This is not associated with Yokozuna Bill of the Northeast as this is all about the Far East. Be prepared for the thrill ride of a whole second before you come crashing back to earth. It's time: So lets give a big blow on those plastic flutes for Cheers and Jeers from Japan
Interesting items about Japan
Buying new and used cars: When you purchase a new car in Japan you can not take delivery of it on the same day. Once you've chosen your car the order will be sent to the factory where your car will be manufactured and then delivered to you in one months time.
As, for used cars you can look all you want. You can even touch it. But, you can not take it for a test drive as that would insult the honesty of the car dealership and the person selling the car.
Unlike America one cannot trade in their used car for a new one. Used cars are considered to have no value.
Legal Loan Sharks: It's true there are legal loan sharks here in Japan. They are loan sharks no matter how you look at it. They provide short term loans with a starting base interest rate of 19% and they go up from there. The interest is compounded just like any loan shark. By the week.
Each Japanese citizen is required to pay a subscription fee to NHK whether they have a TV or not.
Have you wanted to count like us well here you are. Study it. Learn it. Live it.
ba 場 Sections of a play
ban 晩 Nights
ban 番 Sumo matches, (Sports) matches
bi 尾 Small fish and shrimps (used in the fish trade; most people say hiki instead)
bu 部 Copies of a magazine or newspaper
bun 文 Sentences
chaku 着, 著 Suits of clothing (see also: mai)
ch? 挺 Guns, sticks of ink, palanquins, rickshaws
ch? 丁 Tools, scissors, saws, pistols, cakes of tofu, servings of noodles, town blocks, bread (about six slices)
ch? 町 Town blocks
ch? 貼 Measures of powdered medicine
dai 代 Generations, periods, reigns
dai 台 Cars, machines, mechanical devices
danraku 段落 Paragraphs
do 度 Occurrences, number of times, degrees Celsius (see also: kai)
fuku 服 Bowls of matcha (powdered green tea); packets or doses of powdered medicine
fuku 幅 Hanging scrolls (kakejiku)
fun 分 Minutes
furi 振 Swords
gatsu 月 Months of the year (see also: kagetsu)
go 語 Words, languages
gon, also koto 言 Words
gu 具 Suits of armour, sets of furniture
gy? 行 Lines of text
haku 泊 Nights of a stay
hai 杯 Cups, glasses, spoonfuls, cuttlefish, octopuses, crabs
hai 敗 losses (sumo bouts)
hari 張 Umbrellas, Parasols
hashira 柱 Gods, Memorial tablets
hatsu 発 Gunshots
heya 部屋 Rooms
hiki, piki 匹 Small animals, insects, fish
hin, pin 品 Parts of a meal, courses (see also: shina)
ho, po 歩 Number of (foot)steps
hon 本 Long, thin, cylindrical objects: ties, pencils, bottles, guitars; also, metaphorically, telephone calls, movies (see also: ts?wa). Although 本 also means "book", the counter for books is satsu.
ji 字 Letters, kanji, kana
ji 時 Hours
jikan 時間 Hour-long periods
j? 畳 Tatami mats. The kanji 畳 is also read tatami and is the same one used for the mats. The room size of a washitsu in Japan is given as a number of mats, for example 4? j?
ka 課 Chapters of a book
ka 架 Frames
kabu 株 Stocks; nursery trees
kagetsu ヶ月, 箇月 Month-long periods (see also: gatsu). 箇 is abbreviated using a small katakana ヶ in modern Japanese
kakoku ヶ国, 箇国 Countries
kakokugo ヶ国語, 箇国語 (National) languages
kaku 画 strokes in kanji
Cheers/Jeers: A restaurant chain plans to resume serving U.S. beef at dozens of its branches nationwide, company officials said Saturday.
Zenshoku, based in Osaka Prefecture, plans to offer U.S. beef at the company's 57 Korean barbecue restaurants across Japan soon, the company said.
The Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported earlier that the chain plans to introduce American beef as early as Tuesday, possibly becoming the first chain to do so since the government eased an import ban last month.
Who knows what to think since the American government threatened Japan with economic sanctions if they didn't lift the ban.
Jeers: A man who broke into a toilet on a bullet train and molested a 32-year-old woman using it has been arrested, law enforcers said on Saturday.
Police arrested the 34-year-old man, Junji Yamaguchi, from Chuo-ku, on suspicion of indecent assault. Investigators said at least 10 similar incidents have occurred on Tokaido Shinkansen bullet trains since April this year. Yamaguchi has reportedly admitted involvement in the crimes.
"I wanted to see women relieving themselves," Yamaguchi was quoted by investigators as saying.
Investigators said Yamaguchi used a knife to pick open a locked toilet door on a bullet train during a stop at JR Tokyo Station at about 9:50 p.m. on July 30, and molested a 32-year-old woman using the toilet.
At about 8:50 p.m. on Friday, a police officer on patrol at the station spotted Yamaguchi acting suspiciously in front of a toilet on a bullet train, and apprehended him.
Yamaguchi reportedly used a platform ticket to gain entry and targeted toilets on bullet trains that were about to depart.
Junji I'm sure that if you really wanted to watch women using the facilities. I'm sure that you could go to your local Av shop or roadside vending machine and by a DVD. Of course that would be far to easy for a genius such as yourself. Don't get on the Shinkansen with Junji.
Jeers to: The granddaughter of wartime Prime Minister Hideki Tojo said on Friday a Tokyo war shrine should keep honoring war criminals and urged Japan's emperor to visit there to thank those who had died for their country.
There is no culture in Japan which suggests removing Class A, B and C war criminals from the list of those honored at Yasukuni," said Yuko Tojo, granddaughter of the war leader who was convicted as a Class A war criminal by an Allied tribunal and hanged in 1948.
Whether she likes it or not there is a problem with government officials visiting Yasukuni Shrine. Why because these people advocated a military operation which led to the deaths of millions of people in Asia.
Cheers: SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. -- A big fourth inning was just enough for Kawaguchi City, Japan, to come away with a 3-0 win over Matamoros, Mexico, on Saturday night in the International Championship game of the Little League World Series.
After tossing a perfect first three innings, Mexico pitcher Josue Barron swiftly unraveled in the fourth. Japan's Seigo Yada led off the frame with a drive deep over the hedges in left field, his fourth home run of the series. Pinch-hitter Kohsuke Murata then reached on an infield single before Go Matsumoto drove another home run well beyond the left-field fence.
Roberto Guajardo halted the damage by striking out six of the next eight Japanese hitters and tossing a scoreless final three innings. But the earlier dent proved to be too much to surmount against Japan starter Seigo Yada.
The 13-year-old right-hander carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning. But like Barron for Mexico in the fourth, he suddenly fell apart, allowing three straight singles to open the sixth. The difference was that Yada's disintegration didn't doom his team.
Yada was pulled in favor of Matsumoto, who left the bases loaded with a pair of strikeouts and a soft game-ending ground-out.
Japan will now face Columbus, Ga., in Sunday afternoon's World Championship game.
Congratulations to both teams for making it to the Little League World Series.
Jeers: Police on Friday arrested the president of high-precision instrument maker Mitutoyo Corp., a world-leader in the field, and four others suspected of exporting equipment that could be used in producing nuclear weapons.
These idiots somehow managed to ship this equipment not only to Iran, but Libya as well. The person who helped facilitate the whole enterprise was none other than A.Q. Khan.
Buddhist monk acquitted of trespassing in case that focused on freedom of speech.
[http://www.asahi.com/...]BuddhistMonk
And finally in honor of last weeks Virgin Cheers and Jeers here is something just for you.
Every year on March 15 a huge two and a half meter wooden phallus is carried the short distance between two shrines attracting visitors from all over Japan and international media attention. The festival is fun with a lot of sake drinking, however the background of the festival is rather more serious. A shrine is a place of worship. It houses divine spirits and preserves the memory and practice of many aspects of Japanese culture. This file is intended to introduce some of the history, mythology, rituals, and customs of Tagata Jinja.