Stabbing Rampage in Tokyo Leaves 7 Dead

TOKYO - A Japanese man rammed a truck into a crowd of shoppers, jumped out and went on a stabbing spree in Tokyo's top electronics district Sunday, killing at least seven people and wounding 10 others.

The deadly lunchtime assault paralyzed the Akihabara neighborhood, which is wildly popular among the country's cyber-wise youth. The killings were the latest in a series of grisly knifings that have stoked fears of rising crime in Japan.

A 25-year-old man, Tomohiro Kato, was apprehended in the attack.

Heard Of DoCoMo? Japan's Big Wireless Phone Company

Christian Caryl writes for NEWSWEEK:

Heard of DoCoMo? Probably not, unless you happen to live in Japan. NTT DoCoMo is one of the world's biggest wireless phone companies. It operates in a ferociously competitive market, boasts about 50 million customers and has been known to produce cutting-edge technology. By all rights it ought to be a star performer in the increasingly global business of wireless communications. Yet DoCoMo's brand is still virtually unknown outside its home country. This is one story that could've had a very different ending. At the turn of the century, DoCoMo executives announced they were setting out to conquer the world. Their company's star mobile Internet application, known as i-mode, was leading the pack in its home market, and DoCoMo planned to leverage that success into a bid to dictate wireless Internet standards around the world. The company went on a buying spree, trying to gain footholds by purchasing stakes in overseas companies—stakes that soon made for painful losses, and not much else, when the dot-com bubble popped soon thereafter.

The would-be worldbeater proved tone-deaf. DoCoMo was so enraptured with its state-of-the-art Internet service that it failed to notice that the long, intricate menus favored by Japanese consumers didn't impress foreign customers who were looking for more-intuitive interfaces. One reason for the failure to communicate: not a single person in senior management was non-Japanese. "With the right approach they could have become a Google," says Gerhard Fasol of the Tokyo consultancy Eurotechnology Japan. "They had the chance—but they blew it."

Responsible For Crime, Noise, And Pollution: A Heavy Load on U.S. Military Stationed In Japan

CNN Reports:

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressed hope Wednesday that the arrest of a U.S. Marine on suspicion of raping a 14-year-old girl on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa would not damage Washington's relations with Tokyo.

The arrest and a series of other damaging criminal accusations against some of the 50,000 American troops based in Japan have stirred anger at the U.S. military presence, which critics blame for crime, noise and pollution.

"We certainly hope that there will not be lasting effects. It's a long-standing and strong alliance," she said.

"Our concern right now is to see that justice is done, to get to the bottom if it and our concern is for the girl and her family."

Japanese officials have demanded further step by U.S. forces to control their troops. The Americans last week restricted thousands of military personnel and their family indefinitely to bases, homes and work places, and pledged to review anti-sexual assault guidelines and training programs.

Global Stock Markets Down Sharply

Associated Press reports:

TOKYO - Global stock markets extended their shakeout into a second day Tuesday, plunging amid worries that a possible U.S. recession will cause a worldwide economic slowdown.

The dramatic declines in Asia and Europe were expected to spread to Wall Street, where stock index futures were already down sharply hours before the trading day began.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index, the benchmark for Asia..., plummeted 5.7 percent to close at 12,573.05 on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the lowest close since Sept. 8, 2005. In China, the Shanghai Composite Index fell 7.2 percent to its lowest close since early August.

Prehistoric Shark Filmed in Tokyo, Japan

In Brief: Tim Gunn on Tokyo

Tim Gunn, of PROJECT RUNWAY fame, recently commented:

I wish I were really well-traveled in terms of hundreds and hundreds of cities, but I’m not. The only thing that’s surprised me is how provincial some places seem. For me, Tokyo doesn’t feel like an international city the way London, New York and Paris do, in the fashion sense or in the cultural sense. It seems inward-looking and doesn’t seem like it has an international reach.

I was in Tokyo this summer, and Tim may have forgotten (or not known) that Tokyo is actually 27 different cities, each with its own flavor, own style of architecture, own cultural bent... at least this was my impression. So, I decided to check out the dictionary for a definition of provincial:

1. belonging or peculiar to some particular province; local: the provincial newspaper.
2. of or pertaining to the provinces: provincial customs; provincial dress.
3. having or showing the manners, viewpoints, etc., considered characteristic of unsophisticated inhabitants of a province; rustic; narrow or illiberal; parochial: a provincial point of view.
4. (often initial capital letter) Fine Arts. noting or pertaining to the styles of architecture, furniture, etc., found in the provinces, esp. when imitating styles currently or formerly in fashion in or around the capital: Italian Provincial.
5. History/Historical. of or pertaining to any of the American provinces of Great Britain.
–noun
6. a person who lives in or comes from the provinces.
7. a person who lacks urban sophistication or broad-mindedness.
8. Ecclesiastical.
a. the head of an ecclesiastical province.
b. a member of a religious order presiding over the order in a given district or province.

Turns out, Tim may be right. I think many parts of Tokyo are indeed "rustic" and "local." These happen to make Tokyo a wonderful experience.

My daughter, Kim, is presently writing a Senior thesis on Japan's tendency to be "inward." She leans toward the idea that Japan is not provincial, but nationalistic. Perhaps this is what Tim Gunn noticed on his visit to Tokyo.

Tokyo's Concept Car Show

Mitsubishi i-MIEV Sport

This baby electric car concept from Mitsubishi is designed to show that a zero-emission car can look great and have a sporty feel. It has three electric motors, two of which are built into the wheels, and a convenient wireless charging system that uses microwaves. A limited number of (non-sporty) i-MIEV experimental cars are already on the road (even Mitsubishi’s company president uses one) and Mitsubishi thinks the technology may be ready for series production as soon as 2010. The microwaves sound a bit ambitious, but otherwise we think it looks like a credible idea for a city car that’s practical, fun, environmentally friendly, and, perhaps, available in the not-too-distant future.

Gate at Meijii Shrine

Daughter and Mother

I met these two delightful women on the Sumida River cruise back from Asakusa on Monday, June 11th. They were very curious about me.

Asakusa Buddhas

Tokyo Skyline

Possibly a view of man-made Odaiba Island.

Yellow Line is for the Blind

The raised yellow line along the edge of the railway station platform is for the blind. These yellow lines are everywhere in Tokyo. They are on the sidewalks and at intersections. The bumps are annoying to walk on, but they come in handy for those who can not see.

Lunch Tale

Gonpachi's in Ginza, a restaurant serving traditional Japanese food.

Some sort of loud welcome occurs as one is ushered into the restaurant for seating reminiscent of "welcome to Moe's" in the U.S.A.

Kim and I ate here the first evening. We shared lamb on a skewer - very yummy.

I had lunch here on my own later in the week. I ordered bitori, which is a tuna steak. A man came out and asked me "Raw fish you know. You eat?"

I assurred him that I do eat raw fish.

When the tuna steak arrived, it was accompanied by miso soup, seaweed, some sort of cucumber, sticky rice, and something else that was wonderful but unrecognizable. The tuna however was not raw but medium well done. I ate half of it, then attempted to request that the other half be "raw, rare, not so cooked. It is just a little over-cooked."

The waitress appeared to understand, but of course this was the one day I had gone out without my Japanese travel dictionary. When the tuna came back out, it was now well done. I debated but decided that since I never eat tuna cooked that I would try again.

I politely asked to speak to someone who understood English. Finally a young man came over and I explained the situation.

When the tuna arrived rare in the middle and seared on the outside, I ate it.

It was like BUTTER; absolutely delicious and worth all the effort... and guilt feelings.

DOMO ARIGATO!

Jude Law Exclusively

A billboard on a building in Ginza, claiming Jude Law to be exclusively at Dunhill's, London.

A "Scot"

A Scotsman in Ginza. I asked him "do you mind?" as I prepared to take his photograph.

He said something to the effect that he didn't, making some reference to his kilt.

Ginza

An intersection in Ginza, the main and most expensive shopping district in Tokyo.

My hotel is approximately 4 blocks from this location.

Threading the Way through Shinjuku

Shinjuku at night. This is an area of Tokyo that at night is filled with young men in black suits with white shirts standing in the middle of streets talking on cell phones. These men are, according to Kim, either mafia boys or men who are "paid to have conversations."

At any rate, the young men have teased red hair sometimes. Other times, black straight hair to just below the chin.

The young women are dressed in a variety of outfits from baby doll to shorts with black thigh-high tights. Every gal is in high heels.

People are wall-to-wall, like moving through a moving maze.

Liz and Kim

Liz, a friend of my daughter's, and Kim, my daughter. We are on our way to a Chinese restaurant for duck on the bone (yuck!) and other better food choices. Liz is a member of Japan Study at Wasada University along with Kim. She goes to NYU. She gave me a birthday card! Wow.

When we arrived at the Chinese restaurant in Shinjuku, there were tables before us but the hostess said "no table; have to wait 2 hrs." When we agreed to wait for her to call us on Kim's cell phone, she looked so surprised.

Less than 10 minutes after we left, she called to say, "Table ready; we had a cancellation."

So, back we went. Food was good except for the duck on the bone. Bad choice.

Japanese vs. Western style toilets

Japanese style toilets are in the floor. They are long and narrow with a hood at the front. You squat down as close to them as you can get, do your business and get out as fast as you can.

I had no trouble with them, but you need to be fairly flexible to use them without discomfort.

Washlet toilet "Western-style." Includes heated seat, bidet, spray, deodorizer (powerful). The one in my hotel room was broken when I arrived, running constantly. I fixed it! Was great after that.

Delightful

The bathtub was the deepest tub I have ever seen. Along the edge on the floor was a drain (which I noticed but did not understand until my daughter, Kim, explained it to me). The drain is so you can fill the tub to the top, get in, soak without making a mess. I did not fill the tub all the way to the top, but once I did fill it almost all the way up with extraordinarily hot water. I sat down in it, and realized why people do fill the tub. Sitting in neck deep hot water and soaking is delightful.