The service that lets you do this is called TVU networks.  They explain themselves much better than I can, so let’s let them do it.

TVU uses a new broadcast technology called Real-Time Packet Replication.  With this technology, all the viewers who are watching a channel at the same time are cooperating to give everyone the best possible signal.  TVU’s application does not create any new files on your hard disk because you’re watching live TV. [source]

So, that’s how it’s done, but I bet you want to know how to get it up and running, like now. Who wouldn’t? Ridiculous Japanese commercials await!

How to Watch Japanese Television for Free, from Anywhere:

First, you have to download TVU’s player. It’s a bit glitchy, and not the prettiest application in the world, but like Lang-8, it’s functional, and does a great job doing what it does best.

Download TVU’s media player

From there, it’s really easy. Open up the program and switch the language over to Japanese. It’s up on the top left.

After you do that, all of the Japanese channels that are available will show up. I frequent the first three the most, but there’s a lot of stuff there, including music videos for all you music buffs. Right now, as I write this, I’m watching a show about a boxer who seduces a nun. Only in a Japanese drama, right? Only now, it’s live!

Japanese TV isn’t all you can see, though. Of course, there’s television from all over the world, and you can watch it for free as well. I’ve looked at a few American channels, since I don’t have cable TV at my home (why would I, when I’ve got internet to replace it for less money?).

So, I hope you enjoy this! Try to take breaks and go outside once in a while, yeah?

Once again, thank you rjhoolan for finding this and sharing! You are my new favorite person for the day :)

UPDATE 2-25: Since this is a p2p television thing, your connection, as well as the channels available at any given time, are dependent on who’s using TVU at the time. The people sharing are hooking into their tv, and if nobody is watching a channel at the time you want to watch it, you won’t be able to see it to. So, basically what I’m getting at, is you won’t always get all the channels, and it depends on when you are watching, sadly. Still, I’ve had good luck with it, and it hasn’t caused me any problems.

this is a test, testing the feed footer plugin. swavvy!

So I was looking through my old yearbook…well, maybe not.

So I was looking through this buddy of mine’s yearbook…er…no, I guess I wasn’t.

So, I was using this website that lets you upload pictures and it will superimpose them onto super retro yearbook photos for your laughter and enjoyment. I know I enjoyed it. I did it to myself and posted it up on my personal blog, BoxedTofu. I then did an article over on my “about America blog,” コウイチ弁. That’s two out of three, right there. So I thought, “hey, maybe I can work this whole yearbook thing into Tofugu as a roundabout way of telling people about a few fun Japanese celebrities. So, that’s what I’m doing, afro and all.

Yasuo Fukuda

This, my friends, is the current prime minister of Japan. From the looks of it, the seventies and eighties were good to him. He became prime minister when Shinzo Abe abruptly resigned from office (he claims it was horrible due to diarrhea).

Shinzo Abe

This is the guy who had terrible diarrhea and had to quit being the prime minister of Japan. The guy above him is the guy who took over. Must have been after 1998 when he gained all that weight…

Junichiro Koizumi

Koizumi was probably one of the coolest prime ministers of Japan, mostly because of his hair. I think he did a pretty good job, and was able to do a lot of economic reform. I think a lot of people were sad to see him go, and be replaced by really bad prime ministers.

Segata Sanshiro

Yes, the man who fills your dreams with Sega Saturn nightmares, even to this day. If you don’t know who he is, you are missing out, big time. He’s like, Chuck Norris’ daddy. Basically, he was responsible for Sega Saturn’s popularity in Japan (he never appeared in America, no wonder nobody was scared into buying it it wasn’t popular!). And damn, he makes for terrifying yearbook photos.

Beat (Kitano) Takeshi

Does everyone know actor / comedian / director Beat Takeshi? He was in cult films such as Battle Royale, and the new Zatoichi (which is a great movie, by the way). He’s kind of a scary looking dude, not to mention his nickname is “beat,” like, “I’m going to beat you down.”

Shokotan’s Nakagawa Shoko

This girl is one of the top ten most popular bloggers in Japan. She blogs about all sorts of weird things, though it seems as though half of her entries are just pictures with cats (apparently, she loves them). Then, there are other entries, where she puts cicada shells all over her hair. Ironically, PinkTentacle just blogged about this, so now you can see for yourself.

Matsudaira Ken

I have so many memories of this guy. I grew up watching Abarenbo Shogun. This show lasted from 1978 until 2002 (with a special in 2003), and is about this Shogun (played by Matsudaira Ken) who goes around and helps the people. At the end of almost every episode is a fight scene, that is the same choreography over and over episode after episode. Still, it’s an awesome show (that’s why it lasted so long!). Other people might know of Ken for Matsudaira Samba…Seriously, this ought to be the Rick Roll of Japan. I hear retired folks like it though.

You can’t beat that.

Becky

Becky is a half Japanese half British talent who appears on a lot of Japanese television shows. She’s pretty funny, and was often in a show that I liked back in the day, Warau Inu. They’re the folks that did the Yatta song, which I’m sure a lot of you know of.

Nabeatsu

If you haven’t heard of Nabeatsu yet, you’ll do yourself a favor and check him out. You’ll either love him or hate him, he’s that kind of comedian. All he does is count. When he hits a number with a three in it, or a number divisible by three, he “becomes stupid.” Sometimes, some other numbers get special characteristics as well. I love it. Simple humor is great. I’ll even provide a video or two below, that’s how cool this guy is. The mustache goes well with all these pictures, too!

Ultraman

Who didn’t think Ultraman was the shiznit as a child? Anyone that’s younger than me, probably. But there was once a day where Ultraman was more popular than those dirty racist power rangers, and those days were good. This one is my favorites. His face is just so…perfect!

So there you have it - either you learned about some new celebrities, or you enjoyed looking at parodies of them. Hopefully one of the two. In the meantime, go practice counting like Nabeatsu and lose all your friends!

I know this post was kind of weird and random, but there’s a few language posts coming soon, so, you know, gotta balance, right?

A year or two ago, Japanese square shaped watermelon were big in the news. Not only were they easier to ship, but they were more expensive too, and that catches anyone’s attention. Today, I read an article over at Megaijin, that talked about triangular shaped watermelon (even more expensive, but more difficult to ship, I imagine). This sparked my interest, so I decided to dive a little deeper. You’ll be amazed at the weird watermelon-related things I’ve come across!

Cube-Shaped Watermelon

First, let’s take a look at the original strange Japanese watermelon: “The Cube.” This was an expensive solution to the difficulty that people had putting a big round watermelon in their refrigerator (why refrigerate, though, I say eat it all!).

Supposedly, only around a 1000 of these are produced in a year, though I feel like that number may have increased. It’s garnered notoriety amongst the rich (as well as several visiting political figures), and is pretty darn expensive. As you can see above, 2008 version goes for around $119 USD, which is cheap compared to some of the other watermelons we’re going to get into. Who knows how much shipping will cost you. Here’s another photo, from Choo.

I really wonder how the square watermelons taste. Is it just the novelty of the shape that’s selling them, or are they particularly juicy? Either way, if I was Scrooge McDuck I’d definitely replace my simming pool of gold coins.

Oh yeahh, check out those photoshop skillz (sarcasm)

Heart Shaped Watermelon

So now we get a little more expensive, and a lot more useless. I suppose this could shape up (haha, get it?) to be an expensive romantic gift of some sort, but I think buying a week’s worth of baseball tickets would be more fun.

A heart-shaped watermelon will run you around $237 USD, a price that will end up breaking your…you know. I’d suggest saving your money and spending it on UFO catchers.

Pyramid and Triangle Shaped Watermelon

Now, here’s where I get a little confused. Let’s start with the Triangle shaped watermelon, because, apparently, there’s some sort of big difference between triangle and pyramid shapes. Aren’t they just different words for triangle?

These “triangle watermelon” will run you the same as a heart watermelon, around $237 USD. I’m not sure what the purpose of these watermelon are, besides the novelty. Square watermelons, sure, they ship nicer and are easier to put in the fridge. Triangle watermelon? They just seem hard to ship and hard to eat.

Now, how about the pyramid shaped ones? From what I can see, they are almost exactly the same. The only difference? The ridiculous price.

Ever considered paying $950 USD for a watermelon? Well, now’s your chance. They only make a few of these a year (which, I suppose, is why the price is so high?), and they look like crummier versions of the triangle watermelon, at least to my untrained watermelon eye. I dunno, what do you think? They better taste better, that’s for sure.

Face Shaped Watermelon

Here’s the one that you all came for. This is the most ridiculous watermelon I’ve ever seen, and I would never be alone in a dark room with this one.

This face-watermelon will cost you $475 USD, but, I mean, c’mon, it’s a face! It even has glasses on and a big smile, so you feel good when you eat through half your month’s rent. It’s a smile that says…”it’s okay, I still love you…even though you’re a dumb knee-biter for buying me.”

Looks like this one has a Hitler mustache!

How are these Watermelon Made?

Well, the face one is a secret process, apparently. Though it follows the same basic rules as the others. All they do is put a glass / plastic container around the small, baby watermelon, and it grows into the shape it’s put into. Cube shaped is put into a cube container, triangle into a triangle container, etc. They  do something extra fancy with the Hitler face though, but they aren’t willing to taddle their secrets.

If you’d like to get one of these watermelon for yourself, you can actually get them shipped to you overseas (maybe). Check out Rakuten’s Art Suika page and look for the English section somewhere in the middle. You might be able to order your own overpriced watermelon if you email them.

Vocab for this Article

Something I thought I’d try to do, since this is a website about learning Japanese culture and language. We’re going to include some vocabulary at the end of every news / culture related article to give you a chance to sponge some Japanese vocabulary as well. I mean, why not, right?

スイカ (suika)
Watermelon

果物 (Kudamono)
Fruit

三角 (Sankaku)
Triangle

四角 (shikaku)
Square

Q. What is your name and where are you originally from?
My name is Roxanne Modafferi. I was born in Delaware, and grew up in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.

Q. How did you become a professional fighter?
I started doing Tae Kwon Do (like karate) in middle school, then the more full contact Judo in high school, and then in college, I got into MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) aka “Ultimate fighting.”

Q. What is a professional fighter?
A professional fighter is someone who is a specialist in combat techniques, whether it be striking like boxing, or wrestling/grappling techniques, or a mix of those two. They fight a single opponent in a ring or cage and receive compensation.

Q. What types of martial arts do you train in?
I’ve done TKD, Judo, Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, Muay Thai and Kickboxing, but now focus on MMA, submission grappling.

Q. When and how did you decide to go to Japan?
I want to learn Japanese to use in a career, and I decided that before entering college. After four years at the University of Massachusetts, my Japanese skills were good, but not good enough to do a job like interpreting, so I decided to take an English teaching job in Japan. That way at least I’d be immersed in the culture and language. I could also train at a famous dojo/gym and continue my fighting career along side other professional fighters.

Q. How are the “dojo cultures” different in Japan, compared to your (American?) Dojo.
It depends on the dojo. I think in American dojos and gyms, there are specific trainers who focus on certain things (such as kickboxing, or conditioning or diet) to build their fighters. In Japan, the pro fighters tend to just train together- it’s kind of old fashioned. I wish I had a trainer to pay special attention to me and focus more on my weak points.

Q. How do you think martial arts fits into the Japanese culture?
Fighting and the competitive spirit is a big part of the culture, I think. The samurai warrior remains a respected figure and symbol of honor and order. Nowadays, strong pro fighters are also put on a pedestal. The average person knows about the most famous MMA fighters, like Kazushi Sakuraba, and a it’s one of the top sports to watch, like going to a baseball game. Also, all high schoolers have to do Judo or Kendo sword fighting in high school, so everyone is introduced to some kind of martial arts in their lives.

Q. What has it been like being a gaikokujin living in Japan?
It’s been okay for me since I speak Japanese, but people who can’t have it rougher. I live in Tokyo where people are used to seeing foreigners. However, out in the country, you get stared and discriminated against as an outsider who doesn’t belong. That sucks. But everyone has always been polite to me in Tokyo, and I don’t feel like I really stand out.

Q. Perhaps even more importantly, what is it like being the only gaikokujin at your dojo?
Yes, I am the only gaikokujin in my dojo. Again, since I speak Japanese, I can communicate and people are friendly. Sometimes I feel like I can never completely become “one” of them. But mostly, if you train hard, sweat and bleed with people, they accept you. I’ve made many friends, and I adore my dojo.

Q. Where’s your favorite place to go relax after a long day of training?
After training, it takes me a hell-ish hour and a half of standing up on the train to get home. So I drag myself to bed. If I do have free time during the day or morning, I like to sit in front of my computer and blog, watch anime online, or go shopping. I love grocery stores because they have such weird-looking stuff like fish that you can’t get in the States. Sometimes I go to the markets just to look around and laugh at the weird stuff.

Q. Does your Sensei regale to you stories about Bob Sapp to scare the students into training harder?
Actually, Bob Sapp isn’t that popular anymore. And at my current dojo, we don’t really have a sensei. We have pro fighters who take turns ‘instructing’ the beginner’s class, and then after that, the pros just train together. They’re scary enough.

Q. What’s it like for women to fight in Japan?
It’s really hard for women to find fights in Japan nowadays. Women MMA fights are becoming more popular in the States (Gina Carano in Elite EX, for example), but the Japanese organizations aren’t hosting enough shows. We need the public to be more aware of female fighters and support us!

Q. Any advice for someone who wants to follow in your footsteps as a gaikokujin professional fighter?
Visas are a major obstacle for fighters. Otherwise, they kick you out. You need a working visa to live in Japan, but that means you have to find a full time job. And if you have a full time job, it’s difficult to train full time, or even part time. So you need to have a lot of energy, and train hard. So my advice? Eat your Wheeties and be willing to work.

Feel free to check out her website and Myspace, found below!

www.63fight.com
www.myspace.com/roxyfighter

this is a test, testing the feed footer plugin. swavvy!

What is so interesting about crêpes you might ask? Not a whole lot. I’m just salivating for a crêpe at this very moment, hence a small reason I’m writing this article. What does it have to do with Japan? If you have ever venture out in the metro areas of Japan, it’ll be hard not to spot a crêpe shop. In the minds of a Japanese, this famous French food staple will often bring up connections to the ever so rebellious young Japanese and Harajuku.

There isn’t that much to say about the history of crêpes in Japan. Crêpes were first introduced in Japan sometime in the late 1970s. At first the popularity of the snack was dismal. But then came along crêpe shop that opened up in Harajuku. The young Japanese who congregate the area welcomed the food item, and thus began its popularity.

The crêpe wrap served in Japan is the sweet crêpe variant, which is typically filled with sliced fruit, whipped cream, syrup, and anything else you can imagine when thinking about desserts. In addition, they are also served with vegetables and meats if one desires a meal. The filling is wrapped around with the crêpe wrap to form a cone shape. If you are in Japan don’t be surprise to get an extra helping of Japanese mayonnaise to go along with your meal crêpe. They sure do like the mayo over there. As you may have imagined, the crêpes served in Japan are more liberal in what they use for the filling.

The following are examples of what you might find on a Japanese crêpe menu:

• Strawberries with vanilla ice cream, topped with chocolate sauce
• A slice of cheesecake
• Potato salad topped with a hot dog
• Spaghetti
• Tuna, pizza, and cheese (yes, all in one crêpe)
• Frankfurter salad. One variant of a frankfurter salad I’ve seen consisted of lettuce bedding, the frankfurter with a side of turkey, topped with kidney beans and ketchup

Om nom nom nom. Why bother with utensils and dishware you would typically use for the fillings listed, when you can have everything housed in a nice cone shape wrap? For some reason I am reminded of the Simpsons episode where Homer condenses spaghetti into bar form.

Why is it hard not to spot a crêpe shop? It is mostly due to the displays that are viewable outside the shops; plastic crêpes that illustrate each menu item. Some find it fascinating, others find it scary. Personally, I’m the former. Look at the attention to detail in the first two images of this article! Plastic food displays aren’t just limited to crêpe shops, as they are commonly used by food establishments. However, the crêpe shop displays stood out the most to me, which is probably due to the extensive sized menus each shop carries and the plethora of colors exhibit by the crêpe fillings (contrast the colors of crêpes to katsu and fried products topped with curry). If you want to bring home one of these displays, stop by Kappabashi-dori in Tokyo. The district specializes in kitchenware and there are a few shops dedicated to plastic food displays.

If you live in a major U.S. city , then you might be fortunate enough to have access to a shop that specializes in Japanese crêpes. For those in the Seattle area, there is a Japanese crêpe shop that lies in the heart of the ID (acronym for International District, also known as the un-PC term Chinatown) called Unicorn Crepes.

Thanks to MSG150 for the photo above

UC was originally operated by three young individuals (I have heard they have since added more staff), one of which was an apprentice at a popular crêpe shop in his hometown Kyoto, so you know you are getting the real deal. The shop even has plastic crêpes proudly displayed! Oh, and the crêpes are pretty good. UC is located only a block away from the Uwajimaya. The peeps over at MSG150 gave their impressions of the place, which I agree with.

Here is a video for those who are interested in the construction of a Japanese-style crêpe.

For those who want to drool over pictures of Japanese crêpes, here is the Flickr search results.

I’m hungry.

Now that I’m back from Hawaii, I finally had the chance to wade through all the emails I decided to ignore until now (sorry if that was you!). A decent number of them were people worried about racism in Japan; mainly, they were worried that people in Japan would treat them poorly because they were, well, gaijin (that means foreigner, in case you didn’t know).

A few of these emails made reference to the infamous “no gaijin” signs which are supposedly littered all around Japan. When I searched around the internet for more information on this, I was surprised with what I found…

Well, actually, not that surprised.

First off, it’s not that bad. In fact, it’s the opposite. There is so much talk going around the gaijin world about anti-gaijin sentiment, or the “no gaijin allowed” signs…thankfully, a lot of this talk is done by people who don’t know much about Japan, or have never been there. A few rumors have spread around, they’ve gotten bigger, and people pass the word on until it becomes a bigger monster.

Now, I’m not saying that racism isn’t a problem in Japan. In fact, where isn’t it an issue? As a gaijin, you will stand out, and in a country that is 99% Japanese, you will be interesting and people will be interested. Does that mean people will treat you poorly? No, not necessarily. Will you get a lot more attention than if you were Japanese? Definitely.

I found a couple vides via JapanProbe the other day. I thought they were absolutely hilarious, though it seems as though JapanProbe’s commentors thought it was pretty insensitive and mean. I can’t help it, though, I’m a Dave Chappelle fan.

And commercial #2

This sort of moves me into my next topic: “No Gaijin Allowed” signs.

If you search for “No Gaijin Allowed” in Google, you’d probably expect to come up with a bunch of hits. If you search for it in an image search, maybe you’d expect tons of “no gaijin” signs chained onto restaurant doors (so that those dirty gaijin can’t rip them off and steal them). Instead, I found almost nothing. My normal Google search consisted of “No Gaijin Allowed” tshirts, and the image search came up with things that had nothing to do with anything. I wasn’t too shocked, though, I did expect to see more.

The reason for this? Those signs aren’t really that prevalent. I’ve been all over Japan, and I try to go to as many different places as I can. I have not once seen a sign like this. When reading about people’s experiences who have seen these signs, they explain that these signs don’t necessarily mean “No Gaijin Allowed.” Instead, they mean “We don’t want any trouble from Gaijin, so be respectful” or “We can’t speak English, and we don’t want to be bothered with body communication.”

Still, there is some anti-gaijin sentiment. I’m not denying that. Gaijin don’t always make a good name for themselves, and the few bad apples ruin it for everyone. Since gaijin stand out so much in Japan, one misbehaving gaijin can make all gaijin look bad. Every once in a while a story like this will come out. On top of this, there is some bad blood between the older generation that fought in the war and anyone not Japanese. Even that is turning around though, and I’ve never had a bad experience with someone of the older generation. Still, I can see some potential problem. On the other hand, our War veterans sometimes have bad feelings about Japanese, so it’s not like it’s any different.

Anyways, I just wanted to say that the “anti-gaijin” mentality isn’t as prevalent as a lot of people think. Japan’s a friendly place, and as long as you try to keep in mind that you are in another country, and you need to follow some of their cultural guidelines (like taking off your shoes, damnit!), you shouldn’t have any trouble. If you don’t make an effort, though, and think that you can get away with anything…well…then you might get some anti-gaijin sentiment. I warned you, though.

So what about you? Have you ever had any experience with this?

[Image source]

It’s been a year since the last “Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest” at Coney Island, when reigning king (at the time) of eating food “really really fast” lost his title, and his world record, to San Jose’s Joey Chestnut. This makes me sad. I thought for sure he would come back with a victory, regaining his honor.

Still, Kobayashi did actually manage to tie Joey Chestnut with 59 hot dogs in 10 minutes (it was 12 minutes in years previous), but lost it in overtime, where they had to eat 5 hot dogs faster than each other. It seems that now, though, both of them hold the record for most hot dogs eaten in 10 minutes, so that’s something I suppose.

I remember seeing a little blurb about Kobayashi on TV when I was in Japan. They wanted to find out how such a skinny guy was able to eat so many hot dogs. They followed him to a ramen shop where he at a ridiculous amount of ramen. They then did a cat scan, or something, where they found out his stomach was much larger than a normal human’s. If I remember correctly (and let me know if I’m wrong), it’s 3 times as large as a normal stomach. Not sure where there’s room for that, but apparently it’s there.

He also uses a special technique when eating hot dogs - they call it the “Solomon Method.” Basically, he breaks the hot dogs in half and stuffs both sides into his mouth and swallows it that way. Whatever works, I suppose. Not surprisingly, though, hot dogs aren’t his favorite food. His five favorite things to eat are cold tofu, Yogurt, Plain Bagels with Cream Cheese and Lox, Royal Milk Tea, and Vietnamese Spring Rolls.

Here is a list of his matches. It’s really interesting to see his improvement. You would expect a professional eater to just be able to eat until his stomach is all full, but apparently there is a lot of training that goes into it.

-2001: Ate 50 hot dogs in 12 minutes (shattering the previous record of a mere 25). He gained 8 pounds during this contest.
-2002: Ate 50 and one half hot dogs.
-2003: Ate 44 and one half hot dogs.
-2004: Ate 53 and one half hot dogs, getting a new record
-2005: Ate 49 hot dogs
-2006: Ate 53 and three quarters hot dogs, getting another world record. He also became world champion at eating bratwurst (I imagine this contest was a bit tastier) by eating 58 sausages in 10 minutes.
-2007: World record was broken by Joey Chestnut, who ate 59 and one half hot dogs in 12 minutes. Later that year they went head to head, and even though Kobayashi ate a ridiculous 63 hot dogs, Chestnut bested him by eating 66.
-2008: Kobayashi loses a tie-breaker to Chestnut in a “who can eat 5 hot dogs the fastest contest.” Both of them ate 59 hot dogs in 10 minutes (that’s really fast).

It’s obvious he’s not “losing it,” he has improved in the last few years. It’s just that there’s finally someone better than him eating lots of hot dogs. So, the question is, can Kobayashi keep improving and eventually beat Chestnut? I suppose it all depends on where their limits are, and I’m not sure if they’ve reached them yet.

[image source]
[information source]

Japan is the home of quite a few Guinness World Records (the world’s longest concert being the most recent one I can remember), but now it’s got another under it’s belt: world’s longest eyebrow. Toshie Kawakami, the 57 year old president of a Tokyo food company, has an eyebrow hair which measured 17.2cm as of June 9th. She says that she normally keeps the hair tucked behind her ear, but let’s it down for special occasions*. She discovered the hair when it was a mere 7cm long (the world record at that time was 11.5cm) and decided to grow it out. Aside from an accident involving an overzealous hairdresser (who set her back 3cm), her path to the top was pretty clear, as the hair grew nearly a centimeter each month until she got Guinness authorization in January. Apparently, she’s trying for 20cm, next.

Source: Asahi
* I’m joking, of course

As much as I want to be outrageously snarky in this post, I don’t think I can bring myself to do it. After all, social anxiety disorder is pretty serious stuff, especially in Japan, the birthplace of the hikikomori (引き籠もり or “pulling away”) phenomenon. In an attempt to help out those who are uncomfortable in social situations, Avex has introduced a DVD titled Miterudake (ミテルだけ) or “Just Looking”. The DVD is labeled as “interactive”, but there are really only two activities that users are expected to perform:

1. Choose one of fifty relatively-diverse women

2. Endure them staring at you for about a minute (eyes up, boys)

3. Repeat (does this count as an activity?)

So basically, the only purpose of the DVD is, as its creator states, 「人と目を合わすこと」, or to help people “adapt to others”. As weird and pointless as it may seem, I can’t deny that there are people out there who do have a major fear that they’re constantly being judged by others. Still, I think it might be more cost effective to just realize that most people aren’t actually staring at you in real life (especially not in Japan, where a lot of “normal” people still find sustained direct eye contact to be rude) than to go and buy a $25 DVD. Or you could just find a picture of the Mona Lisa.

But hey, whatever floats your boat. I’m certainly not one to tell other people how to manage their neuroses. One thing I can say for sure about this DVD, though, is that it’s bound to act as inspiration for many x-rated spin-offs. You just wait and see–in the next few months, scores of new AV DVDs will hit shelves of sketchy Akihabara porn shops with similar premises and similar titles (“Just ____ing”). Come on, it’s Japan. You know it’s true.

Anyway, sorry this article was a bit boring. To make up for the lack of entertaining sarcasm, here are some links to more Miterudake clips and spoofs on the Youtube and NicoNico Douga. You can also find more clips on the Miterudake website (as well as links to the personal blogs of some of the women, which is kind of creepy).

EDIT: It turns out Miterudake could be a lot weirder than I first thought.

EDIT 2: Here’s a video from Koichi. Thanks, Ko.

The signs read 「偶然だぞ」 or gūzen da zo, which translates into It’s Accidental. Probably not the most appropriate sentiment when your favorite baseball player steals a home run.

So what caused this blunder? Online translators, of course. As illustrated below, when entered into Google tranlsate, the Cubs’ slogan becomes the inadvertantly commical phrase that ended up on the placards (much to the delight of the Japanese blogging community, I might add). Had the fans tried the more gramatically correct “It’s going to happen”, they would have gotten 「それが起こるだろう」, which would have been a vast improvement. Just some food for thought :D

Source: as-is.net

*I’m joking, you guys. You’re all entitled to your own opinions.