But even though Japan is rocking the Casbah when it comes to the number of newspapers people are reading each day, there’s some serious work to be done with the reporting in those papers. According to Reporters Without Borders, Japan dropped 31 places in the World Press Freedom Index in 2013. Kind of strange for a liberal democracy, right? Welcome to the secret world of “kisha clubs.”

Kisha Clubs: What They Do And How They Do It

Kisha (記者) or “reporter” clubs are exclusive groups of reporters from major Japanese newspapers, like the Yomiuri Shinbun and the Asahi Shinbun, who set up camp in government and political party offices. The clubs receive press releases from whatever agency or business they’re assigned to cover. (Usually the agency’s PR offices are right down the hall from the kisha club – so convenient!)

The reporters in the club then edit or paraphrase those press releases to publish in their respective newspapers. Besides reading and revising a whole lot of press releases, kisha clubs also organize press conferences. (The life of a kisha club member: So excite; much report.)

And if you ask the Nihon Shinbun Kyokai (Japan Newspaper Publishers and Editors Association), there are super duper awesome reasons for keeping kisha clubs around. For one thing, they sort through gobs of boring political information, for which everyone is grateful. And although it leads to some pretty homogenous news articles – sometimes quite literally, with identical articles being printed in competing newspapers – kisha clubs receive news incredibly fast. After all, they’re in the same building as their sources.

They’re also a united front: plucky reporters against shifty politicians. Who would dare withhold political information when you have an entire kisha club staring you down? Kisha clubs run on the Wildcats principle…

We’re all in this together.

Majorly Bad Business

The problem is, well, journalism doesn’t really work that way. A journalist’s role is to hold feet to the fire, not give foot massages. (Okay, that metaphor got a little weird.) What I’m trying to say is that journalism works best when it works for the people and not for politicians. Kisha clubs, by their very nature, go against journalistic principles of working independently and maintaining an objective distance from news sources – not acting as a mouthpiece for them. And when these ideals get thrown out the window, all sorts of sketchy things start to occur.

We don’t even need to look very far for one particularly glaring example: the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster of 2011. (To catch everyone up to speed: A terrible domino effect occurred in March 2011 when the Tohoku earthquake hit Japan, which triggered a tsunami, which resulted in a catastrophic failure at the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, releasing all sorts of radiation into the surrounding area.)

There was not much investigative reporting following the disaster and very little transparency from the government about subsequent radiation levels, evacuees, and how this disaster could have been averted.

The company in charge of these Fukushima power plants, TEPCO, has its own kisha club, but funnily enough, those kisha club reporters never quite got around to asking the questions the Japanese public most wanted and needed to know. Independent and foreign journalists also reported on the disaster. But, because they aren’t part of any kisha clubs, they were often barred from press conferences – one of the many kisha club rules – making reporting that much harder. Those independent journalists who did make it into these press conferences were often shouted down by kisha club members if they dared to ask any off-script questions.

Blackboard Agreements

Whether it’s your 1998 kid detective club devoted to Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen (cough) or your standard, government lapdog kisha club, clubs gotta have rules. (Insert your own Fight Club joke here.)

Besides not often allowing journalists from independent and foreign newspapers to participate in press conferences (let alone join a kisha club), there are also these things called blackboard agreements. Sometimes literally written on a blackboard, these are news items and topics that the club has agreed not to report on until a specific later date. The kisha club golden rule? You don’t “scoop” your fellow club member, even if he’s from a competing newspaper. (This is completely counter to how journalism normally works, where reporting a news story first is how many news media survive.)

Following blackboard agreements means having to maintain friendly relations with your sources as well as rival journalists. As with any club, you can get kicked out for not heeding club rules. Some kisha club members do break the rules on rare occasions, because sometimes it’s totally worth it. If a story is huge enough to be worth temporary club banishment because of all the papers it would sell, a kisha club member might just break the story anyway. Of course, there are ways to have your mochi and eat it too.

Weekly Magazines

Japan’s weekly magazines provide an outlet for news stories that may be stuck in blackboard agreement purgatory. A kisha club member will sometimes sell a blackboarded scoop to a weekly magazine, occasionally even writing the magazine article himself. (Club members have been known to sell news stories to foreign presses as well.)

The problem with having your news bombshell break in a weekly magazine as opposed to a newspaper is that Japan’s weeklies aren’t the most respected game in town. Weekly magazines are usually printed on cheap paper and are a whirlwind mix of news, sports, manga, celebrity gossip and porn. Sort of like if The New Yorker and The National Enquirer had a baby.

But, in the most roundabout way ever, once a story breaks in a weekly magazine and gains enough traction, the blackboard agreement becomes null and void and everyone can cover the story in their own newspapers.

But The Internet!

The Internet has decreased some of the power kisha clubs hold, and may yet be a game changer. Independent presses, foreign news sites and citizen journalists have all been part of a movement to provide news outlets that aren’t heavily influenced by government channels.

Independent online news sources like Days Japan and Free Press Association of Japan have started to pop up, but they’ve had some difficulty gaining traction with a Japanese public who are somewhat reluctant to trust online news media over traditional news outlets.

Unfortunately, things are probably going to get worse before they get better. In December of 2013, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe enacted a state secrets law, a move many consider a major step backwards for civil liberties in Japan. Under the new law, those who leak classified information will now face 10 years in prison and anyone found guilty of abetting a leak will get five. Kisha clubs also show no signs of going away.

But there have been some victories in all of this, too. For example, in 2001 Nagano Prefecture’s then-governor, Yasuo Tanako, abolished kisha clubs in the prefectural office. Any journalist, whether they were associated with a major newspaper or a small website, were given the same opportunities to gather information, no blackboard agreements required. And even though Yasuo Tanako has moved on from his Nagano roots, the kisha clubs he pwned haven’t come creeping back.

It’s been relatively easy up until now for kisha clubs to party down without anyone noticing. But with the continuing controversy over how the Fukushima catastrophe was reported in the news and the public outcry against Abe’s new state secrets law, the days of the kisha club may be numbered after all.

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Sources

• http://en.rsf.org/press-freedom-index-2013,…
• http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2007/01/…
• http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/recor…
• http://dowjones.com/pressroom/releases/2…
• http://www.timeout.jp/en/tokyo/feature/2…
• http://www.aim.org/don-irvine-blog/online…
• http://www.projectcensored.org/fukushi…
• http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-…
• http://nigeriaworld.com/articles/2010/may…
• http://www.pressnet.or.jp/english/about/…

Looking at the website, it was apparent that two gaikokujin were available for rental. One Australian with dark hair and a smirky smile and one American with a beard and blue eyes.

Turns out they are the co-founders and they have had many clients between them… too many, in fact. If you’re a gaikokujin in Japan get in touch with these guys. They’re looking to add some folks to their roster. You can visit their website at gaikokujin-rental.jp.

Although they are in their early goings over at Gaikokujin Rental, I thought it was an interesting idea. I also had no idea what it was they were doing, so I sent them an email asking if they’d be willing to do an interview. They were very gracious and got back to my questions super quickly. What follows is said interview, and it includes stories, success stories, and information on what the heck all this gaikokujin rental stuff is all about.

#Interview START

1. Who started gaikokujin-rental.jp?

Two guys, one Australian and one American. Both have called Japan home for a handful of years: Six and ten respectively.

2. Why did (you) start it?

“Why has someone not?,” is what we have been asking ourselves for years. Peer to peer business in Japan has always been BIG. Big for both client and contractor. Yet it seems every year the market is not adequately accessed, and unfortunately for many the public space for self-promotion is in, we feel, terminal decline.

For-hire platforms available at present are largely top-down corporate to individual, not peer to peer, and we think peer to peer is important and remarkable. We think it makes for new economy.

Also, we feel Gaikokujin Rental serves as an alternative meeting space to the usual foreigner/Japanese social venues which exist in Japan today.

Author Note: Oh, so it’s like AirBnB but for people and their skills/time. Now I’m starting to get it.

3. How long have you been renting foreigners?

Gaikokujin Rental officially launched on November 29, 2013.

4. It looks like you have two people being rented out. Who are they?

They are the co-founders, Austin and Adams.

5. Are you looking to add more people to rent out?

We are actively looking to add more foreigners as well as increase Japanese readership at our site – We wish to bring as many people together and build as many success stories as possible. To this end, we have invested energy and time into the idea, sustainability and scalability of Gaikokujin Rental.

Author Note: There’s a contact form on their website if you’re interested.

6. What kinds of things have you done? I need a bedtime story.

Austin:

I once had a woman hire me to look after her children and clean her house.

I was hired by a Japanese women to go shopping with her and pick out a birthday present for her husband because he was a foreigner.

I was asked to attend a bonenkai with a group of salary men and speak only English with them.

I was asked by a young Japanese couple to come to Kyoto and take pictures of the two of them.

Author Note: Now Austin tells a story:

Well, it started around 8:00 on a Friday night. I got off from work and was asked to meet my client at Nagoya (Meieki) station. We engaged in small talk for a few minutes, after which she asked me if I could do two things. The first was to check some English paper work which she had been given by her boss. I was asked to explain it and help her with some possible answers.

After that, she wanted me to join her for dinner. My client enjoyed eating spicy food but none of her friends or family enjoyed spicy food. We had exchanged mail previously and found that we both had a liking for spicy food. She had already found one of the spiciest Nabe restaurants in Nagoya and made a reservation.

After making our way to the restaurant we entered, took a seat and decided what we wanted to eat. I then helped my client with the paper work which had been mentioned earlier after that our meals arrived and we chatted while we ate. She asked me some questions about what it was like living abroad ( because she was thinking of doing the same one day).

And also asked me questions about my country. The rental period was for 2 hours. So after the 2 hour period was up we talked about the possibility of meeting again, paid the check and went home.

Adams:

I’ve had clients ranging from housewives to businessmen to ramen chefs to entrepreneurs to bohemian outcasts – a motley cast of characters. Once I was asked to work in a Ramen shop to take orders from Russians, because apparently the Ramen shop Master “couldn’t understand the Russians.” I’ve done interpretation work between Italian businessmen and a Japanese apparel firm, but most of the work involved making reservations at onsens for the Italians.

I’ve been in front of and behind the camera for modeling and photography work, behind a desk as a freelance journalist and webshop master, a private mail courier for digital products, Santa Claus… YES, Santa Claus, an English teacher, a flyer boy, a bar server, and a BIG buyer of Switzerland-made outdoor clothing for a Japanese Trading company.

7. Have you run into any problems while running this service?

Yes, but not the kind one would bemoan about. Actually at present there are simply too many orders to fill for our current line-up of two foreigners. This is the scenario we envisioned, and to ratchet up both the supply and demand we are working in earnest to promote our service via virtual channels, magazines and ultimately word-of-mouth.

8. What’s the best success story of someone using gaikokujin-rental.jp?

It would be difficult to only talk about the best success story and not mention all the really good ones. On the Japanese side of it, students have increased their TOIEC scores, hobbyists have procured parts and various nick-knacks from abroad that otherwise could not have been gotten, local businessmen have been fed detailed information on foreign market trends, party-goers have been entertained, and the list goes on.

On the foreigner side of it, success is in the MAGIC. The magic being that once your profile goes up online at Gaikokujin Rental you can get paying customers who deal with you directly. Furthermore, your new customer is an in-road into their own network – ehem, your new network.

9. What are you hoping to achieve with gaikokujin-rental.jp?

In a word, symbiosis. We want to turn the disconnect between peer-to-peer business into uber-connection! To us growth means lots of little success stories the length of Japan, new networks forged, smiles, and satisfied customers. We plan to make this happen by staying online as a professional go-between for that all-important first connection between Japanese and foreigners.

For Japanese, we hope to attract anyone and everyone, including businesses, who seek to employ foreigners in one way or another.

For foreigners, we hope to attract everyone from young transplants to long timers to even those residing abroad who perhaps offer services via the Internet, and in general anyone here who seeks odd-jobs, freelance stuff, part-time work, one-off arrangements, and basically new money and customers. That’s teachers of all sorts, musicians, caregivers, models, IT people, photographers, artisans, entertainers, self-proclaimed ambassadors and more.

#END interview

So there you have it. At first I thought Gaikokujin Rental was some kind of joke. Something someone put up as a kind of commentary about how “differently” gaikokujin were viewed in Japan. Or, at the very least I thought it was a hobby that a couple of dudes set up because they thought there was an opportunity to make some extra yen.

It turns out, in my opinion, to be a pretty smart business idea. Of course, they have to find new people on both sides (Japanese and gaikokujin), and they are eventually going to have to deal with the problems that come with bad experiences, etc., but in Japan I can see this business model working. Anywhere else? Not so much. Just imagine if there was a “Rent a Norwegian” company in America, where you would get your Norway-related needs filled. There would be a small mob outside the Rent-A-Norwegian office demanding that this racism stops.

In Japan, however, I doubt this is going to be seen as racism. There’s actual need for gaikokujin-related tasks in Japan, as was illustrated in the stories above. A Japanese person needed an opinion from a foreigner about a gift for her foreign husband. Some people needed someone who could speak English. Another person just wanted to eat spicy food with someone (which I can attest to, Japanese people don’t know what “spicy” really means).

I hope they keep on trucking along and start to grow and do okay. Maybe we’ll see if we can meet up with them and see what they’re doing the next time we’re filming in Japan.

Website: http://gaikokujin-rental.jp

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Who Is Masahiro Tanaka

Tanaka is a Kansai-born, Hokkaido-bred pitching machine with what everyone is telling me is the best split-finger fastball in the world. A split-finger or splitter is a pitch that looks like a fastball then breaks sharply downward before it reaches the plate, and it’s thrown while holding the ball with the index finger on one side of the ball and the middle finger on the other end, with a large gap or “split” between your fingers at the top. Japan, for some reason, is really into the splitter. And guess what? Tanaka’s got one of the most deceptive splitters in the world, and that (combined with the Yankees’ dearth of pitching, Tanaka’s monster stats with the Rakuten Golden Eagles, the baseball TV rights money bubble, the outsized merchandising revenue earned for Japanese players, and the relatively recent in historical terms development of an international free market) is why he’s getting $155 million before he’s even shown what he can do in America.

Like most Japanese stars, Tanaka first reached the spotlight in the mega-popular Koshien high school baseball tournament, which he helped Tomakomai High School win in 2004 and 2005. It wasn’t until 2006 however that he really became a celebrity, when he dueled Jitsugyo High School and their ace Yuki Saito, “The Handkerchief Prince” (he wiped his sweat off with a handkerchief during games).

If this doesn’t sound like a baseball anime waiting to happen, I don’t know what does.

Tanaka and Saito faced each other in the Koshien final, with Tanaka coming on in relief in the third inning then going the distance, matching Saito in a 1-1 draw until the 15th inning, when rules called for an almost unheard-of Koshien finals rematch. Incredibly, Tanaka and Saito would pitch again the next day, resulting in a 4-3 victory for Saito and Jitsugyo. These two games made celebrities out of both Tanaka and Saito, and it was a huge event when, five years later, they faced each other in Nippon Professional Baseball. This time, Tanaka was the 4-1 victor, and he even expressed great disappointment that he didn’t manage to shut out Saito’s Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. The two pitchers would earn parallel nicknames: Ma-kun and Yu-chan.

Unlike Saito, Tanaka would declare himself for the NPB draft to enter the pros, and he very quickly became the ace starter for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, a team based in Miyagi Prefecture in the northeast that got started in 2005. Like all Japanese professional teams, the Eagles are named after and primarily known by their primary sponsor company’s name, in this case the Amazon-like online retailer Rakuten. With Rakuten, Tanaka has been nothing short of spectacular. He started pitching professionally for the team when he was just 18, and his career ERA is a preposterous 2.30 with a career record of 99-35 (oh come on, why didn’t he get one more win?).

People really started to speculate that Tanaka might come to America after his 2013 season, in which he went 24-0 with a 1.27 ERA, then won six more games in the postseason to give the Eagles their first Japan Series title. What’s funny is 2013 wasn’t even his best season. That would be 2011, when Tanaka again had a 1.27 ERA in 27 starts, threw sixty more strikeouts than in 2013, gave up fewer walks, pitched more innings, and yet only went 19-5. A lot of people would call those “video game numbers,” but I’ve never pitched for stats like that in any video game.

And I’m sure you’re asking “Okay, great, so he can pitch. But can he dance along with a Japanese idol group?” The answer to that is “not really.” But please watch the video below to see Ma-kun say “Pi-pi-pi-pi-pitchingu, ca-ca-ca-ca-catchingu, cha-cha-cha-cha-charmingu.”

Munenori Kawasaki definitely still reigns supreme in terms of dancing.

So, Masahiro Tanaka’s a pretty amazing guy. Let’s see how he got to the MLB (it wasn’t via dancing, I can tell you that).

How He Got Here

Japanese players who are still under contract for their NPB team are sold to MLB teams through the “posting system,” which has traditionally been designed to get as much money as possible for the team while forcing the player to accept a below market-value contract. With Yu Darvish and every other Japanese player posted before this year, MLB teams entered a blind auction, with the auction winner giving millions to the NPB team and earning the exclusive right to sign their player. That’s why Yu Darvish, despite having nearly the same credentials as Tanaka, signed a contract worth a hundred million dollars less, because once the Rangers had paid their posting fee, he had to either sign with them or stay in Japan.

This year, the posting system became much more player-friendly. The Japanese team names a posting fee (with a max of $20 million), and any MLB team willing to pay that much gets a right to negotiate a contract with the player, with only the player’s eventual team having to actually pay the fee. So Tanaka got to enjoy the attention of virtually every Major League team, as they all squabbled and fought over who could give him the biggest contract. He could even theoretically choose a smaller contract if he wanted to play for a certain team, as many people thought he might when rumors insisted that his wife Mai Satoda wanted to live on the Pacific coast. Early reports suggest that he did however choose the largest contract, as the Yankees outbid the Dodgers, Cubs, White Sox, and Astros to secure Ma-kun.

So, the money, the glory, the city, and the probable playoff games are what called Tanaka to the Yankees. What Japanese person doesn’t want to go to New York, though? The only thing that could be possibly more tempting is the Angels’ proximity to Disney Land.

What Will Tanaka Do In The MLB?

Okay, so Tanaka might have lit Japan up with his split-finger fastball, but the NPB is not the MLB. Major League Baseball dropouts Wladimir Balentien and Matt Murton have the single-season home runs and hits records in Japan, so it’s not as strong a league. Every Japanese pitcher has seen their stats drop as they come into the MLB, but how much? Tanaka could afford to drop a half-point of ERA and still be the best pitcher in the American League next year. And Tanaka is, after all, still only 25 years old, and baseball players traditionally peak in their age 27 season. How will he pitch?

One site specializes in projecting Japanese players’ stats for if they joined the MLB, and it lays out the following statline for Masahiro Tanaka: 8.8 strikeouts per 9 innings pitched, 2.9 walks/9, and a 3.59 ERA. This statline would make him ace-quality, but not anywhere near the god-quality he had in Japan, and not as good as fellow Japanese international Yu Darvish has been in the States.

Baseball stat site Fangraphs raises a few more questions about Tanaka: Will his thousands of high-stress pitches in high school wear out his arm too soon? And will his relative lack of strikeouts for a pitcher so dominant hurt him in the MLB, where what used to be ground balls in Japan may now become line drives and home runs? It remains to be seen, and now I’ll be forced to watch Yankees games to find out. Welcome to the MLB, Masahiro Tanaka. Welcome to the MLB…

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Hibito, on the left, has become the first Japanese to land on the moon, while his older brother, Mutta, chases after to becoming an astronaut himself.

Space Brothers won some notable manga awards, and has recently been turned into a live-action film and an anime series— so it’s definitely increased the attention on Japan’s role in space exploration, which is mainly guided by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

Photo by Kirt Cathy.

But a manga alone isn’t the only thing increasing attention over Japan’s role in space exploration— or specifically, Japan’s leadership role in space!

Coming this March, the International Space Station (ISS) will have its first Japanese astronaut as the commander of the ship!

But before we get into this future head honcho, I asked myself, who was the first Japanese man in space? Who was the first Japanese woman? Who was the first Japanese to spacewalk? I thought it’d be interesting to touch upon some of the “firsts” in space for Japanese people and see some of their awesome, out of this world (literally) accomplishments.

First Japanese Man- or Men- in Space?

So I think it’s a given that we should identify who the first Japanese person was to go to space.

Except I have come to the realization that this is kind of hard to determine.

It really depends on how you define “first” and if you consider Japanese ethnicity or citizenship.

If you want to know who the first person of Japanese ethnicity (regardless of citizenship) to fly to space, then it would probably be Great Astronaut Onizuka Ellison Shoji Onizuka, a NASA astronaut and the first Japanese American (and the first Asian American) to reach space.

Photo by NASA

Onizuka went to space for the first time on space shuttle Discovery’s mission STS-51C in 1985. But most remember him as being part of the crew of space shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986 that killed Onizuka and six other astronauts shortly after launch.

A tribute monument for Onizuka in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles. Photo credit Sam Howzit

But if you want to know who the first Japanese person with Japanese citizenship to reach space was, then it would be Akiyama Toyohiro.

BUT HE WASN’T AN ASTRONAUT.

Photo credit famille.sebile

Toyohiro was actually a journalist who was working under Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) when he was chosen in 1989 to train for a commercial flight to the Mir space station, which was maintained by the Soviet Union at the time. According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, the Soviets claim to have received 14 million dollars for his flight, and TBS is expected to have spent about 20 million dollars for Toyohiro to fly and report about life in outer space for 8 days. That’s a really expensive first commercial spaceflight!

I actually had no idea that a journalist was the first person of Japanese citizenship to reach space— but as a space enthusiast myself, it kind of gives me hope that someday, I too, will maybe be able to go to space…

Okay, so Who’s the First Astronaut of Japanese Citizenship to Reach Space?

Growing up in Japan, I remember constantly hearing this guy’s name as the first Japanese astronaut— so I guess it was natural that I didn’t really know who the aforementioned journalist was.

Photo by McGill Research and International Relations

Mamoru Mohri was a Japanese astronaut selected by Japan’s National Space Development Agency (NASDA, before it was renamed to JAXA) in 1985. He was eventually chosen as the first Japanese national astronaut to board space shuttle Endeavor’s mission in 1992. Growing up, I remember everyone referring to him fondly as Mohri-san, the first to represent Japan in outer space. Because of US and Russia’s clear dominance in space exploration, Mohri-san boarding the Endeavor was considered to be a big honor and a step for Japan to continue building their influence in space exploration.

Mohri-san influences Hibito and Mutta in their dream to becoming astronauts.

Mohri-san can even be found in the aforementioned anime Space Brothers as a critical role in influencing the two protagonist to become astronauts. Mohri-san continues to be revered to this day by many Japanese, old and young.

First Japanese Woman in Space

So we’ve exhausted our debate on who the first Japanese male in space was. What about female?

Photo by NASA

Chiaki Mukai, or Dr. Chiaki Mukai, was the first Japanese female to go to space. Before becoming an astronaut, she worked as a cardiovascular surgeon. In 1985 she was selected by NASDA as an astronaut along with Mohri-san, and flew off to space in 1994 on space shuttle Columbia.

Seeing as female astronauts was not as common back then (let alone a Japanese one), Mukai may have inspired many Japanese women to take on the dream of becoming astronauts themselves, or getting involved in science-related fields. Her life as an astronaut has been made into a drama as well, and along with Mohri-san, she continues to be respected by many Japanese.

First Japanese to Spacewalk

Space walks are the trippiest things ever. I mean, just the thought of being flown to space gives me the chills (in a good way), but, being outside? Exposed to space? Now that must be an experience.

So who was the lucky Japanese guy that got to be the first space walker? His name is Takao Doi, and while he no longer is an active astronaut with JAXA, he continues to work in space-related fields.

Photo by Giving to Rice University

Doi was chosen as an astronaut by NASDA in 1985, along with Mohri-san and Dr. Mukai. I guess 1985 was a big year for NASDA, having chosen some of the earliest Japanese astronauts. Doi flew to space on space shuttle Columbia in 1997 and conducted Extravehicular Activities (EVA), dubbed by many as “space walks”. Through two space walks he logged close to 13 hours in outer space, and became the first Japanese to do so.

Doi-san is all smiles in outer space.

Doi, no longer an active astronaut, began working at his appointment in 2009 at the United Nations’ Office of Outer State Affairs (UNOOSA).

And last but most relevant to current news…

First Japanese Commander of the International Space Station (ISS)

First Japanese man (or men) in space, first women, first space walk… Japanese astronauts have come quite far in manned space exploration, and Japan will finally have their own astronaut, Koichi Wakata, be the first commander of the International Space Station (ISS) this March— and he’s in space right now as I write this!

Astronaut Wakata as he boarded the Soyuz rocket in November, along with the Sochi Olympic torch.

Wakata, chosen by NASDA in 1992 as an astronaut candidate, flew to space for the first time in 1996 on board space shuttle Endeavor. He’s flown to space quite a lot and has been on four space shuttle missions. He’s quite the veteran, getting the job done up in space, but he’s recently been known to have created some fun light painting photos in zero-gravity, which he tweeted.

He’s been hailed by Japanese space enthusiasts as stepping up the leadership role for Japan in space exploration. I suppose you could say he’s going through a bit of celebrity-phase right now— the guy has his own biographical manga now for kids that aspire to become astronauts like himself.

There’s Much More…

These astronauts are very famous and well-regarded as paving a way for some of the “firsts” in space for Japan, but they’re certainly not the only ones contributing to space exploration. JAXA recently selected three new astronauts, two of which have already been assigned on a mission in the near future. I’m positive that in the future, we’ll see these currently active astronauts continue to represent Japan and make some remarkable accomplishments of their own!

Everybody wave!

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In this post I want to take a look at the kanji that best represented Japan in 2013, starting with #1 and working my way down. There were actually way more than seven “top” kanji, but I thought things started getting a bit shaky so I stopped there. Alright, let’s start with the best. You already know what it is!

#1 輪 (Rin/Wa/Ring)

The kanji 輪 (りん・ring) received 9,518 votes making it this year’s kanji winner. There are a couple of reasons why it was chosen:

1. The five rings of the Olympic Games. Tokyo won the bid for the 2020 Olympics this year, so there’ll be a lot of rings all over the place for the next six years.
2. The hope for “circle/ring of support” expansion for those in recovery areas after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.

So who chose this kanji to be Japan’s number one kanji of 2013? The award itself is actually put out by the Japanese Kanji Proficiency Society every year and has been going on for the last 19 years. Does the name of the society sound familiar? It should. They’re the ones who created the world’s most terrifying and ultimate kanji test: Kanji Kentei.

They don’t really make the decision, though. People send in votes on what they think the best kanji for the year is. That means there are runner-up kanji to look at. To me, this is a great way to look back on the year to see what happened… not only news, but emotions as well. Since one kanji can mean multiple things to different people based on context, it’s a fun way to take a trip through tiiimmmmmeeee~!

#2 楽 (Raku)

Although this kanji typically refers to concepts such as “ease” or “fun” or “enjoyment,” this time the kanji 楽 is referring to the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, the Japanese baseball team that won the Nippon Professional Baseball League Championship, besting the evil Yomiuri Giants. It probably also helped that this was their first championship. If only the Mariners could take note. *sigh*

They also had ace Masahiro Tanaka on their team, who went an incredible 24-0 with a 1.27 ERA. He came in to close the final game of the championship series after pitching 160 pitches in a loss the day before. In case you’re not a baseball fan, I can tell you now… that’s nuts. So, a combination of Tanaka’s exploits along with being winners of the NPB Championship garnered enough votes for 楽 to come in 2nd place.

#3 倍 (Bai/Times)

If you read our post on the Japanese memes of 2013, you may notice something familiar… Meme #3, “__bai gaeshi da!” This comes from a very popular 2013 TV drama, Hanzawa Naoki. The main character (Hanzawa Naoki) works at the Tokyo Chuo Bank and climbs his way up the corporate ladder. On the way, he meets up with corruption, scandal, and nasty people. People do bad things to him… but, he has a way to deal with it. Anything that someone does to him he returns X amount of times.

yararetara yarikaesu, __baigaeshi da!
If I am wronged, I will return it X times!

This is a tagline all throughout the show. The amount of times he threatens to return the punishment goes up and up. 2x. 5x. 10x. 100x. The guy is nuts, to say the least, though this show did really, really well in Japan, which may explain how the kanji 倍 (which is a multiplier, i.e. 2x, 5x, and 10x) made it to third place.

I can’t imagine what this kanji will do next year for being wronged by only receiving third place.

#4 東 (Tou/Higashi/East)

A lot has happened in the “East” part of Japan. Tokyo (東京, the Eastern Capital) was chosen to host the 2020 Olympics. Also, the Touhoku Rakuten Golden Eagles (Touhoku means northeast) won the NPB championships. It was all about East Japan this year. None of that west Japan garbage. Eww. Gross.

#5 風 (Fuu/Kaze/Wind)

The kanji 風, aka “wind,” was voted into the #5 slot due to the large number of typhoons the country / world experienced. There were 31 total storms, 13 typhoons, and 5 super typhoons this year (worldwide). It was an unusually bad typhoon season, which I guess is why “wind” is on people’s minds this year.

#6 決 (Ketsu/Decision)

Wow, can’t stop thinking about the Olympics, can you people? The kanji 決 (decision) comes from the decision that Tokyo would host the 2020 Olympics. It also comes from making it into the World Cup, Mt. Fuji becoming a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and various other decisions being made in or about Japan. If you ask me, voting for this kanji is a cop out, because seriously, there are always decisions being made.

#7 今 (Ima)

Another kanji that came from 2013′s best Japanese memes, 今 (ima/now) comes from 今でしょう and refers to Osamu Hayashi, a teacher who was in a commercial for Toshin High School, which is a cram school focused on preparing students for university entrance exams. In the commercial, Toshin High School shows actual teachers teaching. Osamu Hayashi struck a cord with all of Japan due to his catchphrase:

itsu yaru ka? Ima deshou!
When will you do it? Right now!

This got turned into all kinds of other things, including a commercial for Toyota.

It’s also a good message for people, I think. The idea is to get people off their lazy butts to go do something they should be doing. It’s a good message for any year’s kanji, I think.

Your Kanji Of 2013?

I feel like everybody has their own special kanji of 2013. Imagine you’re your own kanji-using country and inside of you is an entire Japanese Kanji Proficiency Society with a ton of blood vessels, organs, molecules, cells, and so on who vote for their kanji of the year, based off your own life and experiences. What would your kanji of 2013 be? I’ve made a list of Tofugu’s Kanji of the year.

#1 鰐 (Alligator)

WaniKani‘s 1 year anniversary took place at some point, and we finished the main 50 levels. A lot of new features have come to WaniKani too, including client-side reviews (which means near-instant answer validation), vacation mode, new lessons, custom notes, and so much more has been added. There’s a long way to go, but this was the year of the Crabigator for sure.

#2 蟹 (Crab)

Because you can’t have a Crabigator without the crab.

#3 豚 (Pig)

The Tofugu team went to the Philippines to meet up with another member of the Tofugu team, Aya (our incredible illustrator). We ate a ton of lechon, which is made from pig.

#4 熊 (Bear)

2013 introduced the EtoEto Bear, possibly also known as Kumaman, which is the mascot of a product we haven’t quite released yet. There was a crappy little test version of the site where we could get some feedback and try things out, but I think we’ll see 熊 rise in the ranks of Tofugu’s Kanji Of The Year awards in 2014 when he reveals his full form… which could get gross, considering his lack of pants. For now, you see him in a lot of post illustrations.

#5 所 (Place)

We got a place! Or, an office, but I couldn’t really think of a good kanji for “office.” Moving out of my apartment and into an actual place was one of the nicest things we did this year. Plus, giant whiteboard walls and a mural. Hard to beat that.

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There you go, kind of boring but we’ll take what we can get. Now think about your own personal kanji of the year. What kanji best represents your year and why? Post the kanji, its meaning, and an explanation in the comments below.

Bonus Wallpapers!

[2560 x 1600] [1280 x 800]

Sources:

• 2013 Kanji Of The Year: “Rin” Takes The Ring
• Kanji Of The Year
• 2013 年「今年の漢字 年「今年の漢字®」第 1 位は 「輪」

And it’s even more difficult when you are told, ‘Just for now, give me some space, OK?’ by someone you love so much, because you still don’t understand a lot of things that have happened. That is the situation between us, the viewers, and the former show, Attack on Titan. Even though we’ve all read some sneak peeks in the actual comic books or on the blog sites filled with ネタバレ (neta-bare), meaning spoilers, there are still so many unanswered questions since the original manga hasn’t finished, yet.

Now imagine, how would you feel if they never resumed the show and you were never actually able to find out what happens? Well, I would quickly bypass the first of the five stages of grief and be so freaking outraged if that happened. I’d probably stay in this stage for a good long while and hope that there are enough people in the production world to do the all the bargaining, for me and every other fan, to get the series back up and running. If all negotiations failed, I don’t think I would ever move on from the depression stage because this scenario is simply unacceptable. I’m pretty sure that many of you would feel the same.

Cold Cases In Japan Itching Our Teeth

However, there are actually so many mysteries in Japan that forever itches our teeth. Sorry if I confused you by saying ‘itches our teeth’. We use a phrase ‘歯がゆい (ha-gayui)’ which means ‘to have itchy teeth’ therein expressing that you are irritated and tantalized. According to a database made by Seesaawiki, the amount of unsolved homicide cases which happened in Japan between December, 1948 and July, 2013 is 537.

Although Japan abolished the statute of limitation for murder in 2010, the 216 incidents which had happened before the law was enacted remain cold as further investigation into those cases have seized, 迷宮入りした (meikyuuiri-shita). As you know, we can’t even tolerate an anime series ending without revealing its secret, so these real cases still bother so many people, as is verifiable with the amount of discussion about these cases on the internet.

This is just a heads up and I’m not going to introduce every incident here, but will introduce one of the creepiest ones that I’ve come across recently. This one is actually still itching my teeth because I somehow feel as if I’m involved in it. Why do I feel this way? Well, keep reading and you’ll see. I’m also hoping to teach you some creepy words in the article.

[box type="alert"]However, if you don’t like horror stories, please close your eyes now![/box]

Kyoto-Nagaokakyo: Women Collecting Bracken Murder

This murder case, 殺人事件 (satsujin-jiken), happened on May 23, 1979. Following their work shifts and at 10am that day, Mrs. Mieko Mizuno (32 years old) and Mrs. Hideko (or could be Eiko) Akashi (43 years old), two women who worked together at the Izumiya grocery store, went to collect some brackens (ferns) on their bicycles at a small bamboo forested hill called Nohara in Okukaiji, an area of Nagaokakyo city.

This hill was a place that families enjoyed collecting wild edible plants or bamboo shoots and going to for picnics, whereas some rape crimes had happened there before the murder because there were rarely many people around. This was a very familiar place to Akashi as she had collected brackens in this place for many years. On this day, however, she never returned from that hill and neither did her friend Mizuno. Mizuno was supposed to pick her son up at a nursery that day, so when she didn’t show up, her family submitted a 捜索願 (sousaku-negai) to the police, which means ‘a request for the police to search for someone’.

The police found their 死体 (shitai), meaning dead bodies, near the top of the hill two days later. Akashi’s cause of death was being stabbed in the heart by an all-purpose knife and Mizuno’s was strangulation. Their belongings, such as their cash, wristwatches, empty bento boxes and collections of bracken, were still in their backpacks. Due to that, alongside with the results of 検死 (kenshi) meaning an autopsy, the police estimated that their time of death occurred between noon and 2:30pm on May 23.

What Creeps People Out

The memo written by Akashi

What creeps people out is that there was a receipt from the Izumiya grocery store found in the right pocket of Akashi’s jeans. It was crumpled up into a ball and had scribbled writing that said ‘オワレている たすけて下さい この男の人わるい人’ (owareteiru tasukete kudasai kono otoko no hito warui hito) which means ‘Being followed. Please help. This guy is a bad guy.’ The police found the lead tip of the pencil in the earth about 17 meters away from the corpse, but they were never able to find the pencil it came from.

Moreover, both women had bruises, seemingly from a series of punches and kicks, so the police assumed the criminal had some knowledge of karate or some other martial art. As for Akashi, she had 30 bruises along with nine broken ribs and a lacerated liver. Although her shirt showed some rips and tears in it, her jeans were still on properly. However, some semen was detected on her.

As for Mizuno, she had over 50 bruises. The National Research Institute of Police Sciences assessed a hair that was found on Mizuno’s body and determined that the criminal’s blood type was O. When she was found, her pants had been  taken off, her underwear and pantyhose were entangling on her legs and some branches had been inserted into her genitals, but no semen was found. The knife wound which entered through her chest pierced her lung and her heart. There is also a rumor that both of the women also had their achilles’ tendons cut to prevent them from running away, but it’s not confirmed.

Who Did It? -Nobody Knows.

Although the single hair suggested that there was only one man involved, additionally as the murders occurred during the day and there were two adult female victims, police also investigated this case with the possibility that the criminal did not act alone.

The murder weapon, 凶器 (kyouki), was the only 遺留品 (iryuuhin), thing left behind, but there was no 指紋 (shimon), fingerprints, on the knife. It was clear that the knife was one of about 70,000 knives made in Gifu prefecture, but the police couldn’t find out how it had come to the criminal. They ended up putting 25,000 officers on the hill and they found out that the criminal wore short shoes and was a strong guy. On the day of the murder, and since it was the season for collecting wild edible plants, 15 to 16 people were on the hill and 5 to 6 cars were parked at the bottom. Some residential construction was going on that day and about 40 workers from Osaka were there, too.

There were several suspects in this case. The delinquent young men K and M, who worked as construction helpers, were witnessed rushing down the hill shortly after the time of death. K had some experience in karate and often went to the hill on his bicycle. However, they had a perfect alibi on the day.

The other suspects were 25 and 30 year old men who went to the hill roughly 10 minutes after the women had, but the police couldn’t uncover who they were except for that they were wearing white shirts and jeans. There was also one strange man, who was reported one year prior to the incident for asking one of the women, “Hi madam. Have you got some brackens?” while holding a 30 cm long knife at the time. He was 40 to 45 years old, 170 cm tall and was wearing gray work clothes. The police weren’t able to track this man down, either.

There were also some leather shoe prints near the murder scene. There was record of an odd middle aged man who talked to the women 6 days before the murder wearing those shoes and even with a forensic sketch artist putting a face to the man’s description, police were not able to find him.

The Additional Story

The incident was already awful enough, but what really made me shudder was the additional story connected to this case. It’s not confirmed but it is purported that the police and the press had an agreement to withhold revealing the existence of another woman in order to prevent her from being harmed. Still, many people do believe that there was a third woman involved, who for some reason came back down the hill before the crime occurred.

However, on May 16th, 1984, 5 years after the murder, the third woman was killed. Her body was found on the main floor of her wooden home following a house fire. This fire was isolated to the first floor because of the quick response of the fire department to a call placed by this woman’s neighbor. She was found face down with a deep gash underneath her left ear and had over ten cuts on her back. Blood splatter residue was found on both floors of her house.

The criminal killed her by putting a bunch of blankets on her back and setting them on fire. The police also found bruising on her neck indicating that she had also been strangled. Once again, the police found DNA samples and were able to determine that the criminal’s blood was type-O, but they were never able to locate this man. This murder happened somewhere within one block of Koutari Nagaokakyo, Kyoto.

What Creeps Me Out More

That last sentence is the reason why I feel as if I’m somehow connected or involved in this. That’s the exact area in which my husband and I used to live. Creepy, isn’t it? Although it is more of an urban legend that both murders were related, it is true that this horrible homicide happened right beside our house or, an even more rattling possibility, that our house could have been the actual house in which it occurred. The statutes of limitations ran out on both of these cases and they remain unsolved to this day. Now my teeth are very itchy!

So, what are your thoughts on the ‘Kyoto-Nagaokakyo: Women Collecting Bracken Murder’?

I personally think that it’s undoubtedly one of the creepiest cases in Japan. Would you want to visit and explore the area, or would it be too scary? Would you be willing to collect wild plants in the bamboo forest if someone dared you? Have you even heard of this place before? Do you know any creepy unsolved murder cases which happened in your country? Are there any eerie or creepy words you would like to know how to say in Japanese? Let us know in the comments below!