The Hybrid Hoedown Continues

2011 Hybrid Supra

Not to be outdone by the other, Toyota and Honda are both rushing to release hybrid sports cars next year. You read that right, I used the words "hybrid," "sports car," and "Toyota" in the same sentence. Since Toyota has so thoroughly Prius-fied the entire automotive world, it is hard to imagine anything even remotely "sporty" to come out of that company. Toyota hasn't had a cool sports car since the Supra, and, perhaps not coincidentally, that is exactly the car they are bringing back, only in hybrid form. Don't get me wrong, I love great gas mileage, but I just can't get excited by a sports car with one of Toyota's ubiquitous, underpowered, and otherwise pathetically unresponsive "Synergy-Drive" engines.

2011 Hybrid Cr-ZX

Over at Honda, they are resurrecting their own classic sports car, the Cr-X, and giving it the hybrid treatment. I used to drive one, and I have to say I am a little more excited about that. Even the gas engine version from the late 80's got 30 miles to the gallon, so I'm not sure how the hell a hybrid engine will improve on anything. At least Honda knows how to build a sports car (NSX, S2000), and I have much more faith that they will be able to pull it off.

Both cars will be unveiled at the Tokyo Motorshow in October. I'll try to get some pictures of the production models, but it is so hard to get my camera over the heads of all the otaku clamoring to take pictures of- not the cars- the anorexic models standing by them. Weird.

Google Earth Digs Up Discrimination in Japan

Google, in their ever persistent push to be purveyors of the unique, have added a feature to Google Earth that allows users to superimpose ancient street maps over the current topography. Seemed innocuous enough until they found some maps of 17th century Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto that had clear delineations of "dirty ghettos"- or areas where the "undesirables" in society were forced to live. Descendants of the burkakumin caste, or the historic underclass of Japan (people who were forced to do the dirty work in society- undertaking, butchering, garbage collecting etc) have spent centuries trying to shed the stigma associated with their ancestors. They have been successful at blending into society thanks in large part to the fact that they look like any other Japanese, and they have common last names. But in a country where discrimination is widely accepted and openly practiced, burakumin still have to go to great lengths to keep their ancestry secret. Unfortunately, property in Japan is often held for generations, and Google has made it easy to see where the "ghettos" of the Edo period were located and where many of the "filthy mob" still dwell.

Sharp Releases Solar-Powered Cell Phone

The new Sharp SH002 cell phone released today has a solar panel on the back to charge the battery. It's also waterproof- which makes sense because they are releasing it in the middle of the rainy season. I guess the only problem is that you will have to wait two months to see the sun long enough to charge your phone...

Birth Rate Increases- Inevitable Extinction of Japanese Race Prolonged

The inevitable extinction of the Japanese race has been prolonged by a few years. The average number of children a Japanese woman will have in her lifetime has gone up dramatically from 1.34 to 1.37 (2.07 is needed to keep the size of the population constant.) With deaths far out-pacing births, this results in a net annual population decrease of 51,317. According to some estimates, the world's last Japanese person born in Japan will die sometime in the middle of the next century. This news has some people worried that in order to keep the social security coffers full, Japan will have to do something nobody wants: accept immigrants- permanently. Personally I welcome the falling population rate- think of how easy it will be to find a parking spot close to the Costco entrance!

Man Denied His Due

An exonerated man who spent 30 years on Japan's death row for a crime he didn't commit expects to make the government pay for their incompetence. He is not planning to sue the government for millions in damages like would happen in the U.S., no, he is demanding he be given social security benefits. Because he was unable to work for the 30 years he spent behind bars, he has no money saved for retirement. He is now 83 years old. So far the Japanese government is resisting his request on the grounds that only people who paid their monthly premiums are eligible. Rules are rules...

Wanna Buy a School? Jungle Gym Included!

The incredible shrinking Japanese population has led to some interesting problems. One is that because there are so few children to fill up schools, cities have been forced with unloading hundreds of shuttered public school buildings. The problem has been that finding buyers has been difficult, especially in rural areas. One city in Hokkaido, which had to close 7 of its 9 elementary schools in 2008, decided to put the properties on Yahoo Japan's auction site, which would expose the properties to a national audience. The plan worked. Final sale price for one school, compete with pool, gym and playground: $300,000.

Mitsubishi Releases World's First Mass-Produced Electric Car

Today Mitsubishi motors officially released its all electric car, the MiEV (which means, in perfect Japanese-English fashion, "Mitsubishi In-wheel motor Electric Vehicle"). They got a jump start on other car makers like Nissan and Peugeot who will release their own electric cars later this year (sorry, but I don't consider Tesla to be "mass produced.") The MiEV is butt-ugly, but then so is the Prius and that didn't stop a million hippies from running out and buying one. Actually, the MiEV might cause a mini-revolution in the "look at me, I drive a green car" segment. Now that there is a true zero emission vehicle on the market, people will think if you drive a hybrid you are an eco terrorist.

The price of the MiEV starts at about $35,000, and that is AFTER $15,000 is tax breaks and other insentives from the government. They have a regular gas version for $10,000 that gets a very respectable 45 MPG. So, if you consider that most people driving compact cars spend about $1,000 a year on gas, that means you would only have to drive the MiEV for 20 years to recoup your investment over the gas version. Hey, it's Japanese, it will still be running then.

Onaka Pi-Pi Geinin (Celebrities with Diarrhea)

One thing that may surprise newcomers to Japan is the frankness with which people here talk about bowel movements (or lack there of, as being bempi, or constipated, is another big topic for conversation). Children are taught in elementary school to keep an eye on their daily "deposits" and note any changes in color, shape, and, er, consistency. This early indoctrination in poop profiling leads to a general openness when discussing their digestive health. It is not uncommon for people to have a long, open discussion over lunch about just such topics. It is also acceptable to answer a "Hi, how are you?" With, "Not bad, but man am I constipated! Three days and NOTHING. How about you?" From my count, there are countless terms for bowel movements and I don't mean dirty words, but efficient words that describe different kinds of turds and their, um, composition (something similar to Eskimos and words for snow, I guess.)

The first time I was made party to a conversation of this nature, I thought I has having trouble understanding. Surely, I thought, this person is not telling me about what I think she is. She was. And the candor with which she was talking about it was unsettling. Maybe Americans are just too prudish, and talk of private matters are supposed to be just that- private- not something to be discussing in a crowded cafe. After 10 years, I'm just starting to get over it.

To illustrate just how out-in-the-open this topic is, there is a variety show called Onaka pi-pi Geinin (Celebrities with Diarrhea), where celebrities engage in myriad bathroom banter. "What was it like pooing in your high school toilet?" "What's the most t.p. you ever used?" "Was there ever a time you got the squirts and there wasn't a bathroom in sight?" They then sent a roving reporter out into the streets to take an informal poll of how many people were pi-pi and how many bempi (bempi won out 2 to 1, if you're interested.)

So if you come to Japan, be ready to talk about your daily "business." Be careful though, because in Japan, toilets are where ghosts live.