gaijinmark wrote:

Double A-bomb victim dies at 91 January 03, 2012 Akira Iwanaga, a survivor of both atomic bombings in the waning days of World War II, died on Jan. 2. He was 91. Iwanaga, a, former general affairs division manager for the Nakagasaki city government, was in Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, and Nagasaki on Aug. 9. He was featured in the documentary "Twice Bombed, Twice Survived" by Hidetaka Inazuka, a film released in 2006 that depicted stories about victims present at both bombings. Iwanaga worked with Tsutomu Yamaguchi, another victim in the attacks, at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.'s Nagasaki Shipyard & Machinery Works. After being exposed to radiation in Hiroshima, Iwanaga rode the same train as Yamaguchi to Nagasaki where they were both present for the second bombing. Yamaguchi, who played a major role in the film, died in 2010 at 93.

Wow, that's pretty fascinating... Gonna have to check that film out.

Maybe Netflix has it...?

Swank sushi: Tuna fetches record $736K in Tokyo

(01-05) 07:53 PST TOKYO, Japan (AP) --

This tuna is worth savoring: It cost nearly three-quarters of a million dollars.

A bluefin tuna caught off northeastern Japan fetched a record 56.49 million yen, or about $736,000, Thursday in the first auction of the year at Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market. The price for the 593-pound (269-kilogram) tuna beat last year's record of 32.49 million yen.

The price translates to 210,000 yen per kilogram, or $1,238 per pound �\ also a record, said Yutaka Hasegawa, a Tsukiji market official.

Though the fish is undoubtedly high quality, the price has more to do with the celebratory atmosphere that surrounds the first auction of the year.

The winning bidder, Kiyoshi Kimura, president of Kiyomura Co., which operates the Sushi-Zanmai restaurant chain, said he wanted to give Japan a boost after last March's devastating tsunami.

"Japan has been through a lot the last year due to the disaster," a beaming Kimura told AP Television News. "Japan needs to hang in there. So I tried hard myself and ended up buying the most expensive one."

Kimura also said he wanted to keep the fish in Japan "rather than let it get taken overseas."

Last year's bid winners were Hong Kong entrepreneur Ricky Cheng, who runs the Hong Kong-based chain Itamae Sushi, and an upscale Japanese restaurant in Tokyo's Ginza district.

This year's record tuna was caught off Oma, in Aomori prefecture and just north of the tsunami-battered coast.

Bluefin tuna is prized for its tender red meat. The best slices of fatty bluefin �\ called "o-toro" here �\ can sell for 2,000 yen ($24) per piece at tony Tokyo sushi bars.

A Sushi-Zanmai shop in Tsujiki was selling fatty tuna sushi from the prized fish for 418 yen ($5.45) apiece Thursday.

"It's superb. I can do nothing but smile. I am very happy," said Kosuke Shimogawara, a 51-year-old customer, who pointed out that if sold at cost, each piece of sushi could cost as much as 8,000 yen ($96).

"It's unbelievable. President Kimura is so generous. I have to say thank you to him," he said.

Japanese eat 80 percent of the Atlantic and Pacific bluefins caught �\ the most sought-after by sushi lovers. Japanese fishermen, however, face growing calls for tighter fishing rules amid declining tuna stocks worldwide.

In November 2010, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas voted to cut the bluefin fishing quota in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean by about 4 percent, from 13,500 to 12,900 metric tons annually. It also agreed on measures to try to improve enforcement of quotas on bluefin.

The decision was strongly criticized by environmental groups, which hoped to see bluefin fishing slashed or suspended.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2012/01/04/international/i203119S62.DTL#ixzz1ibQzGPpk

Quote:

Double A-bomb victim dies at 91 January 03, 2012 Akira Iwanaga, a survivor of both atomic bombings in the waning days of World War II, died on Jan. 2. He was 91. Iwanaga, a, former general affairs division manager for the Nakagasaki city government, was in Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, and Nagasaki on Aug. 9. He was featured in the documentary "Twice Bombed, Twice Survived" by Hidetaka Inazuka, a film released in 2006 that depicted stories about victims present at both bombings. Iwanaga worked with Tsutomu Yamaguchi, another victim in the attacks, at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.'s Nagasaki Shipyard & Machinery Works. After being exposed to radiation in Hiroshima, Iwanaga rode the same train as Yamaguchi to Nagasaki where they were both present for the second bombing. Yamaguchi, who played a major role in the film, died in 2010 at 93.

wow...thats really rare
the survivor

niknik wrote:

Swank sushi: Tuna fetches record $736K in Tokyo

Big one.

bmwracer wrote:

Big one.

I think that fish is bigger than my car. Amazing.

Tu_triky wrote:

I think that fish is bigger than my car.

And probably a lot tastier.

bmwracer wrote:

And probably a lot tastier.

Indeed!

Aside from being an interesting read and a cool pic, this story has caused me to salivate for some hon maguro (real bluefin).

Meet Nissan�fs Self-Healing, Scratch Shield iPhone Case

[Photo: Nissan]

Jan 18, 2012

By Kevin Lee, PCWorld

Nissan, or any car manufacturer for that matter, is typically not something you'd associate with smartphones. But this week Nissan decided to switch lanes and announce what it claims is the world�fs first self-healing iPhone case.

The Nissan Scratch Shield iPhone case promises to heal itself from any scrape by utilizing the same scratch-healing paint that's used on Nissan and Infiniti cars. Nissan says that a small graze can heal within an hour while deeper cuts could take up to a week to fix.

The magic behind the self-healing case is the polyrotaxane-based paint. The polyrotaxane in the paint can react to a change (in this case damage from being cut), and repair its chemical structure to its original state.

The case itself is made of ABS plastic shell overlaid with the Scratch Shield paint that will supposedly add a grippy texture, as opposed to the typical slippery, glossy finish of other cases.

Nissan has already been using their Scratch Shield paint in Japanese mobile phones from NTT DoCoMo, such as the Style Series N-03B. Now the company is looking to bring their self-healing paint to other mobile devices and perhaps even more products.

Nissan is running a small group beta test of the cases for now. If demand for the case is high enough, the company plans to release a commercial version by the end of the year.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/248346/meet_nissans_selfhealing_scratch_shield_iphone_case.html

^ More iPhone bum-kissing.

bmwracer wrote:

^ More iPhone bum-kissing.

It's big business, man. As long as it makes yen, the two will be friends.

Tu_triky wrote:

It's big business, man. As long as it makes yen, the two will be friends.

That's why HuffPo keeps posting Steve Jobs, Sarah Palin, and Paula Deen stories.

bmwracer wrote:

That's why HuffPo keeps posting Steve Jobs, Sarah Palin, and Paula Deen stories.

Oh dude, like any other blog, they know certain topics generate mad hits, which, for example, is why tech blogs will incessantly churn out any rumor about Apple products.

Tu_triky wrote:

Oh dude, like any other blog, they know certain topics generate mad hits, which, for example, is why tech blogs will incessantly churn out any rumor about Apple products.

Yup.

bmwracer wrote:

Yup.

It's a bit much at times especially when quoting sources which the blogs themselves admittedly find to be suspect. Oh well. Such is the way of the intarwebs.

gotta say that scratch shield does work though...
especially effective in clearing up the minor scraches caused by stones on the my cars' front bumper facia...
_________________

I found this article pretty interesting......

China outperforming Japan in campus romance

Kuchikomi Feb. 04, 2012 - 06:25AM JST ( 70 )

TOKYO �\

Japan is no longer what it used to be – namely the world�fs second largest economy – thanks to China, which overtook it in 2010. Elsewhere too, China finds itself triumphant. Where else? On campus. In love.

Roughly 87,000 Chinese exchange students are enrolled in Japanese universities – nearly twice as many as 10 years ago. �gHerbivorous male�h is a term coined several years ago to describe young Japanese men�fs approach to sex these days. It suggests timidity and indifference. The Chinese students are not herbivorous. They are carnivorous. The result, says Shukan Bunshun (Feb 2) is that the Chinese enjoy a rich campus sex life while the Japanese look on in mingled envy, resentment and bewilderment.

How do they do it? They hardly even speak the language. But they know the words they need, and they don�ft take no for an answer. Take it from a Meiji University sophomore the magazine calls Sudo. There was a girl he loved from afar. He couldn�ft bring himself to get closer. She was a year older, probably more sophisticated, and somehow intimidating. �gI had the feeling it wouldn�ft do to be aggressive,�h he explains. A Chinese who spotted her knew no such scruples. �gReally,�h he would say to her in his broken Japanese, �gyou are so beautiful. I never met anyone so beautiful. Is your mother beautiful too?�h

Poor Sudo! In less than a month, the girl and the exchange student were a couple, while he licked his wounds unnoticed on the sidelines.

It�fs not just him, of course. Shukan Bunshun�fs anecdotal evidence suggests a trend. Here�fs the story of a girl named Chiemi, a boy named Yang, and another boy who used to be Chiemi�fs boyfriend. They�fre all Waseda University students. �gGo out with me,�h Yang urged Chiemi.�h �gBut I already have a boyfriend,�h she insisted. �gBut it�fs better if you go out with me,�h persisted Yang.

It didn�ft matter where they were, or who was present. Not even Chiemi�fs boyfriend put Yang off. �gGo out with me,�h he�fd say over and over. The boyfriend grumbled about Yang�fs bad manners, but otherwise seemed stymied. That didn�ft escape Chiemi, who gradually found herself drawn to the Chinese boy. His boldness and persistence were attractive – so un-Japanese! He could cook, too. He�fd whip up wonderful Chinese dishes, saying, �gWhatever you want, I�fll make.�h The Japanese boyfriend didn�ft stand a chance. Yang was in, he was out.

�gThe lukewarm approach of Japan�fs herbivorous men,�h Shukan Bunshun hears from writer and erotic merchandise shop manager Minori Kitahara, �gis just no match for the animal magnetism of the Chinese male.�h

I guess the majority of the Japanese college males are pretty shy but I think it's just their culture. I've seen this behavior among Japanese American males, too.

Sengo wrote:

I found this article pretty interesting...... China outperforming Japan in campus romance Kuchikomi Feb. 04, 2012 - 06:25AM JST ( 70 ) TOKYO �\ Japan is no longer what it used to be – namely the world�fs second largest economy – thanks to China, which overtook it in 2010. Elsewhere too, China finds itself triumphant. Where else? On campus. In love. Roughly 87,000 Chinese exchange students are enrolled in Japanese universities – nearly twice as many as 10 years ago. �gHerbivorous male�h is a term coined several years ago to describe young Japanese men�fs approach to sex these days. It suggests timidity and indifference. The Chinese students are not herbivorous. They are carnivorous. The result, says Shukan Bunshun (Feb 2) is that the Chinese enjoy a rich campus sex life while the Japanese look on in mingled envy, resentment and bewilderment. How do they do it? They hardly even speak the language. But they know the words they need, and they don�ft take no for an answer. Take it from a Meiji University sophomore the magazine calls Sudo. There was a girl he loved from afar. He couldn�ft bring himself to get closer. She was a year older, probably more sophisticated, and somehow intimidating. �gI had the feeling it wouldn�ft do to be aggressive,�h he explains. A Chinese who spotted her knew no such scruples. �gReally,�h he would say to her in his broken Japanese, �gyou are so beautiful. I never met anyone so beautiful. Is your mother beautiful too?�h Poor Sudo! In less than a month, the girl and the exchange student were a couple, while he licked his wounds unnoticed on the sidelines. It�fs not just him, of course. Shukan Bunshun�fs anecdotal evidence suggests a trend. Here�fs the story of a girl named Chiemi, a boy named Yang, and another boy who used to be Chiemi�fs boyfriend. They�fre all Waseda University students. �gGo out with me,�h Yang urged Chiemi.�h �gBut I already have a boyfriend,�h she insisted. �gBut it�fs better if you go out with me,�h persisted Yang. It didn�ft matter where they were, or who was present. Not even Chiemi�fs boyfriend put Yang off. �gGo out with me,�h he�fd say over and over. The boyfriend grumbled about Yang�fs bad manners, but otherwise seemed stymied. That didn�ft escape Chiemi, who gradually found herself drawn to the Chinese boy. His boldness and persistence were attractive – so un-Japanese! He could cook, too. He�fd whip up wonderful Chinese dishes, saying, �gWhatever you want, I�fll make.�h The Japanese boyfriend didn�ft stand a chance. Yang was in, he was out. �gThe lukewarm approach of Japan�fs herbivorous men,�h Shukan Bunshun hears from writer and erotic merchandise shop manager Minori Kitahara, �gis just no match for the animal magnetism of the Chinese male.�h I guess the majority of the Japanese college males are pretty shy but I think it's just their culture. I've seen this behavior among Japanese American males, too.

I have a friend who lives in Osaka, an American expatriate with over 15 years living in Japan, and he repeatedly shares anecdotes that basically agree with the premise of this article. The bold make a move, while the unassertive lose.

Not too surprising I guess. A guy's got a have a certain swagger to get the girl in any country I suppose.

^ Time to fly out to Japan and enroll in a university!

Woo-Hoo!! It's finished!!

Would have made it on time if not for the earthquake:http://www.cnngo.com/tokyo/visit/best-japan/tokyo-sky-tree-completes-worlds-tallest-tower-prepares-open-292638

gaijinmark wrote:

Woo-Hoo!! It's finished!! Would have made it on time if not for the earthquake:http://www.cnngo.com/tokyo/visit/best-japan/tokyo-sky-tree-completes-worlds-tallest-tower-prepares-open-292638

Very cool. Looks impressive.