Tom Cruise has had a special day named in his honor in Japan. According to the Japan Memorial Day Association, he was awarded with his own day because of his love for and close association with Japan.
Cruise's film, The Last Samurai, grossed $117 million more in Japan than it did in the US. The actor has paid more visits to the country than any other major Hollywood star and spends hours on end with fans in the country.
His public relations tour of Japan last spring to promote Mission: Impossible III included a trip on the bullet train from Osaka to Tokyo, during which he had his photo taken with more than 100 fans. During that trip, Cruise told the press he wanted to shoot the next installment in the action series in Japan.
The Association noted that Cruise is the first Hollywood star to receive this honor.
wtf....that's news to me...
guess the Japanese loving Tom is an understatement...
If you ever get a chance to go...you'll flip out on how bland and uninspired most of the buildings in the US are in comparison to examples in Tokyo.
yeah..far out some of them...
i remember riding the shinkansen and getting a glimpse of a weird looking Love Hotel from time to time.....the Statue of Liberty ....some weird building you wouldn't see around here....
and i remember seeing some other weird buildings in Tokyo...
Now add Toto toilets to the list of brand-name fixtures that have become must-haves for fashionable homes.
The Japanese-brand toilets, which range in price from about $250 to $5,200, have a reputation for clearing their bowls with one flush and never needing a plunger.
Demand for the cheapest Totos has grown so quickly that interior designers, architects and builders used to waiting no more than a couple of weeks for Toto's Carusoe or Dalton models now must wait six weeks to six months.
"They've created this huge demand, and I'm not sure they can fill it," said Julie Koch, owner of Elegant Additions, a Houston kitchen & bath trade show room.
Customers don't buy Totos for their looks.
The exterior design of most is not that radically different from commodes made by U.S.-based competitors Kohler and American Standard. But the guts of a Toto are another story.
"If you go to one of our toilets and you open up the tank, what you notice first and foremost is that nothing looks the same," said David Krakoff, vice president of sales for Toto USA.
What you won't see in all but one of Toto's 25 models is the customary ball cock - a lever attached to a floating sphere that opens a valve when lowered and closes it when lifted.
You also won't find a lot of moving parts.
Just about all the mechanics in Totos differ from the technology in toilets produced by U.S. manufacturers, Krakoff said.
That's especially evident in some of Toto's commercial models.
The battery-operated automatic flushers, for example, generate their own electricity every time water spins their small internal turbines.
The most lavish residential Toto - the NeoRest - has a heated seat, an automated lid opener and closer, self-cleaning and self-flushing systems, a washing and drying cycle that eliminates the need for toilet paper and a $5,200 price tag.
No-frills versions, such as the Carusoe and the Dalton, retail for about $260, making them a relatively low-cost buy that adds a patina of prestige to an oft-overlooked bit of home decor.
The market leader in Japan, Toto did not export its low-flow, water-conserving toilets to America until 1989 when California required new home toilets to flush with only 1.6 gallons of water instead of the standard 3.5 gallons.
Other states followed, forcing toilet makers to cut a deal with environmental groups in 1992 to get a uniform national standard.
The federal law banning the "procurement and installation" of water-guzzling toilets took effect in 1994 for homes and 1998 for businesses.
Despite helping to craft the law, toilet manufacturers said the short time frame from the law's passage to effectiveness allowed them only to reconfigure existing toilet lines rather than engineer new products that used less water.
That left a lot of people double and triple flushing and seeking better toilet options.
To make shopping for high-efficiency toilets easier, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will soon give out its WaterSense seal of approval to 1.28-gallon-tank toilets that pass a flush test.
The WaterSense program was expected to go into effect in August.
However, industry experts have asked the agency to re-examine its specifications for materials used in the flush test.
Joined: 15 Jun 2004 Posts: 46182 Location: Los Skandolous, California Country:
Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2006 1:52 am Post subject:
English teaching DVDs get low down and dirty
Shukan Jitsuwa (10/26)
"Eiki-mae ryugaku" (study abroad in front of the train station) is the slogan of a certain chain of English conversation schools, the implication being that one can "go overseas" and master a foreign language without ever leaving Japan's shores.
Fuhgeddaboudid, says Shukan Jitsuwa (10/26), affecting the Brooklyn dialect. Using conventional learning methods, there are some things you're simply not going to acquire by staying home.
One of these is knowing how to ask a sexy blonde to give you a blow job. Or about her favorite position in bed.
But now, thanks to "English by the DTM method," you can acquire these and other useful "Ero English" phrases for use in the unlikely eventuality that you encounter a blonde while on the prowl.
DTM stands for Direct Translation Method. But it might as well mean Dirty Talk Method. Here's a few examples of what you can learn from the sexy supermodel instructions that appear on a pair of DVDs that went on sale in September.
"Okay, students, now repeat after me:
- "What is your favorite position?" -- "I'm going to take you to heaven."-- "That's [sic] feels good. I'm cumming!"
Two discs -- named "Nancy" (beginner) and Rachel (intermediate) -- sell for 12,000 and 14,000 yen, or 19,800 yen for the set of two.
In a nutshell, the DTM learning method involves a learn-as-you-go approach to comprehension. Developed by a university professor (unnamed here), the method has begun to attract growing numbers of language learners.
As one example, when Japanese are taught the phrase "I love you," it is translated to them in natural Japanese syntax with the verb at the end, i.e., "Watashi wa anata wo aishiteimasu." But DTM translates the phrase using the English pattern of subject-verb-object: "Watashi ga, aishiteru no wa, anata desu" (literally, "As for me, the [thing that] I am loving, is you"). While appearing somewhat disjointed, this succeeds in conveying the way English is expressed more accurately than traditional methods.
What about the more risque contents, you ask?
"From the results of a survey we conducted, most of the buyers have been men between the ages of 30 to 60," a PR spokesperson for DTM tells Shukan Jitsuwa. "These customers have also indicated their preference for materials that are more adult oriented (i.e., with sexual contents). So we decided to produce the two DVDs."
After rehearsing their lines from the discs, presumably these thirtyish to fiftyish Japanese will head for one of Tokyo's so-called "gaikokujin pubs," where blonde-haired, blue-eyed ladies hang out, and after a self introduction and a few preliminaries, deliver their pitch.
And who knows? If their delivery is polished enough, some might even go for it.
"Japanese men of all generations are easy prey for blondes," says Tomoyuki Abe, a director and performer in his own adult videos. "The main factor that keeps Japanese men from making it with them is the language barrier. If they can learn how to deliver their lines right, it might just work."
Both the beginner and intermediate DVDs feature five scenarios. First the actors mouth their lines with no supplementary information, to develop their aural comprehension skills. The dialogs are repeated. Then the scenes are shown once again with English subtitles. Then finally, the English appears with a Japanese translation.
Among other things, Shukan Jitsuwa points out, the DVDs wean Japanese away from their own English word borrowings by putting terms such as "breasts" or "tits" (not "basuto"), or "butt" and "ass" (not "hippu") into their properly idiomatic perspectives. Some terms might add to the confusion, however. "Rodo" is introduced not as a paved surface, but as "semen" (load).
Those interested in acquiring such er, learning materials should seek out the DVDs titled "Kore nara Dakizu ni Eikaiwa. Amerkajin Onechan wo Eigo de Kudoite H Suru?" (With this, you won't tire of conversational English. Can you get laid by amorously approaching an American gal in English?") (By Masuo Kamiyama, People's Pick contributor)
Now add Toto toilets to the list of brand-name fixtures that have become must-haves for fashionable homes.
The Japanese-brand toilets, which range in price from about $250 to $5,200, have a reputation for clearing their bowls with one flush and never needing a plunger.
How you know you have too much money: You pay $5200 for a toilet.
Shukan Jitsuwa (10/26)
"Eiki-mae ryugaku" (study abroad in front of the train station) is the slogan of a certain chain of English conversation schools, the implication being that one can "go overseas" and master a foreign language without ever leaving Japan's shores.
Fuhgeddaboudid, says Shukan Jitsuwa (10/26), affecting the Brooklyn dialect. Using conventional learning methods, there are some things you're simply not going to acquire by staying home.
One of these is knowing how to ask a sexy blonde to give you a blow job. Or about her favorite position in bed.
But now, thanks to "English by the DTM method," you can acquire these and other useful "Ero English" phrases for use in the unlikely eventuality that you encounter a blonde while on the prowl.
DTM stands for Direct Translation Method. But it might as well mean Dirty Talk Method. Here's a few examples of what you can learn from the sexy supermodel instructions that appear on a pair of DVDs that went on sale in September.
"Okay, students, now repeat after me:
- "What is your favorite position?" -- "I'm going to take you to heaven."-- "That's [sic] feels good. I'm cumming!"
Two discs -- named "Nancy" (beginner) and Rachel (intermediate) -- sell for 12,000 and 14,000 yen, or 19,800 yen for the set of two.
In a nutshell, the DTM learning method involves a learn-as-you-go approach to comprehension. Developed by a university professor (unnamed here), the method has begun to attract growing numbers of language learners.
As one example, when Japanese are taught the phrase "I love you," it is translated to them in natural Japanese syntax with the verb at the end, i.e., "Watashi wa anata wo aishiteimasu." But DTM translates the phrase using the English pattern of subject-verb-object: "Watashi ga, aishiteru no wa, anata desu" (literally, "As for me, the [thing that] I am loving, is you"). While appearing somewhat disjointed, this succeeds in conveying the way English is expressed more accurately than traditional methods.
What about the more risque contents, you ask?
"From the results of a survey we conducted, most of the buyers have been men between the ages of 30 to 60," a PR spokesperson for DTM tells Shukan Jitsuwa. "These customers have also indicated their preference for materials that are more adult oriented (i.e., with sexual contents). So we decided to produce the two DVDs."
After rehearsing their lines from the discs, presumably these thirtyish to fiftyish Japanese will head for one of Tokyo's so-called "gaikokujin pubs," where blonde-haired, blue-eyed ladies hang out, and after a self introduction and a few preliminaries, deliver their pitch.
And who knows? If their delivery is polished enough, some might even go for it.
"Japanese men of all generations are easy prey for blondes," says Tomoyuki Abe, a director and performer in his own adult videos. "The main factor that keeps Japanese men from making it with them is the language barrier. If they can learn how to deliver their lines right, it might just work."
Both the beginner and intermediate DVDs feature five scenarios. First the actors mouth their lines with no supplementary information, to develop their aural comprehension skills. The dialogs are repeated. Then the scenes are shown once again with English subtitles. Then finally, the English appears with a Japanese translation.
Among other things, Shukan Jitsuwa points out, the DVDs wean Japanese away from their own English word borrowings by putting terms such as "breasts" or "tits" (not "basuto"), or "butt" and "ass" (not "hippu") into their properly idiomatic perspectives. Some terms might add to the confusion, however. "Rodo" is introduced not as a paved surface, but as "semen" (load).
Those interested in acquiring such er, learning materials should seek out the DVDs titled "Kore nara Dakizu ni Eikaiwa. Amerkajin Onechan wo Eigo de Kudoite H Suru?" (With this, you won't tire of conversational English. Can you get laid by amorously approaching an American gal in English?") (By Masuo Kamiyama, People's Pick contributor)
Joined: 15 Jun 2004 Posts: 46182 Location: Los Skandolous, California Country:
Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 12:42 am Post subject:
tabana wrote:
I want to teach that kind of English.
me, too Toshi
--------------------------------------------------
Japan and South Korea, friends again for now, conducted a joint marine survey around disputed islands the two countries nearly came to blows over in April.
However, it was reported that South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun lectured Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for 40 minutes about Yasukuni Shrine at their meeting earlier this month.
Joined: 27 Oct 2005 Posts: 5016 Location: Hong Kong Country:
Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 11:13 am Post subject:
KamakazeBettie wrote:
hmm.. nancy, then rachel, then maybe angalina is the advanced ed.
Maybe they have been mis-named. Personally I'll name them as follows:
Beginners - approaching blonds = Marilyn (Monroe)
Intermediate - asking for b-jobs = Monica (Lewinsky)
Advance - hard core stuff = Georgie (Bush)
The first 2 are fairly obvious. As for the 3rd, I thought it's appropriate since King George likes to go in hard and don't really care who he scr**ed, as his intelligence officiers in Guatalamo Bay demonstrated.
Joined: 19 Jun 2006 Posts: 11363 Location: �I�[�X�g�����A Country:
Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 11:18 am Post subject:
thtl wrote:
Maybe they have been mis-named. Personally I'll name them as follows:
Beginners - approaching blonds = Marilyn (Monroe)
Intermediate - asking for b-jobs = Monica (Lewinsky)
Advance - hard core stuff = Georgie (Bush)
The first 2 are fairly obvious. As for the 3rd, I thought it's appropriate since King George likes to go in hard and don't really care who he scr**ed, as his intelligence officiers in Guatalamo Bay demonstrated.
Joined: 15 Jun 2004 Posts: 46182 Location: Los Skandolous, California Country:
Posted: Thu Nov 02, 2006 11:30 pm Post subject:
the pride of Japan
Man steals 5,000 pairs of shoes to savor the odor
A police officer examines shoes confiscated from a warehouse rented by Masashi Kamata.
NAGOYA -- A man suspected of stealing about 5,000 pairs of shoes in order to enjoy their odor has been arrested, police said Wednesday.
"I was enjoying their smell," Masashi Kamata, 28, a resident of Moriyama-ku, Nagoya, was quoted as telling investigators. "Indoor shoes for school sexually stimulate me. I couldn't throw away the shoes I obtained."
In the specific case for which he was arrested, Kamata stole two pairs of shoes from a girl that were being dried on the premises of her home in Owariasahi, Aichi, in September last year.
Local police confiscated about 5,000 pairs of school indoor shoes for girls and boys from a warehouse he had rented in Moriyama-ku on Wednesday.
Police had received numerous complaints that indoor shoes have been stolen in Moriyama-ku and surrounding areas.
Investigators suspect that Kamata stole the shoes from shoe cabinets at schools and homes, and are trying to seek further charges against him. (Mainichi)
Joined: 15 Jun 2004 Posts: 46182 Location: Los Skandolous, California Country:
Posted: Thu Nov 02, 2006 11:34 pm Post subject:
innocent otakus: merely sexual abusers in training ^_^
Pesky perverts pry on otaku's dolled-up maids
Akihabara, the one-time electronics district that has been turned into a haven for otaku, has now become a hotbed of "maid hunting" as lowlifes go after the domestic servant-clad cosplayers so adored by Japan's geeks, according to Shukan Asahi (11/10).
"Maid hunting" involves muggers targeting the hundreds of cosplayers catering to the otaku liking for domestic servants, with a growing number of young women accosted on the streets of Akihabara in recent weeks, the weekly says.
An 18-year-old maid has filed a criminal complaint to the Metropolitan Police Department after she was waylaid in Akihabara on the night of Oct. 17.
She was dressed up in her maid's outfit and handing out pamphlets to people as they left Akihabara Station. A young, bespectacled man approached her and asked for directions to her establishment.
The maid accompanied him there, heading up the dimly lit, narrow staircase toward her second-floor diner when the man suddenly turned on her, thrusting a knife in her face and his hand into her knickers before kneading her breasts. He eventually ran away.
Another maid, also 18, says the attack was not an isolated one.
"There have been at least eight other girls who've been targeted by this guy. A month ago, the same guy grabbed my ass a few times as I walked up the stairs. I turned around and gave him a real mouthful and he ran away," the maid tells Shukan Asahi.
Ea Moetto, the maid caf? where the assaults are taking place, only became a maid haven by default. Originally, it was supposed to become a peep parlor where guys paid for a private cubicle to watch adult movies and, well, practice their handiwork.
"I'd bought 3,000 adult DVDs and was hoping to open the peep parlor, but the government wouldn't give me a license because there's a university about to open up (and adult businesses may not operate within a certain distance of educational institutions). I had no idea what to do, but then came up with the idea of making a maid caf? with private booths. I don't get as many otaku customers as I'd expected. Instead, it's mostly normal guys who find us a cheaper alternative to a cabaret club. On weekends, I get as many as 100 customers a day," the operator of the maid establishment tells Shukan Asahi.
Ea Moetto charges 2,500 yen for each 30-minute session with a maid in a private booth, where the customer and cosplayer engage in such pleasantries as sharing a cup of tea or massaging shoulders. For 6,000 yen an hour, the customer may also escort maids outside the store on "walks."
"We strictly forbid anything sexual from going on, but, like cabaret clubs, don't ban love if it happens," one of the club's employees tells Shukan Asahi. "We had one customer pay for a maid for seven hours, then took her out on a date to Tokyo Disneyland." (By Ryann Connell)
Joined: 15 Jun 2004 Posts: 46182 Location: Los Skandolous, California Country:
Posted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 12:39 am Post subject:
Japan's love affair with Audrey Hepburn
David Chester
Lithe, young, gazelle-like. Swathed in chiffon, dripping in diamonds. Those doe-like eyes, that movie star smile! Pretty as a picture — and dead as a doornail.
That�fs our Audrey. Audrey Hepburn, that is. And make no mistake about it: in Japan, Audrey is God. Anyone who has read Alan Brown�fs 1996 novel �gAudrey Hepburn�fs Neck�h is aware that Japan�fs �gAudrey complex�h pales only in comparison with some of its other �gfun�h obsessions: mazakon (�gmother,�h or Oedipus complex) and rorikon (Lolita complex). In other words, it�fs sick, twisted, weird — and guaranteed big business.
First, let�fs clear up the neck thing: In Japan, where women used to be encased in kimono, the exposed neck became something to wax erotic about. And let�fs face it, Audrey had one hell of a stem — silken, sexy and swanlike. Really, it�fs a surprise she didn�ft start a mass movement to join the giraffe women of the Padaung tribe.
Second, with her stick-like figure, brush-stroke eyebrows and dramatic bangs fringing a heart-shaped face, the actress was custom-made for worship here. In a country that goes through idols like a hay fever sufferer goes through tissues, Audrey�fs got staying power.
Her flicks are found in any DVD shop, with multiple copies on hand of �gRoman Holiday�h (the viewing of which seems to be a rite of passage for Japanese sweethearts). �gMoon River,�h the theme song to her 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany�fs, is played at more weddings, hotel lounges and hostess clubs than any other standard, except Disney�fs �gWhen You Wish Upon A Star.�h I know; I had to play it.
Where Audrey really packs a wallop, though, is in Japan�fs highly competitive advertising world. Her perfect pre-Julia Roberts face has been shamelessly exploited on posters for Berlitz language schools, Sabrina silk stockings, and a hideous �gwhite tea�h drink — for which the actress was digitally resurrected and placed in a Twilight Zone-esque commercial, where she offers the mucous-like substance to an unsuspecting towheaded boy. Yet her latest reincarnation, for Nicos credit cards, is perhaps the most disturbing.
Audrey�fs faithful 20-something female fans — who apparently believe they, too, will be forever frozen in time as thin, pretty, waif-like creatures — can choose cards with scenes from �gFunny Face,�h �gSabrina�h and, of course, �gRoman Holiday.�h That�fs the film in which Audrey, playing a renegade princess, flees from her evil advisors and has the time of her life making out with Gregory Peck. Hey, let�fs face it: Who wouldn�ft want to do that?
But it isn�ft just advertisers that have relied on Audrey to inject some snap, crackle and pop into the lives of stressed-out Tokyoites. Major corporations have also tried to siphon off some of the actress�f sparkle in order to motivate their slaves. At least, that�fs the way it seemed when I did a temp stint as a �glanguage consultant�h at a well-known petrochemical corporation. There, inside the main office, staring down on hundreds of Japanese worker bees, was a Tiananmen Square-size poster of Audrey. In her strapless black gown and a string of pearls, gentle messages of love and hope beaming down from her twinkling tiara, she was, in a word, mesmerizing. Bizarrely, next to this almighty likeness was a slightly smaller poster of Vivien Leigh, who, though she�fs had her moments (but only as Scarlett), has never achieved the Buddha-like status of Audrey.
While I�fve always liked Ms Funny Face, I never worshipped her, so the poster troubled me. I asked a Japanese colleague what made this famous, dead, Dutch-English actress a role model for supposedly alive Japanese women of the 21st century.
�gAudrey,�h he intoned, as if he had just finished writing a thesis on her, �gwas pretty, but she wasn�ft beautiful. She was small and thin, like many Japanese women. She wasn�ft threatening, and they feel they could be her.�h
Hmm. Well, maybe they can. But it�fs going to take a lot more than waving personalized credit cards in clerks�f bewildered faces. A good start would be heading over to the MUFG bank right outside exit B5 of Omotesando station.
There, too, fans can see Audrey — but a slightly different one than the giggly girlish gamine we�fve all come to love. What they�fll find is a photo of a frail, thin senior citizen who, in her role as special ambassador to UNICEF, is holding a frail, thin, sick African child. The look of sadness and hopelessness in her eyes shows that Audrey knew life is much more complicated and challenging than just being pretty and going shopping.
So, perhaps being Audrey Hepburn is a step in the right direction for young Japanese women. Maybe they can change the world after all—once they finish paying off the debts they�fll accrue with their Audrey credit cards.
David Chester is a Tokyo-based songwriter, musician and screenwriter.
Joined: 15 Jun 2004 Posts: 46182 Location: Los Skandolous, California Country:
Posted: Sun Nov 05, 2006 7:24 am Post subject:
Rift between acting pair Nakamura, Takeuchi tops entertainment rankings
Shido Nakamura, left, and Yuko TakeuchiThe showbiz gossip mill went into overdrive this week, as a rift between kabuki actor Shido Nakamura and actress Yuko Takeuchi that reportedly resulted in Takeuchi sending Nakamura divorce papers topped the MSN-Mainichi Interactive's entertainment rankings for the week from Oct. 27 to Nov. 2.
News on the couple appeared ahead of an article on young actress Aoi Miyazaki revealing the existence of a mystery beau to the audience at a movie screening.
On Nov. 1, the Sports Nippon (Sponichi) daily and other papers reported that Nakamura and Takeuchi were in danger of getting divorced. Sponichi said Takeuchi had sent sealed divorce papers to Nakamura sometime before the beginning of this month.
In a Sponichi article the next day, it was reported that Takeuchi had been disturbed by a date between Nakamura and actress Saki Takaoka after photos were published in a magazine in October. A series of scandals involving Nakamura also reportedly involved him ignoring a traffic light while driving under the influence -- and having actress Aya Okamoto in the car with him at the time.
Neither Nakamura nor Takeuchi offered direct comments, and their future remains uncertain, but gossip over the two stars looks likely to continue.
In the second most popular Japanese language entertainment article during the week, young actress Aoi Miyazaki turned up at a screening of a movie she appears in called "Tada, Kimi o Ai Shiteru" (Heavenly Forest). The movie's Japanese title literally translates as "I just love you," and when Miyazaki was asked if she was in love she replied, "Yes," stirring speculation as to the identity of Miyazaki's main squeeze.
Also featured in entertainment news was pinup model Ai Hayami, who won top prize in the "No. 2 Hikaru Nishida" contest. The model gained attention when she appeared in a fairy outfit for the release of a new DVD. Actress Nao Matsushita also picked up the hits when she talked in an interview about her first solo album. (Mainichi)
Click here for the original Japanese story
November 4, 2006
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