Kazunobu Kakishima, editor at Kodansha, denied the company was scrapping the Japanese translation because of the government’s protest.

The decision, he said, came after Ben Hills refused to acknowledge making factual errors during an interview with a Japanese TV station.

“We have come to the conclusion that it is impossible to maintain trustworthy relations with the author and thus we were forced to cancel the book.”

Three other publishers in Japan have contacted Hills, according to the AP report, and one of them might publish the book later.

Stay tuned.

My favorite New York yakitori has a sister restaurant named Tory’s (Get it? Yakitorys. Ha ha). Anyway, I went for my first visit at the end of last y ear year and noticed two small, curious saucers of salt just outside the entrance. I asked the manager what the dishes were for. “Oh,” he said, “that’s tradition.” I thought that was interesting because I’ve never seen salt outside the door to a restaurant before.

I thought perhaps it had something to do with Shinto, which uses salt to purify and protect people (think of the way Shinto priests throw salt around at the start of a Sumo match, for example). The manager denied that salt outside a restaurant has any Shinto connection (not sure I believe him). Then he started to talk about how horses used to stop outside a restaurant and lick the salt, and then he got confused and said he wasn’t sure, and then I thought I’d better let him off the hook (though he phoned his boss to ask about the origin of salt outside a restaurant).

I went to the expert on all things Japanese in my life, which is my mother, but she’d never heard of the salt-outside-the-door tradition either. So, finally, this past weekend when my good friend who grew up in a kaiseki restaurant in Kyoto came for a visit, I asked him the same question. He didn’t have much to say except that salt outside the door is supposed to protect guests, and ward off evil. (”What, like the yakuza?” I joked. I was the only one who found this quip funny).

So, anyone out there seen any salt outside the door? Let me know. I’ll be looking for it the next time I’m in Japan.

And, one final thing. I asked the manager at Tory’s if the salt was “Japanese.”

“Of course!” he exclaimed.

Not all salts are the same.

“This could only happen in a country that is so open to immaturity. Authorities here feel it’s easier and less threatening to use characters to get the public to accept them, rather than explain the facts.”

A news story circulating worldwide today tells of Japan’s cute military mascot named Prince Pickles.

“Prince Pickles is our image character because he’s very endearing, which is what Japan’s military stands for. He’s our mascot and appears in our pamphlets and stationery.”

Something each and every single one of us gaijin see every time we go to City Hall.

ABS-CBN is reporting that infamous Kazuyoshi Kudo is dead. Here is the article:

A top godfather of the Japanese underworld was found dead Thursday in an apparent suicide in the wake of an unusually violent gang turf war in Tokyo, police said.
Kazuyoshi Kudo, 70, was found on his sofa in Tokyo when another gang member came to bring him breakfast. Kudo was head of the Kokusai gang, controlled by the Yamaguchi syndicate, one of Japan’s biggest gangs known as the yakuza, a police spokeswoman said.

She declined to provide further details, but media reports said Kudo apparently shot himself and that police were probing his connection to a recent gangland war.

Tokyo, which has little gun violence, witnessed a string of shootings earlier this month that left one gangster dead. The turf battle was linked to the rivalry between Yamaguchi, which is based in western Japan, and the Tokyo-based Sumiyoshi, although the two mob groups have since been reported to have reached a ceasefire.

For those who are still interested in the content of the the Foreigner Crime File book that caused so much trouble a short while back, someone has scanned the whole thing and posted the pages here.

Also, the publisher has issued a statement spelling out their position on the whole matter, which you can read here.

On the Japanese side, the “foreign criminal” is a beast who lurks everywhere and wants nothing more than to destroy Japanese people and their way of life. Whether it’s a North Korean agent kidnapping our daughters or a Chinese thief invading our homes, many Japanese are convinced that foreigners should be treated with suspicion and fear.

This attitude makes it impossible to have an informed conversation about where real foreign criminals come from, or the reason they commit their crimes. In fact, one of my goals in publishing “Gaijin Hanzai Ura Fairu” was to help begin a frank discussion of the issue.

On the other side, many foreigners consider any suggestion that they engage in lewd or criminal behavior to be an unacceptable insult. This can be seen quite clearly in the reaction our magazine elicited in the Western media, and especially in the online community. The army of bloggers who bullied FamilyMart convenience stores into removing “Gaijin Hanzai Ura Fairu” from their shelves have decided for everyone else that this book is so dangerous that it cannot be read.

Thanks to Peter.

It seems pretty clear to me that we can thank Beijing this week for brokering if not forcing a deal on the North Korean nuclear disarmament issue. But quite frankly I’m not sure its high time we pull out the party favors and call this a done deal.

Japans trust in the United States was hit hard when the U.S. circumvented Japan’s declaration that it was to boycott supplies and continue sanctions against North Korea by giving the DPRK what it was asking for. And worse, the deal will require an unwilling Japan to pay for a percentage of it.

The deal also leaves Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, whose main strength in the election last year was being hard on North Korean, look as though he’s completely missed the boat on this.

Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing waves to well-wishers upon his arrival at the Tokyo International Airport. Li is here on a three-day visit to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Japanese counterpart Taro Aso.

Akemi Kito and Hiroshi Matsuoka enter a chapel made of ice during their wedding ceremony at the ‘Igloo village’ on Lake Shikaribetsu in Shikaoi town in Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido. Geeze, talk about a cool wedding! That certainly is original. I just hope everyone brought lots of warm undies and hot patches for the ceremony!

Photo courtesy of REUTERS/Yuriko Nakao

There are few films that sparked such outcry as that of Kinji Fukasaku’s Batoru Rowaiaru when it was first released. The film released in 2000 is set in the not too distant future and boasted a tag line, at least on the American side, asking “Could you kill your Best Friend?”

The film centers on Shuya Nanahara played by Tatsuya Fujiwara of NHK’s Shinsengumi fame and his girlfriend Noriko Nakagawa, played by Aki Maeda. The two of them are students in a class that has been picked by a bitter ex-teacher now Government agent played by the brilliant Takeshi Kitano to participate in Battle Royale.

The rules are simple. The students are put on an island with an assortment of weapons and there can only be one survivor. What follows is a bloody rampage of violence and carnage. And you’ll either love watching it, or feel sick to your stomach.
The film has a slew of now recognizable faces not the least of which is Chiaki Kuriyama who plays Takako. You might know her as Go Go Yubari in Kill Bill.

What is most interesting about this movie, is that there’s is a very strong message here that I believe Kenta Fukasaku, the writer and co -producer of the film, Kinji Kukasaku, its director and co producer of the film are trying to get across. But if you ask me, the message is not IN the film, the film IS the message itself saying that only in todays society could a film like this be made.
It’s brilliant, it’s bloody… But there’s a lot to take away from it. There is a short behind the scenes clip available here.

Alex’s Review: 3.5 out of 5 Stars.

Thai ladyboy band “Venus Flytrap” performs in Bangkok.

Since these are scantily-clad guys dressed up to look like scantily-clad gals, I guess it has a little of something for all of our Japundit readers.

It’s been revealed that Japan Tobacco Inc., the country’s largest cigarette seller, asked its employees to cast negative votes in an Internet poll concerning a planned ordinance to ban smoking in public places in Kanagawa Prefecture.

“There is a possibility that similar ordinances could be set by other local governments,” a Japan Tobacco official said. “We asked employees who live in the prefecture to oppose the move. It is our company’s stance to oppose a total ban on smoking.”

Caught this on a Business News program on the TV just a short while ago.

It is a trash can done in the image of R2D2 of Starwars fame, which was developed by Japanese manufacturer Heart.

Price: 14,800 yen

And according to the report I saw, they are selling like crazy.