Random Japan

Freaky interior of Japanese hospital appears to be made from the stuff of nightmares
Jamie Koide
They say that an apple a day keeps the doctor away, but that seems to be more of a guideline than a prescription for any and all maladies, and eventually we all find ourselves in the waiting room of a clinic or a hospital for a check-up or to get our head stapled back together.

Medical staff are well aware that clinics and hospitals aren’t exactly the kinds of places that make patients feel at home, so many medical facilities have tried improving their drab décor and entertainment options to help patrons feel more comfortable about their visit.

One clinic in Japan, however, appears to have gone a little overboard in the interior design department, and is making many of its patients feel like they’ve walked straight into a psychedelic nightmare instead.

STATS
¥5.8 million: Price paid at a Tokyo auction for “Aki no Kiyo-mizudera”, an oil painting by artist Seiki Kuroda (1866-1924).

¥18: Increase in the minimum wage recommended by a finance ministry panel. The wage currently stands at ¥780.

207.5 percent: Increase in profits reported by Sony Corp during the April-June quarter, compared to the same period a year ago.

WHATEVER FLOATS YOUR BOAT
The government has asked 220,000 civil servants to arrive at work early and leave before nightfall so they can “enjoy the evening hours to the fullest.”

Another goal of the program is to get the workers to increase their personal consumption.

A group of Tohoku-based agricultural cooperatives held a promotional event in Tokyo featuring vegetables encased in a block of ice. The organizers dubbed the campaign “Kyuri Biz”, a play on the name of the government’s Cool Biz energy-saving scheme.

Fishermen in quake-hit Miyagi are trying to address a labor shortage by refurbishing vacant homes and offering them to potential crew members as shared accommodations.

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Japan's 70-year struggle against Hollywood film stereotypes

KUCHIKOMI
Over the past 70 years, when a “Japanese”—which is to say an actor representing a male Japanese—appeared in a Hollywood movie, what sort of image was he most likely to project? A pint-sized man wearing black-framed spectacles, with protuberant incisors, perhaps? Like the klutzy photographer “Yunioshi” in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s?”

Well, writes Sapio (September), such a description would not be entirely wrong. Looking back at the 70 years since the end of World War II, it would certainly be no exaggeration to say that Hollywood’s portrayals of Japanese males have been less than flattering.