Wacky news in Japan

[cheesemon]

I still like to keep up with Japanese news, and I've been bookmarking the more interesting articles for the past couple of weeks, but I never got around to posting them . . UNTIL NOW.

"UFJ NICOS is marketing a new kind of credit card and the first in the series is the “Asami NICOS card.” The main attraction of the card is that if you earn enough points through card purchases, you get to talk with pop singer Asami Abe on the phone for five minutes."
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"The driver of the bus I was riding announced there was a bomb on board. After everybody disembarked in a big panic, he exclaimed, 'April Fool! Now wasn't that fun?' And all of the other passengers laughed!"
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"But back to toilets for a moment. The assortment of bum-washers, Kokami informs his guests, have their rationale in the traditional Japanese grain-based diet, which apparently caused hemorrhoids."
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"A new service from NTT will synchronize seven different smells to parts of "The New World," starring Colin Farrell as American colonial leader John Smith, who is said to have been saved from execution by North American Indian princess Pocahontas. A floral scent accompanies a love scene while a mix of peppermint and rosemary is emitted during a tear-jerking scene."
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" "Oi, that's an adult's book!" Hashimoto recalls screaming at the boy, prompting him to go into hysterics as he realized he'd been nabbed red-handed. The screaming child raced out of the store. "I hope he gets a move on and grows up so he can fondle some real ones." "
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"Hundreds of people take part in the Kanamara Festival, a centuries-old fertility festival, in Kawasaki."
Picture of the Day

Interesting but not really surprising, except that I expected the results to be even more exaggerated
A survey on gender equality in Japan

And this is really old, but I suddenly realized how unintentionally funny Orlando Bloom's nickname in Japan is . .
Someone needs to make this into a userpic