In an effort to keep underage kids from buying, new cigarette vending machines in Osaka have facial recognition cameras. The scanners look for wrinkles and other signs of age before greenlighting the purchase of a pack.
But some crafty kids in Japan have come up with a work-around: They simply hold up a magazine photo of someone older and the machine gives them the OK.
The manufacturer of the machines says a new system that can't be fooled will be ready to go soon. Funny thing is, there's already something more effective: Japan's Taspo program--RFID cards used for age verification--will be installed on machines nationwide by next month.
We're big fans of small budget airlines, but we just discovered low cost Japanese carrier Skymark. It's based in Tokyo and flies a bunch of domestic routes and also heads over to South Korea.
Skymark has a full, colorful website for its Japanese customers, but for English-speakers it's a little bare and full of slightly quaint English and a few odd commands. For example, on the contact page where telephone numbers are given for reservations and information, the site demands "Please double-check the phone number before dialing." No wrong numbers, please!
This airline's been in a spot of bother recently because two pilots retired at the end of May. Somehow Skymark didn't anticipate a problem and thus, two pilots short, had to cancel 168 flights during June. Increasing demand for pilots as LCCs grow across Asia is apparently to blame, and nobody's sure if they've found more pilots for July or not.
The Miho Museum in Shiga, Japan is one of those places that always comes along with adjective "renowned," and for good reason. It was funded by one of the richest women in Japan, Mihoko Koyama, and its collection of both Asian and Western antiques could be worth up to a billion dollars.
Right now it's closed because they're getting ready for their summer exhibition: Ancient Sacred Drinking Vessels. Yes, it's about what the people of old used to drink from. In fact, there are a lot of animal-shaped drinking vessels which sound more exciting than the very regular-shaped glass we drank our last beer out of.
Along with the exhibition there'll be stories and myths about what they were drinking (and possibly, how they cured their hangovers). It opens up on July 12 and should run to August 17. Even if you don't want to see how your ancestors drank, tag along to the Miho just for the scenery. We promise it's great.
This Youtube video shows what happens at a McDonald's restaurant in the Akasaka, Tokyo after the bars close. The clip shows at least seven people sleeping off a night of heavy drinking in the booths at Mickey D's. Some of these sleepyheads were probably stranded when the Tokyo Metro closed down for the evening.
Miraculously, the staff doesn't seem to care that their restaurant is being used as a flophouse. This type of thing would never happen in the States. When we used to work at Starbucks in Manhattan, junkies and drunks would pass out in the bathrooms and we'd chase them out with mops. Guess foreign fast food joints are just a haven for assorted weirdness. For more proof, check out our clip of the dancing waiters at Pizza Hut in India.
Seven people are dead in Tokyo after a twenty-five year old man went on a rampage with a rented truck and a survival knife. The killer, Tomohiro Kato, struck in the Akihabara district, where tourists shop for the latest electronics and Japanese nerds visit arcades in manga inspired costumes. The neighborhood is known as the mecca for the obsessive anime and video game fandom known as "otaku" culture.
In the hours leading up to the attack, Kato wrote postings on an online messageboard that revealed his murderous intentions. The first post, written at 5:21 am Tokyo time warned:
I'll crash my vehicle into people and if the vehicle becomes useless, I'll get out a knife. Goodbye everyone.
Though Japan has a reputation as a relatively safe country, CNN notes that "stabbing attacks have become more frequent in Japan in recent years as violent crime has increased." Just three months ago a man killed one person and hurt at least seven others after going on a "slashing spree" outside a Japanese mall, and seven years to the day before Tomohiro Kato lost it in Akihabara, a man stabbed eight people at an elementary school on June 9, 2001.
It might be a good idea to bring along some chain mail if you're headed to Tokyo any time soon. You can tell the anime nerds in Akihabara that you're just joining in on the cosplay fun.
Dedicated fishermen would surely say that nothing tastes better than food that you've caught yourself. Obviously the Japanese know that and that's why the Zauo: The Fishing Boat Café chain exists.
Like so many things in Japan, Zauo is unique, a little zany and something we just can't wait to do. These are large restaurants with a boat in the middle of a lot of water, and you can either order your food straight away (boring!) or order a fishing rod and catch your own.
Obviously there's a huge seafood bias to the Zauo menu, and it all sounds delicious. If you're on a budget, then definitely opt to catch your own. For example, the lobster usually costs ¥3,600 ($35), but you only have to pay ¥2,600 ($25) if you pull it out of the water yourself. Oh, and if you fail to catch anything, it doesn't really matter. They won't let you leave hungry.
Fishy foot baths are all the rage in spas throughout the Far East. The bizarre trend started in Turkey where people pay to be immersed in a pool teeming with "doctor fish" that eat away at dead skin.
The treatment, which is also known as "fish reflexology," apparently results in super-smooth feet. Recently, doctor fish spas have popped up in Japan, Malaysia, Korea, Singapore and Croatia. After the jump, check out video footage of these flesh-eating fish in action.
Big things are happening in the realm of Japanese air travel. Bloomberg reported just this morning that Tokyo's Haneda airport--which dropped most of its international air traffic after Narita opened in 1978--will have twice as many flights as originally planned after a fourth runway opens in 2010.
As many as 30,000 slots per year will serve Asian cities like Seoul and Hong Kong, while another 30,000 will be allotted primarily for red-eye flights to Europe and other world destinations. Even better? The government is planning a high-speed rail link between Narita and Haneda, also to be completed by 2010, making Tokyo a powerhouse international hub.
Meanwhile, Australian LCC Jetstar is switching up its long-haul flight to and from Osaka: Brisbane is out and the Gold Coast (OOL) is in. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Queensland's largest city just isn't doing it for Japanese tourists:
Strong trade industry support in Japan and Australia led to the change, Jetstar spokesman Simon Westaway said.
"The reason we've done this is very straightforward--it's market driven," he said. "Over 75% of the Japanese customers who fly on this route, their end destination is the Gold Coast."
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