You may have seen a hilarious image pop up on Facebook or Tumblr in the past few days from Japan- department store style in-store signage from a Japanese shop, in which it loudly and proudly trumpets a big “Fuckin’ Sale” for Christmas.

The image is a funny one not only for the incongruous profanity, but also because it plays into some of our stereotypes of how people in Asia perceive American culture. (One that is subverted in the joke of the college kid with the Asian character tattoo that they think means “courage” or “strength” but really means “pork fried rice.”) The image of the confused representation of another culture is one that resonates strongly, which is probably part of the reason why the pic has been catapulted across the internet in the past few days.

Gawker has spoken to American chef Ron Silver, who owns the comfort food restaurant Bubby’s in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Silver- who has pulled off a great coup if he is correct- claims credit for making the f-word a point of emphasis in Japanese pop culture right now, saying that it comes from his propensity for using the intensity descriptor as a way to explain to staff that the food he serves is fresher than that which most Japanese residents are accustomed. (In Japan, fresh produce is really f*cking expensive, it seems.) New Yorker Silver hilariously explains:

“I trained these guys and trained these guys, and they called me up and said, ‘By fresh do you mean frozen?’ And I was like, ‘I mean fucking fresh, man. Do not fuck around with this thing. The very next day they were like, ‘By fresh do you mean canned?’ And I was like, ‘What do you not understand about fucking fresh?’”

It seems Silver’s Japanese staff took the phrase to heart, but the story even has a kind of f*cking touching ending- the chef explains how it came to be a marketing buzzword for his Japanese ventures:

Silver’s employees may have been fucking with him the whole time. They later surprised Silver by plastering Bubby’s with the slogan “Fuckin Fresh,” adopting it as their motto.

“It was like, alright you won my heart over,” Silver said.

So that’s (ostensibly) how the “Fuckin’ Sale” pic came about. Do you find the tale hysterical or offensive?

Viral “F***in’ Sale” Sign Credit Claimed- By New York Chef, Are You Surprised? is a post from: The Inquisitr

Researchers at Hiroshima University in Higashi-Hiroshima, Japan, have found that the hawkfish, a multi-colored reef dweller has the capability to transform from female to male when population numbers require extra help or a dominate male is removed from the equation.

The team of scientists discovered the phenomena while examining the fish in subtropical reefs around Kuchino-Erabu Island in southern Japan.

The Hawkfish live in harems which are dominated by a single male mating with several females, however when examining 29 fish researchers found that if a male took on too many female fish one of them would turn into a male and take over half the harem, mating as a male.

Researchers also found that if the new male was challenged by a larger male it would revert back into a female rather than wasting energy on a losing battle.

One advantage to the gender bender species is the ability for a female to turn male when the dominate male has been killed off, ensuring population development when even just two fish survive.

The process works when the removal of a male fish triggers testosterone production in a female instead of oestrogen, as this process occurs germ cells are attacked, those cells are the precursor to reproductive cells.

After three years worth of research scientists were able to determine that the hawkfish can in fact reproduce after changing sex.

Here’s a species that doesn’t have to worry about the same sex marriage argument, then again they are a bit of a male dominate society, at least in terms of running a harem.

Hawkfish Can Change Gender For Sake Of The Population [Study] is a post from: The Inquisitr

While the PlayStation Vita may have had a relatively successful launch with roughly 321,000 units sold within the first 48 hours, the second week saw a significant decline to 72,479 units for the whole week.

Unfortunately for Sony, it doesn’t appear to be getting any better, either. In fact, the most recent sales stats are significantly worse. According to stats from Media Create, the PlayStation Vita only managed to sell 42,648 units in its third week.

Just as was the case last week, the PlayStation Vita was outsold by its predecessor, the PlayStation Portable, as well as the PlayStation 3, which sold 62,746 and 67,199 respectively. The Nintendo 3DS kept the top spot on the charts despite a bit of a dive in sales; the 3DS sold 197,952, down from 482,200 sales from the week before.

It’s far too early to start calling the PlayStation Vita a success or a failure, but it’s nonetheless curious that the PlayStation Vita appears to be struggling to sell in Japan, its home turf.

Will you be buying a PlayStation Vita when it launches in February?

Source: Andriasang

PlayStation Vita sales continue to decline in third week is a post from: The Inquisitr

The Texas Rangers won the right to negotiate with Darvish with a record breaking $51.7 million dollar bid this past December.  The team has until January 18th at 4:15pm to conclude negotiations or the bid money is returned and Darvish stays in Japan.

According to sources in Japan Darvish wanted to get some “valuable information before negotiations begin in earnest.”

It is expected that the Rangers will have to pay Darvish somewhere in the same ballpark as C.J. Wilson’s 5 year, $77 Million dollar contract.

In the 2011 Campaign, Darvish was 18-6 with a 1.44 ERA and 276 strikeouts in 28 games for the Nippon Ham Fighters. The Japanese phenom recorded 232 innings.  Darvish completed his fifth straight season with an ERA of under 2.00.

The Texas Rangers’ bid beat out other teams who were known to want to win the rights to Darvish including The New York Yankees, The Toronto Blue Jays, The Washington Nationals and the Florida Marlins.  It in unknown how much each team bid because the bids are done blind, with the highest bid being the winner.

Texas has been in the World Series for the last two years, but has yet to bring the title home to Texas.  With the Los Angeles Angels completing some of the biggest off season moves, Texas needs to build up their team in order to combat their AL West rivals.

Do you think Yu Darvish will head to Texas?

Yu Darvish and Father Visit Texas is a post from: The Inquisitr

In a move that sounds like something straight out of a sci-fi movie, Japan with the help of Fujitsu, is working on a self replicating virus that can basically track down and remove viruses on a network. According to Daily Yomiuri Online, development of the virus has been going on since 2008 and has since been tested in a closed environment.

The cost thus far? $2.3 Million which was paid by the Defense Ministry. Here’s a brief example of what it can do:

“The most distinctive feature of the new virus is its ability to trace cyber-attack sources. It can identify not only the immediate source of attack, but also all “springboard” computers used to transmit the virus. The virus also has the ability to disable the attacking program and collect relevant information.”

This virus, while it has a bad connotation, is actually a good thing. If tests go well which things point to that they have, this could change how us humans and governments react to new and destructive viruses. Imagine this eventually getting to computer professionals. A small business gets a virus that infects many company computers. This “cyberweapon” goes in, finds the source, what’s transporting the viruses, and removes them.

Pretty exciting. While the Defense Ministry of Japan said there are no plans for outside uses and primarily used for their own defense, information leaks all the time. No doubt Japan will potentially license the use of this virus to end all viruses to other governments, so at least there’s that to consider.

Japan Working On “Cyberweapon”, A Virus To End All Viruses is a post from: The Inquisitr

The country of Japan has one of the most active earthquake zones in the world and that was proven once again on New Years day 2012 as the country rang in the New Year with a 7.0-magnitude quake under the sea south of Japan.

While the earthquake shook buildings in the capital there appeared to be no serious damage and officials have not warned of a tsunami.

According to the Meterological Agency the epicenter occurred just off the uninhabited island of Torishima, nearly 370 miles south of Tokyo and 230 miles below the sea.

According to local officials why buildings shook there were no injuries reported and express trains in the northern part of Japan were suspended while safety checks were completed.

Unlike the earthquake that hit in March there appears to have been no damage to nuclear power plants in the northeast part of the county.

Japan’s last massive earthquake not only damaged the Fukushima nuclear power plant, it left almost 20,000 people dead or missing. That March 11 earthquake which brought with it a tsunami registered as a 9.0-magnitude quake.

Japan Rings In New Year With 7.0 Magnitude Earthquake is a post from: The Inquisitr

Here’s a novel idea to expand your company’s vending machine marketability, offer free WiFi to customers and potential customers.

That’s what the Asahi soft drinks company of Japan decided to do this month and their test machines have been a huge success.

Users don’t have to register or even buy a drink, they simply connect to the signal for up to 30 minutes. When users first log-on they are then taken to a home screen with information about local attractions, a screen Asahi can fill with sponsored adds that are hyper-locally targeted.

The company says they will install 1,000 machines across Japan in 2012 with 9,000 more expected over the next five years.

According to the company the machines WiFi capabilities extended 50 meters (150 feet).

Perhaps the best part is the fact that with no registration users with multiple devices can stay connected for even longer periods or they can simply be disconnected and then reconnect afterwards.

With the potential to earn passive income from advertising the new machines could be the type of jolt the Japanese vending machine industry needs, especially in a country where just about everything can be bought in a vending machine.

Would you like WiFi connections at rest stops and other travel destinations in your area?

Japanese Vending Machines Begin Offering Free WiFi is a post from: The Inquisitr

An Asian hooded crane, a rare bird normally found China, Japan and Southeast Asia, was recently spotted in southeast Tennessee, at the Hiwassee Refuge.

The Asian hooded crane, clearly quite a long ways from home, was spotted hanging out with a group of sandhill cranes that have made the refuge their residence for the winter. Asian hooded cranes are a rare enough site even in Asia, much less Tennessee – so, naturally, hundreds of bird-watchers have stopped by the Hiwassee Refuge to check out the rare crane.

“It’s a great thrill,” Melinda Welton, conservation chair for the Tennessee Ornithological Society, told Reuters. “People are coming in from all over the country to see this bird. He has had more than 700 people come and visit from all over the country to see this bird. People have come from 26 states and from two countries, including Russia.”

The majority of Asian hooded cranes normally do their wintering in Japan, and their nesting usually takes place in Russia or China. Welton says that this particular crane took a wrong turn, but he doesn’t seem too unhappy about his new environment – he’s even made a few friends.

“There have been other records of birds that take a wrong turn,” Welton explained. “And now that he’s on the North American continent, it looks like he’s associating with his closest relatives.”

Source: Reuters

[Image: Wikipedia]

Rare Asian hooded crane takes a wrong turn, ends up in Tennessee is a post from: The Inquisitr

The anti-whaling group aboard the Sea Shepherd Society’s Steve Irwin were dealt a blow on Wednesday when a rogue wave smashed into the groups  Brigitte Bardot vessel cracking its hull and severely damaging one of the vessels pontoons.

The Sea Shepherd Society sets out each year in an attempt to disrupt the Japanese fleet and their murdering of more than 1,000 whales for what the fleet calls “research purposes.”

All 10 crew members aboard the vessel are save and the group says the boat is in no danger of sinking.

At the time of the freak accident the Brigitte Bardot was chasing the Japanese ship Nisshin Maru when 20-foot swells smashed a rogue wave into the port side of the vessel.

At the time of the accident the Steve Irwin was approximately 12 hours away from the damaged vessel. Once the Steve Irwin reaches the boat it will be escorted 1,500 miles to Fremantle, Western Australia, for repairs. Once the damaged is fixed the boat will return to the water off Antarctica where crew members will continue to fend off the Japanese fleet.

While the vessel is out of commission the Bob Barker crew continued to hunt for the whaling fleet on Thursday morning.

Under an International Whaling Commission ruling the Japanese fleet is allowed to kill 1,000 whales per year for research purposes, however animal rights activists have long stated that killed whales are ending up in various products around Japan and other regions rather than being used for research purposes.

The hunting season run from December through February.

This isn’t he first time the Sea Shepherd Society has had boat issues, in 2010 a Japanese vessel sheered off the bow of an anti-whaling ship during a collision.

Do you think the International Whaling Commission needs to revise their rules so Japanese “research” vessels can no longer kill ways for less than altruistic purposes?

Anti-Whaling Vessel Damaged By Wave As Crew Battles With Japan Fleet is a post from: The Inquisitr

Earlier this year at IFA Samsung announced that their Smart TVs  would soon receive support for YouTube videos in 3D and now that exclusive access (for the short term) has finally become a reality with the company rolling out YouTube 3D support.

Under YouTube’s current offerings Samsung Smart TV users will have access to more than 8000 videos shot in 3D and the company says they will be teaming up with YouTube to expand user options in the near future.

At this time it’s still unclear if Samsung plans to shoot various video clips in 3D or if they will convert old 2D YouTube clips into the 3D format in an attempt to grow out the 3D video brand.

At this time YouTube 3D videos can only be views in North America, Japan and the United Kingdom.

Samsung Smart TV users can gain support for the new YouTube 3D feature via a free update available through the company’s Smart TV app portal.

Would you like to watch YouTube videos in the 3D format from your TV?

Samsung Rolls Out YouTube 3D Support For Smart TV Line is a post from: The Inquisitr

Wednesday marks the 70th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the act of war that led to the U.S. entering World War Two.

Hundreds of memorial events will be taking place across the States to mark the December 7, 1941 attack. The largest, fittingly, will be held on the Pacific island of Oahu, Hawaii, where the attack took place.

A shrinking number of Pearl Harbor survivors and World War Two veterans will be amongst the crowd on Oahu – around 3,000 attendees are expected at the event. Together, they will remember Pearl Harbor while overlooking the submerged remains of the USS Arizona Memorial, the fallen battleship on which 1,179 men lost their lives.

A minute of silence will be held at 7:55 in the morning – the exact time that Japan’s Imperial Navy began the surprise attack.

Meanwhile, a wreath-laying ceremony will be conducted in Washington, at the World War Two Memorial on the National Mall. President Obama has released a tribute to those who died, announcing “their tenacity helped define the greatest generation.”

Japan’s unprovoked attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor resulted in four U.S. battleships sinking, hundreds of warplanes being destroyed, and more than 2,400 service men, women and civilians dying. The day after the attack, the U.S. declared war on Japan. Another three days passed before Germany and Italy declared war on the U.S.

Will you be taking part in any Pearl Harbor memorial events? Let us know in the comments!

December 7th is 70th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor Attack is a post from: The Inquisitr

A new leak has been discovered at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant and officials worry that the “significant leak” may have already poured radioactive waste into the Pacific Ocean.

Officials examining the area found 12,000 gallons of contaminated water around a condensation unit of a water purification system.

According to the Tokyo Electric Power Co. almost all of the water is still found inside the unit but some “may” have reached the sea.

The head research of Kinki University’s Atomic Energy Research Institute told Businessweek:

“The source of the beta radiation in the water is likely to include strontium 90, which if absorbed in the body through eating tainted seaweed or fish, accumulates in bone and can cause cancer.”

The Tokyo Electric Power Co. has been attempting to fight off damage to the plant since March when an Earthquake and following Tsunami crippled the power complex and caused various smaller leaks to appear all over the plant.

After an examination of the power plant a French nuclear institute says the plant is responsible for the largest radioactive material spill in the history of nuclear power plants.

[Image via ShutterStock.com]

Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Sprouts Another Leak Into The Ocean is a post from: The Inquisitr

Japan loves their robots, esepcially ones that look like attractive women and the “Miim” robot, otherwise known as HRP-4C, from the developers at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) is no exception.

Well with one maybe, they were never happy with the way that she walked. With 30 motors that let it walk, move its arms; as well as 8 motors for facial expressions, Miim is based on User Centered Robot Open Architecture.

This allows the robot to utilize some fundemental robotic techniques as well as realime Linux, RT middleware, something called robot simulator openHRP3 and speech recognition.

All this technology though still hasn’t help overcome a basic problem – walking like a human being; which apparently is a really hard thing to get robots to do. So in order to get a more natural gait with Miim the researchers built up a model of a walking pattern that imitated human movement where their main focus was on three characteristics: single toe support, knee stretching, and swing leg motion.

While the video shows a robot walking more like a woman who is just learning to walk after recovering from broken bones a number of tech sites are praising the researchers on their advances in robotic movement.

Miim was first introduced in 2009 and was meant for entertainment events which was why it was designed with a realistic looking face and the  measurements that reflected the average figure of a young Japanese woman.

via PhysOrg

Japan’s “Miim” robot get a new walk [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

I’m a big fan of single-malt whiskey it’s one of the few drinks I’ll splurge $50-$100 on a single bottle of but I don’t think I’ll be enjoying a fifth of Suntory Yamazaki anytime soon, only because a single bottle costs a mind-boggling  1 million yen ($12,970).

In all fairness to the distillery the whiskey has been aging since 1961 and the aging process has occurred the entire time in Japan’s famously fragrant mizunara oak.

According to Nicholas Coldicott the whiskey boasts “”a nose of overripe fruit, a wonderful aromatic aloeswood unfurling on the palate, and a long, faintly smoky finish.”

CNN reports that the steep price tag isn’t suppose to hurt demand for the whiskey which is currently one of the most sought after drinks for whiskey lovers.

The Suntory branded whiskey has only been made available two times since starting the aging process in 1961 and in both of those releases the whiskey sold out in less than 48 hours.

If you want a bottle of Suntory Yamazaki you’ll have to act immediately as only 150 bottles are being made available.

Would you be willing to drop nearly $13,000 for a single bottle of Japanese Whiskey? I can honestly say that if I had the money to spend without killing my pocket book I would be picking up a bottle today and sharing it with none of my friends.

Japanese Created Suntory Yamazaki Whiskey On Sale Now For $13,000 is a post from: The Inquisitr

If you heard there were plans to create a shadow city of a major city, in the event of the major city being destroyed during a natural disaster, which country could you most imagine implementing such a plan?

Would it be uber-efficient Japan? It seems the innovative nation indeed has plans to investigate the potential of a backup Tokyo, which is pretty much just like it sounds. In the event of disaster, the (ostensibly remaining) people of Tokyo may get a satellite city 300 miles west of actual Tokyo which the press has dubbed “backup Tokyo.” The city will be stashed near Itami Airport and has been “codenamed IRTBBC (Integrated Resort, Tourism, Business and Backup City).”

According to Wired UK, backup Tokyo is conceived as a fully functional stand in city:

The site, which is approximately five square kilometres in area, will contain facilities for parliament and ministries, so that government will be able to continue in the event of a disaster. However it will also include office complexes, resort facilities, casinos and parks, as well as a 652-metre-high office building.

However, it won’t be nearly as big as Tokyo proper, nor will it be capable of sustaining the city’s entire population:

The infrastructure has been planned for a population of 50,000 residents (which we should note is some way short of Tokyo’s population of 13 million) and a workforce of 200,000 — most of whom will commute from Osaka, Japan’s second city, which the site lies to the north of.

As of now, backup Tokyo is just a concept, but a group of planners has requested 14 million yen to investigate its potential.

[SeanPavonePhoto / Shutterstock.com]

Backup Tokyo Planned in Case of Emergency is a post from: The Inquisitr

Japanese lawmaker Yasuhiro Sonoda drank a glass of water on Tuesday that had been taken from puddles underneath one of the Fukushima’s reactors. The Japanese lawmaker drank the water so he could prove to journalists that the decontaminated water from the area was safe to drink.

During the news conference Yasuhiro’s hands were visibly shaking as he drank the water and afterwords he said:

“Just drinking [the water] doesn’t mean safety has been confirmed. Presenting data to the public is the best way.”

The idea to drink the “decontaminated” water was presented in a challenge last month from freelance journalist Yu Terasawa at which time Sonodo told the Guardian:

“I don’t want it to be seen as some kind of performance, but if that’s the best way to prove that the water is safe then I would gladly drink it right here, in front of you, any time.”

Before drinking the water officials at the plant said it was free of radioactive iodine and caesium-134 and -137.

It should be noted that reactors 5 and 6 from which the water was taken were less damaged then other reactors at the plant.

Would you be willing to drink recently radioactive water just to prove a point that might not even be correct?

[Image via ShutterStock]

Japanese Lawmaker Drinks Fukushima Water To Prove It’s Safe is a post from: The Inquisitr

Japan official say the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant is close to being stable but will need to remain open for at least 30 years before it can be safely decommissioned and closed.

The announcement comes from a panel of experts who were named by Japan’s Atomic Energy Commission to oversee the decommissioning of the power plant after an earthquake and preceding tsunami damaged the facility earlier this year.

Officials noted in their 30-year estimate that U.S. agents spent more than a decade removing nuclear fuel from Three Mile Island and because of the complex nature of the Fukushima plant the process will take up to three times longer to complete. Officials will not even begin to remove fuel rods until 2021.

It’s not all bad news for the plant, reactors have begun to cool and there is far less radiation leaking when compared to the start of cleanup efforts.

Authorities have noted that there are still radiation “hot spots” being discovered around the Tokyo area and they say the cleanup and decommissioning process will cost approximately $19 billion. Among part of that cleanup process is covering damaged units in airtight polyester while creating a 12-mile exclusion zone around the plant.

Are you surprised to learn that it will take 30-years to clean up Japan’s nuclear mess?

Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Will Take 30 Years To Shut Down is a post from: The Inquisitr

A ship belonging to one of Kublai Khan’s missing fleets may have been discovered just off of the coast of Japan, marine archaeologists revealed on Wednesday.

According to Japanese legend, two great typhoons, known as the “Kamikaze” or the “divine winds”, wiped out two separate fleets of Kublai Khan’s invading navy vessels in a period of seven years. Between the two fleets, somewhere over 4,400 vessels were said to have sailed from Korea in an attempt to invade Japan, most or all of which were lost.

Marine archaeologists believe the recently discovered ship to be part of the second, larger fleet that sailed from Korea in 1281. The ship was discovered using ultrasound equipment – it was found 3 feet below the seabed in waters around 82 feet deep.

“This discovery was of major importance for our research,” said Yoshifumi Ikeda, a professor of archaeology at Okinawa’s University of the Ryukyus “We are planning to expand search efforts and find further information that can help us restore the whole ship.”

The shipwreck was surprisingly well preserved, Ikeda said, being one of the only ships from that era discovered with its hull intact.

“I believe we will be able to understand more about shipbuilding skills at the time as well as the actual situation of exchanges in East Asia,” Ikeda said.

CNN reports that nearly 4,000 artifacts, believed to belong to the Yuan Dynasty invasion fleet, have been located in the area, including cannon balls and stone anchors.

Ikeda told reporters at the news conference that the team has no plans currently to recover the wreck. Instead, they’ll be focusing on conserving the site to prevent any damage after it was dug up from the sea bed.

Source: CNN

Ship from Kublai Khan’s missing fleet discovered off coast of Japan is a post from: The Inquisitr

Up to 20 million tons of debris from the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan on March 11 is closing in and could reach Hawaii in less than two years, Mail Online reports.

Crew members of Russia’s STS Pallada spotted the debris, which includes a 20 feet long fishing boat, as it floats across the Pacific.

Researchers at the University of Hawaii have been tracking the debris. The latest sighting confirmed their path estimates. However, they had to revised travel estimates, saying the debris will now reach the Midway Islands by winter and Hawaii in less than two years.

A spokesman for the International Pacific Research Center at the University of Hawaii said:

“The Russian ship… found an array of unmistakable tsunami debris on its homeward voyage from Honolulu to Vladivostok.”

Researchers have been tracking the debris because it can threaten small ships and coastlines.

Is there any cause for alarm? Should we panic?

20 Million Tons of Debris From Japan Headed to Hawaii is a post from: The Inquisitr

When it comes to pets I guess I am rather pedestrian since anything beyond cats and dogs belongs out in the wild or possibly a zoo. Throughout my life I have had both cats and dogs as family pets and can attest to the fact that they can make your day feel a little better when chilling out with either (or both) by your side.

However the idea of going to a cat cafe to get my daily dose of feline comfort strikes me a just a little strange, however it would seem that residents of Tokyo feel differently as cat cafes are becoming all the rage among the upwardly mobile citizens.

Granted Japan has always had a rather weird obsession with pets. After all this is the home of the mobile pet cremation service and the dog washing machine but cat cafes?

It seems that in order to even enter one of these shrines to kittydom you first have to go through a cleaning ritual and then through an education room where you learn the finer points of interaction with the furry felines in the cafe.

Once you are done with that you are introduced to a roomful, meaning hundreds, of cats that were reclining in comfie chairs, couches, or just wandering around mingling with the rather large number of people that  can be visiting one of these cat cafes at any given time.

Of course you can relax and enjoy a fine cup of coffee and a snack all the while enjoying the comforting purr of a cat just sitting there waiting for you to pet it.

I think I’ll stick with my dog Ruby and a walk in the park for my calming time of the day.

via Fast Company

You to can be a crazy cat person but without actually owning any cats is a post from: The Inquisitr