Creepy Toys, Obama City, Caviar Burgers, and More [Sunday News]

by 21 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!

[hr]

[threecol_two]Obama

Photo by sprklg

Namesake Japanese Town Looks to Four More Years of Obama: I have no idea how the citizens of Obama city (which we’ve written about before), Japan feel about various political issues, but I do know that they’ve benefitted enormously from the presidency of Barack Obama. Now that election season is in full swing, the town is gearing up once again to support President Obama in the hopes that the small city can continue to be a tourist trap and epicenter for Obama activity.

[/threecol_two] [threecol_one_last]

Wendy’s Japan Continues High-end Offerings, Launches Lobster and Caviar Burgers: Over the last year or so, I’ve written a lot about how Japanese versions of American fast food franchises are a lot classier than their US counterparts; $50 pizza from Domino’s, whiskey served at KFC, and now this latest offering from Wendy’s. Meanwhile, US fast food chains are competing in a race to the bottom with such delicacies as bacon sundaes and nacho burritos. God help us all.

400 goldfish found in Saitama school pool : When you’re a kid, sometimes you do things that don’t really make sense to anybody but you. I suspect that the 400 goldfish found in a junior high school pool is one of those instances; although how some Japanese kid got his hands on 400 goldfish is beyond me.

[/threecol_one_last]

[hr]

[threecol_one]

The Kyary Pamyu Pamyu Conspiracy!: By now, most of us are familiar with Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, the darling J-pop idol behind PonPonPon and Candy Candy, but according to some (conspiracy theory) experts, her adorable demeanor may just all be a front for a massive, global conspiracy theory by the Illuminati. Suddenly, those bizarre music videos of hers make sense.

[/threecol_one] [threecol_one]

Revoltech’s Horrifying “Woody” Figure Returns to Market: One of the best things to come out of Toy Story 3 wasn’t the movie itself, the joy it caused people around the world, nor the magic of Pixar in general. Instead, my favorite byproduct of the third installment of the Toy Story franchise was the creepy as hell figure of one of the main characters, Woody. People posed and used the creepy Woody figure in ways that would make Disney executives cringe.

[/threecol_one] [threecol_one_last]

Report: Middle school students biggest bullies: Bullying has, unsurprisingly, gotten a lot more attention in the Japanese press recently after the suicide of a victim of bullying. Now Japan’s National Poice Agency is reporting that the overwhelming (~80%) majority of bullying happens in middle school; in related news, sources report that sky blue, Pope Catholic and bears . . . well, you can figure it out. [via News On Japan]

[/threecol_one_last]

[hr]

[threecol_one]

Young Japanese women becoming less interested in sex, survey says:: While some people place the blame for Japan’s declining birthrate on men, it apparently takes two to tango (so to speak). The number of young Japanese women interested in sex has plummeted over the last six years, much to the dismay and chagrin of pervs everywhere. Back to body pillows, I guess! [via News On Japan]

Obon exodus gets under way: It’s once again that time of year, when Japanese crisscross the country to pay homage to their lineage during the summer festival of Obon; or to leave the country altogether. Trains are reportedly running at as much as 170% capacity, and over 50,000 people are expected to fly out of the country on Saturday alone. After all, nothing says “thanks” to your dead ancestors like a Hawaiian vacation! [via News On Japan]

[/threecol_one] [threecol_two_last]

Photo by Jennifer 8. Lee

Olympics — Japanese Team: “The Food is Awful;” Chinese Team: “The Chinese Food is Terrible”: Olympians take advantage of the Games in a lot of ways: they get to sightsee, experience a different culture, and some even use the Games as an excuse to defect from their country. But according to the Japanese and Chinese Olympic teams, English cuisine is not one of those benefits. Just hold out for 2016 and Brazilian food! [via Hikosaemon on Google+]

[/threecol_two_last]

  • http://easteban.tumblr.com/ Esteban

    Great news! Thank you mr. Hashi :)

  • http://twitter.com/testyal1 William Sumners

    Oy. Britain has great food.

  • DAVIDPD

    Honestly, I’m not too surprised at how much Eastern Asians dislike British cuisine. Its heavy (tons of oil used, much more than Chinese), and relatively bland (compared to Japanese food). Maybe their (Britons) expansive history with alcohol will be their saving grace. Gin, Lager, Ale, and Whiskey/y are all top notch in the (British) Isles. But I would of thought they would have gone gaga over the British classics like Tikka Masala and Butter Chicken.

  • 古戸ヱリカ

    That’s a lot of fish.

  • HatsuHazama

    That Woody one made me laugh. Both from laughter and madness.

    And the Chinese team are right, our chinese food does suck here, it’s obvious it’s not anything like what they get there. And then there’s the fact that we have no real speciality except fish&chips, and I think beer.

  • http://twitter.com/SactoMan81 Raymond Chuang

    And you wonder why Chicken tika masala–an Indian dish from the Bengal region of India–is the most popular dish in the United Kingdom.

    Here in the USA, we have a huge variety of “fast food” from hamburgers and hot dogs to various sandwich types on a “hoagie” (aka submarine) bread roll. The reason is simple: the USA is extremely receptive to food types from other parts of the world, something Japan can be at times, too.

  • DAVIDPD

    Uh, Raymond, you do realize why its so popular there right? India was a territory of the Britannian Empire for nearly a hundred years. While there, Britons brought back Indian spices and replicated the flavor of tikka masala the best they could. Nowadays, in Britain, tikka masala is just a generic name for dish that bares little resemblance to the original article. And of the foods you mentioned, they all come from a single group of people that immigrated to the US, and are the largest group of immigrants in our country today, Germany. The burger, stems from frugal Germans, tenderizing tough cuts of meat; the hot dog or “wiener” a variant of German charcuterie (I.E. sausage); and that type of roll is a German/Austrian bread called “Kaiser roll”. I would also argue, it was not until the post 1970s that the USA as a whole became receptive to “foreigner’s” foods. As many restaurants and shops were tailored specifically for a certain immigrant population (I.E. Jewish Deli’s, Italian Bodegas, Chinese Towns). I know it was all people, but for most of White America pre-1970s, those “Ethnic” foods were off the table, so to speak. // I am kind of into culinary anthropology. // I am also aware that Japan, as a nation likes if not loves curry.

  • ZXNova

    The link to the Olympics food is terrible thing, keeps sending me back to this same page.

  • Mescale

    The number of young Japanese woman has plummeted over the last six years?????!?!?

    Is this part of the abnormal temporal velocity virus going around?

    I think your article needs more sex in it.

  • http://www.tofugu.com/ Hashi

    My mistake! The link works now

  • http://www.tofugu.com/ Hashi

    Added more sex in. Gotta give the people what they want, I guess.

  • Mescale

    Well if people are bending to my whims, also I want a shinkansen body pillow *herbivore* *herbivore*. wait are you really a herbivore if you’re only interested in sex with trains?

  • Eric Ohtake

    Every athlete is right to wait for Brazilian food in 2016 or earlier in 14 for the World Cup. Try the spicy and tasty food from northeast or the fantastic barbecue from south. I didn’t mention the coast food? Check it out the size of our coast in Gmaps. :)

  • Jon

    Woody looks just like the troll face meme!

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1082043594 Joe LeBeau

    You know, ever since this was posted I’ve been having nightmares. I think it’s that header image. Woody…why are you so terrifying?

  • http://www.tofugu.com/ Hashi

    THERE’S A SNAKE IN MAH BOOT

  • Mainlander

    WTF is the “Britannian Empire”?

  • DAVIDPD

    LOL. My bad. Too much CODE GEASS. I meant “The Empire of Great Britain.”

  • Onita

    haha, nice Code Geass.. brings back memories..

  • http://mistersanity.blogspot.com Jonadab

    Breakfast. Everyone knows this. No matter what time of day it is, when you’re ordering food in England, you ask for breakfast. And if they offer you something called “mushy peas”, you decline, because it is *exactly* what it sounds like it would be.

  • HatsuHazama

    Oh dear, mushy peas. *shudder*