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Political Gaffe, Hostesses, Hikikomori, and More [Sunday News]

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!

hostesses

Japan’s Number One Hostess Crowned in Hostess Election Event: I shouldn’t be surprised that Japanese hostesses have pageants, but somehow the idea of “Japan’s Number One Hostess” had never occured to me. I wonder if this is an elegant Miss America-type pageant where a crooner sings to the winner, or if a Japanese hostess pageant just tries to keep people there and buying drinks as long as possible.

Man arrested for biting ‘snake-possessed’ son to death: Even though Japan has the lowest rate of gun ownership in the world, people still find new, bizarre, and original ways to kill each other. This one is the strangest I’ve seen in a long time: biting and headbutting somebody to death because you believe they’ve been possessed. Next time, call a priest.

New Head Priest of Controversial Yasukuni Shrine Appointed: A new head priest has been appointed to Japan’s Yasukuni Shrine, the Shinto shrine dedicated to Japan’s war dead. I’m sure the new priest’s time at Yasukuni will be quiet, uneventful, and completely uncontroversial.

Bank of Japan Reignites Currency War Debate: With the LDP back in power in Japan, monetary policy has been just plain wacky. The yen has been in freefall since last year’s election, and people are starting to talk about currency wars. It’s all about the Fukuzawas, baby. [via News On Japan]

Japanese Finance Minister: Government Should Let Old People ‘Hurry Up And Die’: With politicians, there are gaffes, and then there are gaffes. You can say something that might be misconstrued, or you can say something that’s so blatantly wrong or offensive that it’s a miracle if you stay in office. Telling the elderly to die quicker? Probably the latter. [via Reddit]

hikikomori

Book That Popularized Concept of “Hikikomori” Translated into English: In the last decade or so, the conept of hikikomori, or social outcasts who rarely, if ever, leave their homes, has been catapulted into popular culture. Now, the book that started it all is finally getting an English translation. Fortunately, with Amazon and two-day shipping, you won’t have to go outside to buy it.

Bonus Wallpapers!

Ever wanted a desktop background of Finance Minister and former Prime Minister Taro Aso fighting an old Japanese lady in a Mortal-Kombat-like scenario? Well, you’re in luck!

Our always awesome illustrator Aya whipped up a few wallpapers for a bunch of resolutions. Enjoy!

1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200


Futurist, Portlander, Tofugu employee #1.

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  • DAVIDPD

    I am sure being a good hostess is a lot harder than it sounds, much like a stay at home mom. But then again maybe not. // Gordito.

  • Ruben

    Biting your son to death ?!
    Sounds a lot like being insane. The more I learn about Japan the more I’m really convinced that Japanese people live a very healthy life, they do everything to keep their body healthy, but they seem to compensate with a unhealthy lifestyle for the mind. Stress,…look at this and and the suicide rate !
    It’s something that Japan has to work on, a perfect country doesn’t exist. But having said this, I still love Japan ;)

  • Joel

    Thanks for the tip on the Hikikomori book! It’s one I plan on buying.

  • http://twitter.com/shollum Shollum

    “Those old people just don’t add any value to the country. Hardly any of them work, they take up tons of resources, and they keep rattling on about the good old days and all that bull, sapping the mental capacity of our workers. It’d be a boon to society to remove them!”
    - An overly business minded politician

    And people wonder why I don’t like politicians. It seems that, no matter where you go, a politician is always in an extreme when conveying something to the public. What happened to moderates?

  • 古戸ヱリカ

    A moderate wouldn’t being saying something extreme, so they wouldn’t get talked about on new site-

    WAIT! Or maybe they all got old and the finance minister murdered them?! I wanna change my answer to that. BRB, off to solve murder mystery.

  • http://twitter.com/shollum Shollum

    There’s a cannibalism scene, right? You can’t have a murder mystery without someone chomping on the victims bones.

  • kassandra22

    I hardly ever leave my house, just to go to school, i don’t talk to anyone, people look at me like i’m a freak, books are my only friends, music, I prefer shoegaze, but you know what, i’m fluent in japanese and english and spanish and, i love kanji i’ve a lot of time to do what I really love and as soon as I want I can become an expert in whatever subject I choose, then I realized that anyone can achieve such knowledge, thing is, you’ll have to get rid of almost everything in your life, friends,love affairs,gossip, tv, I never go out, only if necessary and even family, I’m not smart, I just use my time wisely, and I think that being antisocial is not that bad.

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Every Sunday we gather the week's weird and interesting Japanese news and present it to you in our Sunday News ...