National News

SAVING THE PLANET WITH NATTO

A Japanese scientist has a plan to turn the world’s arid deserts into fertile arable land using natto.Toshio Hara, an assistant professor at Kyushu University has spent the last 25 years researching practical applications for the sticky fermented beans other than putting them on rice.

He is currently experimenting by mixing the natto with dung, and other materials such as wood shavings and spreading it on fields. Already the mixture is being used on at least one farm in Saga prefecture in Kyushu to grow tomatoes that are then marketed as “Natto Tomatoes”.
Because the natto contains fermenting microbes which produce their own heat the natto mix can even prevent the ground from freezing in northern latitudes.
Hara sees the natto-dung compost as a potential answer to the world’s food production problems.

However, one problem he hasn’t overcome is that natto is still a lot more expensive than plain old poo.

HOLD THAT THOUGHT

It’s official. Thinking is dangerous. Thinking can wreck your health and even threaten your life.

The problem was first identified in Osaka when the case of a university student who suffered intense psychological tension when playing the drums or transcribing music came to the attention of researchers. His problem became more acute when using an abacus, the worst came when writing music which induced generalised tonic-clonic convulsions.

Looking deeper into the problem, the researchers discovered that the condition afflicted scores of people who suffer trauma when doing mental sums.

Some people suffered more from one kind of mathematics than another. For many people adding and subtracting are without hazard, but multiplication and division will cause uncontrollable stress. In other individuals even subtraction could be dangerous.
Subsequent international research has identified more dangerous mental activities. Reading books and newspapers and even writing can screw you up.

HELLO, SAILOR

Japan’s Maritime Self-Defence Forces (MSDF) have created a recruiting campaign that is an exercise in blatant camp.
Back in 1978 when the Village People brought us the iconic gay disco hit YMCA, it was understandable that a few innocent souls just didn’t get it.

Twenty-five years later when the Japanese armed forces still don’t get it, and use the look and feel of the original Village People song and video to get youngsters aboard, the results are quite surreal. The video ads depict fresh-faced, young men in sailor drag, bell-bottoms and all, dancing and high stepping to a disco beat with catch lines like "Seamanship, Seamanship! For Love, Seamanship!" that are sure to stir patriotic spirit — while the video images may stir other kinds of spirits.

The ad has been shown on huge TV screens at busy junctions in Tokyo’s shopping districts. You can see the ad for yourself on the web at this address: http://www.wirefarm.com/archives/003733.html

International News

Fishing relief for Barrier Reef

Australia's parliament has passed a law, to come into force in July, which will make the Great Barrier Reef the world's largest protected reef system.
The law will ban fishing in one third of the World Heritage Site's 345,000 sq km area, and leave tourism as the only permitted industry. The ban comes in response to concerns that overfishing is depleting the reef's rich marine life. The reef is home to sharks, turtles and numerous brightly coloured fish.

ROBOT OLYMPICS

While the world gears up for the Athens Olympics, with less publicity San Francisco recently hosted the robot Olympics.
Teams of robot engineers from Japan, Europe and the US got together to show off the skills of their inventions and to learn from others.

Combat, football and Sumo-style events were arranged and a variety of tamer demonstrations of technical know-how.
Observers report that while an interest in the technology united the humans from different countries, the robots showed distinct skill sets. The Japanese robots excelled at Sumo, the Europeans at football, and the US robots were most successful at smashing each other up in the combat games.

Poet's Nobel medal stolen

Police in the Indian state of West Bengal reported that the priceless Nobel prize medal of renowned poet and author legend Rabindranath Tagore has gone missing.

The Nobel medal for literature and certificate as well as some personal possessions were taken from a locked showcase in the museum. Tagore became the first non-Westerner to win the literature prize in 1913. Tagore means as much to Indians as Shakespeare to the English.

If you know of any newsworthy events in the Kansai or Japan, if you are about to dive naked into a vat of hungry piranhas for a bet, be sure to let us know. mailbox@kansaiscene.com