This story sort of reminds me of a scene in Meet the Parents when Gaylord “Greg” Focker was taken out of his flight for saying bomb, the conversation went like this:

Security: You were acting like a manic and you threatened her with a bomb.
Greg: No, I said I didn’t have a bomb.
Security: But you said bomb.
Greg: I said, “It’s not like I have a bomb”.
Security: You said “Bomb” on an airplane.
Greg: What’s wrong with saying ‘Bomb’ on an airplane?
Security: You can’t say ‘Bomb’ on an airplane!
Greg: Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb. You gonna arrest me? Bomb bomb bomb bomb! During the war I was a BOMBadier!

ROFL

Man arrested after ‘joking’ with flight attendant he had stick of dynamite on plane in Hokkaido

CHITOSE, Hokkaido — A man has been arrested for telling a cabin attendant that he possessed a stick of dynamite on a plane, causing the flight to be delayed by three hours, police said.

Takanari Deto, 69, a real estate company owner of Chuo-ku, Sapporo, stands accused of forcible obstruction of business.

He admitted to the allegations. “I did it as a joke,” he was quoted as telling investigators during questioning.

The incident occurred at around 1:50 p.m. on Tuesday when the aircraft was parked at New Chitose Airport waiting for departure, local police said.

Deto told a cabin attendant on Hokkaido International Airlines (Air Do) Flight 20 bound for Haneda Airport in Tokyo that he had a stick of dynamite as he was placing a paper bag into an overhead compartment, according to investigators.

All of the 214 passengers and crewmembers were evacuated and police officers searched the cabin but found no explosive.

The flight departed for Tokyo three hours behind schedule.

Source

Fuel prices in Japan is not spared when the barrel goes up in a spike. Prices have reached an all time high since 1987 in Japan, with the 180yen mark hit. Currently, fuel prices in Japan is 182yen per litre shortly after 9am on Thursday last week. Read more.

With the price increase, we should look for other alternatives. Bicycling is a good option. So is walking.

It wouldn’t surprise me if Japan comes out with a car that feeds on purely water and has ball bearings for wheels just like in the movie I,Robot. :) No, it wouldn’t surprise me at all.

Here are 5 things you can do to save up some money in lieu of the price hike in fuel:

1. Car Pool – when 4 people share the cost of 184yen/liter, it really saves up. Plus, you get meet more people and have meaningful relationships while you are in the car.
2. Public transportation – duh, for obvious reasons. Japan has one of the best public transportation system in the world!
3. Walk, Jog, Run – if your work place is close by, say 15 minutes walk, but all means take it. It is healthy for you and you can save up a lot of money from not driving and treat yourself to a nice dinner or a Gucci bag.
4. Hitch Hike – A lot of people during the 60s and the 70s, hitch hike their way to different states. It saves them a whole ton of money and they might even learn a thing or two during the trip. Carry a pepper spray with you, just in case.
5. Go hybrid – if fuel is expensive, and your need to drive to work, go hybrid or go electric. The earth will thank you. Although hybrid cars are not cheap right now, think about it in the long run, you will save more money this way.

So what would YOU do in times of this fuel spike?

Would you *not* notice a homeless woman sleeping in your closet for almost a year?

Would you? Could you?

Unless you have a big mansion and a walk-in closet the size of an apartment – i am pretty sure you can sense a stranger living in your closet and using your toiletries. This really odd thing happened in Japan where a man didn’t realize that a homeless woman has been living in his closet for almost a year until food started missing.

He must have felt the pinch because food prices are rising.

Japanese woman caught living in man’s closet

(05-30) 17:34 PDT TOKYO, Japan (AP) –

A homeless woman who sneaked into a man’s house and lived undetected in his closet for a year was arrested in Japan after he became suspicious when food mysteriously began disappearing.

Police found the 58-year-old woman Thursday hiding in the top compartment of the man’s closet and arrested her for trespassing, police spokesman Hiroki Itakura from southern Kasuya town said Friday.

The resident of the home installed security cameras that transmitted images to his mobile phone after becoming puzzled by food disappearing from his kitchen over the past several months.

One of the cameras captured someone moving inside his home Thursday after he had left, and he called police believing it was a burglar. However, when they arrived they found the door locked and all windows closed.

“We searched the house … checking everywhere someone could possibly hide,” Itakura said. “When we slid open the shelf closet, there she was, nervously curled up on her side.”

The woman told police she had no place to live and first sneaked into the man’s house about a year ago when he left it unlocked.

She had moved a mattress into the small closet space and even took showers, Itakura said, calling the woman “neat and clean.”

Source

The only giant panda in Ueno Zoo is dead. It is possible that it’s out of old age but pandas should never be kept in a glass box for the world to see anyway. They’re not fishes. Not that it’s right for fishes.

I have a very soft spot for all mammals, I guess it must be a very dark day for the workers who works with Rin Rin.

Rin Rin, the sole giant panda at Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo, died in the early hours of Wednesday only one day after he was taken off display for veterinary treatment, officials said.

Veterinarians at the zoo in Taito-ku are poised to conduct an autopsy on his body in a bid to determine the cause of his death.

A worker came to the zoo on Wednesday morning to find 22-year-old Rin Rin dead in its viewing pen. After examining video surveillance footage, zoo officials concluded that he died at around 2 a.m.

Rin Rin, which is the equivalent of 70 years old in human terms, became less active at the beginning of this year. The zoo took him off display on Tuesday for veterinary treatment.

Rin Rin was born at Beijing Zoo in September 1985, and was sent to Ueno Zoo in Tokyo in 1992. He was the only giant panda for which Japan holds ownership rights.

Source

Here is Rin Rin last year, he’s so adorable:

RIP :(