Happy 3rd Anniversary!

Message from the publisher.

Kansai Scene, the original Scene magazine, published in Osaka, is three years old this issue. On behalf of everyone, I'd like to thank you for your support of Scene magazines.

Time moves fast in publishing but in many ways it's also been a long three years. We've worked hard and put in a lot of sleep-free nights to make Kansai Scene the number one free English magazine in West Japan.

Starting from nothing more than a desk, a phone and a lot of determination, we've grown to a nationwide magazine-publishing business in record time. Not that the first issue was just a piece of folded paper, 'printed' at 7-11 though. Our debut was a meaty 32 pages; a well-made, full colour product. Not Time magazine perhaps but not something that could be knocked out in a weekend either – we spent over ten days in a row, working and, very occasionally, sleeping in the office in order to create it with just one archaic 7600 Power Mac. That long-suffering workhorse is now enjoying a well-earned retirement, meanwhile gleaming new Apple Macs have taken its place and their now-expert masters tackle each issue with rather more ease.

The number of people to thank is far too long to list in full here, but first I would like to thank you, our readers, many of whom have been faithfully reading and supporting us since day one. We are very grateful too to our advertisers, without whom nothing would have been possible and who have been a great source of moral as well as financial support. Last but not least, thanks are due to the staff and anyone who has ever done any work for us. Their professionalism and commitment to the magazine has got us over seemingly impossible hurdles, to where we are now.

The world changes of course, and so do we. Rest assured that we will run to keep up with the times, ensuring that you are kept updated and that we stay fresh. For the future, we are planning additional sections, more pages and... well, that would be a secret, but let's put it this way: you might not have to wait so long each month for the next issue of your favourite, free, read.

Thank you,

Peter Horvath, Publisher

Trimming Tea

Healthya, new green tea and oolong tea drinks made by Kao Corp., are due to be released May 26th, and seem to offer the tantalising possibility of being able to see off your spare tyre while doing nothing more than drinking the stuff.

They don't actually guarantee that, of course, because that would be a fib. Nonetheless, expect to see product sales soar, on the strength of the teas' high catechin content (a tannin capable of reducing the layers of marbled white stuff that stops people liking you).

Scene Magazines' in-house scientists suggest that product effectiveness is best enhanced by buying them from a conbini at least an hour from your house.

Pickup lines

"This body leaves in five minutes, be on it" is, according to an online poll, one of the least likely pick-up lines to work for men on the pull.

Most women also agreed that "Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?" and "Grab your coat love, you've pulled" are not the way to get any action.

But desperate men and teenage boys need not despair. Asking "Can I buy you a drink?" will almost guarantee a favourable response, according to the survey. Other opening lines that girls most dread hearing include, "Your clothes would look great on my bedroom floor" and "Are your legs hurting because you've been running through my mind all night?".

However, many said they would be impressed by the lines: "You don't know me but I dreamed about you last night" or "Can I buy you a drink or do you just want the money?". Some even said they might even respond to: "Do you believe in love at first sight or shall I walk past again?" and "Your dad must be a thief because he stole the stars and put them in your eyes".

And the most cringeworthy line of all? "How do you like your eggs? Fertilised?"

The Future of Mobile Communications?

NTT DoCoMo Inc. is taking orders over the Net for a Dick Tracy-style mobile phone that can be worn on the wrist.

The Wristomo watch opens out to become a phone, and users can also make and take calls while wearing the PHS handset. Made by Seiko, the phone is waterproof, weighs 113 grams, including batteries, and hooks up to DoCoMo's i-mode service.

The Wristomo supports Web browsing at up to 64kbps and can send and receive emails containing up to 6,000 alphanumeric characters.

DoCoMo expects to sell 5,000 Wristomo phones through its website for between ¥30,000 and ¥40,000.

Ever wanted to be in the movies?

Out of this World, the latest film from Japanese director Junji Sakamoto (whose recent production Bokunchi is now playing at selected theaters across Japan) is going into production this month and YOU could be in it!

The story focuses on a group of young Japanese musicians, who find the musical chance of a lifetime, playing jazz at American military clubs during post WWII occupied Japan – kind of a Japanese Buena Vista Social Club.

The director is seeking some 150 foreign extras to play G.I.'s (both men and women) and their American wives (probably just women) between May 21-28 and June 5-19. No Japanese ability is required.

Unfortunately they can offer no payment, but every actor will be provided with transport costs to and from the Nikkatsu Studio in Tokyo* and a lunch box. Minimum committment is for one day, but the longer you stay, the more goodies you can recieve (t-shirts, photos, premier tickets etc.). Should you participate for the maximum six days you get to see your name on the credits!

For more details and to apply visit their website www.2dk.net/outofthisworld/e_index.html or email outofthisworld@2dk.net

Japan news

A 39-year-old Japanese man's attempt to rob a bank in Itabashi Ward failed when he collapsed from hunger mid-heist.

Aichi Prefectural Police on Tuesday arrested a truck driver on suspicion of snatching a 22-month-old boy from a car and killing him because he was annoyed by the child's crying.

The director of a plastic surgery clinic in Taito Ward was arrested for allegedly performing indecent acts on a 23-year-old female patient during an operation – and filming it.

Foreign nationals accounted for 1.21 percent of the record 2,853,739 criminal cases reported in 2002. Of the 34,746 cases involving foreigners, 20,604 were for theft, 7,990 for immigration law violations, 247 for robbery and 157 for home break-ins. Chinese accounted for 40 percent of the crimes committed by foreigners, followed by South Koreans at 10.7 percent and Brazilians at 7.3 percent.

Land prices in Japan fell for the 12th straight year in 2002, bringing the average price of commercial land to roughly the same as it was in the late 1970s. The most expensive commercial property in Japan was the Marunouchi Building in front of JR Tokyo Station in Chiyoda Ward for the second consecutive year, with 1 sq. meter priced at ¥20 million, up 7 percent.

Japan's most expensive residential area was Goban-cho in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, for the seventh straight year, with 1 sq. meter priced at ¥2.14 million.

Two surgeons, two anesthetists and two nurses were convicted of negligence and handed fines of between ¥250,000 and ¥500,000 by the Tokyo High Court for conducting a heart operation on a lung disease patient and removing part of a lung from a patient with a heart problem.

A welfare ministry study in January and February put the number of homeless people in Japan at 25,296, with 15,617 living in Tokyo's 23 wards, Osaka, Yokohama, Kawasaki and Nagoya. By prefecture, Osaka topped the list with 7,757 homeless people, followed by Tokyo with 6,361 and Aichi with 2,121. Critics claim the actual number is far higher.

A National Police Agency poll of 2,956 local-government departments that deal directly with the public found that about 30 percent of them have had confrontations with yakuza, and around 70 percent of those faced extortionist demands in the past year alone.

Nagoya police mobilized more than 100 officers to investigate two recent pedestrian stabbings – one of them fatal – perpetrated by a middle-aged woman riding a bicycle.

One out of three couples in the greater Tokyo area say they prefer sleeping in separate bedrooms, with 14 percent of them saying they actually do not share the same bedroom, according to a survey.

Police arrested a truck driver man who allegedly killed his girlfriend, slept with the corpse and then left for work the next morning, leaving his mother, who lived in the same home, to discover the remains.

A pedestrian was fatally stabbed by a passing motorist in Matsuda, western Kanagawa Prefecture, in what police believe was the third in a series of drive-by stabbings in the area.

A 52-year-old Japanese tourist was arrested in Manila for allegedly raping a 12-year-old girl after luring her with promises of a cellular phone and cash.

International news

The name of Ikea's latest bunk bed – the Gutvik, named after a tiny Swedish town – caused an uproar when catalogues were released in Germany, where 'gutvik' means 'good f**k'.

After spending five years creating the world'd biggest rubber-band ball, a 54-year-old Welshman dropped the 1 ton sphere from a plane over Arizona to see if it would bounce. It didn't.

A group of Russian train conductors needed hospital treatment after smashing their heads repeatedly against a train window to find out who had the strongest forehead.

Police in Bosnia arrested a 32-year-old man they suspect is The Masturbator, a burglar who has broken into scores of offices at night to spend hours on phone-sex lines.

A community sex education centre in San Francisco broadcast a masturbate-a-thon live on the Internet to raise money for charity. For future events, check www.masturbate-a-thon.org.

Customs officials at Hanoi's Noi Bai international airport discovered six tonnes of turtles smuggled into Vietnam aboard a flight from Malaysia.

Police discovered 28 baby girls packed in nylon tote bags aboard a long-distance bus in southern China. The babies were being smuggled to rural areas, where there is a shortage of girls. China's Justice Ministry said a three-month nationwide crackdown in 2000 resulted in the rescue of some 10,000 babies, who can be bought for less than $100 each.

A study by researchers at McGill University in Canada has found that a gene for red hair and fair skin can help redheads respond better to painkillers.

A statue of the Virgin Mary in Caracas, Venezuela, has been weeping tears of blood, drawing crowds of the Catholic faithful and the interest of the Roman Catholic Church, which said it will investigate.

A man in Athens, Texas, had another six months added to his eight-year prison sentence for aggravated assault after dropping his pants and mooning the judge.

A state-run radio station in Swaziland broadcast fake news from a correspondent supposedly reporting live from Baghdad. The scam was uncovered when the reporter was spotted in Swaziland's parliament covering political news.

The New Zealand government warned indigenous Maori not to perform their traditional `hongi' greeting -- rubbing noses -- with Chinese delegates at a conference near Wellington for fear they could contract SARS.

The former madam of a Dutch escort agency opened a "Hanky Panky School" for prostitutes, offering practitioners of the world's oldest profession "exclusive sales training" to boost their business.

Three Catholic nuns were found guilty of sabotage and malicious destruction of property for breaking into a U.S. missile silo in northern Colorado in 2002 as part of a peace protest.

News section compiled by Jason Mills