Boston brouhaha ‘cooling,’ Matsuzaka to apologize
July 31, 2009
Daily tabloid Nikkan Gendai (July 31) is reporting that the situation surrounding injured and disgruntled pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka and Boston Red Sox management has reached a “cooling point” with the right-hander set to make an official apology next week.
Manager Terry Francona said during a press conference prior to the game with the Oakland A’s earlier this week that he had a chance to speak with Matsuzaka over the phone. Francona emphasized that tension no longer existed between the two parties. “Matsuzaka understands how serious this is, and he has frankly admitted his mistake. People do make mistakes,” he said.
The controversy started with a July 27 report from news service Allatanys, in which Matsuzaka, who is on the 15-day disabled list with weakness in his shoulder, complained about the training methods of the Red Sox — a program that he feels does not allow him to throw as often as he would like: “If I’m forced to continue to train in this environment,” he said, “I may no longer be able to pitch like I did in Japan. The only reason why I managed to win games during the first and second years [in the United States] was because I used the savings of the shoulder I built up in Japan. Since I came to the Major Leagues, I couldn’t train in my own way, so now I’ve lost all those savings.” Read more
Desperate deri heru dames say sayonara to safe sex
July 29, 2009
The term sutemi, written with characters meaning “discard the body,” is used to describe an act of desperation or being driven to one’s last resort.
In the view of Weekly Playboy (Aug. 10), this aptly describes what’s currently going on in the sex trade.
“Around this time last year I used to get four or five calls a day,” complains Natsumi, age 30, who works for an out-call sex service, referred to as deri heru within the trade’s parlance, in Uguisudani, in Tokyo’s Taito Ward. “There were some days last month in which I put in nine-hour days without getting one single customer.”
It seems that girls in other businesses, like cabaret club hostesses (kyabakura) and soapland masseuses — as well as laid-off office ladies — have been flocking to work at deri heru clubs in increasing numbers, creating a glut of supply at a time of shrinking demand. Read more
Gundam guards Tokyo
July 27, 2009
Giant Gundam robot model stands guard in Odaiba, Tokyo to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the 'Mobile Suit Gundam' anime series
(Photo by Remo Camerota, July 11, 2009)
For a story on the Gundam robot creation at Odaiba go here. For a story on Gundam’s creator, Sunshine Animation’s Yoshiyuki Tomino, go here.
Peepers keep goggles ready for golden showers
July 25, 2009
Though golden showers
May cum your way,
They bring okane
And that’s okay
(with apologies to Al Jolson)
In 1993, a new shop named Oshikko Kansho Kurabu (the pee appreciation club) opened for business in Tokyo’s Ikebukuro district.
Upon payment of 20,000 yen admission, reports Nikkan Gendai (July 25), male customers were treated to the sight of a female in her late teens or early 20s squatting above a Japanese-style washiki benjo and releasing a torrent of urine. Read more
Office lady pulls off big win in overtime
July 24, 2009
“I get incredibly excited fantasizing of situations where I have sex at the workplace,” confesses an anonymous contributor in the June issue of Renai Tengoku, a raunchy vernacular women’s magazine. “Having experienced it once, now I’ve become infatuated. I’m constantly turned on thinking about it.”
As related in the weekly “From the Ladies’ Magazines” column in Shukan Bunshun (July 30), this gal’s lusty tale began late one night two months earlier when she was burning the midnight oil at her office.
“I suddenly felt an irresistible feeling of desire, and slipped my hand inside my underwear and began stimulating myself,” she relates. “Just then, I was startled by a noise at the door. It turned out to be my colleague Mr. A, who had joined the company the same time I did. Read more
Fire at Olympic department store
July 22, 2009
Huge fire at Olympic department store in Tokyo's Takadanobaba district draws hundreds of emergency service personnel and onlookers
(Photo by CamerAsian, 2007)
Right-wingers at Yasukuni
July 22, 2009
Shinichi Kamijo of right-wing group Gishin Gokoku-kai at Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward
(Photo by The Tokyo Reporter, August 2008)
For the story from 2007 go here.
Seen at the matsuri
July 22, 2009
Colorful characters at the Sanja Matsuri in Asakusa
(Photo by The Tokyo Reporter, May 2007)
Hosts in Kabukicho
July 22, 2009
Hosts look for clients near Ichiban-gai in Tokyo's Kabukicho entertainment district
(Photo by The Tokyo Reporter, November 2007)
Bowl battle: Japan’s lawn champs go to Scotland
July 21, 2009
YOKOHAMA (TR) – Though the sport of lawn bowls appears straightforward — white-uniformed players repeatedly rolling a 1.5-kg mass of rounded plastic (a “bowl”) over finely cut grass — Japan’s male and female singles champions are taking decidedly different approaches to the World Singles Champion of Champions, set to begin in Ayr, Scotland on Wednesday.
Buddy Ferrie, a 48-year-old native of Pennsylvania participating in his first international tournament, will tackle the multi-stage event on a careful, step-by-step basis. “My goal is to get through the initial round robin,” said Ferrie during an interview one Saturday afternoon earlier this month. “Then if I get to the knockout round, my goal is to get as far as I can.”
Conversely, Yoko Goda, 61, a veteran of numerous overseas matches, including the 2005 Asian Championship Fours, in which she won the bronze medal, put down a bit of swagger typically found in more rugged games at a press conference in late June at the Yokohama Country & Athletic Club (YC&AC). “Since I started playing ten years ago, it has been my dream to participate in this event,” she said. “It would nice to see the hinomaru [Japan’s national flag] flying at center court. I will do my best to accomplish that.” Read more
