Shirihoudai

As reported by the AFP:

New father Matsuzaka appears set for Tokyo trip

FORT MYERS, Florida (AFP) — Japanese star pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka became a father for the second time on Saturday morning and as a result is likely to throw for the Boston Red Sox in Tokyo later this month.

Matsuzaka’s wife Tomoyo gave birth to the couple’s second child and first son at 7:30 Saturday morning, the reigning World Series champions announced.

The Red Sox are without ace hurler Josh Beckett due to back spasms, making Matsuzaka a prime candidate to throw for Boston in the Major League Baseball season opener on march 25 against Oakland at the Tokyo Dome.

There was concern Matsuzaka would want to stay with his wife were she still expecting to give birth, even at the cost of missing a trip to his homeland.

Matsuzaka, who was expected to return to training camp by Monday, pitched a pre-season game for the Red Sox on Friday and was given a day off.

Matsuzaka is expected to pitch for Boston on Wednesday in the team’s final US pre-season game Wednesday against Toronto. The Red Sox plan to depart for Tokyo later Wednesday.

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Now I remember watching this guy graduating from high school and the big fuss that he was going to be the next great thing.
I thought to myself that the Seibu Lions and Japan were making such a big fuss over this HS kid that hasn’t proven himself against real competition.
There were news stories dedicated to diagramming the angles and trajectories of his throwing motion. It was INSANE!

News media following his every move. How he pitched that day, his stretching routines, his hair color, and what he ate. . . .crazy!

Saw a recent spring training picture of him and he looked like he was getting fat. Must be the stress from the new baby and/or all the greasy food in Boston.
Small meal at Eagle’s Deli.
Image via Serious Eats

Hopefully he doesn’t turn in too much of a tubby: Image via bostonsucks.net

Japan has decided to beat France and the United Kingdom (both who have similar proposals)
to become the first country to ban file sharers from the internet.

Oddly the agreement to do so has not come from the Japanese Government, but from Japan’s four
internet service provider organizations after pressure (not surprisingly) from the record and movie industries.
According to Torrent Freak, the agreement would see copyright holders tracking down file-sharers on the Internet
using “special detection software” and then notifying ISPs of alleged infringers. File sharers will initially receive
a warning for a first offense, then be disconnected for subsequent offenses, eventually be disconnected from the internet
permanently (it wasn’t clear whether the agreement is a three strikes proposal).

The process will formally commence in April and will primarily target users of Winny, the most popular file sharing network in Japan.

Original story here at Tech Crunch

Damn, guess its time to look for a new hentai source. . . .

Ah, the Mister Donut experience. . . always one of the first places I visit when I go to Japan. From the fresh roasted coffees to the selection of donuts in every color of the rainbow, Mister Donut is a must try in any trip to Japan.

Yes, they have Dunkin Donut chains sprinkled here and there, and a few Krispy Krap Kreme donut shops in Tokyo, but nothing compares to my good buddy, Mister Donut. The creme filled donuts are done so well, sweet, but not overpowering - I recommend the angel creme filled. The cake donuts are also prepared so they match with their coffee so perfectly.

But most of all and probably the biggest reason I end up spending pocket fulls of yen on donuts is for the PRIZES! You see, they have point cards here. The more donuts you buy (eat), the more points you rack up, leading to better and better seasonal prizes. I still have the gym towel from my time living in Japan in 1997.

Here is a picture of the last donut feast I had there in October 2007.

I’ll take an extra-hot-venti-soy-double-shot-espresso-caramel-macchiato-no-foam please. . .

[Begin rant] In an ideal world, that drink wouldn’t exist. Unfortunately, it does. Welcome to Starbucks! The pusher of the $4 coffee (upwards of $5 if you get it all pimped out like some sugar/caffeine addicts). With it’s green, black and white cozy surroundings, just seeing those colors will draw you in for your much needed caffeine fix - hmm, just noticed that this site shares those theme colors as well. Note to self: change the colors of this site. But why do so many people like Starbucks? If you asked them, they probably couldn’t give you an answer. But I have my theories. . . .

There is a Starbucks on every corner of every intersection of the world. I do not use the word “every” very often in stating a fact, but in this case it is 110% true, maybe even 200% if you count Taiwan. It was their plan to take over the world, one street corner at a time.

Step 1: Oversaturate the market until the consumer only sees the green, black and white cups of steaming brew. Remember that Tom and Jerry episode where they tape open Tom’s eyes and force him to watch propaganda on tv to brainwash him? It’s kind of like that.

Step 2: Slowly warp the roasting process that you learned from the folks at Seattle’s Best Coffee and start serving inferior coffee to the customer.

Step 3: Introduce $3 lattes (This is the only drink I order from Charbucks, by the way).

Step 4: Profit!

Step 5: Buy out your competition. I can still find my SBC coffee at Border’s bookstores, so take that!

This plan was genius! I’ll explain. Before Starbucks, most people had 2 options for coffee: regular or decaf. Since most people don’t drink decaf, that leaves just the regular cup of joe. Here is the great part of their plan. Serve inferior coffee, in this case, make it taste burnt. Put up little signs in your store that advertise your latest $4 espresso based drink. Double genius now that I think about it - get them on the espresso kick addiction as well. Since their espresso + milk creations are much milder in taste than their coffee, anything alive will be drawn to it rather than having to gulp down the bitter and bile brew. Empower the customer into thinking they can have their coffee their way (perfect) - of course the customer is paying more for their drink, but they don’t care as long as it’s the way they (so they believe) like it.

Soon everyone who needs a pick me up in the morning will be flowing into your store. Introduce drink after drink. . .fraps for the kids to get their caffeine addiction going early, even serve fake green and chai tea drinks for the anti-coffee tea drinking hippies. Go international and sell your inferior brand of coffee everywhere since most countries’ coffee tastes like ass in the first place. There was a time when people laughed at the $5 cup of coffee (no refills) in Japan. Don’t seem to hear that anymore.

Interesting (unresearched) fact: 90% of Jamaica Blue coffee is exported to Japan. Somehow I never found a shop that served it!

Starbucks stock has fallen in recent months and they re-hired their original CEO to correct things. Still, their dominance over the coffee market is still strong as ever. As long as the coffee drinker remains lazy and needs their quick fix located right around the corner, Starbucks will live on.

[end rant]

Now something good to say about Starbucks - the shop in Shibuya, Tokyo

Although the coffee only comes in one size, you get great views of the wackiest intersection in the city. Green light, cars crossing.

Red light, people crossing!

Just one of many wonderful sights from the barstool seat that is near the window on the second floor:

And another just so you don’t think i’m lying:

Professional wrestling. . . such a controversial subject. “It’s fake!” “It’s not real!” “They are all on steroids!” To all the people who say those things, in the spirit of the legendary team DX, I say (does double groin chop) SUCK IT!

Of all the shows on television nowadays there isn’t anything further from being pure entertainment than wrestling. You have the heros (faces), bad guys (heels), feats of inhuman athleticism, back story drama including bad acting, and even love stories although the latter is usually some kind of twisted and demented tale.

Hulk Hogan, the Rock, former govenor Jesse “the body” Ventura, they all owe their success to wrestling.

Then there is Japan Wrestling . . . .Many American professional wrestlers start and end their career in Japan. But that topic is for a future post. There are many leagues in Japan, one of which is called NOAH. There was a recent article in the Sun talking about this promotion and how it will soon take over the world (if we can only be so lucky).

Felt compelled to write about it since the picture in that article showed the Hawt One, Yoshihiro Takayama

So the domination of the world will come through the great Japanese professional wrestlers. First Europe, next. . .who knows. If you feel yourself going faint, or you and your surrounding are melting, that is only the power of the HAWT ONE at work. Get used to it, you’ve been blessed.

This video makes me even more proud to drive my Pathfinder.

Funny videos

So you say you’re dirt poor? Don’t have any toys to play with? Can’t afford beautiful art to decorate your house?

Well look no further, the great scientists and researchers in Japan have the answer for you.

Introducing. . .DORODANGO!

Kayo Fumio gives a step by step process on how to make these elegant creations on his website

Thanks to the good folk at Japan Probe for finding this world changing breakthrough!

Guess it wouldn’t be right if I didn’t start off with a post about Japan. Here are some videos of my last trip to Japan in October with my friend Mike

This first video is when you first walk into the big warehouses that contain a ton of fish vendors. It’s unbelieveably busy and just awesome!

This second video is just a quick one of a couple fish tanks. Got stuck in this area while a bunch of human traffic went by.

Third video. This looks like the tuna drop off/pick up point near the tuna auctions.

Cutting up that sweet sweet tuna. . .mmmm. . .toro. . .

Video 5 is what I like to call the singing fish heads of Tsukiji.