The idea might sound shocking if you have never tried it, but according to this blog in Wired, the Japanese love drinking Placenta.
Yes, I am talking about a health drink made from “that” placenta.
Although it is illegal in some parts of the world, the Japan-based Nihon Sofuken has managed to take placenta and turn it into a drink and some kind of ointment.
From Wired:
According to myth, placenta has regenerative properties and is usually placed in dedicated areas. For example, if you suffer from a depigmentation ailment, you’re supposed to dab a little bit of it on the skin and the color will fill in after a few weeks. I once saw this experiment in person and the placenta-based alcohol mix on the skin was so strong that it burned the patient at first. After two weeks, the white splotch was gone.
Here’s a link to the product page, the translation doesn’t come out too clean so it would help if you can read Japanese.
The other day we blogged about the MLB’s opening day between the Red Sox and the Athletics in Japan. We also linked to an article in which Chiba Lotte Marines manager Bobby Valentine called the timing of the game “ludicrous.”
It turns out he wasn’t the only one ticked off by the MLB’s presence in Japan. In this Time magazine article by Robert Whiting, an esteemed author of Japanese culture, the glaring differences between the MLB and the NPB are on full display.
Whiting outlines how what once was an act of blasphemy - defecting to the MLB - has weakened the NPB considerably. But that’s not the only problem with the NPB. Unlike the major league, which operates under an anti-trust exemption, Japanese teams are at an inherent disadvantage: They have to pay massive amounts of money to play in their home stadiums, instead of having them built with tax payers’ money like in the States. And unlike the MLB, which generates large sums of money through merchandise, NPB teams primarily operate to generate advertising money for the parent companies of each squad.
According to Whiting, that gap between the two leagues makes it even easier for the MLB to continue to poach prized Japanese baseball prospects.
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And speaking of those prized players, this article in the Washington Post, by Blaine Harden provides insight on how Japanese advertisers are capitalizing on the success of the “Big Three” in the major league: Daisuke Matsuzaka, Ichiro Suzuki and Hideki Matsui.
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In other related, but less gloomy, news coming from the Salem News, Jim McAllister delves back into the history archives and writes about the long relationship between Japan and Salem, MA. Something that history - and baseball - buffs might find interesting. Who knew opening day in Japan actually had such a historical basis?
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And, if you haven’t already done so, be sure to pick up the new issue of the Hawaii Herald, which features a lengthy article on Benny Agbayani and his exploits in Japan.
In the 1980s you would be hard-pressed to find somebody who did not watch the movie Sixteen Candles. It starred Molly Ringwald, one of the biggest teen stars of the decade, and was written and directed by 80s icon John Hughes.
But one of the lasting legacies of Sixteen Candles isn’t the story of Samantha Baker, who trudged through her 16th birthday without a cake or congratulations from her parents, but rather, the legend of Long Duk Dong, played by Japanese American actor Gedde Watanabe.
Dong, a foreign-exchange student who ends up staying with the Bakers, is part of a long tradition of Hollywood stereotypes of Asian Americans: He tries to use his fork and spoon like a pair of chopsticks, is puzzled by quiche and spews one-lined gems like, “Oh, Sexy Girlfriend” and “What’s happenin’, hot stuff?”
In this interesting National Public Radio article, entitled “Long Duk Dong: Last of the Hollywood Stereotypes?” writer Alison MacAdam delves into the impact Watanabe’s character had on the 80s, particularly how high school bullies stopped calling Asian Americans “Bruce Lee” and simply referred to them as “Donger.”
But while those insults have faded, Watanabe, who is originally from Ogden, Utah and whose mother was interned during World War II, still can’t escape the wrath of Dong.
Says Watanabe:
“But probably most people know me as Long Duk Dong,” he confesses, “which is still hard for me to say.”
. . .
“I was working at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and I was accosted a couple of times by a couple of women who were just really irate and angry. They asked, ‘How could you do a role like that?’ But it’s funny, too, because at the same time I laugh at the character. It’s an odd animal.”"
Fittingly, the Japanese presence was strong in the first of two games between the American League teams. Daisuke Matsuzaka started the game for the Red Sox but only lasted five innings after Oakland took an early lead. But Boston, buoyed by Manny Ramirez’s two-run double in the tenth inning, ended up winning the game 6-5.
Another Japanese import, Hideki Okajima got the win for the Red while local product Kurt Suzuki hit a pair of singles for Oakland.
Although the contest was well-received by Japanese fans, not every one was pleased with the timing of the game. Chiba Lotte Marines manager Bobby Valentine, who is featured in our current issue, said that it was “ludicrous” for Japan to allow the Red Sox and A’s to play at the same time as the game between the Marines and the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks.
Here’s what Valentine had to say in this article in the International Herald Tribune:
“I hope the Red Sox and A’s have a great time here and I’m sure everyone will enjoy it but it’s ludicrous that our games will be going on at the same time,” Valentine said. “The timing is a mistake and I guess that’s something that slipped through the cracks when they were planning the schedules.”
Having a hard time starting your work week off? Be sure to pick up the new edition of The Hawaii Herald, maybe that’ll make the week go by quicker.
Catch up with former New York Mets slugger, and current star of Japan’s Chiba Lotte Marines, Benny Agbayani.
Find out what happened at the 2008 Living Treasures dinner . . .
and how the Hakuoh University Handbell Choir is celebrating its 20th anniversary.
Plus, Editor Karleen Chinen’s piece on the 65th anniversary of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and a sidebar on the club’s first hapa leader, Bill Thompson; columns by Cedric Yamanaka (actually Cedric’s mother, who is the guest host for this issue) and Shara Yuki Enay; and much more!
The Herald is available at Borders Books and Music in Kaneohe, Waikele Center and Victoria Ward Center; Best Sellers in downtown Honolulu; Shirokiya; the Kahala, Kaimuki, McCully, Waimalu and Waipahu Times Super Markets; and the Hawaii Hochi Office building located at 917 Kokea St. We can also be reached at (808) 845-2255.
Last week the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii hosted a DVD Release Screening of the 2005 film Only the Brave, starring Lane Nishikawa, Jason Scott Lee and the late Pat Morita at the Hawaii Theatre. The film centers around Jimmy Takata, a Wahiawa native, played by Nishikawa, who leads the 100 Infantry Battalion/442nd Regimental Combat Team to save a platoon of Texans trapped deep in a German forest. Takata survives the war but is haunted by a series of flashbacks as he remembers his combat exploits and the prewar lives of his soldiers.
Many of the actors made an appearance at the event, including writer/director Nishikawa, who spoke about the ambitious task of financing and creating the film. The Hawaii Herald was in attendance and made sure to document the festivities.
There was a huge turnout for one of the rare chances to see a movie at the Hawaii Theatre.
An Only the Brave poster took center stage in the V.I.P. room.
DVDs were available for purchase at the event.
V.I.P. guests had to chance to do some mingling before the show started.
And, of course, some fantastic food was provided.
The stars of the movie were on-hand before and after the show to sign autographs.
Jason Scott Lee (right) poses with 442nd veteran Bert Nishimura, who used to talk pidgeon over the radio during WWII to confuse anyone who might be listening.
Who says climbing Mt. Everest was hard? Not Yuichiro Miura, that’s for sure.
In this article in the Agence France-Presse, the 75-year-old Miura plans to climb the lofty mountain yet another time. In 1970 he was the first person to ski down the South Col of the mountain. In 2003 he was the oldest person at the time to reach the summit. Now, after undergoing two heart surgeries, he plans on doing it again.
But don’t make assumptions based on age, Miura comes from a long line of risk-taking senior citizens:
His father Keizo Miura made headlines in February 2003 when he skied down a run in the renowned Vallee Blanche area of Mont Blanc, western Europe’s tallest mountain, at age 99.
Keizo marked his 70th birthday by skiing down a Himalayan glacier, his 77th birthday descending Kenya’s Mount Kilimanjaro, and his 88th birthday by completing a 100-kilometre cross-country traverse of the European Alps.
Just in case you don’t believe Miura’s feats, here’s an incredible documentary on his skiing exploits:
