The top ten booms in Japan now.

Forest girl boom. Fashion inspired by Anne of Green Gables. For your fashion life in the forest.

(9)
Tokai region local government mascot character boom. More than 30 municipalities in Tokai have mascot characters.

Calligraphy boom
Influenced by "Tomehane Suzuri High School Calligraphy Club" TV show on NHK-TV. Click here to try NHK calligraphy.

Running boom
A survey by Sasakawa Sports Foundation indicates the number of runners who ran two times or more during the week increased from 2.15 million in 2006 (the previous survey year) to 2.48 million according to the 2008 survey.

(6)
Eco boom
Japanese follow the green theme, from carbon offset mindfulness, recycling clothes, and shorter showers, to eco-cars and eco-bags.

(5)
Castle boom
Influenced by "Taiga" historical stories TV series on NHK-TV.

Sakamoto Ryouma boom
Includes TV programs, books, movies, tours, fairs, restaurant menus, and ramen. The ronin Sakamoto led movement to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate during the Bakumatsu period.
 (3)
History boom
Inspired by television quiz programs featuring questions about Japan history.

(2)
Quiet life boom
Leading a slower-paced, low-stress life. Volunteerism, continuing education, personal growth, cultural pursuits, and contribution to society. Also includes leaving big cities to start a farm in rural Japan. (related:  Slow food life.)

(1)
Fried chicken boom
Started in Oita and is now spreading across Japan. More chicken is consumed in Oita Prefecture than any other prefecture in Japan.

January
Canon Japan employees leave early to make babies

Canon lets workers leave early twice a week to encourage them to have more babies. The 5:30 p.m. lights-out program at Canon addresses the declining birthrate problem while also reducing employee overtime costs.

February
‘Doorplate mania’ man arrested.

A 42-year-old Tokyo man is arrested for stealing about 290 nameplates from house entrances. "I loved to collect plates of rare names. I repeatedly stole nameplates in Tokyo, Chiba and Saitama prefectures from about five years ago," the man told police March.

March
Teacher forced student to wear maid costume

A 51-year-old male high school teacher in Odate, Akita Prefecture forces an 18-year-old female student to wear a maid costume in the school’s art club and makes other club members take pictures of her.

April
Doctor admits lacing tea with sleeping powder

Kyoto University Hospital doctor arrested on suspicion of putting a sleep-inducing drug in a female graduate student’s tea. The doctor said he was fond of the student and wanted to attract her attention.

May
Horror-themed Toilet Paper from Japan Puts You on the Edge of Your Seat

Novel printed on toilet paper rolls. Written by Koji Suzuki, who also authored the horror novel "Ring".

June
Dead tadpoles fall from sky

Ishikawa Prefecture, located on the Japan Sea Coast experiences raining tadpoles. One resident finds 13 dead tadpoles each around 3 inches long, on and around his car. Another reports hearing a strange noise in a nearby parking lot, then finds 100 tadpoles covering cars in the lot.

July
Love hotels not touched by recession.

Japan’s love hotel industry thrives while other businesses suffer. (Love hotel finder.)

August
Elderly American tourist jailed for holding small pocketknife

Man asks Tokyo cop for directions. Cop asks if man has a knife. Man says yes. Man jailed for 10 days.

September
Blue lights soothe suicidal in Tokyo train stations

Blue lights installed on train platforms in Tokyo to prevent people from jumping into oncoming trains. "Blue lighting was selected because there are claims the color blue calms emotions," an official from East Japan Railway’s Tokyo office said.

October
Airline passengers told to use toilet before boarding

All Nippon Airways positions staff near the boarding gates in terminals to ask passengers waiting for their flight to relieve themselves before boarding the aircraft. ANA claims empty bladders means lighter passengers, which in turn means lighter aircraft and lower fuel use. ANA said that it may expand the October toilet-trial if results are positive and it is well received by passengers.

Dead pets come back as bracelets

A Shiga, Japan company advertises it will pickup a dead pet, mix its ashes with the clay from the bed of nearby Lake Biwa, and bake the ashes into jewelry for the owner of the deceased pet. The clay from Lake Biwa is commonly used to produce traditional Shigaraki pottery and stoneware.

December
Hotels with train view entice train spotters

Hotels near stations try to attract railway fans with rooms marketed as having a "rail view". There are estimated to be 20,000 railway buffs in Japan. (Odakyu hotels rail fan stay plan; Keikyu hotels rail fan stay plan.)

A cloud-shaped license plate issued by Matsuyama City is the first non-rectangular vehicle number plate in Japan.

Rice-shaped license plates have been issued by Tome City, and Ueda City has produced a castle-shape number plate.

Mount Fuji, Japan’s most famous landmark, is represented in a new rectangular license plate for cars and a mountain-shaped number plate for smaller vehicles The 4 non-standard designs can be used for scooters with an engine displacement under 50cc, motorcycles of 125cc or less, and small-sized special vehicles such as tractors and combines.

The cloud number plate represents Matsuyama in the clouds on the top of a hill. Tome, a rice growing area in Miyagi Prefecture, began offering rice-shaped license plates in October. The rice shape was chosen by citizens’ votes on entries submitted in a city-sponsored design contest in April. The slogan on the plate is ""Mizu no Sato Tomeshi" (Water’s hometown: Tome city) The castle-shaped license plate that promotes Ueda Castle is issued from the Ueda city government. The white, yellow, and pink color options are dependent on the engine displacement of the registered vehicle.  

License plate regulations were modified in 2006 to allow themed "Place Number" license plates. Previously, only official car registration office locations – such as Shinagawa, Hachioji, and Tokyo – were imprinted on standard-sized plain plates.

Lady Guard Holds It In

Women can delay the need to use a toilet by using Lady Guard, a new non-prescription medication from Kowa Company Ltd.

Lady Guard is the first over-the-counter medicine in Japan for alleviating frequent urination. The drug contains Flavoxate, which has been available by physician prescription in Japan since 1978. Kowa markets Lady Guard to women as convenient for long outings, travel, to enable longer concentration on work, and relief from frequent use of the toilet after going to bed.

Kowa says its surveys indicate women named increased frequency of micturition as a major factor of stress and lowers their quality of life. Kowa says constant worry can cause a hypersensitive bladder. Kowa also states that due to the rising number of elderly in Japan, the number of patients experiencing increased frequency of micturition will increase.

Lady Guard instructions: take one with water, three times a day. For ages 15 and older.

photo: package

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Fujikawa was elected in April 2007. After an in-depth local TV news report about her in January 2008, she became a hot topic on internet forums and attracted nationwide attention. Her personal website received more than 230,000 hits per day and at times overloaded the server. Her personal website was soon taken offline and replaced with a more businesslike site.

Following the TV broadcast, she hired an agent to handle numerous requests to pose for photo shoots and appear at events. Since taking office in 2007, Fujikawa had often been asked by a Pony Canyon Inc. producer to make an idol-style DVD. Following the attention in April, she agreed to make the DVD provided it would promote Hachinohe.

In August, Fujikawa played taiko drums in the Hachinohe Festival. She wore a shoulder-revealing sarashi.

In September Fujikawa disclosed the DVD project, and a video clip was released. In the video, Fujikawa wears a white swimsuit and is shown posing on the beach. The reaction among locals was generally favorable. Though some people objected to her appearance in swimwear. In addition to the beach scenes, Fujikawa also wears yukata, haori coat, and hakama as she visits tourist spots and attends festivals.
Japanese news reports are unclear about any connection between Hachinoe City and the production of the PR video.
Fujikawa’s father, Tomonobu Fujikawa was a council member and vice-mayor of Hachinohe city.

More Japan news report videos: ( 1 ) ( 2 ). Yuri Fujikawa blog.

Female attendants on JR Tokai line trains are being issued personal protection cayenne pepper spray devices. The spray mixture causes temporary incapacitation. Female employees who sell food or work as conductors on the Tokaido Shinkansen bullet trains and other Tokai trains are being given the devices. The first JR Tokai female conductors were hired in 1999 and female employees on the trains have since been required to carry personal buzzer alarms. In March and April 2008, two female "green attendants" were assaulted in the Green Car first-class section of late night and early morning Shinkansen trains. JR Tokai has distributed four hundred pepper spray canisters to Shinkansen female staff. The railway company will give the palm-size spray device to a total of 1300 female employees. The Mace-brand Triple Action Pocket product is offered by Mace Security International, Inc. and retails in the US for about USD 15.00, and in Japan for about JPY 2500. It’s designed for use by women. The ingredients contain UV dye that will invisibly mark an assailant. The unit sprays 6-12 feet and contains 5, one- second bursts.

photos: green car; 3 cannisters. video:TBS News

The October nationwide campaign by the Japan National Police Agency aimed at preventing senior citizens from becoming victims of telephone fraud ended with door-to-door delivery of fraud-warning flyers in one ward of Tokyo. Cops in Setagaya-Ku, Tokyo, handed-out notices to residents at home, and placed the flyers in mailboxes if no one was at home.

Scammers target the elderly, usually posing as a family member that is in financial trouble. The flyers describe the most common cons, including the "I need money for a woman" scam, the  "I lost money in the stock market" con, and the "I’m selling/servicing water filters or the Waterworks Department repairs" swindle.

On October 24, Lets Japan wrote about recent swindles and the nationwide police effort to intervene at automatic teller machines before conned senior citizens transfer money.

related: ATM cell phone detector debuts in war on fraud; Con Artists Calling

A tiny dog is the honorary stationmaster at Oku-Nakayama Kogen  Station, in Ichinohemachi, Iwate Prefecture.

 Maron, a tiny 8-year-old Yorkshire terrier, wears a tiny uniform and tiny hat and serves as a tourist attraction for the Iwate Galaxy Railway Company. Since 2000, the dog had been accompanying its owner to work at the then-named Oku-Nakayama Station. In June 2008, the president of IGR officially proclaimed the dog as stationmaster at the renamed station. 

Lets Japan provided extensive coverage of Tama-chan the hat-wearing cat stationmaster.

Railway employees-as-attractions in Japan is a developing trend. A Lets Japan investigation discovered two other non-human stationmasters: Yuji-chan the cap-wearing beetle stationmaster at Kabutomushi station, and Maki-chan the frozen tuna stationmaster.

Report: Tama-chan Boosts Business

For only the price of cat food, a kitty in a train station in rural Japan has benefited the local economy.

In April 2008, Lets Japan wrote about Tama-chan (Cat in Hat Can’t Quit), the official hat-wearing stationmaster feline at Kishi train station on the Kishigawa Line in Wakayama Prefecture.
Tama-the-cat was appointed in January 2007. Since then, railway officials say 55,000 more people used the line than would normally be expected.

AFP reports on a study by Katsuhiro Miyamoto, a professor at Kansai University’s School of Accountancy.
The research released earlier this month shows sales of Tama-chan picture books, DVDs, and other goods, brought the local economy as much as 1.1 billion yen (10.44 million dollars) in 2007.

Tama-the-kitten was found on the street and brought to the station by the owner of a nearby shop, then kept by the owner of a grocery store next to the station, before becoming the cat-in-residence at Kishi station.

Tama-chan has recently been promoting the railway’s "Strawberry Photo and Sketch" contest for its "Strawberry Train". The contest deadline is October 30, 2008. The strawberry-themed train debuted on the first anniversary of the  establishment of the Wakayama Electric Railway. The line had been part of the Nankai Electric Railway until April 1, 2006.
 
Strawberries are grown throughout Japan. Wakayama is not especially known for strawberry production.