H1N1 in Japan

A total of 1,330 cases of group infections of influenza A, most of which are believed to have been caused by the H1N1 strain, were confirmed at schools, medical and welfare facilities in Japan in the week of Aug 24 to 30, roughly a 1.5-fold increase from 897 logged in the previous week, the health ministry said Wednesday.

The death toll from the H1N1 flu, meanwhile, rose to 10 in Japan as the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said the same day a man aged 69 in Kyoto Prefecture and anther man in his 70s in Kochi Prefecture had died. Both had underlying ailments, according to the ministry. The latest data pushed the total number of group infections above 4,000 as the weekly figure has been rising for five weeks in a row since the health ministry began collecting data on group infections in late July.

More celebrities have been affected by the spreading flu in Japan. Toshiaki Kasuga of the comedy duo Audrey and guitarist Masaru Shimabukuro of Okinawan band BEGIN.

Earlier this week, it was revealed that NEWS members Ryo Nishikido and Tomohisa Yamashita had been hit by the flu. NEWS had participated in the "24 Hour Television" telethon over the weekend, along with Audrey and many other celebrities. NTV has now urged caution to all of the attendees, as the flu may have easily spread during the event. Like Nishikido and Yamashita, Kasuga are taking a break from work. His flu was confirmed as type A, but it was not revealed whether it is the H1N1 virus (swine flu).

Meanwhile, Shimabukuro of BEGIN caught the flu in Fukuoka during the band's current tour, though the type of flu was not mentioned. As a result, the band postponed three shows that were scheduled for August 31 in Fukuoka, September 2 in Yamaguchi, and September 4 in Oita. The concerts have been rescheduled for December 27, 26, and 24, respectively. There's probably hundreds more cases out there and people don't even know the have it. I hope Japan will get this completely under control very soon.
sources: japantoday,tokyograph
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Japanese couple wins 7th World Tango Championships!

For the first time, a Japanese married couple has danced to victory and won the salon dancing category of the Seventh World Tango Championships in finals held Saturday in Buenos Aires, knocking the reigning Argentines out of the top spot. This is an amazing achievement, a milestone actually, for Japanese dancers.

Hiroshi Yamao and his wife, Kyoko placed first in the traditional Tango Salon category of the 7th edition of the international competition at Luna Park stadium this weekend, taking home a cash prize of about $4,000 Cdn. They earned the highest point score during Friday's semifinal and was praised by the jury for the "dexterity and feeling" of their final performance. Yamao said, "We came here to dance and enjoy ourselves, without thinking anything big," "We would like to express our thanks for the huge support we've received from everyone here."


When they won the finals on Saturday, they wrote in their blog, "We finally became the world's No. 1! Thank you very much for supporting us."

Yamao must have been yelling "Banzai!!" when they won, haha. I know just by watching that Tango is a very difficult dance. You have to have spirit as much as technique. It's a language in movement that tells stories if done properly. Without that, the dance would just look like a series of steps; nothing interesting. And, for a Japanese to snatch the title in tango from Argentineans is probably not easier than an Argentinean to win the Sumo championship. So this shows really how much of an achievement they made. As a fellow dancer (in a sense^^) i'm really really proud of them. They really inspire me. Keep working hard!


Source - JapanToday; CBCNEWS.ca
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A Gundam Wedding

Bridegroom Yasuo Kai(38) and his bride, Megumi(37), pose during their wedding ceremony in front of the 18-meter-high life-size statue of Mobile Suit Gundam, a popular robot from an animated TV series, at Daiba in Tokyo. They were chosen from about 550 couples who applied for a plan offered by a Tokyo company that organizes weddings.

Bandai unveiled the life-size Gundam in Tokyo's Odaiba Shiokaze park, on July 11th, to mark the 30th aniiversary of the highly successful Mobile Suit Gundam franchise.

What could possibly be more awesome than having your wedding by the Gundam monument? Well, i'm sure there are better places to have a wedding, but that's pretty cool, no?

Best of luck to the happy couple!

Source - JapanToday
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Just for fun - Lego Dream City

Participants look at a Dream City which was built by about 100,000 pieces of lego blocks, during a Lego event in Tokyo. about 1,000 children and their parents participated in the event.

This looks really amazing. It must have been a very interesting, creative and fun time for these children and their families to build this city out of just Legos! It probably isn't habitable place to live in (if this was a real city plan), with boats in the streets and all the craziness going on, but this looks really fun. Mustv'e been a great experience for everyone.
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Zoorasia

Professional musicians wearing animal masks performed at the Zoorasia zoo in Yokohama today, Sunday, August 16th. The band named Zoorasia Brass aims to increase the interest of classical music among children.

So cute! I think this is a great idea, but it must be so hot in those masks. Kids would definitely love this.
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Fuji TV charity event - Alarm clock

Fuji TV held and online charity auction from August 2-9. It was luckily floaded with bidders willing to pay any amount to gain personal items and other goods autographed by Fuji TV's female announcers, athletes and TV celebrities.

The top bid item was a one and only alarm clock from Christel Takigawa of "News Japan," priced at 350,000 yen! That's one expensive alarm clock, good thing it's for charity. BUT it's not just any ordinary alarm clock. The clocks' frame is a photo of the announcer with her autograph and the ringing tone is an actual recording of her voice, which only the highest bidder gets to enjoy =)

The picture above is of Takigawa holding her alarm clock.
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NYC Japan Street Fair to debut at Dayton Madison Avenue Festival

Anime and manga fans can immerse themselves in Japanese culture this month. The NYC Japan Fair annual street fair will make its debut, rain or shine, at Dayton Madison Avenue Festival on Sunday, August 23rd from 11am -6pm. Madison Avenue Festival is one of NY's largest street fairs, spanning 15 blocks from 42nd to 57th st. Japan Fair will be at 43rd and 44th st. It will host a variety of companies specializing in Japanese products and food.


The fair has 40 booths that offer as many Japanese products from Japanese culture as they can: food like okonomiyaki(savory multi-ingredient pancake), merchandise(Japanese towels and manga), performances(martial arts performance) games and activities(goldfish fishing) and much more.

Local Japanese restaurants and companies like Cafe Zaiya, who will be serving very tasty icecream, Washoku Cafe, and Bookoff will be represented and household names like Kikkoman and Otafuku foods will be participating.

Lucky visitors will also have a chance to win round trip tickets to Japan! and be awarded gifts from NYC Japan Fair with special purchases. Awesome! I know ill be there, how about you?

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