Another installment in our series on abandoned places in the world. Continue reading
Japan
31 posts
Lady Gaga made an appearance via video on NHK’s Red and White New Year’s Music Competition (Kohaku Uta Gassen). She performed “Born This Way” and the lyrics were subtitled in Japanese. Unfortunately, something was lost in translation.
Just as Japanese officials declared the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power plant in “cold shutdown” an undercover reporter who had snuck into the plant as a temporary worker revealed the actual inner workings and FUBAR situation of the plant to the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan.
Another installment in our series on abandoned places in the world. Continue reading
Twitter lit up overnight with the news that the Japan National Tourism Ministry was considering a plan to give away free round-trip airfare to 10,000 foreigners (preferably bloggers) who can spread the myth back home that Japan is (still) a safety country.
Nearly five months after a magnitude 9 earthquake unleashed a massive tsunami, caused northeastern Japan to spring 13 feet to the east and utterly crippled the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, details about the extent of the damage and the amount of radiation that’s still spewing from the troubled reactors is only now coming to light. The Japanese government, in collusion with the nuclear regulatory agency and Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) tried to hide critical information from the public concerning radiation levels in the Tohoku region not only to ostensibly curb panic, but to avoid having to pay damages to those who make their living in the region and/or shoulder the expense of relocating even more evacuees. Continue reading
The UN announced today that due to the massive news surplus in the first seven months of 2011, no more events will be permitted, anywhere in the world, for the rest of the year.
A spokesperson from the UN said today that the General Assembly have voted to ban all newsworthy happenings for the rest of the year; “After the horror of the Japanese tsunami, the roller-coaster ride of the Arab Spring and the global recession and debt crises, we were already emotionally shattered. Now after the shocking events in Norway and the spectre of famine hanging over the Horn of Africa we give up. 2011 is full; there will be no further events until 2012”.
This move was welcomed by journalists all over the globe; Continue reading
Speak of a tourist visit to Japan, and inevitably people will ask about places like Tokyo (for mine, the most amazing city in the world), Kyoto (gorgeous, worth as much time as you can afford to spend there) or Hiroshima (haven’t been, but there’s definitely more to it than its nuclear scars). Perhaps Kobe (great beef, and the earthquake museum is a must-see), Osaka (boringly industrial), Sapporo (cold) or Nara (doe, a deer, LOTS of deer). But some of the best places to visit in Japan are a little away from the usual sights. One such is Kanazawa, the highlight of my own time in Japan.
On the three-month anniversary of the March 11 earthquake in Japan, protesters around the country took to the streets to protest nuclear power after the true scale of the nuclear disaster and details of gross mismanagement of the Fukushima Daiichi power plant by the Japanese government and TEPCO came to light. Rally organizers in Tokyo say about 20,000 people participated in the demonstration. Continue reading
Hello darlings. What’s that? You’ve missed me? Oh: You haven’t missed me. And you want me to get with the putting out for you, starting here and now. Okay, sure. I love it when you get all macho on me. And just look at that bitch Bacall, sitting there seething with jealousy. Continue reading