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54th Sapporo Snow Festival

Hokkaido's fabulous annual fiesta of freeze opens its frosty gates on February 5th for its 54th time. Having started our as a simple celebration of the coming warmer weather, it has grown into a world-famous extravaganza that most notably features mountainous sculptures and building-like constructions built entirely of snow and ice. Don't forget your woolly knickers - it'll be chilly.

2/5-2/11 (for 7 days at 3 sites):
Odori Site - lighting about 16:00-22:00 daily + 30th International Snow Statue Contest from 2/2 to 2/7 + Farewell to the Snow Festival on 2/11 from 20:00.
Makomanai Site - open 21:00-16:30 daily + Opening Ceremony on 2/5, 10:00-12:30.
Susukino Site) - lighting until 01:00 daily.
For more info: www.snowfes.com
E-mail: jigyo@keizai.city.sapporo.jp Tel: 011-211-2376

Kansai Scene Classifieds is launched - every 2 weeks!

Dear readers,

Kansai Scene Classifieds is here - out every 2 weeks, on or before the 1st and 15th of each month. From executive employment to playful personals, KS Classifieds brings you Kansai's best ever classifieds, available across the region from most of the same pick-up points as Kansai Scene, which will continue to bring you the best of what's going on each month.

Ads can be placed and deleted here at kansaiscene.com, free of charge, by following the simple on-screen instructions. When you place an ad, it is immediately viewable online as well as being processed for the next printed issue. The deadlines are the 22nd and the 8th of each month (a week before distribution). You can delete your ad at any time by logging in with the same username and password that you chose when you placed the ad. Otherwise, it will be deleted automatically after your chosen length of time (max. now 2 weeks). Personals must contain email addresses, not names nor telephone numbers, and must not contain picture.

Advertisers also benefit from KS Classifieds, with the possibility of updating ads more frequently, from quicker response, and from lower rates than ever before. Call 06-6301-3054 now for more information.

Thanks for reading,
Peter Horvath (Publisher)

Bengali bouncers and Bollywood

CRICKET COVERAGE IS LINED UP

TV from the Subcontinent is heading toward a screen near you, courtesy of a new channel, TV Masala, slated for launch in February. Promising a range of coverage from World Cup cricket to the latest Bollywood movies and TV dramas, TV Masala will be offering a mouth-watering mixture to spice up your viewing.

www.tvmasala.com

A beautiful marriage

Japan is famous for inventive food combos - the spaghetti sandwich and the corn mayonnaise pizza being prime examples. Add to your list the gyouza onigiri - a delicious if somewhat distended rice ball containing a whole gyouza and Korean-style spicy sauce.

\150 from Lawson convenience stores.

Musicians - make the splash of a lifetime!

Juice, Tokyo's #1 live music and club info free magazine, is looking for tracks from hotshot musicians of any genre for a compilation CD that will be released through Tower Records across the country this Spring.
The competition will be fierce, but if you think your music cuts the mustard, simply send a CD-R, DAT or cassette along with a press release-style profile to: 171-0033 Tokyo-to, Toshima-ku, Takada 3-16-1, Global Vision Marketing. Tel: 03-5958-5306. Fax: 03-5958-5307. Email: juicecd@hotmail.com.

News bites

Whale meat will be become part of school lunches at a public elementary school for the first time in 23 years, in Ikeda, Osaka.

Russian experts announced that more than $1m worth of fish is smuggled from Russia to Japan each year.

A new law makes wangiri (one ring and cut off) phone scammers liable to a year in prison or a \1m fine.

23 women have been mauled by a renegade monkey in Suwa, north of Tokyo. The ape is believed to be a confused horny male looking for a mate.

Kobe's Oji Zoo will swap their low libido male panda, Koko, for the encouragingly named Long Long from China.

JVC is set to launch a radio that slows down the beginnings of announcers' sentences, thus assisting the elderly.

Recently declassified diaries of Franklin D. Roosevelt revealed plans for a wartime scheme to bomb Tokyo using charge-laden Mexican bats.

Japanese boffins have created the world's smallest thermometer - a carbon tube just 85 millionths of a millimetre wide.

German #1 cash and carry chain Metro opened their first store in Japan in Chiba, near Tokyo, promising prices 10-15% cheaper than Japanese wholesalers.

Restoration work is underway on the roof of Kyoto's famed Kinkakuji Temple.

Princess Aiko celebrated her first birthday. As a present, she had received 2 elephants from Thailand.

J-Phone announced the re-scheduled December launch of its third generation (3G) service, which will enable international roaming in 50 countries and regions.

Australia launched their first satellite in over 20 years, which will provide broadband to bush-dwellers, from a site in Tanegashima, near Tokyo.

Overwhelming crowds of up to 10,000 prompted Tokyo police to order a change of location, twice, for the shooting of Mariah Carey's video for the forthcoming The One single.