Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
The photo above posted on the Asiaone site, it’s a bit eerie isn’t it? Tsunami survivors receive lookalike dolls of their dead children. It’s the next step from a Jizo stone Buddha. It helps them mourn, yet it’s a bit strange. A quote says, “It was like my daughter came back to me,” Mika Sato told the Yomiuri Shinbun, Japan’s biggest selling daily. Wow. That’s scary. (Telegraph UK – lookalike dolls)
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What seems uninteresting, a mayoral vote in a small fishing village in Japan is symbolically huge. Kaminoseki isn’t in the earthquake area, it’s further south, yet they’re in an interesting quandary. Imagine, after 3/11, the idea of nuclear anything has been divided. Some say nuclear power is the way to go, and many are now against it. This village is set to have a nuclear power plant, and the political side in favor has won 8 times in a row. The town is now just over 3,000 people, so do they really need to be another Simpsons-like Springfield? (WSJ – Kaminoseki)
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Every consumer of Japanese pop culture knows about AKB48. The Akihabara based troupe has simultaneously become an object of both scorn and adoration throughout the years. Some of you may have half-jokingly predicted that at least one of its members would slut themselves out by way of Miley Cyrus after “graduation.” To those that did, you weren’t that far from the truth. Rina Nakanishi announced her departure from the group on October 5, 2008 due to health concerns. In June, 2010, she claimed that she would no longer be an entertainer on her fan club site. Not long after that, she adopted the stage name, “Rico Yamaguchi,” and took time from her retirement to do this: She released a nude photo book appropriately titled “Departure” and starred in videos with Alice Japan and Soft on Demand pornographic labels. What’s even more amusing than this is that a music station replayed old clips of the pop group and blurred out Nakanishi’s face. It looks like Ms. Nakanishi has become another unperson in Japanese Big Brother’s culture of consumer control.
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The stories never end, and here’s yet another recovery question. Is it possible for a town to move? Futaba is in the Fukushima prefecture but wants to simply take it’s name, move in entire political base, population, and rebuild elsewhere. It’s a concept that’s hard to understand. Can a town of 7,000 just find new land and move? It seems easier for them to just migrate to another town but instead, the officials wish to relocate. We’ll venture to guess this won’t happen, but the sentiments of what ‘home’ means to people resonates, especially in a place where the location has been passed from generations. It’s not a bunch of apartments. (Washington Post – Futaba)
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Six swimmers took on the Japan Sea waters and swam to Taiwan. Japan Sea is notorious for being rough, and in the history of Japan, ancient attacks by China were all thwarted by the body of water. However these six made it to Taiwan, to thank the nation for their Japan Earthquake relief efforts. Before you imagine that the short swim to San Francisco for a prison break on Alcatraz Island should have been easy, the six Japanese swimmers did swim in relay and it was over two days. (msnbc – Swim to Taiwan)
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