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The ancient Japanese tradition of …

Mulboyne writes (March 6, 2015):
The ancient Japanese tradition of pole dancing performed in front of Nijo Castle for the Parasophia arts festival in Kyoto.

About: “Parasophia”—the Kyoto International Festival of Contemporary Culture 2015 is the first large-scale international exhibition of contemporary art to be held in Kyoto.
Performance: Miwa Yanagi’s Stage Trailer Project “Pole Dance Show on Stage Trailer”

Previous 3Yen reports the plague of pole dancing in Japan include:

    • Tokyo pole dancer fail (3Yen / 2010-08-27)
    • Robo-Geisha pole dance (3Yen / 2009-10-06)
    • Tokyo Metro’s pole dancer warning poster
           (3Yen / 2012-10-01) ↓

Dollers for dollars—Yen for yen

…taking on web subculture
GOOD magazine | 2015Mar05
…I understand the appeal of a costume-masked self, although I’ve put on the Kigurumi masks and found them uncomfortable. The people who wear the masks that model for me, it’s a real variety—male and female. But at the end of the shoot they seem disappointed when they have to unmask. They like being that character and acting out that character….more….

As I reported before (3Yen / 2013-08-29) , these “Dollers” are into wearing a full bodysuit, usually in a flesh-tone color, combined with clothing and girlie accessories of a manga or anime character. Or, in the words of Admiral Ackbar…

IT’S A TRAP!!!

Trolling with Frog Burgers on a charcoal black bun

Sometimes you gotta think that the Japanese are just trolling us with things like these new Frog Burgers on a bun blackened with ground charcoal*, yum.

METRO 2015/03/05
… Ok, it’s official, burgers have now officially reached peak weird—a black bun frog burger is … the latest offering from the Orbi Yokohama museum in Japan…more…

Other menu items like their blue “Earth Burger” Orbi Cafe (Google Translate) are “creative” also.

Previous reports of Japanese burger trolling on the 3Yen include:
   • Choco Burger, yuck! (3Yen / 2010-09-16)
   • “Mc.Danield’s” [sic] SALT BURGER (3Yen / 2014-11-21)

   • WHALE BURGERS! Newest in Japanese Supersizing
          (3Yen / 2005-06-22)

Getting tanked in Osaka

The Sakaisuji Honcho Gas Station—a gas station tavern pumps lager beer malt liquor as regular gasoline, regular beer as diesel fuel high octane gasoline, and chu-hi spirits as light oil diesel fuel.
To get tanked, you can fill up your glass from the refueling nozzles of the gas pumps in the main beer hall. Via another-osaka.com/archives… —Translated from Japanese by Google Translate

ガソリンスタンド居酒屋の『堺筋本町給油所』ではビールをレギュラー、黒ビールを重油、チューハイを軽油と呼ぶ。ホール中央にある給油ホースから注ぐのだ。 http://t.co/q2Gg8ReSv6 pic.twitter.com/Xm7wNP4PD6

— 大阪別視点ガイド (@another_oosaka) March 2, 2015

Getting hammered on the Tokyo Metro

The tritest of Japanese proverbs is, The nail that sticks up gets nailed down. ().
So it is only fitting that the Tokyo Metro would warn us of the converse of this their “manners” poster of this month…

Raise the Space-Battleship Musashi!

The Japanese battleship Musashi was the sister ship to the battleship Yamato and…

Microsoft co-founder @PaulGAllen reports discovering WWII battleship "Musashi" near Philippines.
pic.twitter.com/8pEEAfJlhL— Nippon.com (@nippon_en) March 3, 2015

…the Musashi and Yamato were the heaviest and most powerfully armed battleships ever constructed the history of man (Wiki), thus making them “ideal” for space battleship (Wiki).

Imperial Japanese Navy’s Superbattleship Musashi as she appeared in mid-1944
By Alexpl, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Previous reports on the Space Battleship Yamato on the 3Yen include:
   • Capt. of Space Battleship Yamato drowns (3Yen / 2010-11-08)
   • Space-Battleship Steven Tyler ‘big in Japan’ (3Yen / 2010-09-23/)
   • Kitty Battleship Yamato! (3Yen / 2010-06-26)

Wanna be a ‘Hime-sama’—princess for a day?

Himesama by zlok

Today, March third, is Hina Matsuri–the “Doll Festival.”
Also called “Girls’ Day,” it is an unofficial holiday in Japan that offers a blessing for health and long life of girls (and gives them a once-a-year chance at playing with a very elaborate set of dolls).

Translation of main lyrics of the “ひな祭り/Hinamatsuri” song in the video above:

Let’s light the lanterns
Let’s see peach flowers
Five court musicians are playing flutes and drums
Today is a joyful Dolls’ Festival

The dolls displayed on a tiered stage for Hinamatsuri represent O-hime-sama—the Empress and O-dairi-sama—the the Emperor. The imperial couple is followed by lower ranks of courtiers, attendants, and musicians who all decked out in traditional court dress of Japan’s Heian period. The dolls are talismans to bring luck, or amulets to absorb evil spirits and protect. For more information, refer to Wikipedia.

‘HinaSet’ by user:Michaelbuddy – Copy from en.wikipedia. Licensed under Copyrighted free use via Wikimedia Commons.

Divisive dangers of Tokyo

The “divisive” sign below warns to: Watch your step / It is dangerous.

これは相当危険だ pic.twitter.com/MF3ZnTOmqW— 巻尾ちりみ♪ (@karakosachiri) February 28, 2015

From beyond Pluto they came via the Oort Cloud

From beyond Pluto deep in the Öpik–Oort Cloud, AyaBambi* came for a new LUMINE†.

*The dance of the AyaBambi aliens has been matched by: Japanese schoolgirl robot, Strongmachine (3Yen 2007-01-02)

† LUMINE (lumine.ne.jp) is a Japanese fashion chain focused on selling bleeding-edge styles for the young and the wannabe younger.

1,000 Ninja Wanted

Help wanted:
1,000 Ninja Wanted by the Hilton Odawara Hotel
HiltonOdawara.jp | 2015Feb22
…We will recruit 1,000 ninja who can join us for an event for both adults and children—Take part in a ninja experience on April 25 (Saturday) in Odawara”…

Hilton Odawara is looking for 1,000 ninja. Apply here: http://t.co/lfDSTFGNpp pic.twitter.com/mdC65jGLB8

— Mulboyne (@Mulboyne) February 26, 2015