Joined: 07 Oct 2005 Posts: 9573 Location: �o�J�i�_ Country:
Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2006 2:59 am Post subject:
That's the weirdest thing I've ever seen. Instead of recycling, lets put our 3 year old TV in the trash.
Let me guess. Sony bribed a few diet members, in the hope that people will continue to buy their products and they won't need to fire another 10 000 people.
It's a really bad thing for stores in Akihabara. Some of them still sells famicom. I wonder if the softwares and games will have the same fate. _________________
Joined: 15 Jun 2004 Posts: 46182 Location: Los Skandolous, California Country:
Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2006 4:44 am Post subject:
EVER MORE CONVENIENT
Convenience Stores Seek to Create New Markets (February 21, 2006)
Convenience stores no longer just sell food and everyday items but offer an amazing variety of goods and services, occupying an important place in people's daily routines. Their quest to make themselves even more convenient, attractive, and original continues unabated, and many chains have recently launched specialist outlets targeted at specific groups of customers in an effort to stay ahead of the pack.
Multifunctional Service Stations
There are about 40,000 convenience stores in Japan today, according to the Japan Franchise Association. The number of shops has risen rapidly, in part because they require less space to open than supermarkets and can stay open late into the night or around the clock and cater to the needs of young urban dwellers.
Convenience stores do not just handle commodities like food and everyday items but offer a range of essential services, such as utility bill payment, express package delivery, and faxing and photocopying. Some even have automatic teller machines and mailboxes. Today these shops are increasingly transforming themselves into multifunctional centers where people can take care of almost all of their basic household needs.
Recently, however, the market in urban areas has reached saturation point, and the number of shops and total sales have stopped rising. Not a few outlets have gone out of business or shortened their opening hours. Faced with this situation, chains have had to devise new strategies, shifting their focus away from young people to the middle-aged, the elderly, and homemakers.
Luxurious Powder Rooms
Lawson Inc., one of Japan's largest convenience store operators, operates a chain of stores called Natural Lawson, which carry products for health- and beauty-conscious shoppers. The outlets are designed to appeal to women and feature a line of original products, such as 600-calorie boxed lunches and freshly baked bread. As of February 2006 there were 40 Natural Lawson outlets in the metropolitan Tokyo and Kansai regions. Lawson plans to open several hundred more in the coming years.
Another chain, am/pm Japan Co., recently opened an unusual shop named Happily, which it created in line with the concept, "of, for, and by women." To enable women to have fun and relax while shopping, as well as offering a wide range of skin-care products and dietary supplements, the store boasts a lavish powder room with a dressing table, full-length mirror, and stool for changing stockings. Aromatic oils are used to scent the air. Last year am/pm Japan also launched am/pm enta, outlets that offer DVD rentals and book sales in addition to traditional convenience store fare. These shops rent out the latest DVDs for as little as three hours and stock around 1,000 publications, including many business books and magazines. The stores are targeted primarily at dual-income couples and singles.
An unusual convenience store carrying a wide selection of Hello Kitty goods, which are popular among teenage girls and women in their twenties, opened in the fashionable Harajuku district of Tokyo in November 2005. The shop is run by Family Mart Co., which obtained the approval of Sanrio, Co. to use the Hello Kitty character. Among the shops offerings are original Hello Kitty sweets.
Major convenience store operators have also ventured into the world of "100-yen shops," single-price outlets that are similar to convenience stores and have also been enjoying explosive growth (\100 is $0.87 at \115 to the dollar). Lawson operates Store 100, and am/pm Japan runs Food Style. Circle K Sunkus Co., meanwhile, teamed up with the major supermarket chain Uny Co. to launch Kyu-kyu Ichiba, stores where everything costs \99.
These new shops are not simply convenience stores with inexpensive, one-priced goods but also serve as mini supermarkets offering vegetables and other provisions. By selling small, individual portions of vegetables and fruit, the franchises hope to win over older men and women living on their own and working women, who until now have been among the groups least likely to use convenience stores.
Japanese police are investigating two separate cases of suspected group suicide after nine people were found dead in parked cars, the latest in a series of such cases.
Five men and one woman were found dead in a station wagon in Saitama prefecture, just north of Tokyo, a police spokesman said.
He noted that charcoal stoves were found in the car but declined to give further details, citing ongoing investigations. The charcoal generates carbon monoxide, a poisonous gas.
Separately, a man and two women were found dead in a sealed car parked in the foothills of a mountain in Aomori prefecture, some 570 km (280 miles) north of Tokyo, a police spokesman said.
In this case too, charcoal stoves were found in the car with the three, who were undergoing treatment for mental illness and may have met at hospital, an Aomori police spokesman said.
The number of Japanese killing themselves in group suicides has risen steadily in recent years, and in many cases the people have met through the Internet, although police declined to say whether this was the case with the six people in Saitama.
In 2003, 34 died in group suicides, rising to 55 in 2004 and 91 last year.
That compares with a total of 32,325 suicides in 2004, the latest year for which figures are available -- down from the record-high 34,427 in 2003 but second only to Russia among Group of Eight industrialized nations.
According to World Health Organization data, Japan's suicide rate was 24.1 per 100,000 people in 2000, compared with 39.4 in Russia and 10.4 in the United States.
No religious prohibition exists against taking one's own life in Japan, where suicide was once a form of ritual atonement for samurai warriors and in modern times is a way to escape failure or save loved ones from embarrassment or financial loss.
Joined: 07 Oct 2005 Posts: 9573 Location: �o�J�i�_ Country:
Posted: Sat Mar 11, 2006 1:01 am Post subject:
Yet another one... this is so sad.
I'd almost kill to be in Japan and they are killing themselves over there. They should come to polar bear country. They might find that their lives aren't so bad after all. _________________
Joined: 15 Jun 2004 Posts: 46182 Location: Los Skandolous, California Country:
Posted: Sat Mar 11, 2006 1:09 am Post subject:
tabana wrote:
Yet another one... this is so sad.
I'd almost kill to be in Japan and they are killing themselves over there. They should come to polar bear country. They might find that their lives aren't so bad after all.
yeah then they can freeze their nuts off and die...at least they'll be preserved.
Joined: 20 Mar 2006 Posts: 15 Location: New York Country:
Posted: Thu Mar 23, 2006 12:13 pm Post subject: Cost of Living in Tokyo
Hi, I am interested in living in Tokyo while attending a Japanese language school.
Not considering rent and tuition, I was wondering what is the cost of living for a typical student. The biggest expense that comes to mind is food. I tend to eat out as much as I cook, and I like going out for drinks (if that counts as food). Here in Charlotte, NC I spend about $3-400/month at the supermarket (but I buy for my GF too). And we spend about $125-200/month ordering in. So, I guess if she didn't come with me I would spend half that.
I guess I would get a cell phone instead of a landline.
I'm not really a TV watcher (lately dorama's have been changing that though). So the one necessity I'd want at home is highspeed internet.
I imagine I'd be taking the subway to school everyday...
I can't really think of anything else right now. But the idea is to not be working while I'm there. So, how much money would I need to live for a year in Tokyo? The school is in Shinjuku-ku and I'd try to live in Shinjuku, too. If someone could give me an idea of what the cost would be per week, or per month that would be great!
Again I'm looking for estimates that don't include rent/phone.
Joined: 07 Oct 2005 Posts: 9573 Location: �o�J�i�_ Country:
Posted: Sun Apr 16, 2006 10:24 am Post subject:
Police return $42,000 thrown out with trash Source
Thu Apr 13, 9:59 AM ET
TOKYO (Reuters) - A Japanese man wept for joy this week when he recovered 5 million yen ($42,210) in cash his wife had mistakenly thrown out with the household rubbish.
The 35-year-old man had withdrawn the money from a bank account but, fearing it would be stolen, he hid it inside a refuse bag which he placed in a rubbish bin, Japanese media said.
His wife unknowingly threw out the bag, which was found last month at a refuse collection point outside an apartment building in Saitama, north of Tokyo.
Local police returned the money after the man was able to give details of the exact amount and where he had withdrawn it.
Many Japanese keep large quantities of money hidden in their homes and cash is often used for business transactions.
--------------------
Very nice place to hide cash. Place it in a trash bag inside a trash can.. _________________
TOKYO - Staff at Japan's Health Ministry are being asked to ditch the elevator and take the stairs as the ministry strives to conserve energy and reduce the risk of obesity and health-related problems among its employees, a newspaper reported Sunday.
From Monday, staff and visitors to the 26-story building in downtown Tokyo will be greeted with a sign in the elevator lobby saying "Please use the stairs," the Asahi newspaper reported.
The idea was proposed by a senior ministry official who overheard employees grumbling about the long wait for elevators since the ministry suspended the daytime use of six of its 18 elevators to curb global warming, the Asahi said.
Some employees complained that they had been late for meetings because of the reduced elevator service.
The complaints, instead, led to an unusual step: A request to use stairs rather than waiting around for the elevator.
The Health Ministry occupies the first 22 floors of the building, with the Environment Ministry offices and a cafeteria on the final four floors.
Staff were expected to follow the policy within reason, the Asahi said.
Ministry officials were not available for comment on Sunday.
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Instead of recycling, lets put our 3 year old TV in the trash.
I lucky to have it back. A lot of people would prefer to keep the money, instead of giving it away to the police. 
