Japanese Events

[SeijiSensei]

Worst mass killing since World War II

SAGAMIHARA, Japan — A former employee at a center for people with mental and physical illnesses who had expressed extreme views about euthanizing the disabled returned to the facility outside Tokyo early Tuesday carrying a bag of knives.

Around 2:20 a.m., according to the police and local officials, he smashed a first-floor window with a hammer, tied up some of the overnight staff members and methodically slit the throats of patients as they slept.

When he left the building 30 minutes later, nine men and 10 women were dead in the worst mass killing in Japan since World War II. The dead ranged in age from 19 to 70. Twenty-six people were wounded, 13 of them critically.

More people died in this event than in the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995.

[KiraYamatoFan]

Disgusting. It's one thing to get pissed at a former employer, but in no way people should ever aim at attacking the helpless like he did. I don't give a flying fuck about his mental status; I have no sympathy for him.

That's one case where I would let that man's inmates "taking care" of him personally in prison.

[Key Board]

a harsh reminder that there are people in this world who will consider you subhuman and desire to kill you just because you differ from the norm/standard

[AnimeFan188]

Miyazaki-Inspired Jet Glider Flies Before Crowds
In Japan:

"A miniature version of the glider first flew in 2003, and since 2006, it’s
been the chief goal of artist Kazuhiko Hachiya’s OpenSky project. Last
month, the craft flew before an audience at the Takikawa Skypark in
Takikawa, Hokkaido. It’s a beautiful, remarkable machine, and one we
don’t even have to wait for an apocalypse to see in action."

See:

http://www.popsci.com/miyazaki-inspi...rowds-in-japan

[Yu Ominae]

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/japans-emp...063104014.html

His majesty aired a speech on public TV in Japan. He mentions recent problems in his health that would make things difficult in doing his public duties.

[MrTerrorist]

So it's now official. The Emperor is going to abdicate.
So far the Japanese youth supports this believing His Majesty has done enough for the country and he should be allowed to retire.

[barcode120x]

Part Japanese news, part sports news. Japan beats New Zealand in rugby in Rio 2016 Olympics! New Zealand is known for a really good rugby team too! I watched the first 2 goals and the Japanese really smooth passing of the ball.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2.../#.V6rMKZgrKUk

[KiraYamatoFan]

Originally Posted by barcode120x

Part Japanese news, part sports news. Japan beats New Zealand in rugby in Rio 2016 Olympics! New Zealand is known for a really good rugby team too! I watched the first 2 goals and the Japanese really smooth passing of the ball.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2.../#.V6rMKZgrKUk

Japan will have one hell of a rugby program to watch in the next few years, especially with the World Cup coming on home soil in 2019. Their progress has been nothing short of astonishing in recent years.

edit: Japan defeated France 12-7 in the quarterfinals, and will face Fiji in the semis. May the dream continue even further.

[rladls2121]

I was really disappointed that only Mario cosplay came out as one of this year's Olympic ceremonies.
I really think it should be Mario and Sonic cosplay.
On top of that there are video games for those in Wii and Wii U.
When first time i saw it: "Where's Sonic?".

[AnimeFan188]

Kyoto Crime Detection System “Criminals Beware”:

"Kyoto police have begun utilizing the “Predictive Crime Defense System” to predict where
crimes may potentially occur, an innovative new technology that has caused anime
enthusiasts to immediately draw comparisons to the Sibyl system from the esteemed
Psycho-Pass."

See:

https://www.sankakucomplex.com/2017/...minals-beware/


=====================


Note that this technology is being eyed by China too, but software such as this can be a
tool of oppression in an authoritarian society:

"It’s a scary thought, especially when you consider that the main target of Chinese
pre-crime efforts wouldn’t be “terrorists,” murderers, rapists, or child molesters, but
rather dissidents of every shape and size.

By publicly announcing their intention to build an intelligence network that can predict
crimes, China just took a step closer to all the thought-policing dystopian nightmare
scenarios we’ve always worried about as members of a modern society. And they want
people to know it."

See:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/article...a-reality.html

[AnimeFan188]

The Yakuza Is Rebranding as a ‘Humanitarian Organization’:

"Japan’s yakuza may finally be changing. After years in the shadows, degenerating into
purely criminal organizations, one yakuza group formed this April looks like it’s trying to
go legitimate—and more. It wants to become a “humanitarian organization” that keeps
the peace and at least limits its criminal activity to the traditional tacitly socially
approved rackets. Publicly, at least, it’s aiming for a rep as the Boy Scouts of the
underworld.

The new group has adopted the name Ninkyo Yamaguchi-gum, which loosely
translates as “Chivalrous Humanitarian Yamaguchi-gumi.” And it is doing all this with a
very high profile: a press conference, scores of magazine interviews, and a PR blitz.
The savvy yakuza, it seems, wants to be a good guy."


"The Japanese police are still skeptical about the new group’s purported aims and
reasonably so. They are refusing even to recognize it as a new organization but are
trying to classify it as a branch of the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi. If they recognize it as a
new group, it could take several months to legally designate it as one and apply all
relevant laws."

See:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/the-yak...n-organization

[SeijiSensei]

https://www.theguardian.com/science/...sation-of-moon

Japan’s space agency said it had discovered an enormous cave beneath the lunar surface that could be turned into an exploration base for astronauts.

The discovery, by Japan’s Selenological and Engineering Explorer (Selene) probe, comes as several countries vie to follow the US in sending manned missions to the moon.

The chasm, 50km (31 miles) long and 100 metres wide, appears to be structurally sound and its rocks may contain ice or water deposits that could be turned into fuel, according to data sent back by the orbiter, nicknamed Kaguya after the moon princess in a Japanese fairytale.

Japan hopes to send Hibito-kun to the moon by 2030 as part of an international mission. Now they've found a better place to build a base than on the lunar surface.

[SeijiSensei]

Shades of Mouryou no Hako except that the murderer didn't display his trophies around town.

A police search for a missing Tokyo woman who had sought a suicide partner led them to a townhouse with nine mutilated bodies and coolers containing heads covered in cat litter, Japanese media reported Tuesday.

The townhouse tenant, a 27-year-old man identified as Takahiro Shiraishi, was arrested on suspicion of murder in an investigation that escalated into fears that he was a serial killer.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/31/w...al-killer.html

[SeijiSensei]

Trump speaks to Japanese women -- oh, wait, it's Ivanka

The first daughter and adviser to the president addressed the Japanese government’s World Assembly for Women conference Friday, a double-whammy win for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

First, he gets a high-profile speaker for one of his key initiatives — and one that has failed to bear any other fruit: increasing women’s participation in the Japanese workforce, or, in Japanese government parlance, an initiative letting women “shine.”

Second, Abe can curry more favor with Donald Trump just two days before he arrives in Tokyo on his first trip to Japan as president. The visit will include golf at a country club and a banquet, but no headline speech. That job will fall instead to his daughter.

Despite being billed as the event's top draw, Ms. Trump could not fill half the seats in the arena. Perhaps Japanese women know more about their problems than Ms. Trump, or even Prime Minister Abe.

Also, "Japan has something of a fascination with Ivanka Trump, who is viewed here by some as the perfect woman: She has a career and a beautiful family and blond hair and always looks immaculate."

[SeijiSensei]

Robot finds missing uranium fuel at bottom of Fukushima reactor

After three days of carefully navigating through a shattered reactor building, the Manbo finally reached the heavily damaged Unit 3 reactor. There, the robot beamed back video of a gaping hole at the bottom of the reactor and, on the floor beneath it, clumps of what looked like solidified lava: the first images ever taken of the plant’s melted uranium fuel.

Now that engineers say they have found the fuel, officials of the government and the utility that runs the plant hope to sway public opinion. Six and a half years after the accident spewed radiation over northern Japan, and at one point seemed to endanger Tokyo, the officials hope to persuade a skeptical world that the plant has moved out of post-disaster crisis mode and into something much less threatening: cleanup.

[AnimeFan188]

Japan Airlines pre-orders 20 Boom supersonic passenger jets:

"Japan Airlines has made a $10 million investment and pre-order of 20 Boom supersonic
passenger jets."


"Boom Technology is a startup company aiming to create a 55-passenger civilian
supersonic transport aircraft to fly up to Mach 2.2 (1,262 kn; 1,452 mph; 2,337 km/h).
It could fly from New York City to London in 3 hours and 24 minutes at a proposed round
trip cost of $5,000."

See:

https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2017/1...nger-jets.html

[Cloudedmind]

Japanese firm to use drone to force overtime staff to go home

"A Japanese firm is planning to use a drone to force employees out of their offices by playing music at them if they stay to work evening overtime.

The drone will fly through offices after hours playing Auld Lang Syne, which is commonly used to announce that stores are closing."

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-42275874

[SeijiSensei]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...rink-in-japan/

The sordid tale, told by NHK and Japan Times, went down during a national sprint canoe championship in September in Ishikawa prefecture. Fearing competition for a spot on the Japanese national team at the upcoming 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Yasuhiro Suzuki spiked the drink of rival Seiji Komatsu in hopes that Komatsu would later be banned. Komatsu indeed failed a drug test after the competition — the drink was spiked with a muscle-building supplement containing the steroid methandienone — but the Japan Canoe Federation began an investigation after his claims that he had not knowingly ingested the performance enhancer.

Not only did the federation find that Suzuki had spiked Komatsu’s drink, but it also found that he “had made repeated attempts to sabotage other competitors, not only Komatsu, by such means as stealing equipment used in training and competition,” the Japan Times writes.

“An incident of this nature is unheard of in the history of sports in Japan and it is very disappointing,” Sports Agency Director Daichi Suzuki said, per the Japan Times.

Said Toshihiko Furuya, managing director of the Japan Canoe Federation, “It is a significant loss for Japanese people who have spent many years building up sportsmanship as a virtue.”

[Key Board]

reminds me of Tonya Harding

[AnimeFan188]

Japan Suffers the Biggest Cryptocurrency Heist in History (Again!):

"On Friday evening in Japan, one of the biggest virtual currency exchanges in Asia,
Coincheck, announced that it had lost 58 billion units of the cryptocurrency NEM, worth
roughly $530 million dollars, which may well be the biggest cryptocurrency heist in
history.

For those of us with a long memory, the press conference was eerily reminiscent of Feb.
28, 2014, when Mt. Gox, once the world’s largest bitcoin exchange, declared bankruptcy
and announced that it had lost over $500 million worth of bitcoins to hackers. (The
figure was later revised down to $430 million.)

This new incident is an embarrassment to the Japanese government, which has been
trying to make Tokyo the global center for cryptocurrency."

See:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/japan-...again?ref=wrap