Japan and Japanese

It is Chicago that troubles me ... NYC has shown historically that it can reform itself. Chicago .. not so much, IMO.

It all has to do with pizza. New York pizza is vastly superior. Especially from pizzerias in Brooklyn.

Somewhat off topic other than the reference to moving to the US/NYC and crime in that and other US cities.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle a 911 caller alerted San Francisco police to a burglary in progress at a cannabis dispensary. The police went to the dispensary and filed an incident report. When they arrived, one of the perpetrators was still inside. Two others were outside with a Mercedes that was displaying license plates stolen from a Toyota. The third person left the shop with a large bag, and the three men drove off as officers watched. Surveillance video captured the incident, and the city's independent Department of Police Accountability is investigating. A spokeswoman for the local district attorney said that although "numerous burglary reports" for the dispensary's address had come in to the police department, no one had ever been referred to be prosecuted for burgling the shop.

So far our Aussie cops/"Justice" system are not that corrupt but give them a few more years.

Wow. Apparently this is not the only time either.

MiTasol said:

Somewhat off topic other than the reference to moving to the US/NYC and crime in that and other US cities.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle a 911 caller alerted San Francisco police to a burglary in progress at a cannabis dispensary. The police went to the dispensary and filed an incident report. When they arrived, one of the perpetrators was still inside. Two others were outside with a Mercedes that was displaying license plates stolen from a Toyota. The third person left the shop with a large bag, and the three men drove off as officers watched. Surveillance video captured the incident, and the city's independent Department of Police Accountability is investigating. A spokeswoman for the local district attorney said that although "numerous burglary reports" for the dispensary's address had come in to the police department, no one had ever been referred to be prosecuted for burgling the shop.

So far our Aussie cops/"Justice" system are not that corrupt but give them a few more years.

Click to expand...

Very informative MiTasol.
I hope Kei and Mako would have a chance to check this thread in the future.

U.S. Embassy Warns Japan Is Racially Profiling Foreigners
The U.S. Embassy in Tokyo issued a warning Monday about foreigners being stopped and searched by Japanese police in what it said were suspected to be "racial profiling incidents."
......................................................
Source: U.S. Embassy Warns Japan Is Racially Profiling Foreigners

Then, are they Japanese police generous for their own people? Answer is No. They are so loyal to their job even an old man like me is often stopped by police simply because his bike has no lock. No lock is not illegal but a man riding a no lock bike seems to look a thief to them.

An officer checking my bike

Akiko Oishi then and now.

Ms. Akiko Oishi (44) who once condemned the arrogance of Osaka Governor Tohru Hashimoto in public as a nameless worker of the office in 2008 now stands in front of him again to overthrow his soaring neo-nationalist party Ishin as a new member of the National Diet of Japan.
I remembered her as a fearless girl 13 years ago but did not know she is now a Diet member. People pay attention to her liberalist party Reiwa for another general election next year.

Hashimoto and Oishi on TV.
Oishi in 2008


2021


Source:

Shinpachi said:

Then, are they Japanese police generous for their own people? Answer is No. They are so loyal to their job even an old man like me is often stopped by police simply because his bike has no lock. No lock is not illegal but a man riding a no lock bike seems to look a thief to them.

An officer checking my bike
View attachment 650873

Click to expand...

Certainly. They were chasing a jailbreaker at that time

It turned out later that the jailbreaker was disguising a bike traveller for months.
Taking pictures with local people was fatal for him.


Source; 樋田淳也容疑者 - 88cubes

What did he do? And i think i see a lock on his bike.

He was a rape suspect.
He would have been afraid of his stolen bike being stolen if locked the bike.

For more details -

A Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa (46) reports how to use the lavatory in ISS.
Though I do not necessarily like him because his behavior, not only in making/spending money but love affairs, looked so rough, his report from the ISS as an amateur astronaut unmistakably interests me.


Source:

Such a steady international activity as this is the main role of the Japanese royal family though media pays little attention as not sensational.
Princess Takamado of Japan on the 14th UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice

I found this story interesting.

If you cannot access it I will do a cut and paste of about 10% so as to not break copyright

MiTasol said:

I found this story interesting.

She Broke Japan’s Comedic Barrier Playing Drunks and Fools (Yep, Men) (Published 2021)

Niyo Katsura has won acclaim in rakugo, a classical form of Japanese storytelling, by doing anything onstage that a man can do.

www.nytimes.com

If you cannot access it I will do a cut and paste of about 10% so as to not break copyright

Click to expand...

Thanks MiTasol. Yes, the cut and paste will be helpful as I am not necessarily familiar with the recent Rakugo for youngsters

Niyo Katsura has won acclaim in rakugo, a classical form of Japanese storytelling, by doing anything onstage that a man can do.
By Motoko Rich and Hikari Hida
OSAKA, Japan — Onstage, Niyo Katsura wore a delicate pink kimono. With her petite frame and high-pitched voice, she could pass more easily for a college undergraduate than a 35-year-old performer of one of Japan's oldest comedic arts.
Yet when she reached the point in her routine where she impersonated a drunken salesman — a middle-age man — the audience laughed heartily as the character slurred his words and stabbed himself in the arm in a raucously unsuccessful effort to show off the medicinal properties of a mysterious oil.
Ms. Katsura's uncanny ability to portray a range of drunks and fools, many of them men, has brought her acclaim in rakugo, a classical form of Japanese comedic storytelling. Last month, she became the first woman to win a prestigious prize for rakugo newcomers in the award's 50-year history.
After taking the trophy, Ms. Katsura proclaimed, "Do you see me now, old men?"
Over the nearly three-century existence of rakugo, the slapstick cousin of Japanese stage arts like kabuki and noh, most of its performers have been men who portray multiple characters of both genders. Since women entered the profession just over 40 years ago, they have faced resistance from fellow artists, critics and audiences. Women represent just one in 16 of the close to 1,000 rakugo artists now working professionally.
"I wanted to perform rakugo the exact same way that men do," said Ms. Katsura.Credit...Shiho Fukada for The New York Times
Ms. Katsura's victory was a milestone not only because of her gender, but also because she performed a traditional story featuring all-male characters. Some earlier female performers, in an effort to woo audiences unsettled by women acting as men, converted male protagonists in classical stories into women.
But Ms. Katsura was determined to tell the old stories the way they were originally conceived. "I wanted to perform rakugo the exact same way that men do," said Ms. Katsura, who received a perfect score from all five judges on the competition panel, sponsored by NHK, the public broadcaster. "I feel that history has been changed."
Rakugo is an oral tradition in which stories — about 600 of which are in circulation among performers today — are passed down by masters to apprentices. The art form has strict rules: Performers remain seated on a cushion in the center of a largely bare stage, and they use very few props, such as a folding fan or a cotton hand towel.
Stories range from about 10 to 30 minutes and feature dozens of characters, all of whom are conveyed by changes in facial expression, voice and movements of the body above the waist.
"I have never seen anything as good as her version of the story she performed," said Kenichi Horii, a cultural critic who watched Ms. Katsura's prizewinning act. "For the audience, you just want it to be fun. You don't necessarily care if the performer is male or female."

Thank you very much, MiTasol.
NHK seems to be banning introducing her performance in YouTube and others because of copyright.
Originally, Japanese people had no such a conception as copyright.
This is not traditional for NHK 'at all'

This is all about her in my country


Source: 『NHK新人落語大賞』桂二葉、女性初の栄冠 歴史を塗り替え「ものすごくうれしい」 (ORICON NEWS) - LINE NEWS

Rakugo is like this if spoken in English by Shijaku Katsura, a renowned rakugo performer but had passed away early.