The maker of a popular pigeon-shaped cookie was awarded naming rights to three beaches in Kamakura, Japan. The beaches will be renamed in 2014 by the manufacturer of the Hato Sabure (pigeon sable) butter cookie. Toshimaya company opened the first Hato Sabure confectionary store in Kamakura circa 1897.

The Kamakura city government in Kanagawa Prefecture sold the naming rights to cover the cost of beach maintenance. Ten firms submitted naming rights bids. Hato Sabure will pay 12 miliion yen annually for 10 years. It is the first time beach naming rights have been sold in Japan.

Koshigoe, Yuigahama, and Zaimokuza beaches will share a single name. Hato Sabure officials have not chosen a name for the beaches but says it does  not intend to name the areas Hato Sabure Beach.  

Kanagawa prefectural outdoor advertisement regulations limit advertising displays to 2-meters in size.

Recipe: Butter Cookies 

photos: Zaimokuza beach; Yuigahama beach; Koshigoe beach.

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The traditional Japanese men’s underwear “fundoshi”, a loincloth made from a stretch of white cotton, and which reveals the buttocks, is making a comeback in other fabrics and with contemporary designs, and these fundoshi are gaining popularity with both men and women.

Traditional white fundoshi have been mostly worn by boys and men in Japan when participating in festivals and the Hadaka Matsuri (Naked Festival.)

The Japanese firm Wacoal, began selling fundoshi for women in late 2008.

The Japan Fundoshi Association was established in December 2011 to enhance people’s understanding and awareness of fundoshi. The association recommends that everyone over age 10 in Japan own at least 2 loincloths. The JFA also hopes to popularize February 14 as "Fundoshi Day.”

A Japanese love life advisor known as “Love and Communication Instructor Olivia”, says that fundoshi for women will raise the quality of a woman’s love life.

In an article on the JFA website, she recommends wearing the loincloth only at night, for sleeping.

“Since there is no bundle of rubber around the groin area, blood circulation of the circumference of the pelvis is promoted and sensitivity to cold and resistance to edema are improved,” she says.

Olivia says that women will feel more vigor in their “lower half” in the morning, which will be attractive to men.

Olivia tested a loose one-piece loincloth fundoshi which wraps around the stomach and hips. She says it felt as if she were not wearing anything, breathability was good, and it was warm. The love life expert’s test loincloth was made of hemp, usually associated with the attire of Shinto priests. “Wrapping one’s private parts in the material used for divine work is a somewhat sacred feeling,” she says.

Fundoshi for ladies 
Tafusagiya
Lovesupple
Maruwas
Goldstar
Fundoshi for men 
Tafusagiya
Tanukidou
Ryushuya
Hotya
Fundoshi for men and women
Maruwas
Saku-rai

photos: Mannequins; festival; TV program; anime how to wear; man sleeps

Game centers in Japan are making arcade-game-playing more comfortable for senior citizens and retirees. Almost a fourth of Japan’s population is over the age of 65, and amusement arcade operators are making changes to better accommodate the elderly.

A popular game among seniors is the "medal game" in which coins or tokens dropped into the machine may eventually push jackpot coins over the inner rim and out to the player.

Namcoland Aeon in Kyoto has access restrictions. Those age 15 and under cannot enter after 6:00 P.M. unless accompanied by an adult, and anyone age 18 and under must be accompanied by an adult in order to play a medal game in its "medal corner". The arcade’s theme is "Amusements for three generations."

Namcoland Aeon’s aisles are wider to accommodate strollers and wheelchairs, there are no steps or other barriers, there are more chairs, and the outlet is easy to access from street level.

The in-store sound system volume has been lowered to make it easier for the elderly to hear and the text size has been enlarged on signs and displays.

The Namcoland Aeon staff has been instructed to speak clearly and to make the medal games more user friendly.

Some Adores game centers offer complimentary tea and sweets to customers over age 60 before 10 a.m. Free medal game credits to customers over the age of 60 are also offered by some Adores outlets. The chain also lends out blankets, gloves for wearing while playing medal games, and, if it’s started raining while the customer is inside, umbrellas, if the customer doesn’t have one for the return home.

Some of Konami’s latest arcade games have instructions in larger type to aid readability for senior citizens. Game instructions are also clearly indicated on the machines.

Many game centers have installed massage chairs, and provide reading glasses to customers upon request.

Other retail businesses are catering to the elderly market. The Ueshima coffee shops in Tokyo offers wider aisles an lower tables than the typical Starbucks, and Keio department store provides more chairs, and larger text on signs.

photos: wheelchair; crane games; taito-station; horse racing game; massage chairs.

Freddie Mercury, who was the lead vocalist and a songwriter of the rock band Queen, and who died in 1991, stars in a TV commercial in Japan for Nissin’s Cup Noodle instant ramen noodles. The commercial features Mercury’s performance of Queen’s "I Was Born to Love You" and a dubbed Japanese voice sings the lyrics. The lyrics have been changed and some of the words in the song have been replaced by "Cup Noodle" in English.

The dead-Freddie-Mercury-commercial follows Nissin’s recent airing of a TV commercial of Jon Bon Jovi in concert, singing "You Give Love a Bad Name", also dubbed and sung with altered lyrics in Japanese.

Appliance and electronics retail chain Yamada Denki has begun selling an electric car at some of its retail stores. Yamada has partnered with Mitsubishi Motors to sell the Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric vehicle. Yamada is the first household appliances store in Japan to sell an electric car.

The i-MiEV electric vehicle is on sale at 17 Yamada Denki stores in the Tokyo metropolitan area. The car is on display inside each of the 17 stores and there is a full-time car salesman on hand at each outlet. These Yamada stores also sell and install the vehicle-charging equipment and offer complete “Smart House” solar photovoltaic solutions.

The i-MiEV has been on the market since July 2009, and about 3,000 of the vehicles have been sold in Japan.

Yamada Denki Online shopping

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photos:  Charge point (R); Charge point (L)

The Two Sides of Domino’s Pizza

Domino’s Pizza has opened an English-language website that includes special pizza offers not available on the Japanese version of the site.

For example, by ordering through the Domino’s English website, you can get two large pizzas with one topping each for JPY 2999. That special offer is one of several offers exclusive to the English side.

Compare the English two-large-pizzas offer to the one large pizza for JPY 2520 offer on the Domino’s Japanese website. (A current Domino’s USA special is 3 large pizzas with 1 topping each for USD 23.31)

In addition, with the Japan Domino’s build-your-own pizza tool, you’ll be able to choose between four types of crust and 22 toppings. (Sorry, you won’t find squid listed on the English menu!)

Animation characters are also conspicuously missing from the English menu, which makes us wonder what they’re really up to. According to Scott K. Oelkers, President and CEO of Domino’s Pizza Japan, Inc., the English website was added in an effort to provide better services to their foreign community. Indeed.

As of 2005, 1,555,505 foreign residents permanently reside in Japan, and that doesn’t include the approximately 40,000 US military personnel stationed there. That adds up to a lot of foreign community to better service.

Domino’s has locations in 60 markets worldwide and 99 outlets in Japan. But in the areas where they offer online menus in both the native language and English, the offers and options tend to vary. Besides the fact that you won’t find squid on the English version of Domino’s Japan, you also won’t find the Mexicana – a pie topped with ground meat and jalapenos – on the English version of the Domino’s Mexico website.

But regardless of whether Domino’s’ motive for offering English-speaking residents a menu of their own was for the benefit of the consumer or simply a means to add more yen to their pockets, the site was needed, and most certainly welcomed.

(You need to log-in at the Domino’s Japan English website to see the special offers.) 
photos: Dominos delivery scooters

Eco Drive Meister – Become expert in environmentally friendly fuel-efficient driving. Best for businesses with more than 50 vehicles. How to Kyoto.

Eco Meister – Courses and certifications offered by individual prefectural and city governments. Learn about the environment, garbage-related problems, recycling, global warming. Akita ecomeister.

Japanese Food Meister – How to treat only the ingredient of harmony, how to cut only the dish of harmony, how to boil the fire, and how to apply it and how to dish up the taste. Also known as Washoku.

Japanese Seasoning Meister – Become well-versed in seasonal seasonings and talk about charm of seasoning happily and plainly.

Okinawa Liquor Meister – Official Okinawa Prefecture Awamori distilled rice liquor expert certification.

Okonomiyaki Meister – The qualification levels: Instructor, Coordinator and Meister. What is Okonomiyaki?

Onsen Meister – Learn hot spring hygiene management, the benefits of hot springs, effective bathing methods, and thermal physiology. Japanese spa is called onsen.
(more…)

A sketch pad with a cover that looks like an Apple iPad is being sold by a company run by students at the Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences in Ogaki, Gifu Prefecture.

The "Padnote" is a pad of drawing paper. Each page has gridlines and a wide gray border.

Tokyu Hands department stores nationwide have been selling the pad of paper since June. The company that created the iPad-of-paper – Gocco – has sold 2,000 pads by the end of July. Major grocery stores have begun selling the Padnote.

Gocco also plans to release a memo pad that looks like an Apple iPhone.

The Padnote retails for JPY 735.

All Nippon Airways has designated one lavatory for exclusive use by women on most international flights.

Men may use the women-only toilet only when there are few female passengers and in an emergency. Men can also use the ladies-only rest room before taking off and landing before the fasten-seatbelt sign is displayed, and when there is an urgent need due to illness. An announcement about a given flight’s toilet-usage is made at the start of the flight.

A 2007 ANA online survey found women do not like using unisex lavatories because men sometimes leave the seat up. Women also expressed displeasure about waiting in line for the toilet with men after airline meals.

ANA says 70% of male passengers it surveyed say they did not mind the ladies-only washrooms, and some men approved because it means less time waiting for women to finish using the toilet. ANA said demand for a lavatory exclusively for women is especially high among passengers taking long flights.

Funeral-services providers are offering photography services so you’ll have a decent photo to display at your funeral ceremony. Photography studios are also targeting the new funeral-photo market.

A headshot of the deceased is usually on display at the start of funeral ceremonies in Japan. A different photo of the deceased – often a wedding photo – is displayed when the bereaved express condolences.

Kinoshita Inc operates 16 funeral parlors in Fukuoka and Saga prefectures. "Photos are shown at funerals to recall the deceased. If a variety of photos are displayed, participants in the funerals can recognize their personal characters more deeply," Masaru Ishikawa, 56, an executive of the company, told the Asahi Shimbun.

Translation: You have a higher risk of contracting disease as you reach old age. Or contracting a severe illness. You will lose teeth and your face will change. We welcome you to take a vibrant photo at age sixty, in your favorite style. For example, people who like golf can wear golf clothes. Kimono-lovers can wear kimono. And people who like to cook could wear one of their favorite aprons.

This photo studio advises taking a picture every 5 years until age forty, and then every 2-3 years after forty, in order to have an up-to-date photo if you die.

Terukazu Mori, 46, representative director of Kumamoto Resident Funerals, said, "If you prepare the photo (in advance), you can enjoy your remaining life without worry. Taking the photo is one of the things you should do for that purpose."

These suggest you have a picture taken so survivors don’t have to search for a good picture after you’re dead.

photos: Eternal photo; blue kimono; Ikeda Shashinkan; couple; gray suit.