Random Japan

Finally, the erotic Doraemon parody manga series no one asked for

Mike

Well, we didn’t ask for it, anyway. But it’s here, so somebody probably did. Was it you? It was you, wasn’t it?  You and your bizarrely specific fetishes, you big weirdo. Now you’ve gone and opened the Pandora’s box of erotic manga parody, sexy Crayon Shin-chan‘s arrival is only a matter of time.

Nozoemon is a new manga series which replaces Nobita-kun with a horny high school kid and Doraemon with a cyborg from the future who takes the form of a very young girl. Just wait until you read about the hijinks they get up to.

Nozoemon will apparently revolve around high school student Takashi, who, according to plot synopses, is obsessed with at least one “gravure model-esque” girl at his school. Although, as these types of stories tend to go, we’re almost certain there will be more than one such love interest. The titular Nozoemon – playing the part of the helpful cyborg from the future filled by the beloved robot kitty in Doraemon – enters the scene in the first issue and sets in with her bungling attempts at helping hook Takashi up with girls at his school.

STATS

• 1: Number of Japanese movies that have opened in China during the past three years, after Stand by Me Doraemon premiered late last month
• 15,219: World War II-era remains collected from the Philippines being stored at the HQ of the welfare ministry; they can’t be interred in an official cemetery because non-Japanese may be included among them
• 264,000: Quota, in tons, on catches of sanma this season, the lowest ever

YEAH, GOOD LUCK WITH THAT

• The meteorological agency has revised the wording of its volcanic-activity alert system. Level 1, which formerly read “Normal,” now says, “Be aware that this is anactive volcano.”
• Officials at the communications ministry have launched something called the Innovation Initiative with the goal of “discovering and nurturing the next Steve Jobs.”
• The labor ministry has come up with a clever way of getting young salarymen to learn about workplace issues: a manga that “helps demystify labor laws.”
• The aircraft carrier USS George Washington left Yokosuka Naval Base after completing its seven-year mission in Japan. It will be replaced in the autumn by the USS Ronald Reagan.

Taking Long And Slow
Way Home

The Luxury 
Of Sleep


The Pilot, The Camera
The Cockpit

Research: Dogs shun people who don't cooperate with owners

Love me, love my dog -- or rather, help me out or my dog won't like you, a study by Japanese researchers suggests.

Researchers including specialist in comparative cognition Kazuo Fujita, a member of Kyoto University's Graduate School of Letters, have announced the results of experiments that suggest that dogs have a tendency to dislike people who refuse to help their owners.

The results are said to indicate that dogs have the ability to emotionally evaluate people by observing interaction of third parties with no bearing on their own interests.