We’re cleaning out last year’s article ideas to make room for the 2009 story ideas! At Lets Japan, we pass on the story savings to you! These fully functional fascinating fragments are our year-end gift to you, our valued viewers.

This 1976 Lincoln Continental was parked in my neighborhood in September. Finding streets wide enough for access takes pre-trip planning. But there are Japanese fans of big American cars. This annual car show is held in Fussa in October.

Japan Prime Minister Taro Aso’s after work adventures and the example he sets for kids.

Soybean-flour bread, Soy Joy snack food, and The Joy of Soy - Tastes Great, Less Cancer!

They ever find the person who chopped down the pansies and the tulips?

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Drink-In New Year With Cabbage-In
Anticipating a long night of drinking and eating but afraid an upset stomach will cut your night short? A little packet of powder from Japan might maximize your enjoyment.

Shin Kyabe 2 is one of three gastrointestinal products in the "Kyabe" lineup from  KOWA Pharmaceuticals. Shin Kyabe 2 (Shin Cabba 2) is a powdered OTC stomach antacid and its instructions indicate it is to be taken prior to eating.

KOWA marketing material includes information stating that Shin Kyabe 2 allows women to enjoy dining out with friends and be able to enjoy delicious meals without the stress caused by an upset stomach.

KOWA says its research shows that because of the trends of women delaying marriage and a reliance on takeout food since the bubble economy, the number of women in their twenties and thirties drinking alcohol more often has dramatically increased. It’s data indicates an unbalanced diet combined with increased alcohol consumption causes women to experience unpleasant stomach symptoms more often.

Cabagin-S for upset stomach debuted in Japan in 1960. KOWA’s Cabagin products contain the natural ingredient cabagin, which is found in cabbages. Shin Kyabe 2: 20 packets, about JPY 1100; 32 packets about JPY 1600.

January
A letter a Kawasaki schoolgirl sent aloft by balloon in 1993 was found fastened to a fish by a fisherman off Choshi port,150 kilometers away from where the balloon was launched.

February
A 39-year-old man wearing a high school girl’s uniform and a long wig loitered near a Saitama high school and was arrested for trespassing and avoiding police by trying to blend into a group of teenagers on school grounds.

March
Cartoon robo-cat Doraemon named Japan’s "anime ambassador".

April
A city council employee in Kinokawa, Japan makes 780,000 hits on porn websites in nine months, on his office computer.

May
Homeless woman lived in man’s closet for year. Disappearing food leads to discovery in home of man who thought he lived alone.

June
Investigation finds "pub cabs" popular as hundreds of government bureaucrats routinely receive free beer, snacks and sometimes cash from taxi drivers competing for late-night business from public servants.

July
Dummy clown mascot "Kuidaore Taro" makes final appearance as 59-year-old Osaka restaurant goes out of business.

August
Wild macaque monkey causes chaos during morning rush hour at Tokyo’s Shibuya station.

September
(1) The Japan Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare plans to set up counters in all prefectures and large cities to offer counseling to "hikikomori" – people who suffer from a kind of agoraphobia and who further isolate themselves from society.

(2) Fifteen officers all fail to realize "corpse" wrapped in plastic found in forest was actually a life-sized sex doll.

(3) Two employees of Japanese confectionery company open can of red-bean paste, notice paste has strange odor, decide to eat some to check the quality, then suffer numbness in limbs, and are rushed to hospital.

October
(1) British tourist swims naked in the moat of Imperial Palace then leads cops on foot chase around palace grounds.

(2) A camera-police-hotline-alarm-equipped Coca-Cola vending machine is installed in a park in Toyohashi, Japan, and is vandalized three days later.

November
Man releases hundreds of beetle larvae inside moving express train "to see women get scared and shake their legs.”
December
Japan police cancel plan to fine drivers aged 75 or older who fail to display a maple-leaf-shaped sticker that indicates to other drivers that they are elderly. Some elderly have said the sticker resembles a dead leaf, and police will also consider redesign of the sticker.

Ryu Kawaguchifujiyamasan, Jan. 1 - Feb 16. (Reason for resignation: health - "irritable atreporta syndrome".)

Taro Suzuki, March 2 - March 28. (Lack of support: public opinion rating falls below 1%.)

Jun Satoishikawa, April 1 - April 25. (Says: "I don’t know how to cook. There is no chef at official residence. I’m tired of making instant ramen." )

Daisuke Fukudabeda, May 5 - July 4. (To ease political gridlock and traffic gridlock.)

Mariko Makuharimashita, July 30 - Aug. 10. (Health - "rye sigureenan-moldi disease".)

Yasu Obamaramawada, Aug 11 - Aug. 28. (Defeated by LDP, JCP, PGA, LPGA, JCB, and JMLB.)

Jo "Hako" Hakowajima, Sept. 7 - Oct. 30. (Says: "I’m afraid of naked tourists swimming in moat at Parliament.") 

Ken Tamagochihama, Nov. 16. - Nov. 30. (Spend more time reading manga and going to expensive izakaya.)

Tomo Onomotapaya, Dec 2 - Dec. 9. (Health - "scandalitis fundingosis". )

Shinzo Tokodome, Dec. 20 - 26.  (Spend more time with family and at club.) 

related: Japan’s premiers doomed to failure; Japan’s global invisibility