Random Japan

MAKIN’ A BUCK

Police in Tokyo arrested two people for selling a drug called premium zeolite that they claimed “was effective for detoxification, including dealing with contamination from radioactive substances.” Apparently, the pair did not have proper licenses and those claims were unproven.

One good thing to come out of the quake: Japan Tobacco’s distribution bases were damaged, resulting in a “nationwide shortage of cigarettes” with only about 25 percent of the supply available compared to pre-quake levels.

Instead of the regularly scheduled Summer Grand Sumo Tournament, the scandal-plagued sport has decided instead to hold a test meet in Tokyo in May to figure out the rankings for the Nagoya basho in July.

As expected, the number of foreign visitors to Japan plummeted after the big earthquake/tsunami, with about 3,400 foreigners a day entering the country through Narita Airport from March 11-31—down 75 percent from the same period a year earlier, according to the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau.

Kaichiro Saito, a sake brewer from Miyagi whose business has dried up in the wake of March 11, has called on folks to raise a glass or two. “I hope people buy more products from northern Japan rather than restrain themselves,” said Saito, who lost 80 percent of his customers. “That would be the best way to show support.”

Meanwhile, many of the traditional hanami cherry-blossom-viewing parties were scrapped this year with some people just not in the mood to party.

Stats

37.9
Height, in meters, of the tsunami that hit Iwate Prefecture on March 11, according to a University of Tokyo researcher

¥115.4 billion
Total donations received by the Japanese Red Cross Society and the Central Community Chest of Japan as of April 2

¥10 billion
Amount donated to the earthquake and tsunami relief fund by Softbank President Masayoshi Son, the largest donation by an individual

3,000
People who lined up to catch the first glimpse of two pandas at Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo

28
Total number of Japanese who died in the February 22 6.3-magnitude earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, according to the Japanese

WHY CAN’T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG?

Japan rejected a South Korean protest over renewed claims to the disputed Takeshima/Dokdo islets in the Sea of Japan in junior high textbooks to be used in Japan next year. “Can’t accept that argument,” said Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto.

South Korea then took the gloves off, revealing plans to build a maritime science facility in the area “as part of efforts to reinforce its control over the resource-rich area around the islets,” the Yonhap News Agency reported.

A small plane from China’s State Oceanic Administration buzzed a Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer in the East China Sea near Okinawa, coming within 60m of the warship before flying away.

Katsunobu Sakurai

He's Very Influential

Police Stealing

From Police?

Arrested

And Arrested Again

Foreign journalists criticize government's response to crisis

BY TAKASHI OSHIMA STAFF WRITER 2011/04/23
While the Japanese government has been struggling to combat sometimes sensational media coverage of the Fukushima nuclear accident abroad, foreign correspondents covering the story are critical of the Japanese authorities' handling of the disaster.

CNN correspondent Kyung Lah, from the United States, said many in the foreign media had been inspired by the Japanese people's fortitude in the aftermath of the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake.