If you have been keeping up with the latest news around the world today, then you’ll know that Japan’s been getting a bad rap. But, what can you do? Well how about a laugh about it.
Toyota’s Woes
David Letterman – Toyota CEO Sets The Record Straight

The Hump, Japanese restaurant in Santa Monica and its chef charged with serving whale meat
The Japanese Tradition – Sushi

A strong magnitude 6.6 earthquake hit off the eastern coast of Japan on Sunday, rattling buildings across a broad swath of the country, including the crowded capital.
There were no reports of casualties, with only light damage to structures near the epicenter, according to local officials.
The quake hit at 5:08 p.m. and was felt most strongly in central Fukushima prefecture about 130 miles (210 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.
“It was fairly strong, but didn’t knock over anything in the office,” said Ken Yoshida, a town official …

The “Youth Nurturing and Protection Ordinance,” is a proposal to essentially censor images of “childlike” characters in media. It is set to enter committee on March 18th. Should the bill move through it will be placed before the Diet for a vote on March 30th, and will be taking effect as early as October.

The effect on mass media in Japan would be astounding.

On Tuesday, director Takeshi Kitano (63) was in Paris to receive the Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters, France’s highest honor for arts and culture. The award was presented to him by Frédéric Mitterrand, the country’s Minister of Culture and Communication, at the Fondation Cartier art museum.
Kitano is active as an actor, comedian, television personality, and many other things, but he is perhaps best known internationally as a filmmaker. He debuted in 1989 with “Violent Cop” (”Sono Otoko, Kyobo ni Tsuki”) and went on to direct other critically …

Kenichi Ikeda of the city of Nagasaki has carried around three bags and a secret he could not tell his family at home — inside the bags were hundreds of women’s undergarments that he had stolen over 10 years, police said.
Police arrested the 36-year-old truck driver, who allegedly had stolen about 260 pairs of women’s underwear and kept them in bags behind the driver’s seat of his truck. “I couldn’t leave them home because I have a wife and children,” Ikeda was quoted as saying by police.
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Japan’s most recognizable player is Shunsuke Nakamura, the talismanic midfielder who scored 29 goals during a five-year stint with Celtic from 2005-09. A holdover from the 2002 and ‘06 World Cup teams, Nakamura is one of the side’s most experienced players — but the 31-year-old is fighting the perception of a superstar on the wane. Despite that, the deadly free-kick taker provides important creative influence on the right flank.

There’s no shortage of tourist hotspots in Tokyo, where a walk down an average city street is an experience in itself, but some of the capital’s quirkiest encounters are those not always listed in the guidebooks.

The Japanese love a museum and alongside the city’s many well-known galleries and institutions are dozens of smaller, often privately-run museums dedicated to just about anything you care to imagine, all well worth a detour from the traditional tourist landmarks.

Last week the finals of the solo comedian competition R-1 Grand Prix were held in Tokyo on Tuesday. A record 3,539 comedians originally entered the contest, but the winner in the final round of nine contestants was Koji Abe (35), who was vying for the title for the seventh time.
Abe has been in the final round six times. In this year’s contest, he made the top three along with Masahiro Ehara (27) and two-time winner Takeshi Nadagi (39). In the face-off among the three, Abe picked up six of the …

“Otoko naki”—crying while maintaining masculinity is Toyoda’s latest achievement in his efforts to win back the confidence of the people.

The Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda’s tearful public appearances during and after his Congressional testimony in the U.S. won sympathetic votes in Japan on Friday as images and sound bites of the media-shy executive monopolized headlines.

Every year Ueno Zoo performs an animal escape drill. Not sure I would want to be the guy in the tiger suit, though. Tokyo has had it’s fair share of monkeys in subways. Other metropolises have their animal antics as well. One of the latest was a zebra escaped from a circus walking along 285 in Atlanta.