Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
It’s a bit scary to think that Yakuza, the gangsters in Japan are public, but like the leader of a gang in southern Japan says about the recent crackdowns as written in the NY Times, ““If they crush us, organized crime will just become harder to see, and more violent, like in Mexico,”” They’re throwing grenades as seen in Outrage, the gangster film by Takeshi Beat Kitano. The issue with the crackdown is sort of a breaking with tradition. (NY Times – Yakuza)
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Here’s a long clip of Jeremy Lin playing some serious minutes with the NY Knicks just yesterday. It was a career game and an Asian American in the NBA? Sure. His line: Jeremy Lin: 25 Pts, 5 Reb, 7 Ast, 2 Stl [youtube]G0oaqWMLdwk[/youtube]
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Coffee in China. Instead of tea crops, coffee is where the money is at. Like all things, when it’s not working you have to change it. Yunnan was once a tea capital, to the point of building shapes, proper names, all worked to make it a tea like atmosphere. Perhaps it was just for good luck or the tiny bits of marketing, but now, it’s becoming a coffee area and growing. The Economist mentions, “A family with a hectare of coffee can earn more than $10,000 a year, triple the amount for tea, and five times more than for maize or rice” It’s growing. We can’t wait to see Yunnan written on a bag of coffee sitting next to Ethiopia and Honduras. It’s a changing world. (Economist – Coffee in China)
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Did you know Hello Kitty is British? Could be according to many fans. In a recent book, Hello Kitty’s Guide to Japan in English and Japanese, it’s surmised from clues that Hello Kitty is from the land of Austin Powers, James Bond, and Benny Hill. The story explain Kitty as if she’s living abroad in Japan and she’s introducing Japanese culture to her boyfriend Daniel. For many, this is blasphemous. How can this be? Hello Kitty is definitely Japanese, right? In the end, there is no final answer regardless of what the book says. The controversy is in the hands of corporate and the fans for choose not to believe everything they read. (Atlanticwire – Hello Kitty)
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World’s youngest sake sommelier is 10 years old. Akane Niikura tastes sake and is certified to do so. Before you get angry, it’s not really a tasting or drinking issue. It’s more of a marketing issue. According majiroxmews, “There are six levels of rankings under the system devised by the Sake Study Institute (SSI). The test is entirely written. At 8 years of age, Akane passed the fifth level and became a celebrity. Television crews moved in, magazines and newspapers featured articles about her throughout Japan.” Yes, it sounds wrong either way, and perhaps the testing should begin at 20 – the legal drinking age in Japan.
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