Be a Samurai Pizza Thief or a sneaky Pizza Ninja and beat Japan’s absurdly high pizza prices that typically run 3-4,000 yen ($39-51 USD) pizza, ouch.

Episode 8: SAMURAI PIZZA THIEF
The Famicast – Nintendo World Report by Daan Koopman, Danny Bivens, and James Charlton:
The pain of buying over-priced Japanese pizza and how the beat the system in Japan…

Episode-8_-SAMURAI-PIZZA-THIEF.mp3

Click to play the 2MB, short excerpt about pizza from their 1 hour 41 minute long podcast*.
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More info…

← Apparently, by downloading Dominos-Japan’s iPhone app and playing the games (see left), you win coupons for up to 50% off the price of their pizzas, which are already discounted on Dominos-Japan’s engrish-only website: www.dominos.jp/eng
Not a bad deal if you like alien pizza ↓ with Cthulhu canned corn and tentacles.

It seems that at the public utility company, the only thing the TepcoTurds© “plan” are their coverups. Likewise, the Japanese government can’t even keep their coverup secret, sheesh.

Japan kept silent on worst nuclear crisis scenario
Associated Press | Jan. 25, 2012
TOKYO — The Japanese government's worst-case scenario at the height of the nuclear crisis last year warned that tens of millions of people, including Tokyo residents, might need to leave their homes, according to a report obtained by The Associated Press. But fearing widespread panic, officials kept the report secret.
The recent emergence of the 15-page internal document may add to complaints in Japan that the government withheld too much information about the world’s worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl. It also casts doubt about whether the government was sufficiently prepared to cope with what could have been an evacuation of unprecedented scale.
The report was submitted to then-Prime Minister Naoto Kan and his top advisers on March 25, two weeks after the earthquake and tsunami devastated the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, causing three reactors to melt down and generating hydrogen explosions that blew away protective structures.
Workers ultimately were able to bring the reactors under control, but at the time, it was unclear whether emergency measures would succeed. Kan commissioned the report, compiled by the Japan Atomic Energy Commission, to examine what options the government had if those efforts failed.
More…

FЦCҜ ΓΞPCФ!

Today, January 25th, is Steamed Meat Bun Day–“nikuman no hi”^* , so it’s a perfect day to eat Hello Kitty’s buns, right?
That’s what the major Japanese convenience store “Sankus” thinks (especially since it’s also Chinese New Years and steamed buns originally came from Chinese cuisine).

Details at theSunkus/Circle-K website

Tip-of-the-hat for the idea to the 3Yen’s
correspondent, Den4, for these hot kitty buns.
^* Also thanks to peterpayne.net
for the heads-up about
Steamed Meat Bun Day
(aka nikuman no hi).

As though life in Japan is not packed enough, Japanese photographer “hal” has decided to make Tokyo life even tighter by vacuum-packing Japanese couples…

flesh love' by photographer “hal”

tokyo-based artist photographer hal has created the 'flesh love' series. his body of work explores the concept of worldly love through couples. in 'flesh love', hal pulls the lovers so near to one another that they transform into a single being–a vacuum-sealed pack of love. the artist wraps blankets the models with a plastic sheet in which he removes the air from to bond the lover together…more...

available now

These vacuum-packed Japanese are nearly as much fun as my previous 3Yen post of August 11, 2010 about Hello Kitty in latex and Roy Orbison in Clingfilm…
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Japan’s Mount Fuji has an “official” climbing season from July 1 to the end of August, and there’s a damn good reason…

Family of Portage man missing on Mount Fuji hopeful
The Times Herald (AP) | 7:24 PM, Jan. 21, 2012  
Family members of a missing Michigan man who disappeared one week ago while visiting snow- and ice-covered Mount Fuji in Japan remain hopeful he'll be found alive…
…The Consulate General of Japan in Detroit said Johnson was last seen Jan. 13, and his car was later found parked at Mount Fuji. According to Eaton Corp., Matt Johnson is a software engineer who joined the company in 2003. He is described as an avid hiker and outdoorsman.
More…

As I have said many times before, Mount Fuji — Just say no (3Yen/2005-07-29). I have been snowed out of one of my Mount Fuji attempts in August.
Matt Johnson like so many clueless gaijin wannabes, thought he would hike up Mount Fuji —solo—even though the mountain is closed in the winter. Climbing outside the official season is not only technically illegal without police permission, but extremely dangerous without proper winter alpine equipment. All facilities on Mount Fuji are closed during the nine month long off season except the 5th level lodge/bus stop. The weather, unpredictable any time of year, is downright vicious in the winter and there are cases of people being literally blown off the mountain by high winds.
While technically this is a “rescue” of Mr. Johnson who is “missing,” everyone knows this a body recovery mission. Two other people are also missing since January 1st—Mount Fuji is can be a killer in the winter. Just look at these nasty webcam stills of “Fuji-san” right now.

live webcam video
Last last 24 hours of Mt. Fuji

Update: Friday Jan 27th—Body recovery is underway.

James Bond’s original Toyota 2000GT getaway car used in You Only Live Twice (1967, IMDB.com) had a rather pokey acceleration—only 0-60 mph in 10.1 seconds (0-100 km/h in 9.0 s)*. However, the new solar electric version of the Toyota 2000GT Bond car that is now being exhibited at the 2012 Tokyo Motor Show, “…takes nearly two weeks for the vehicle to power up completely.” Some getaway, hey?

James Bond getaway car gets new lease on life
Yahoo! News |  Jan, 17, 2012 | TOKYO (Reuters) — For a former James Bond car, it's a chance to live twice. Japanese engineers put a new spin on an old classic car for a recent auto show, remodeling a Toyota 2000GT with solar panels and high-tech gadgets to make it 100 percent electric and solar-powered…
…many aficionados longing for the powerful revving sound of a speed machine. But the new version 2000GT comes with a playful solution — a push of the accelerator brings a variety of sound effects, including meowing cats, clucking chickens and the sound of spaceships.
More…
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Here’s one for the Oh-This-Is-Precious Department…

The MSN/Sankai News of 2012/Jan/16 is reporting (in Japanese) that a newly-built apartment complex in Nihonmatsu, Fukushima City has much higher radiation measurements than the already high background levels in the nuclear disaster plagued prefecture.
Radioactively contaminated crushed rock was used to make an apartment building that now is reading abnormally high radiation levels.
Additionally, the Ministry of Environment believes that radioactive rock was probably also used in other new buildings in the area as part of earthquake/tsunami reconstruction.

MSN/Sankai News of 2012/Jan/16

UPDATE in engrish…

New condo’s foundation radioactive
—Quarry sourced crushed stones from hot-zone city of Namie—
The Japan Times | Jan. 16, 2012
FUKUSHIMA — High levels of radiation have been detected on the first floor of a newly built condominium complex in Nihonmatsu, Fukushima Prefecture, the municipal government said.
Crushed stones used in the building's concrete foundation came from the exclusion zone around the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant…more…