Why Japanese homes often lack central heat and insulation

Wide Island View explains, via Japundit.

JR East Japan using blue lights as suicide prevention measure

This report in GlobalPost describes the effort, which involves installing blue LED lights on station platforms. The theory is that the calming effect of the blue light might change the frame of mind of those intending to jump off the platform in front of an oncoming train.

They give a figure of 68 train platform suicides in 2008, though it isn’t clear whether that is nationwide or just on JR East (which includes the Tokyo and the rest of the Kanto region).

Via Japundit.

Gaijin Bochi

Short piece in Japan Today about Yokohama’s Foreigners’ Cemetery (Gaijin Bochi).

Opening of the Kobe Tetsujin Statue

The Kobe Tetsujin Statue, which I blogged about previously, was dedicated earlier this month, and Danny Choo posts pictures.

Anime cars

Danny Choo posts pictures from an Itasha (anime car) show in the Odaiba area of Tokyo.

Fire-breathing dragon boat in Osaka

From the Pink Tentacle blog, via Boing Boing, background and video of a 49 foot boat featuring a dragon head that breathes fire and water. The boat cruised Osaka waterways as part of a festival in September and early October 2009.

Tokyo parade

In a show of popular support for Tokyo’s bid for the 2016 Olympic games, a parade was held this week on Omotesando. The Shibuya246 blog has some nice pictures.

Japanese market for luxury goods is hurting

This McKinsey report provides an outlook.  The New York Times linked to this in its story on the growth of discount retailers in Japan.

Toyama Koichi campaign video

Via Japundit, this is a pretty funny campaign video from the Tokyo Governor’s race of a few years ago. Apparently, Toyama got 15,000 votes.

Big Tokyo earthquake becoming more likely

Following the 7.1 quake earlier this month, Australia Broadcast Corp. carried this article on the growing probability that a very large earthquake will strike the Kanto region in the next few decades.