Facebook the world top most social networking web site redesigned new profile page for users to display more what they want on their page. We can place images, videos and favorite things and most online friends. 
Adrian Szczypolwski, 52, was arrested for driving into two parked cards before driving head on into another car with 5 times the lethal toxicity level of alcohol at 384mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood this past August 7th. 
Taking a daily aspirin can dramatically cut the risk of dying from cancer, a landmark study has concluded. 
Amazon introduces new generation Kindle with Wi-Fi and 3G wireless. The new Kindle is described as smaller, lighter, faster, and has 50% better contrast. The Kindle Wireless Reading Device features WiFi/3G, 6-inch display, and graphite screen. 
Researchers suggest that pregnant women who regularly use mobile phones are putting their babies at risk of developing behavioral problems. 
A new study has discovered that alcohol is a more dangerous drug than heroin and cocaine. The report is from Britain’s Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs. Its research classified drugs on the basis of the harm they do in our society. Alcohol came top of the list, with heroin second and cocaine third. Researchers created nine categories of harm that drugs can do "from death to damage to mental functioning and loss of relationships," and seven types of harm they do to others. Experts in Britain are now calling for new laws to control alcohol. Don Shenker from the group Alcohol Concern said: “The government should now urgently ensure alcohol is made less affordable and invest in prevention and treatment services to deal with the rise in alcohol dependency that has occurred."The research was led by a former government drugs advisor, Professor David Nutt. He has been calling for a change in the way Britain classifies drugs for many years. He was fired in 2009 for his views and claimed the government was more interested in politics than scientific evidence. Any laws that make alcohol a dangerous drug would cause harm to any government trying to win an election. However, the current study is very extensive and strongly suggests he was right to call for a reclassification. Professor Nutt told Britain’s Guardian newspaper: "We need to rethink how we deal with drugs in the light of these new findings." One suggested change is that cigarettes are put in the same category as cocaine, because they cause as much harm to the individual and society.
British Oscar-winning actress Emma Watson has hit out at the slang used by her compatriots. The star of Harry Potter and Nanny McPhee movies told the British magazine Radio Times that she thought too many people in Britain didn’t speak properly. She said a lot of the language she heard on the streets made people sound stupid. In particular, the phrases “innit” and “ain’t” drove her insane. “Innit” started off as a variation of “isn’t it” but is now used to replace a whole variety of tag questions, ranging from “wasn’t it” to “don’t we” and “won’t I”. She made her comments after visiting her old high school. She told the students not to use slang so much, “because it makes you sound stupid and you're not stupid”.
Six of the seven countries with the highest obesity rates are English-speaking nations. This is according to a new report from the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development). The country at the top of the list is the USA. This is followed by Mexico, New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada and Ireland. The OECD looked at 33 different countries. The other 26 countries were non-English speaking. The ten slimmest countries included Japan, Korea, Italy, Switzerland and Sweden. Health experts are now wondering why English-speaking countries top the world’s obesity league. One theory is that they are all copying an American lifestyle; people eat a lot of fast food and a lot of it is in sizes considerably larger than those found in the rest of the world.The OECD report contains some interesting statistics. Australia has the fastest growing obesity rates. They are expected to rise by another 15 per cent over the next decade. This compares to an increase of five per cent in South Korea. Education makes a big difference to weight in America and Sweden. Poorly educated women are 30 per cent more likely to be overweight than those who had a good education. Swedish women with poor educations are more than twice as overweight as educated women. In the USA and UK, children are particularly overweight. Around 30 per cent of British kids are overweight, compared with 40 per cent for their American counterparts. In Sweden, one person in ten is obese, although more than half of adult men and a third of adult women are overweight there.
http://breakingnewsenglish.com/1009/100925-being_overweight.html
Google is testing a car it believes is the future of motoring. The Internet giant has been testing the car that drives itself for several months. It has driven along thousands of miles of public roads in California. The car is guided by sensors, lasers and video cameras. A Google spokesperson explained to concerned motorists that the car has never been driven “unmanned,” and had test drivers, just in case things went wrong. The tech company says its vehicles are still “very much at the experimental stage”. Google’s interest in artificial intelligence is a sign that it wants to branch out beyond the web. It is an extension of its Street View project, in which millions of streets have been photographed and put online.Google’s blog said the company’s entry into the world of automotive technology is part of its plans to make the world a better place. “Larry [Page] and Sergey [Brin] founded Google because they wanted to help solve really big problems using technology,” it wrote. The post continued: “One of the big problems we’re working on today is car safety and efficiency. Our goal is to help prevent traffic accidents, free up people’s time and reduce carbon emissions by fundamentally changing car use.” Google CEO Eric Schmidt said last month that it was unfortunate that cars were invented before computers: “Your car should drive itself; it’s amazing to me that we let humans drive cars,” he told reporters.
http://breakingnewsenglish.com/1010/101011-self-driving_car.html
NASA is looking for people to go to Mars, and never come back. This appealing career is for people who want a permanent change of scenery and planet. It is part of an ambitious new project to colonize Mars called the Hundred Years Starship. Settlers would travel to the Red Planet and live there forever. NASA says it would be too expensive to bring humans back to Earth. The space agency can afford, however, to send supplies to the astronaut pioneers. NASA has started the project with a modest $1.6 million, but hopes to attract investment from space-loving billionaires. Google founder Larry Page told NASA he’d be interested if they could get the cost of a one-way ticket down from $10 billion to $2 billion.
The increasing popularity of social networking sites and mobile phone texting have presented society with problems in how to protect children online. More and more youngsters are becoming victims of Internet predators and bullies. Parents are finding it more difficult to ensure their kids are safe online. Gone are the days when Mum and Dad could keep an eye on their child’s surfing with parental controls on the family computer. Today’s new mobile and networked world poses new and dangerous threats to online kids. Two recent initiatives aim to teach children about cyber-safety. Internet safety will soon be taught in UAE schools, while in Indiana, USA, parents will attend an Internet Social Networking conference.
Tens of thousands of students across the U.K. took part in protests on Wednesday against their government’s increase in tuition fees. They were speaking out against the three-fold rise in the prices universities can charge, and voicing their opposition to the scrapping of benefits that will harm poor students. The nationwide protest was organized by the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts (NCAFC). High school and university students, teachers and lecturers took to the streets to demonstrate. Around 10,000 protestors rallied in London, where there were arrests after ugly clashes left a police officer with a broken arm. The protests were largely trouble-free, unlike those two weeks earlier in which the ruling Conservative Party headquarters was attacked.
Scientists have shown that Mozart has a positive effect on many things, but the great composer himself might be surprised that his music helps bananas ripen. A Japanese fruit company, Toyoka Chuo Seika, claims its bananas taste better after being exposed to Mozart’s music for a week. The company has special “ripening chambers” that play wall-to-wall Mozart to its Philippine bananas non-stop for a week. Company officials say "String Quartet No. 17" and "Piano Concerto No. 5 in D major" are particularly good at sweetening the fruit. The company is very confident its methods work. It has started selling its fruit as "Mozart Bananas" in local supermarkets. A spokesperson believes the bananas will become a hit throughout the rest of Japan once word gets out.The Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Chinzan-so is hosting a cooking class featuring Christmas dishes on Dec. 15.
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Leonardo Di Clemente, the executive chef at the hotel's Il Teatro Italian restaurant, will teach participants how to cook a traditional Italian Christmas meal. The dishes to be introduced include baccala (dried, salted codfish) salad with celery and pomegranate bark; tortellini stuffed with pumpkin and mostarda, served with chicken broth; oven roasted veal with tuna sauce and kuruma-ebi (Japanese tiger prawn) marinated with thyme; and panettone parfait for dessert.
The reception starts at 10 a.m. (continental breakfast will be served), and the cooking class starts at 10:30 a.m. After the lesson, enjoy the meals from 12 p.m., served with wine, at Il Teatro.
The class costs ¥10,000 per person, including tax and service charge, and is available for up to 30 people.
The Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Chinzan-so is a 10-minute walk from Edogawabashi Station on the Tokyo Metro Yurakucho Line. For more information and reservations, call Il Teatro at (03) 3943-6936.
The Hotel Nikko Tokyo in Odaiba has prepared party plans for the yearend and New Year's at its five restaurants and bars. From ¥5,000 per person, the plans are available through Jan. 31.
For example, the ¥5,500 plan (including tax and service charge) at Lounge & Champagne Bar Veranda comes with a sparkling cocktail, eight kinds of finger foods and a selection of desserts, with two hours of unlimited drinks. Unlimited drinks include eight kinds of cocktails, beer, wine, highballs and soft drinks. Sparkling wine can be added for an additional ¥2,000; Champagne for an additional ¥3,000.
The plan at Veranda is available for groups of five or more people between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m.
The Hotel Nikko Tokyo is adjacent to Daiba Station on the New Transit Yurikamome Line. For more information or reservations, call(03) 5500-5500.
That which we know the least about is often the most interesting. A case in point is the civilization of the Olmecs. This flourished in Mexico between 1500 B.C and 400 B.C., leaving behind much intriguing evidence in its art and archaeological remains but no written record to explain anything. Because of this, the Olmec have become a fertile source of historical riddles, mysteries, and speculation. This lost world is the subject of "Olmeca: the Most Ancient Civilization of the Americas," a medium-size exhibition at the slightly out-of-the-way Ancient Orient Museum.
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| Ancient stone mysteries: A jade mask (1500-1000 BC) carved using only stone tools shows the artistic sophistication of the ancient Olmec civilization. C.B. LIDDELL PHOTO |
Located on one floor of a building in the Sunshine 60 complex in Tokyo's Ikebukuro area, the museum's space has very little of the mystique and glamour of the ancient times to which it is dedicated. But, for this exhibition, it has made some attempt to recreate the atmosphere of the Olmec world. At the entrance, visitors are greeted by a full-size replica of one of the giant stone heads for which the Olmecs are famous, flanked by a bit of tropical shrubbery and a stuffed jaguar.
The distinct features of these stone heads have prompted imaginative speculation in some quarters that the Olmecs may have been immigrants from Sub-Saharan Africa. This, though, is the same sort of overambitious, blue-sky thinking that attributes the pyramids in the New World to architects from the Old. More down-to-earth theories point to artistic stylization and technical reasons, such as stone-carving techniques, as the reason behind the characteristic look of these statues.
Whatever the truth, these giant heads lie at the heart of our understanding of this civilization, which first began to be recognized in the 19th century when antiquarians and historians began to take notice. The word "Olmec" (meaning "the rubber people" in the language of the Aztecs) was then coined to describe this mysterious race and their culture.
As to what the Olmecs actually called themselves, this is an intractable mystery. However, rubber — extracted from trees native to Central and South America — seems to have been important to them. It was used to make large, solid balls that were then used in a sport, which, archaeologists believe, had great ritualistic and religious significance. One interesting theory is that the large stone heads are representations of successful players. Even an alternative theory that suggests the heads are of rulers admits the importance of the sport by conceding that those rulers chose to dress in ball-playing gear.
The exhibition includes a replica of one of the rubber balls, which visitors are encouraged to pick up. Weighing several kilograms, it was used in a game known as "the Mesoamerican ballgame," which continued to be played by later Central American civilizations, such as the Mayas and Aztecs. Thought to resemble volleyball, but without a net, the density of the solid rubber ball meant that a game could include particularly bruising encounters. Also, there is a theory that losing teams were sacrificed to the gods.
The importance of sport provides a point of contact with a modern audience. Another area of fascination for people today is the so-called "Mayan Prophecy" that suggests 2012 will be the end of an immensely long cosmic cycle and the start of new one with potentially dire consequences. Although it is popularly associated with the later Mayan civilization, the calendar on which this "prophecy" is based is thought to have originated with the Olmec. However, apart from a couple of extremely ambiguous stone carvings, the exhibition has very little to offer on the subject except copious explanations in Japanese.
Among the pieces of pottery and fragments of masonry, there are few items that impress at this exhibition, but a couple of jade masks, dating from between 1500 B.C. and 1000 B.C. stand out. Carved using only stone tools, these beautiful representations of the human face show how skillful the Olmec craftsmen could be. Artefacts such as these suggest that — despite the limitations of a civilization that lacked writing, metal tools, and the wheel — the Olmec possessed some profound wisdom, rather like an idiot-savant. Perhaps it is this that fuels our contemporary belief that these ancient Mesoamericans saw something in the year 2012 that our more scientific minds may have missed.
Gray corridors, strip lighting, scratched desks and bland canteens: Schools are not generally renowned for the finesse of their decor.
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| An "edutainment": Designers Norito Nakahara, Hisashi Kano and Alexander Reeder at Hotel Kanra in Kyoto. DANIELLE DEMETRIOU PHOTO |
With a universal motto of "function over design" classrooms have never been renowned for their beauty and style. So it is perhaps a surprise to learn of a new venture in Kyoto — a boutique hotel that fuses high-quality design with an education theme.
Claiming to be the nation's first "edutainment" establishment, Hotel Kanra aims to "educate" visitors about Kyoto in a setting that showcases the best of contemporary Japanese design.
Housed in a former cramming school on a quiet Kyoto backstreet, the owners of the previously nondescript 1980s building-turned-design-hotel are Takamiya Gakuen, the educational foundation.
And it is thanks to their astute appointment of the Tokyo-based design company Urban Design System (UDS) and its parent company Kokuyo Furniture Co. that the hotel is as stylish as it is un-school-like.
Both companies are perfectly qualified to straddle the gap between education and design: UDS was formerly housed in offices converted from an old Tokyo school owned by the same foundation, while Kokuyo is a well-known supplier of school furniture.
Furthermore, UDS — which is now managing the new Hotel Kanra — was also involved in the design and former management of Claska, Tokyo's most famous boutique design hotel.
"We were asked to do something with this building that would remain connected to education," says Norito Nakahara, the architect and designer from UDS behind the project. "We decided eventually that a hotel would be the best way to combine education with design. Thinking about the needs of Kyoto, we realized that there is always demand for places to stay among visitors."
T he end result is more modern Kyoto than classroom, with, thankfully, not a blackboard, textbook or school bell in sight.
Instead, inspired by the traditional machiya town houses for which the city is famed, many of the 29 guest rooms are long and narrow in shape.
The palette is also Kyoto inspired: volcanic stone floors, raised tatami areas, angular black-slate sinks, traditional bathtubs made from hiba wood and walls painted a deep matcha tea green.
And there are countless modern touches — from the sliding screens of gently frosted glass around the bathtub to the cut-out square of lighting in the matte black ceiling that creates the sense of an imaginary skylight.
Another highlight are the unusual lamps consisting of a rectangular tangle of fine white threads that, it transpires, originated from the stuffing of cushions — and which complement perfectly the tiny lines of the traditional white washi paperhanging on the wall nearby.
On a tour of the hotel, Nakahara says: "The design is rooted in Kyoto. We wanted to bring an element of wa (harmony) into the interior in a subtle way. Even with more modern objects, we approached the design in a very natural way to evoke Kyoto."
In another clever stroke, UDS and Kokuyo collaborated with a string of talented artists and creators. And so there are the white fabric lamps, created by light designer Chiaki Murazumi, that appear to float in the stone entryways of each room. Colorful abstract arrangements of Kyoto flowers were pressed, photographed, transferred to canvas and hung on the guest room walls by flower artist Michiko, who was also behind the modern ikebana creations dramatically illuminated in the bathrooms. And on the first floor, delicate, unique ceramics created by three local artists — Kazumi Kinoshita, Kazuhito Azuma and Junji Setsu — are being used in the Italian-Kyoto-style cuisine restaurant Kitchen Kanra.
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| From top: The Hotel Kanro facade, a view of a suite, and a Superior Tatami room. COURTESY OF KANRA HOTEL |
Among the most eye-catching of creations are the angular and unashamedly modern interactive panels that span the walls and ceilings of the first floor lobby and restaurant.
Created by American Tokyo-based artist Alexander Reeder, the sea of panels are programmed to respond to light, sound and temperature via 15 discrete sensors. Depending on the time of day, the sound made by the people in the space surrounding them and even the season, the panels emit abstract swathes of constantly changing patterns, movements and colors. In springtime, for example, a palette of white-pinks is the base for the images, while during autumn, they become a fusion of rich auburns and greens.
"Buildings are normally completely static but this gives the space movement," says Reeder, who monitors the ever-moving installation in real time from his computers in Tokyo. "It's always changing, depending on what is happening. It's as though the building is breathing.
"My goal was the same as for the rest of the hotel — to bring the concept of machiya into the building, focusing on how the abstract elements of nature can be brought into the space."
T he creation of the hotel was not without its obstacles. "The identity of Kyoto is easy to grasp but it can be sensitive among Kyoto people," says codesigner Hisashi Kano of Kokuyo. "Coming from outside Kyoto, we had to be extremely careful and respectful of our surroundings.
"Building regulations are also very strict in Kyoto. The authorities make sure that in a place that calls itself 'Kyotan,' every single detail conforms to the city's design roots.
"So you will never find glass screens between bathrooms and bedrooms in Kyoto hotels as it's just not allowed."
Those seeking a postmodern Kyoto education without bringing back old-school memories will be relieved to discover that the only relic of its former incarnation as a cram school is the original concrete staircase at the back of the building.
Meanwhile, the hotel can organize an array of individual classes focusing on Kyoto culture, including learning how to make chopsticks from Kitayama-sugi cedar.
Alternatively, staff can provide DIY education kits in subjects such as calligraphy and ikebana for private use in the guest rooms, each of which is also home to a quirkily designed booklet offering educational tips ranging from Kyoto dialect to furoshiki cloth wrapping.
The hotel is also aiming to attract as many as 60 school-group trips a year, with teachers booking out the entire hotel to enable students to take part in Kyoto-themed culture classes — as well as enjoy a taste of modern design.
"No other hotel has tried to mix education and design like this before," says Nakahara. "It is unique in atmosphere and concept."
And its students past, present and future are likely to agree on one thing — going back to school has never been more stylish.
Hotel Kanra is at 185 Kitamachi Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto 600-8176, (075) 344 3815. For more information, visit www.hotelkanra.jp
Although the claim that listening to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's complicated scores can boost your IQ has been debunked, its effect on bananas has yet to be disputed. So in July, the Hyogo Prefecture-based fruit company Toyoka Chuo Seika shipped out its first batch of "Mozart Bananas" to supermarkets in the area.
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| Toyoka Chuo Seika's Mozart bananas are sent to stores after one week of music at a ripening chamber. COURTESY OF TOYOKA CHUO SEIKA |
Arriving as ordinary unripe bananas from the Philippines, "Mozart Bananas" meet an odd fate. "String Quartet 17" and "Piano Concerto 5 in D major," among other works, play continuously for one week in their ripening chamber, which has speakers installed specifically for this purpose.
Strange as this process may sound, these aren't the first bananas in Japan to take in the strains of the great 18th- century Austrian composer. A fruit wholesaler in Miyazaki Prefecture started doing it three years ago. In fact, over the past few decades, a wide variety of foods and beverages have been exposed to classical vibrations — soy sauce in Kyoto, udon noodles in Tokyo, miso in Yamagata Prefecture, maitake mushrooms in Ishikawa Prefecture and "Beethoven Bread" in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, to name a few.
It's enough to make the skeptic wonder: Are such producers really serious about the benefits of classical music?
A representative from the Hyogo fruit company, Isamu Okuda, said that it's no joke, and they believe it makes the bananas sweeter.
"We thought it would be a good investment," Okuda said, "which would set us apart from the pack."
The bananas are sold locally in Toyoka for ¥300 a bunch, and compared to last year's pre-Mozart record, sales are up. The plan is to branch out to big supermarket chains in the future.
Another company that uses this form of enhancement is the Ohara Shuzo, a sake brewery in Fukushima Prefecture. The senior managing director, Fumiko Ohara, said that they started over 20 years ago when the president, Kosuke Ohara, came across a book about brewing with music. They experimented with jazz, Mozart, Bach, and Beethoven, among others.
"We found Mozart works best for sake," said Ohara, "and that's why we use only his music."
For 24 to 30 days, during the third step of the brewing process, Mozart is played for one hour in the morning and one in the afternoon as the sake ferments in enamel-coated stainless-steel tanks. "Symphony 41" and "Piano Concerto 20" do the trick, she explained, but some of his other pieces can work just as well.
"It makes the sake have a richer fragrance and a milder taste," she said.
Bottles range in price from about ¥1,000 to ¥5,000, and since the 1989 debut of the "classic series," they have sold steadily, both locally and through mail order.
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| A bunch of Toyoka Chuo Seika's Mozart bananas. AIMI NAKANO PHOTO |
Although there is no research data to back up the claim that Mozart's music has any effect on food and beverages, one explanation for its popularity attributes it to theories behind "1/f noise," or "pink noise," which is a high frequency sound said to have relaxing and rejuvenating effects on humans. The music of Mozart happens to be rich in such frequencies — those above 8,000 Hz — which is why sound and music therapy both tend to use it. But can what has not been scientifically proven to enhance human performance be beneficial to food, beverages and plants?
This was partially answered by the amateur botanist, Dorothy Retallack, in her 1973 book, "The Sound of Music and Plants." After playing various kinds of music to plants for three hours daily, she found they "preferred" soothing classical, which made them flourish. Rock and country, on the other hand, had either a debilitating effect or none at all.
A number of food scientists declined to be interviewed for this story because there is not enough research to confidently weigh in on the practice. But that hasn't fazed Hiroko Harada, the manager of Harada Tomato, based in Tokushima Prefecture. Her shiny Mozart-infused tomatoes, called Star Drops, provide all the proof she needs.
Harada first thought of the idea 15 years ago, after she heard about cows whose milk production went up after listening to Mozart. (A farmer in Spain claims his Mozart-listening bovines produce 1 to 6 liters more milk per day than other cows, and a farm in Aichi called Dairy Paradise uses the same method to boost production.)
At the Harada farm, speakers placed throughout the nine greenhouses quietly stream Mozart for about 10 hours a day, from October through May.
"The most important thing," said Harada, "is that the music creates a relaxed and comfortable environment for us to work in, and that rubs off on the tomatoes."
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| The Ohara Brewery's Jyunmai Daiginjyo, from the classic series of Mozart sake. COURTESY OF OHARA SHUZO |
She explained that Star Drops are tastier and sweeter, and according to the Tokushima Kogyou Shikenjyo, a public research institute, they have three times more iron and vitamin C than regular tomatoes. Whether this results from the music or skilled organic farming is hard to say, but Harada feels Mozart plays a role.
In addition to Star Drops, which cost about ¥750 for a 350 gram bag, the company also launched a salad dressing and a tomato puree, all of which sell well, locally and on the Internet.
While the Japanese public seems to have no problem buying the idea that Mozart can enhance food and beverages, the related issue of Mozart's impact on humans, known as the "Mozart Effect," has been in the public eye in the West ever since a 1993 study at the University of California, Irvine concluded that Mozart could improve spatial reasoning on the Stanford-Binet IQ test. An avalanche of studies, news reports and products for babies followed, with the discussion always dominated by the IQ question.
According to Don Campbell, the author of numerous books on the subject, including the 1997 "Mozart Effect: Tapping the Power of Music to Heal the Body, Strengthen the Mind, and Unlock the Creative Spirit," this narrow focus misses out on all that Mozart's music has to offer.
"Whether or not Mozart raises IQ is not the right question anymore," Campbell said in a recent telephone interview. "There are better questions to look into that give greater insight into the Mozart Effect. I'm still very pro-Mozart."
Until a study investigates Mozart's effect on food and beverages, we'll just have to take it with a grain of Mozart-infused salt.
The Asahi Shimbun Co. will stop printing on Feb. 28 its English section that currently occupies the last four pages of the International Herald Tribune's Japan edition.The Asahi Shimbun's English news will only be available on its website as well as on Apple Inc.'s iPad and Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle services, the company said Tuesday. The IHT will be distributed without the Asahi section starting March 1.
The Asahi will become the consigned agent in Japan for printing and distributing the IHT, an international paper owned by the New York Times.
"We will notify our readers in January 2011 about the details of new subscriptions to the IHT newspaper, including how the IHT newspaper will be published solely by the International Herald Tribune and will be printed and distributed by The Asahi Shimbun, and the method by which current subscription contracts to the IHT/Asahi will be handled," the Asahi Shimbun said.
The Asahi debuted the English-only Asahi Evening News in January 1954. It scrapped the publication in April 2001 upon agreement to put its abbreviated English section in the back of the IHT.
"The circulation of English-language newspapers in Japan has seen a dramatic fall in recent years," the Asahi Shimbun's public relations department said in a faxed reply to The Japan Times. "The IHT/Asahi, which the International Herald Tribune and the Asahi Shimbun jointly publish, is also suffering poor financial conditions."
The Asahi went on to say it doesn't plan to stop providing news in English, but made the strategic decision to end the printed version to strengthen operations in delivering news to international readers.
The PR division declined comment on earnings from subscriptions and ads for its English section but said the IHT/Asahi circulation is 33,717.
Although no one can say for sure, it is likely this ritual concerns the idea that that the higher the body is placed, the closer to heaven. It also provides a way to protect bodies that could potentially be destroyed by natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods.
Segada is a remote area, situated some six hours away (12 in rainy season) from the Luzon island town of Banaue, north of Manila. The cliffs are laden with hundreds of coffins, but how they got there seems a phenomenal effort involving either ropes to lower the coffins down the cliff or some sort of timber scaffolding to raise the coffin to such a height.
The coffins were carved by those that would inhabit them for all eternity as part of this bizarre but very poignant ritual.
The corpses are smoked to preserve them throughout the 5-day pre-burial feast and as the bodies are pushed into the coffins, the cracking and even breaking of bones often occurs as the process is completed.
The deceased remain in caves high in the cliffs in company of the coffins of other ancestors. There are as many as hundreds of coffins lined up in some of these caves.
Due to the fact that the area is unregulated, tourists have been stealing bones as grisly souvenirs of their expedition into the remote mountains.
While visiting these incredible caves, it is recommended that you hire a guide, as the roads are complicated and difficult to navigate.
Of course, don’t bother if you don’t mind the possibility of becoming some of the bones that one day some tourist may steal and keep mounted on their fireplace mantle!
http://www.weirdasianews.com/2010/11/28/hanging-coffins-sagada-ancient-tradition/
Korean artist Sung Yeonju has designed a bunch of dresses constructed out of everyday food items like tomatoes, onions, and even bananas.
Just fresh out of college, Sung, who graduated from the Hong Kong University earlier this year, has already struck it big with her release of Wearable Clothes. These fascinating dresses have all been built from food, and nothing else. The amazing thing is that not only are they edible, but they also look really good! Check them out for yourself:
The Alexander McQueen-esque dress pictured above was clearly made out of bananas.
Figure it out yet? They’re lotus roots!
Winter mushrooms!
Onions!
Red cabbage!
SHRIMP? This one must smell horrible!
The question remains, though… will anyone in their right mind wear one of these things? Regardless, you got to give it up to Miss Yeonju. If nothing else, her dresses make Lady Gaga’s outlandish outfits look rather plain!
http://www.weirdasianews.com/2010/12/06/care-edible-dress-mmmmmm-yummy/
Proving that sex or even the mere suggestion of it still sells and big time at that, from Guangzhou, the Chinese city hosting the Asian games, comes these photos of the swimming trunks of the Singapore Water Polo team.
They are among the hottest photos circulating on the Internet right now even though Singapore, a highly conservative city-state, has boldly rebuked the team for their choice of swim trunks, which display disrespect to the flag by featuring an inappropriate likeness to it.
Designed by members of the team who obviously should have hired a professional designer, as they weren’t looking too closely at the phallic crescent on the trunks.
The design juts out from the groin area with the five stars to the side on a red background that appears in a rather obvious spot.
“Unfortunately the team did not seek our advice on the use of the crescent moon and stars when they designed their swim trunks. Their design is inappropriate as we want elements of the flag to be treated with dignity,” said a spokesman for the Information Ministry.
In a most unexpected turn of events, the embarrassing faux pas has inadvertently drawn much attention to the sport of water polo, which doesn’t usually glean as much coverage and media attention as other water sports.
The players are stuck with these swim trunks even if they wanted to change them, as a country’s colors cannot be altered while the Games are in progress.
http://www.weirdasianews.com/2010/12/07/singapores-water-polo-team-xrated-trunks-steam-waters/
In today’s world, vending machines overwhelm the Japanese consumer, and everything from diapers to live crabs can be had with the drop of some coins in a slot.
But one canned drink vending machine (at least so far) stands out from all the rest; this one recommends drinks to its potential customers by using facial recognition technology based on the customer’s age and gender.
Developed by JR East Water Business Co, a subsidiary of the railway firm, JR East Co, these machines use large touch-panel screens with sensors that permit the determination of the characteristics of an approaching customer.
A “recommended” label will then appear on specific drink products and these change as they are affected by variables like time of day and the outdoor temperature.
If the customer is a man, the machine is likely to recommend a canned coffee drink, since men tend to prefer these… A woman in her 20s will be recommended a tea drink or slightly sweeter product, since market research has shown that they prefer these. We thought it would make it a lot more fun for the customers to have this kind of interaction with our machines…,” said a company spokeswoman.
If the proof is in the pudding as the old saying goes, sales have tripled over those from regular vending machines.
Results are based on only one machine that has been installed at one Tokyo train station, but it is expected that by early 2011, five more will be added at central Tokyo Station and nearby suburban areas. By March of 2012, some 500 machines are slated for installation all around Tokyo and its environs.
Cool, yes, but what if you desire a more significant conversation with the machine?
Where do you go from there?
http://www.weirdasianews.com/2010/12/07/japans-vending-machine-recommends-drinks-customers/
A couple guys who were trespassing on a woman’s-only carriage of the New Delhi metro system were fined and then forced to perform sit-ups.
Every subway train in India has a special railway car dedicated solely to women. Though unusual, this policy was initiated to help protect females from inappropriate behavior, such as sexual harassment.
Unfortunately, Indian men sometimes like to break the rules. Lately, in fact, many men have been sneaking onto the female-only carriages because they’re unable to find a seat anywhere else.
The ladies have been putting up with it because they felt like they couldn’t stop it. But everything changed on Saturday, November 27, when police officers from Gurgaon, a large city 30 km south of New Delhi, raided the train in response to complaints from women.
Egged on by the police, the ladies on the train acquired the confidence to finally put the men in their place. Not only did they slap them around like Moe slapped Curly, but they even forced them to perform sit-ups.
“We found many male passengers in the women’s coach,” said police commission S. Deswal. “The moment the women saw us, they got the courage to teach the men a lesson.”
According to Indian newspapers, the men were very embarrassed. In India, women typically serve their men. So for women to stand up and put men in their place is quite unusual. Plus, the fact that these men, who were likely fat and out-of-shape, had to perform sit-ups in public… that’s just icing on the cake!
Congratulations to the women of India! But next time, don’t wait for the police to show up. You don’t need their help, because as every man wells knows, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned!
http://www.weirdasianews.com/2010/12/03/angry-women-force-trespassing-men-perform-situps/
Slated to begin sometime in January, the upcoming McWeddings will first appear for a test period at three major McDonald’s branches. They’ll be offered in packages starting at HK$1000 ($129), which is a major savings from the typical HK$10,000 or $1,300 price of a Hong Kong wedding.
Included with the reservation is a personalized menu, decorations, McDonald’s-themed gifts, a special apple-pie wedding cake, and a lone fry in place of the traditional cherry a couple shares prior to kissing.
It’s essentially an ultra-cheap and fun way to get married. It’s kind of like an American couple getting married in a Las Vegas casino. Similarly, there are a couple striking caveats. For one, couples who opt for a McWedding aren’t guaranteed any privacy whatsoever. Other customers who walk in to grab a bite are welcome to watch the ceremony. In addition, McDonald’s doesn’t carry any liquor or beer, so there’ll be no drinking.
This whole fiasco all all started when a couple who originally met at a Hong-Kong-based McDonald’s decided to get married there. The word quickly spread, prompting couples all across the country to call into McDonald’s asking to make a reservation for their own wedding. Thus a trend was born.
It’s not the most romantic idea in the world, but it certainly is cheap. More importantly, you get a bunch of free Happy Meal toys with it. And well, there’s nothing quite playing with your toys while naked at your honeymoon. And speaking of being naked, check out the video below.
http://www.weirdasianews.com/2010/11/06/mcdonalds-slated-offer-ultracheap-mcweddings/
