A Japanese art collective called Chim Pom is helping solve Tokyo’s rodent problem by catching the city’s rats, stuffing them, and painting them to look like Pikachu. Sweet dreams, everybody! source
Deserted scenes of Tokyo without a single man around came across my mind. It really was a spine-chilling thought.
Former Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan • Offering a truly harrowing vision of a post–Fukushima future for Tokyo. The vision for the 20-million-strong city helped push Kan towards encouraging renewable energy during his final months as Prime Minister, when he was dealing with the march earthquake. We’re with him. That’s a scary thought and it’s understandable why he changed his track as a result. source
Why are these Japanese businesspeople dressed up like they’re about to go to a cookout? The reason actually has to do with March’s earthquake, if you can believe it. See, Japan has this campaign called “Super Cool Biz,” where the AC doesn’t go up nearly as high and businesses cut their electricity use by 15 percent. Which means that offices shouldn’t get cooler than 28 degrees Celsius (82 degrees Fahrenheit) and workers should probably dress down and stuff. While the campaign isn’t new — it was introduced in 2005 as a way to fight global warming — companies are finally starting to jump on board with the idea due to the earthquake. (Photo by Itsuo Inouye/Associated Press)source
Here she is with Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko. Hillary does a great job keeping that presidential poise even as Secretary of State, doesn’t she?
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This dude’s thanking his lucky stars today. See, he suggested that the tsunami was “divine punishment” for the people of Japan. (Ouch!) He still got re-elected. Shockingly.
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Photo of the day:“A radiation detector marks 0.6 micro-sieverts, exceeding normal levels Tuesday, near Shibuya train station in Tokyo. Concern over possible radiation exposure has increased after a fourth reactor released radiation, Tuesday.” To compare – this level is higher than average, but only a tiny percentage of what’s happening at the plant. 1,000 micro-sieverts per hour equals one milli-sievert per hour. So this is high, but still minor. (Kyodo News/AP)source
Tokyo is “cracking down” on anime porn sales. We put “cracking down” in quotes because the restrictions, proposed by conservative Governor Shintaro Ishihara, really aren’t all that strict, at least by US standards. The bill would make it illegal to sell anime depicting things like rape, pedophilia and incest to people under the age of 18. Offenders would be subject to a $3,500 fine. Quite frankly, we’re surprised this isn’t already illegal. Nevertheless, comic book publishers are now threatening to boycott the Tokyo International Anime Fair in protest. source
It’s like “Look Who’s Talking” for the indie set. A documentary on babies shot in four different global locales, this movie strikes us as kinda cute in that rip-hair-out-our-skulls kind of way. Two minutes of this is OK, but could you imagine an hour and a half of these babies?
This is a very, very close race between four outstanding bids. Because the bids are so good and because it is so close the last few hours are going to be even more exciting than usual.
Sir Craig Reedie • A British International Olympic Committee representative, describing the competition between Chicago, which is slightly favored, and the three other bids: Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo. Chicago is a world-class city, but so are the other three. But Chicago has Obama coming in to rep, and everybody (not on the right) loooooooooooooooves Obama. They’ll name the winner on Friday. • source
