100th Post

The 100th post.
Day: SATURDAY
Location: Office.
Working time: 9.00am - 5.15pm

Some Top Japan News for the past months in brief

• Late autumn

The maple trees this year has been slow to turn red, the colour most associated with autumn. Leaves are said to turn red when the temperature dips below 5 degrees celcius at night. The leaves are also said to be less vibrant this year, a probable result due to the acidity of the rain. This disrupted some of the "maple-leaf viewing tours" as there were none to look at. But for me, its good news, as i was a little late in preparation for mine..hehe.

• Japan feeling the onslaught of the most heaviest snowfall in decades.

Snow has been pretty dominated most of the news in this period of time. Besides the daily "someone murdered someone" news, suicide or molestation or rape. The amount of snowfall in the areas close to the Sea of Japan has increased, and arrived much earlier than average. It broke the records for the past decades too. Causes is from the cold air front coming in from china. -32 degrees i last saw on TV. Most of the problems caused is delays in trains, and people falling off the roof. i guess. hehe. I was nearly interviewed by a Yomiuri News reporter at the Yamagata Train Station, if only i was taking the Shinkansen. Haiz. She wasn't interested when i was taking another train to Sendai instead. boo! But she is pretty cute and speaks english. Hmm...oh well, the seasons in Japan has been pretty weird this year. With the late arriving autumn and the early winter. oh well, at least i will get to enjoy my winter more before i go back to perpetual summer again. OH manz.

• Architect admits to falsifying quake-resistance values

Imagine staying in one of those houses, which should collapse under a grade 5 and above earthquake. What was he thinking? Now, he is a celebrity of sorts. Usually, these guys would have committed suicide for the shame they have brought upon themselves. i think? It brought the whole industry into the limelight. How did he get through the rigourous checking by various ministry and builders? By knowing which is the sloppiest companies and employing them to check. Privatization backfiring on the gov? These buildings are scattered around Japan, some in Tokyo, where it has been emphasised that a BIG ONE will happen anytime. Bummer.

• Child murder

Recently, there has been cases of murder involving small children. One teacher killed his student of 6(?) years old, because he didn't like her. Schoolgirl murdered by boy motivated by love. Schoolgirl murdered in forest. It sure helped those in the personal guard business. Apparently, they employ anyone who "does not have a record", good character, need not be trained in martial arts, does not pierce their ears, etc. (which means almost anyone.). Not really interested in this area. NEXT.

• Prime Minister Visit to Yasukuki Shrine

No opinions on this. But headlines anyway. China not happy, Japan defiant. Never been to the shrine yet. Guess i don't have the time either. =) I guess, peace will only come when one is able to read another's mind like a book. To see if the other has really repented, or is sincere to make peace.

• Sony Blu-ray vs. Toshiba HD-DVD

Consumers are the losers, again. Yawnz, whats new. (Yea i work in Toshiba, but not on the DVD stuff. oh well. and i thought i could get some free complimentary HD-DVD stuff.)

• Stock Market Blunder

First case, 4 hours trading time lost due to system crash. Next, "Sell 1 share of J-Com at 610,000円 please.", and the next minute, 610,000 shares are sold at 1円. Of course, there is always cancellation of orders, which couldn't be done due to a software glitch at the Tokyo Stock Exchange side. This little glitch translated to 40 Billion yen loss for Mizuho Securities. Of course, the guy who handled it is screwed for life. Well, rectification is going to be tough. After all, it is all legitimate trades. Japan's finance minister Kaoru Yosano did express his unhappiness about the 6 brokerage houses, who took advantage of the situation, knowingly that it was a botched offer. However, that did not stop one man from walking away 563 million yen richer at the end of the day. Thats around S$7.8 million dollars on one day's trade. Wished it was me. haha. The president of the TSE, Takuo Tsurushima, has quit.

• Trains in Japan

Alot of news about this. First, the train that went off the track, and crashed into an apartment building in April 2005. Killing 100 over and injuring 300 over. Cause: Speeding. Why: Cuz he was 1 minute late. Drivers are often asked to keep to the schedule, and are asked to do demeaning work when they don't. Sure there are equipments to stop trains from speeding. "But it wasn't working".

More derailments later, (Shinkansen + Earthquake etc.) December 2005, in Yamagata prefecture, another train derailed, because it was literally blown off its tracks. 5 dead. Some snowstorm had hit the area where the crash happened plus wind speeds of 70+kmph, it was pretty tough for trains to get by the area. One strong gust of wind after the train crossed a bridge over a river, and it ended up in a shed next to the tracks. From that day onwards, i think those drivers started to be more cautious of strong winds (dun pray pray). Its funny how something MUST happen before people realise things will happen. I see it in all forms in my daily life. Speeding when you are not good at driving, or assuming all cars will avoid you if you shoot out from the small road in your little bikes. "Gogonathan". as some friend here pronounce it. =)

For most of the rides in Japan, my train really do arrive on time, and sure, it feels good not to be kept waiting. (I do have a Casio synched with the atomic clock in Japan..haha...so they din change the clocks!) But the recent ones i took (at Yamagata prefecture too, after the derailment), they don't, because of the bad weather. The trains were delayed for 2+ hours due to strong winds and snow, some Shinkansen trains were cancelled. When we were finally on the train, the train moved at what seemed like 20km/h. You could see the winds blowing pretty recklessly on the train. Of course, one of my friends was also complaining that "those JR people are purposely driving the train slowly for profit purposes". i don't know the logic though. hehe. As per the usual custom, West Japan Railway Co. said that its President Takeshi Kakiuchi will resign to take responsibility for the derailment in Amagasaki, Hyogo prefecture (the April one).

Heh, this year seems bad for all the Towkays (Head of company), alot of them seem to have stepped down, or quit this year. Maybe they didn't listen to their fengshui masters.

Yea, these were the most talked about news i guess. Of course, there were other ones which i did not have time to write, and saucy news too on the newspaper everyday, i could almost predict tomorrow's news: "So-and-so, arrested after being caught doing whatever-girl related crimes". Today's? : "Nagasaki Prefectural Government worker in hot water for peeping into women's restroom". Some news that show how immature some of those criminals can be: "Son killed father after being refused over 100yen loan". Thats S$1.40. Which can't even buy you a can of coke at the vending machines. Well, with a population of well over 127 million, it is a small crime statistic anyway. =)

Well, thats news in Japan. But i read of some gang going around Orchard Road molesting girls using party fo[a]m sprays. But publishing the MO of these kids seems to be abit of the double edge sword though, i thought. I guess thats how news operates. hmm.

Did i mention a 74 year old man just completely torched down a train station today, using a lighter, because he was hungry and fustrated. =9