Topic: Questions for the NWR Japan crew

[S-U-P-E-R]

Yeah, definitely holler if you can find a pizza for that sort of ridiculously low price.

Also, what city/prefecture are y'all in?

[MegaByte]

Do you have any perspective on this situation?

[oohhboy]

When I was in Japan I had a run in with the Yakuza in Ikebukuro. A bunch of us were coming out blind drunk from "dinner", heading towards Karaoke for more drink. One of us were more drunk than the rest of us and he decided to judo throw a man sized traffic cone place there to convert the road to a pedestrian thoroughfare at night. Unfortunately, on top of the cone happen to have a jacket owned by the local Yakuza member. A group of them boil out of nearby buildings in a very noisy fashion. I quickly get tapped on the shoulder by a friend and one word comes out of his mouth "Yakuza".

I managed to straighten myself some which is a small miracle considering how drunk I was. There were a lot of shouting, demands are made. Someone was going to get hurt right there, right now if someone didn't apologize. After a very tense minute of rapid fire apologizes with much bowing from one of us they let us be on our way.

Looking back, in a sense they were doing society a favor by help keeping the local order. But they weren't cops, they had no rules or guidelines as to how to act. No real accountability other to themselves. Only there to keep order out of their own self interests, not for the public good. In the end they are not much more than thugs from a bygone era doing something real cops should have been doing.

I can tell you exactly what the cops were doing that night. They were sitting inside their well lit police box. The Japanese police are legendary in their uselessness and that might have change in the past decade to the point they can finally be an effective agent for order, supplanting the Yakuza in that role.

I have a question for the crew. How much TV do you watch if any. What shows stand out to you and why? Are they still showing Friends in Japanese?

[BlackNMild2k1]

Do you have any perspective on this situation?

When I clicked the link, I thought that was a young Hiroshi Yamauchi in the pic.
"Nintendo.... the early days"

[famicomplicated]

RE: The Yazuka


It's a funny and tricky situation indeed, do their "good deeds" outweigh the intensely illegal/evil things they do? Probably not. Is the Japanese government doing enough to curtail them? Probably not!
They are only openly visible in certain places in Tokyo, for most people (myself included) we hardly ever see them or know they exist.
There are many things that happen in Japan "because that's how it's always been done", you can see that in pretty much every single aspect of Japanese life and culture, games included.
I think the Yazuka are one of those age-old "traditions" that have just gone left unchecked for hundreds of years, and no one in any higher authority is in any race to change that anytime soon. (I wonder why...)
For those interested in learning more about the Yazuka, in English, you wanna be following this guy, Jake Adelstein.
He wrote a cool book about his undercover life with them, he's also pretty active on Twitter.




As for the TV question, I think I'll save that for the Famicast, I know Matt Walker and I have VERY different opinions on that matter...

[S-U-P-E-R]

How many ways do you guys sort your garbage?

[famicomplicated]

How many ways do you guys sort your garbage?

Burnable, 3 times a week (food etc)
Non-burnable, once a month (unwanted small metal items like umbrellas)
Recyclable - once a week (Papers, cans/tins, glass)
Harmful - once a month (Batteries etc)
Big items, on request (sofas , TVs, pay to get them picked up)

[famicomplicated]

In response to Fatty_the_hutt's question on the Famicast 9 thread.

Quote: "it has been just ove a year since the tsunami. What are your impressions of how Japan has recovered (or not)? Has the ordeal left any lasting effects on the national psyche?"

I think Japan is doing what it does best, stoicism in the face of massively traumatic events!
Things are being rebuilt, cleared and repaired at an exponential rate, but yeah maybe people are worried about another "big one" coming, possibly even during this month. (March 2012)
Then there's the massive one supposed to happen on the Tokyo plate in the next 30 years (90% chance), so we all have that to look forward to..
Thinking positively though, that 3/11 one was a good wake up call for people who might have become complacent. People are buying emergency gear and getting better prepared, which is only a good thing in my opinion!
One piece of advice, don't live on any reclaimed land near the sea.

[Fatty The Hutt]

Thanks for the reply.
My mistake, it has been almost a year since the Japan earthquake and tsunami. March 11 was the date. 
Is there some Japanese ritual I must go through now to cleanse my shame and return honour to my family? Please advise.

[oohhboy]

Snorting Wasabi powder with a dollar bill would be a good start. 

Quite frankly Japan is doing an amazing job considering the level of damage and lives lost. Japan is always a nation rebuilding whether it's war(certain cities have virtually no buildings predating WW2) or natural disasters like earthquakes(Hence the flexible wooden homes of old). Here what's happening in New Zealand in contrast.

Christchurch had a second earthquake just before Japan's earthquake which had made the CBD unusable and entire suburbs unlivable. Lives were lost, but the progress has been extremely slow. The CBD is still fucked up, demolition work is no where near complete. The rebuild goes in starts and fits. We didn't honor our fire fighters and recuse workers properly for some reason. The government made a good initial showing, but had no follow through. We have some sort of pencil pushing CEO whose job seems to defy description, but he is very good at playing golf, taking vacations and pay rises for no progress while earning more than the PM. Insurance companies paying keep away. I could go on, but it's a cluster ****. Welcome to the leaning hotel of Christchurch!

[famicomplicated]

Quite frankly Japan is doing an amazing job considering the level of damage and lives lost. Japan is always a nation rebuilding whether it's war(certain cities have virtually no buildings predating WW2) or natural disasters like earthquakes(Hence the flexible wooden homes of old).

Exactly this.


Sad news about NZ, although I have a feeling the British government would be just as inept in a similar situation if it ever were to happen in the UK!

[Fatty The Hutt]

Snorting Wasabi powder with a dollar bill would be a good start. 

Done and ouch. Beats ritual self-disembowling, I suppose.
 
Sucks to hear about Christchurch. Maybe there's hope on the horizon. Didn't it take New Orleans about two to three years to recover from the Hurrican Katrina?

[Ceric]

I think last I checked New Orleans was still recovering from Hurricane Katrina.  What sad is they really weren't the worst hit.  Just the most notable.  That's for another day.

Here in the US we have terrible disaster management.  We can respond within a day however to anywhere else in the world.

[MegaByte]

Tell us more about this perfect fruit craze.

[oohhboy]

I not sure that you would call it a craze since it's more of an on going thing that pops up in a news story from time to to. 10 years ago it was the whole square water melon thing. On the street fruit is fruit, although always expensive regardless of how perfect they might be. I was never given a perfect fruit and at the time I wouldn't have known if it was. I would have just eaten the damn thing or turned it down without realising the significance(Cultural misunderstandings Ahoy!). Now if you want to talk about a perfect steak I once had in Japan that is another story.

Ask them about tabehodai and Nomihodai.

[famicomplicated]

Tell us more about this perfect fruit craze.

Ask them about tabehodai and Nomihodai.

I like both these topics, we will try and answer them on Famicast 10

[Ceric]

Actually been talking to Broodwar on Twitter some and I was wondering what your guys take on the story side of Japan Culture.  Mainly it seems that in Japanese Media there seems the idea of a strongly linked episodes and like.  I'm having a hard time putting this into words but, it amounts to stories where you couldn't watch the episodes out of order and if you came in later you would be lost.  You see this in the games as well.  Manga seems to be the same way.  I was wondering if this had a clear cultural base to it.

[Fatty The Hutt]

Actually been talking to Broodwar on Twitter some and I was wondering what your guys take on the story side of Japan Culture.  Mainly it seems that in Japanese Media there seems the idea of a strongly linked episodes and like.  I'm having a hard time putting this into words but, it amounts to stories where you couldn't watch the episodes out of order and if you came in later you would be lost.  You see this in the games as well.  Manga seems to be the same way.  I was wondering if this had a clear cultural base to it.

ehhh, I don't think this idea is Japan-centric. Plenty of examples in western media too: Lost, Twin Peaks, Doctor Who (more the older, episodic ones but there are multi-part stories now too), pretty much any comic book series.  That's just a couiple off the top o my head.


and of course, Two and a Half Men. Impossible to pick that up in the middle. Just so much rich, rewarding history there.

[Ceric]

Actually been talking to Broodwar on Twitter some and I was wondering what your guys take on the story side of Japan Culture.  Mainly it seems that in Japanese Media there seems the idea of a strongly linked episodes and like.  I'm having a hard time putting this into words but, it amounts to stories where you couldn't watch the episodes out of order and if you came in later you would be lost.  You see this in the games as well.  Manga seems to be the same way.  I was wondering if this had a clear cultural base to it.

ehhh, I don't think this idea is Japan-centric. Plenty of examples in western media too: Lost, Twin Peaks, Doctor Who (more the older, episodic ones but there are multi-part stories now too), pretty much any comic book series.  That's just a couiple off the top o my head.


and of course, Two and a Half Men. Impossible to pick that up in the middle. Just so much rich, rewarding history there.

All those are acted shows.  By my understanding the Acted shows in Japan are mostly things like Quiz Shows and like.  I haven't heard of a Lost or Two and Half Men equivalent in Japan.  Its like they have the media sets swapped from the western side.

[Fatty The Hutt]

From the Japan eShop Round-Up (03/21/2012) thread:
 

This week, I went with the freebie, Beauty Clock, for my weekly download. ... you can really feel the connection with your lady friends. The bottom screen lets you know her name, where she lives, blood type, height and size (including bust size and weight), occupation, favorite spot, and even a special message.

Blood type? Really? Wow.
I am ashamed to say that I want this clock application badly. It'll never come outside of Japan I am sure.

In Japan, it's commonly believed that blood type defines your personality, character, and compatibility (kind of like astrological signs elsewhere), so you'll often see people's profiles with that information. I guess that would be another good Famicast topic.

Boys?

[BlackNMild2k1]

From the Japan eShop Round-Up (03/21/2012) thread:
 

This week, I went with the freebie, Beauty Clock, for my weekly download. ... you can really feel the connection with your lady friends. The bottom screen lets you know her name, where she lives, blood type, height and size (including bust size and weight), occupation, favorite spot, and even a special message.

Blood type? Really? Wow.
I am ashamed to say that I want this clock application badly. It'll never come outside of Japan I am sure.

In Japan, it's commonly believed that blood type defines your personality, character, and compatibility (kind of like astrological signs elsewhere), so you'll often see people's profiles with that information. I guess that would be another good Famicast topic.

Boys?

I'll field this question guys... but feel free to chime in if I get something slightly incorrect.

Truth is that Japan is actually run by Vampires. The Yakuza are the human protectors and front men for the Vampire overlords that have ruled over Japan for as long as Japan can remember. By putting out the "belief" that blood type connects to personality and then waiting for technology to advance enough so that people can openly broadcast their blood type as an attraction point, the Vamp Overlords have effectively had their cattle mark themselves for consumption.
Rumor has it that most Vamps like their blood aged like fine wine, and tend to prefer anything in a age range of 52-56, so a 52 O+ might go good with a rare Kobe Steak, and it also explains why Asian women are typically pretty youthful in appearance until they hit that magic age and then almost all that aging catches up to them over night. It's because they have been drained for their aged essence in a long accepted ritual that is practiced at night by highly trained Yakuza elders.

[famicomplicated]

Truth is that Japan is actually run by Vampires. The Yakuza are the human protectors and front men for the Vampire overlords that have ruled over Japan for as long as Japan can remember. By putting out the "belief" that blood type connects to personality and then waiting for technology to advance enough so that people can openly broadcast their blood type as an attraction point, the Vamp Overlords have effectively had their cattle mark themselves for consumption.
Rumor has it that most Vamps like their blood aged like fine wine, and tend to prefer anything in a age range of 52-56, so a 52 O+ might go good with a rare Kobe Steak, and it also explains why Asian women are typically pretty youthful in appearance until they hit that magic age and then almost all that aging catches up to them over night. It's because they have been drained for their aged essence in a long accepted ritual that is practiced at night by highly trained Yakuza elders.

Eerily accurate!

[Fatty The Hutt]

BnM, I want a Japanese Vampires and The Yakuza Swapnote comic
please and thank you.

[S-U-P-E-R]

Anybody ordered anything from amazon.co.jp? I hear you can order and then pay & pickup at the nearest conbini...

[BlackNMild2k1]

BnM, I want a Japanese Vampires and The Yakuza Swapnote comic
please and thank you.

I wouldn't know where or how to begin a swapnote on the topic.

....but I am long overdue for one.