Here’s a photo taken at the 109 Building in Shibuya Tokyo of a blinged-out foldable bike for move you in Hello Kitty style thanks to gruntzooki’s flickr photostream… Full-size photo on flickr.
An odd Tokyo factoid:
Maybe 15% of all bicycles in Tokyo are foldable bikes–However, I have NEVER seen one folded. Looking at the frames of foldable bikes parked on the street, it is obvious that the folding mechanisms have never been used (and often are rusted shut). Pedaling these small clown bicycles is would seem more difficult and there is not much practical advantage to having a such bicycle if the folding feature is never used.
Today is one of those amazing ninja holidays that sneak up on me without me knowing about it. I never know about Japanese holidays until I hustle out of house and discover no one else is on the train with me going to work.
My calendar claims that it is Kinro kansha no hi–Labor Thanksgiving Day–(Wikipedia) . And, because of the holiday it’s a slow news-day without anything for me to comment on, so I’ll leave you with Toyota’s ninja cats. Enjoy!
Listen to wisdom of the ages/ageless….
“Let people all over the world drink delicious wine and live their dreams in happiness.“
–HELLO KITTY
First Beaujolais shipments arrive; Aeon to serve in plastic bottles Saturday, Nov. 8, 2008 – japantimes.co.jp (Kyodo) NARITA, Chiba Pref.– This year’s first shipment of Beaujolais Nouveau arrived Friday at Narita and other airports in Japan…. Aeon Co. said it will offer this year’s… “special” Beaujolais Nouveau…in 750-ml plastic bottles instead of glass, and priced at 1,780 yen, undercutting the average market price of 2,000 to 3,000 yen...more…
Hello Kitty 1-Seg portable TV Japan Today: 23rd July 2008—Sanrio Corp has a new portable TV in the shape of its Hello Kitty character…[the] “Hello Kitty Face-Shape 1-Seg TV” features a 2.4-inch display that can show subtitles, sound multiplex services as well as stereo speaker and earphone…more…
A bit quick explanation about Japan-only 1Seg tech….
Japanese TV programs on 1Seg (Wiki) are fundamentally the same as those broadcast on the equivalent HDTV channel but are meant to be broadcast to cell phones. Since 2006 Japan has had 1Seg that allows mobile devices to pick up TV shows without a large antenna and it is considered by most cell phone users here as an important (but not critical) feature.
The Hello Kitty Face-Shape 1-Seg TV by Sanrio Corp costs 21,000 yen and is available on yahoo.co.jp. It has a Lithium-ion battery that will run the TV about 4.5 hours (as well as an AC charger/power adapter (100V-240V AC, 50/60Hz).
The 3Yen’s crack correspondent, the illustrious Herr Doctor Professor Den4, has spotted more Hello Kitty fun for all of you to enjoy!
First check out the Hello Kitty House(via kittyhell.com)
What would be worse than a house full of Hello Kitty crap? How about a Hello Kitty House full of Hello Kitty crap?
Rainy season—today is just one of those gray Blade-Runner-on-a-bad-hair-days. Days like this compel me to change my desktop wallpaper to something more appro such as the gray concrete fractal view from South Shinjuku or fishheads in the Tsukiji market.
While surfing for a new gray wallpaper, I stumbled across a random book review by Ron Mexico in HESOmagazine.com
describing of the concept of Japanese “Junkspace” in his book review of the urban theorist Rem Koolhaas’ manifesto “CONTENT.”
Hot damn, this is why I loooove the Internet—Ron Mexico entertainingly describes my gray, rainy day here in Junkspace as….
…. a tacky stew of vending machines, hair salons, love hotels, karaoke equipment and pachinko parlors in a “coagulate” of gray concrete. Vending machines that propagate the banalities of Japanese culture: “Samuidesune! Nanmaekiteruno?” before dispensing liter-bottles of cheap booze… …Karaoke bars with dragons or giant crabs molded to their façades, full of people that think they’re participating in a legitimate social activity. Electronics stores that sell VHS tapes, DVDs, and memory cards, all featuring “School Girl Rape 13 with Bukkake.”… …meeting a nurse, a dental assistant, an OL, and an elderly-care worker, and having them all say that their hobby is shopping. Taking them to love hotels and dressing them in a rented schoolgirl uniforms; double-penetrating with the Hello Kitty vibrator and the Pokemon anal-beads, torturing with the Moomin nipple-clamps, capturing it all with the keitai’s 45 second movie feature….
…instinct is an express train speeding us towards some exciting destination, and our car is populated with farting salarymen and ass-grabbing chikan. Make the best of it. Breathe deep and grab yourself some ass—you can’t get off the train…
MDN-Mainichi, June 24, 2008 / SAPPORO — An 18-carat gold Hello Kitty mobile phone strap costing 50,000 yen has gone on sale at …Sapporo’s Gold and Jewelry Tamaya has started accepting orders for the popular Sanrio Co. character. ”It’s a reasonable price,” a Tamaya spokesman said…more…
In case you didn’t notice the traditional red hair ribbon of Hello Kitty has been replaced with a lavender-colored one. The key point of this ribbon change is that in the language of flowers, the color lavender means that, “I’m waiting for your call.”
NHK and the Kyodo News are reporting that a fun-loving Hello Kitty killed its zoo keeper at the Kyoto Zoo this afternoon. Somehow I don’t think there will be any mention of it on the official website of the Kyoto Zoo, but here’s is a photo of the/a tiger in that zoo. Photo via mistermoss‘ flickr.
UPDATE:Here HelloKitty, kitty, kitty…
Japanese zookeeper mauled to death by tiger June 7, 2008 CNN.com… …The 150-kilogram (330-pound) tiger bit him on the neck and face, Ootaguro said. Ito, who lay bleeding in the cage, was discovered by a zoo visitor. After the fatal accident, the Kyoto City Zoo was closed.
Finally, rest-of-the-story….
Keeper dies trying to get tiger to mate NEWS.com.au – June 07, 2008 08:38pm…Zoo staff shot the tiger with a tranquiliser gun and rushed Mr Ito to a hospital, but he was pronounced dead…Mr Ito, 40, had been trying to couple the tiger with a three-year-old female tiger…more...
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(Wikipedia)
Rainy season—today is just one of those gray 
NHK and the 
