Exploding Dog Poop, An Undiplomatic Diplomat, and More [Sunday News]

by 6 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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Two Japanese youths arrested for placing exploding bag of dog poop in police box

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Photo by kuujinbo (-_-’)

In Japan, police boxes are a common sight in neighborhoods across the country. It is, it’s worth noting, uncommon to see the inside of a police box or kouban completely caked in dog shit. Hopefully this incident won’t, as major crimes often do, spur copycat crimes. [News On Japan]

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Buddhist monk arrested after exposing himself in video rental shop: I don’t think that there’s any part of this story that makes sense to me. First of all, a Buddhist monk exposing himself is pretty outrageous on its own, but the fact that it was at a video rental place is just astounding. Hasn’t he heard of the internet?! [News On Japan]

$70 to climb Mount Fuji?! Is nothing sacred?: Nothing else is iconically Japanese as Mt. Fuji, but it might soon cost you to climb the famous landmark. As more people visit Mt. Fuji, the ecological damage caused by visitors grows greater and greater. A proposed ¥7,000 (roughly $70) fee could dissuade too many people from visiting while at the same time raising funds for restoration projects.

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Wheels set in motion for London-Tokyo train link : Got two weeks and a lot of money to spare? Russia and Japan have reached an agreement after decades of talks to open a rail tunnel between the two countries, thus making it possible to take a train from Japan to England. The estimated trip time is two weeks, and the tunnel won’t be completed for years to come, but it’s still an exciting prospect! [Reddit]

Class action: North Korean schools in Japan: Through a complicated set of historical circumstances, several North Korean schools exist in Japan; but these schools are facing an uncertain future. My suggestion? More military parades. Increases morale. [News On Japan]

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Japanese U.N. diplomat’s shouts of ‘shut up’ to fellow delegates go viral, inflame

Turns out that a diplomat shouting “shut up” isn’t all that diplomatic, but after the delegation from the mighty nation of Mauritius criticized Japan’s justice system, Ambassador Hideaki Ueda did just that. Critics have demanded that Ueda step down, presumably so he can spend more time telling his family to shut up.

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  • Chessir.

    Glad you guys decided to illustrate the dog poop bomb and not the buddhist monk!

  • DAVIDPD

    I think the Japanese diplomat was right in telling Mauritius diplomat to “shut up!” Criticize Japan all you want, but it’s (at least) 10 times the country Mauritius is. If I am not mistaken Mauritius still uses what are essentially sweat shops for making Western brand clothes. So they are one to talk!!!

  • Xaromir

    It’s especially funny when it happens to the police. [Nelson.wav] Telling them to “shut up” is a little awkward. Not sure how parliaments work in other countries, but here, taunts are very normal; you just talk through them.

  • 1414

    An in the “western” world (including Japan) it is perfectly legal to support these sweat shops. Both sides should shut up and better do something about it.

    The train tunnel is exciting though. How long will it take until you can go round the whole world by train?

  • DAVIDPD

    I never said it was right, but he who lives in a glass should not throw stones, right? // Around the World? It’s a tunnel. I think the question should be through the World?

  • Xaromir

    Unless you really love trains (and drinking), you are better off with just booking a flight, because it’s a seriously long trip, and probably also going to be more expensive than a flight. My best guess is that it’s mainly intended for goods and wares, though i am a little concerned about more Russians visiting Japan, and giving westerners a bad name. Well… a worse name.