t from Japan, it wasn’t good enough. Now Japanese restaurants and grocery stores are beginning to rethink that and offer rice from China, Australia, the US, and more. Will people really notice? Probably not, but it nonetheless marks a pretty big change in Japanese culture. [via Reddit]
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Japan utility takes out 2 Fukushima nuke fuel rods : Cleaning up the infamous Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has been a long and tedious battle. This past week, two of the giant (13 ft/4m) nuclear fuel rods were removed from the plant. Two down, only 1,535 more to go! (Seriously.) [via News On Japan]
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