Another poll from Sugoren gives us a list of the top 9 things that Japanese women want their boyfriends to learn how to do well.

I was somewhat surprised by the order of a few items, but the content was pretty predictable.

9. UFO Catcher AKA Crane Games or Claw Games (so that guys can pull cute little stuffed animals and presents out of a machine at will)

8. Car Repair (to fix minor problems with a car. I know very few non-mechanic, non-car-mania Japanese guys that even know how to change a tire or oil so take that for what it is)

7. Outdoor Skills (so that they can go on outdoor and camping dates… very different and much easier than what our American readers might think of as “camping”. I hope you like yakisoba.)

6. Massage (to soothe those tired muscles)

5. Computer Skills (to help her with her computer problems)

4. English (if you teach English in Japan, here’s a good selling point… the reason most women gave was so that he could communicate for them while traveling abroad)

3. Musical Instruments (so he can play the guitar or piano for her)

2. Martial Arts

1. Cooking (some comments mentioned how much fun it would be to cook together, some Japanese women said they wanted a boyfriend who could cook because they can’t, and others just mentioned that a boyfriend that cooks would make a good husband)

I think this is a pretty general list. The car repair one is the closest I came to actually surprised because, as I mentioned, I know so few people outside of the car industry who can do that kind of thing. Also the guys who don’t work with cars but love cars tend to be a bit obsessive about cars meaning the girlfriend may take a backseat (so to speak).

As for cooking, suffice it to say that future husbands of Japanese wives could do well just to make a few dishes like the classic “dad” food sukiyaki.

1. Knowing someone famous in the past, or before they were famous.

2. That they turned down a chance to go to a famous university or chose to be a “freeter” despite being offered a spot in a big company.

3. That they are actually incredibly rich but for some reason or another are hiding that fact or do not have immediate access to the money.

4. Knowing the secret to some local or historical mystery, “I know where xxx’s fortune is actually buried…”

5. Saying that if they had not gotten injured they would have been on the level of some professional or Olympic athlete, or something similar.

6. Claiming to have dated a woman who is now famous.

7. Having an old dating story that sounds suspiciously familiar (like from a famous movie or drama).

8. Claiming to have been quite a bad boy, even though if the story were actually true he would actually have been a criminal, or in prison.

This study was originally put out in Sugoren Magazine.

I’ll now take the liberty to list some of the ones I’ve heard more than once from different people that make me think they should be somewhere in the top 20 at least.

a. My friend is a computer hacker.

b. My friends are all Yakuza.

c… and a lot of different permutations of “I beat a foreign guy at fill-in-the-blank…” (basketball, took his girlfriend, fighting, drinking, or whatever the popular thing is at the moment)

Maybe we should put together a list of the alternatives… the things I’ve heard non-Japanese guys tell Japanese girls!

Hmmm… I remember a Middle Eastern guy, clearly not a native speaker of English, all of about 165cm in height, telling an enthralled group of Japanese girls about his days playing basketball at the University of Michigan.  I let him go though, enjoying both how much and how little he knew about colleges and college basketball in the US. Good times.

There was a poll recently done by the Japanese search engine Goo about things that guys in Japan did that made them think they were “the man”.

As always these polls provide us with a completely unscientific, most probably skewed, but generally entertaining view of Japanese society through the eyes of, well… people who give and take online polls.

Here’s the top ten:

1. Treated a woman to something
2. Carried something heavy for a woman
3. Did something cool playing sports when a girl was watching
4. Treated one of my juniors to something
5. Sang a ballad at karaoke
6. Tried staring off into the distance
7. Show off some recently learned trivia
8. Undid the second button of my shirt
9. Let my bangs flow horizontally across my forehead
10. Loosened my necktie and let it hang loose

I guess the important thing to keep in mind is that this poll was completed on the internet by a company called COBS. COBS is a data collection agency with members who answer polls and post reviews in return for points. This also explains the number one answer… Here are the result of the poll in reverse order:

5. 6.2% of respondents (124 votes) kiss for the first time on the fifth date.
4. 10.2% (212 votes) kiss on the second date.
3. 16% (320 votes) kiss on the third date.

2. 19% (votes) kiss on the first date.

… and the surprise (?) answer…

… the #1 vote getting option…

1. 39.5% (790 votes) answered… “I have never been on a date.”

Thanks to all who participated in the study, now get out into the real world and get yourselves some dates! Almost a fifth of you stand a chance of getting a kiss on the first date, especially if you date each other!

A new type of cram school has opened in Japan designed to help women find a husband and prepare for life after nuptials. The school targets women who are hoping to prepare themselves for dating and marriage, and help them find love and marriage. Some students include the so-called “Ara-Fo” or “Around Forty” unmarried women who are currently one of the fashionable topics for dramas in Japan.

Some of the courses include:

• Make-up
• Table Manners When on a Date
• Seminar on Writing Email
• Dating Simulations
• Attractiveness Power Up Seminar
• Manners for When Riding in a Car
• Women’s Power Up Coordinator

The following video is a news report done on the school, “Aoyama Konkatsu Yobiko”. The school charges a minimum of 200,000 yen per year for classes, and already has over 30 students.

Don’t worry guys! They say they also have courses for men!

Many train lines in Japan have women’s only train carriages. This is designed to give women an place to ride the train without fear of the gropers, or molesters called “chikan” in Japanese. The special cars are generally available during rush hour only to prevent the overcrowded trains in Japan from providing opportunity and cover for would-be molesters. The mark here is the symbol of the “Josei Senyo Sharyo ni Hantai Suru-Kai” which is the largest group organizing the protests.

The group proposes at several alternatives to women’s only cars:

• Uniformed officers on trains and platforms
• Emergency microphones on trains so that any call for help will be heard (in addition to the emergency buttons which one would have to be near to push)
• Uniformed citizen volunteer patrols of trains during rush hour
• Efforts by train companies to reduce the rush hour crowds (cheap fares for off-peak riders, off-peak transpasses, etc.)

Sometimes during rush hour, the women’s only car is the only one with any breathing room while the rest are packed well-beyond comfort. There have recently been a rise in the number of men participating in planned protests against the “josei senyosha”. The men show up at the platform at a certain time and enter the female only car as a group.

Below is an audio recording of one of the “protests”, and one older woman who was especially vocal screaming “Oriro!” (Get off!) and some other not-so-nice things repeatedly at the men.

It seems to me that there are a lot of losers in this situation, and although the problem was caused by the existence and spread of the “chikan” problem, whether women’s only cars are the best way for Japanese society to deal with it is still questionable.

One body that may have the power to alleviate the problem is the powerful train and subway industry that chooses to run trains at such an unhealthy capacity.

It’s easy to get wrapped up in the international attention being afforded to Japan’s Women’s Olympic Curling Team, Team Aomori.

But what happened with to the Japanese men’s team?

Qualifying for the Vancouver Olympics was a very straightforward process and easy to understand.

To put it simply, teams had their scores from the 2007, 2008, and 2009 world championships added together. The total scores were ranked, and the top 9 teams qualified to compete in the 2010 Olympics. Because powerhouse Canada is the host nation, and highest scoring team, and gets an automatic bid to compete as the host, the top 10 scoring teams were given bids.

The team order and total points is as follows:

1. Canada – 40 points
2. Great Britain (based on Scotland’s qualifying points) – 29.5
3. Germany – 24
4. USA – 24
5. Norway – 23.5
6. Switzerland – 20
7. France – 19.5
8. Denmark – 13.5
9. China – 13
10. Sweden – 11
11. Australia – 10.5
12. Finland – 7.5
13. Czech Republic – 3
14. Japan – 3
15. South Korea – 1

All of the teams from China and below missed one or more championship. Japan scored its 3 points in the 2009 World Championships so if they start to compete every year I’m sure we’ll see them at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

For the record, the Japanese women’s team only competed at the World Championships in 2007 and 2008, but still managed to score enough points to slip into the Olympics in the final qualifying spot.

Fresh off the heels of making a live version of Space Battleship Yamato, TBS is going to work on one of the most beloved manga and anime works in history. Ashita no Joe (Tomorrow’s Joe) is the timeless story of the life of a boxer named Joe Yabuta.

Many anime fans are concerned again about the choices movie makers are making to play the lead characters in some of these films. Althought it still remains to be seen whether Takuya Kimura will cut the mustard in Space Battleship Yamato, people are even more vehemently decrying the selection of Tomohisa Yamashita of the pop group NEWS to play the lead character in the film.

Many fans want a professional actor, boxer, or a newcomer to play the role. Personally, I think that Yamashita looks enough like Joe, and has the acting skills to pull it off. I have seen him in tv dramas and on variety shows in Japan, and I think he can do a good job if he’s directed well.

Here is a little video of Tomohisa Yamashita in the movie “Kurosagi” in which he plays a tough, young con-man. I think he’ll be good in this if the writers, directors, and producers do their jobs.

The Japanese website “Kon Katsu News“, or Married Life News has posted an article about an easy and free way to tell if your boyfriend is marriage material.

The method?

Search all of the drives on his computer for the following types of files:
.jpg, .bmp, .wmv, .mpg, .avi, and .rm…

I’m not sure if this is supposed to determine whether he still holds a flame for his ex-girlfriend (old photos), has adult movies and pictures on his drive, has pictures of something even worse… or maybe checking if he’s smart enough to password protect or store externally anything that might irrationally make his marriage-blog-advice-following girlfriend jealous.

I post this here not because I think it’s good advice, but because of how surprisingly common it is in Japan for couples to go through each other’s pockets, bags, cell phones, computers, and who knows what else.

It also makes me wonder if other countries’ mobile phones have the same amount of secret and password protected features. Cell phones in Japan have special ways to hide information about contacts, recent phone calls, and photos.

A 48 year old police captain from Chiba Prefecture was arrested in Ibaraki for stealing an “bishojo” anime figurine at a recycle (second hand) shop. The figure was worth about 6,500 yen (about $71 now).

Upon his arrest, he commented “Ma ga sashite, yatte shimatta.” Which has the sound of “the devil made me do it”, but actually means something closer to giving in to your desires or not being able to control yourself. Gropers on the train and people who shoplift often use this terminology.

The stolen figure was dressed in a high school girl’s uniform. If I find out specifically which figure it was, I’ll post in the comments. If anyone knows, it might be entertaining to here.

As for the police captain, his superior commented that they want to discipline him so that this kind of thing doesn’t happen again. This seems to imply that he won’t be fired or taken off duty but will just be yelled at and maybe have a mark on his record.