Weekend News

This past week in Japan had its fair share of odd stories. Sorry for being a bit late today with this entry. My morning was busy with setting up a new domain for a project I have been wanting to work on since the beginning of this year. I have secured the domain for a lot cheaper than I thought I would have to spend. However, without further adieu, here’s the Weekend News.

Bloomberg publishes the recipe to make Hydrogen Sulfide

Shane over at A Typical Life stumbled across an article on Bloomberg that was reporting on the current wave of suicides in Japan using Hydrogen Sulfide. What they did next is a bit shocking from such a reputable source. They not only gave the recipe to create the deadly gas, they even linked to an online shopping site where you can get everything needed. When Japanese police are asking ISP’s to take down the recipes found on Japanese websites, Bloomberg makes the situation even worse. A Typical Life via What Japan Thinks

Computer teacher arrested for upskirt schoolgirl photos

A popular computer teacher from Dokkyo Saitama High school has been arrested and forced to resign from his teaching position. The 36-year-old teacher was well liked by his students. However, students discovered footage of their classroom and alerted school officials. It was then they found pictures and movies of his students on his computer. He used a camera that looked like a screw and placed it in bookshelves.

Student robs to pay for Rich University

Akira Sudo 23, a student from the prestigious Waseda University, has been arrested for a jewelry robbery. Akira along with 5 other people was arrested in connection with the March 28th robbery of Ryutsu jewelry store. He got involved with the others from an underground mobile phone website. The stolen jewelry had a combined value of about 12.7 million yen. Akira was in substantial debt and felt that this could be his way out.

Cops cracking down at Osaka panty flashing clubs

You may have remembered my earlier post about Pan Kissh, a popular Shinjuku panty flashing club. Seems police in Osaka have begun to crack down on similar clubs. They have already shut down P-Doll Umeda Nakasori, a popular panchira kissa (panty flashing cafe). The operator of P-Doll was arrested for breaking the Businesses Affecting Public Morals Regulation Law. Osaka is home to about 20 known panty flashing cafes.

Government worker suspended for porn

A Kinokawa municipal government worker has been suspended from duty and demoted for viewing porn websites on at least 140,000 occasions from his office computer. I wonder if they counted each picture he viewed as a separate offense.

Japanese space house on the ISS

Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide has been selected to travel to the International Space Station in order to attach a Japanese laboratory that will form a main component of the Japanese Kido facility. Hoshide said that he will build a “Japanese space house” on board of the Space station. He will lift off on the space shuttle Discovery on June 1.

Shigeru Miyamoto named Time’s most influential person

The genius behind all that is Nintendo has been named Time Magazine’s most influential person of 2008. Overdue? As the English speaking, Naruto loves to say… “Believe it!”. Yea, sorry, I won’t mention that ever again. Miyamoto topped the list with 1,949,634 votes by Time readers. Congrats Miyamoto-san.

Girl breaks a bone after hitting a wall during coaster ride

A 10-year-old girl broke her collarbone after bumping into a wall during a roller coaster ride at Himeji Central Park. The roller coaster is called the Labyrinth and is an 8 seater mini coaster that hits speeds of 24 mph (38 km/h). Park officials have closed down the Labyrinth in order to investigate what happened. A similar accident occurred five years ago, and forced park officials to implement a minimum height of 130cm in order to ride the coaster. The 10-year-old was 138cm.

Referee told player to “die”

A Japanese referee has been accused by Taikai Uemoto, of Oita Trinita, of telling him to “die”. The football club confirmed they were compiling a file to send to J.League officials about the incident. The threat stemmed from Uemoto asking the referee why he didn’t book a FC Tokyo player for a blatantly late foul. Several players overheard the referee yell back “Shut Up! You keep quiet and get on with the game. Die!” This incident came days after another player was banned for four games for shoving a referee. Via FG

A student left with an arrow in the forehead

A 15-year-old boy at Takigawa High School in Kobe’s Suma-ku, was shot in the forehead by an arrow while in the archery club’s room. Another student accidentally shot the arrow at the boy while adjusting his bow. The boy has regained consciousness and his injuries are not life-threatening. The school’s principal has vowed to improve the guidance of the students in his school.