Digital-age robber epically owned by analog granny at convenience store in Fukuoka
What started off as a basic robbery attempt turned into a mortifying experience for one wannabe robber in Fukuoka Prefecture. Seriously, either the konbini gods were conspiring against him or he met his ultimate match in an old woman, but either way, his attempt at crime was completely foiled thanks to an unusual series of events.
According to AOL New Japan and other reports, on July 29 at a little past 4pm, an approximately 170-cm-tall man (that’s 5’10” for those of you in the US) wearing a black knitted hat and white face mask walked into an undisclosed convenience store in Kawasaki, Fukuoka Prefecture. He went up to the register and held out his smartphone to the nearest staff member, on which was written, “I am a robber,” along with several other lines of small text.
OUCH!
● In a talk at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan, Goldman Sachs managing director Kathy Matsui noted that women are better represented in the parliament of Saudi Arabia than they are in the Japanese Diet.
● A survey by researchers at the University of Tokyo and Nagoya University found that evacuees from the March 11 disaster moved, on average, to four different shelters in the first month after the crisis.
● The health ministry accepted a recommendation by the Food Safety Commission to prohibit restaurants from serving raw pork liver.
● A survey by the US-based Pew Research Center has found that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe enjoys strong public support in Vietnam, but low approval among Indians and Pakistanis.
SUMMERTIME MOOS
● A farmer from Fukushima traveled to Tokyo—along with one of his cows—to protest a plan by the farm ministry to cull cattle exposed to radiation near the Daiichi plant.
● A professor at Shinshu University with the delightful name of Hiroshi Nose has determined that “alternately walking fast, and then more slowly, is a good way to beat the summer heat.”
● Budget carrier Jetstar Japan says it will compensate passengers to the tune of ¥20,000 when their flights are canceled or delayed more than six hours.
● Headline of the Week: “Government-Backed Innovation Initiative Looking for ‘Weirdos’” (via The Japan Times)
Japan Names Islands
China Throws Temper Tantrum
2 Pointless Political Parties Formed
Includes Pointless Members
Partying Students
Evicted For Partying
Get your chills on the rails with Kyoto’s Ghost Train
Fear is commonly held to be a cold sensation, which is how we ended up with English phrases like “bone-chilling” and “a chill ran down his spine.” Those idioms may not translate directly into Japanese, but Japan has also traditionally thought of feeling cold as part of being scared.
Figuring that when life hands you horror lemons, you make horror lemonade, long ago Japanese society decided to use this to its advantage, which is why in Japan summer isn’t just the season of lightweight kimonos and all-you-can-drink beer gardens, but the time for ghost stories, too.
But in this modern age, maybe you’re too busy to sit around candlelit rooms in old manor houses swapping creepy tales with your friends. So if you’ve got an active lifestyle and need to keep moving while you get your terror on, a ride on Kyoto’s ghost train might be in order.
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