Random Japan

Yahoo! Japan makes thrill-rides out of their trending search topics with “Trend Coaster”

Master Blaster


In the month of September at limited locations in Tokyo, the nation’s perennial favorite search engine Yahoo! Japan is offering a one-of-a-kind experience. By stepping into their motion simulator and strapping on a VR headset, you can virtually yet literally ride the waves of popularity of any topic of your choosing as if it were a roller coaster.


The concept is rather simple. When you select a keyword the number of people searching it on Yahoo! Japan at any moment will correspond to an elevation of the track. In other words, a real-time line graph of the number of searches will be transformed into a roller coaster track for you to ride on.

stats

• 40 Percent of homeless people in Tokyo who say they’ve been “attacked or threatened on the street,” according to a local NPO
• 2,646 People who lined up for a chance to watch the drug-possession trial of pop star Aska, according to the MDP
• 21 Seats at the trial made available to the public

UH-OH

• Authorities at the education ministry say a total of 969 teachers around the country resigned in fiscal 2012 due to psychiatric disorders.
• For the past three-and-a-half years, researchers at Kyoto University have been filming passersby at a local shopping mall as part of an experiment involving facial recognition technology.
• There’s just one problem: they “forgot” to inform shoppers about the cameras.
• Major shabu-shabu restaurant operator Kisoji Co. admitted that it had labeled ordinary cow meat as “specially selected Japanese marbled beef” and served it to about 7,000 customers.
• Headline of the Week: “White Wine From Phantom Lake Goes on Sale Next Month” (via The Japan News)

Chibatman Meets Five-O
It's A Love Fest


¥1.4 Billion Donated To Buy Senkaku Islands
Money Never Used

Stealing Lunch Money From The Kiddies
How Low Can You Go?

Sep. 13, 2014 (Sat.)

The Asahi Shimbun newspaper crowed about its May 20 "scoop" of an inside account of the Fukushima nuclear crisis by none other than the late chief of the stricken power plant, Masao Yoshida. On Sept. 11, the Asahi admitted that the reports contained serious factual errors, and the great "scoop" became a grievous error that may shake public trust in the daily.

What's more, the Asahi took almost four months after it splashed the "Yoshida report" all over its front page to acknowledge its mistake. The issue is severe enough that Asahi Shimbun Co. President Tadakazu Kimura could resign. But why did all this happen?