(upbeat music)
This is a short one.
I thought I had my life
all organized, got sick
last week and that
deleted just an entire day.
And then of course there’s the
recuperation recovery time to get over it.
And then just suddenly it’s a
new week and you’re supposed to
be doing stuff again and you
haven’t done as much as you thought
you were gonna do and
I’m not gonna complain.
You don’t come here for that.
You come here for news about Japan
and that’s what I’m gonna deliver to you.
But again, I got the benefit of me
having gotten sick even just a little bit.
It’s that little rasp that
comes with the voice.
For those very few people I
know who have listened to this
when they go to sleep
because they’re just like,
I guess the monotone boring kind of things
I talk about and there’s no surprises here.
It’s all love.
You get that voice
for a day or two in 20
minutes, 30 minutes
as I just, you know what?
We’re switching to an ASMR podcast and
I’m just gonna talk about the new picture
in the background of my dog
Dave dressed up as a general.
I’m some kind of renaissance thing.
I don’t actually know what time
period that’s supposed to be.
You can’t see it if you’re
listening to the audio version.
So you just have to close
your eyes and imagine Dave.
Do you know what kind of dog Dave is?
Doesn’t matter.
He’s, you know, your dog of your dreams.
February 10th.
This was just one of those ones.
There’s, there’s regularly
we get the stories
of people getting arrested
over incredibly small crimes
or sums of money or
stuff because they escalate.
I don’t know if this
woman actually escalated,
which means I don’t
know if I fully agree
with her getting arrested
for this beyond just trying
to teach her a lesson that
she shouldn’t be doing this thing.
It seems like there’s a
lot of background here.
February 10th, a woman
goes into a convenience store.
Not a particularly weird thing to do.
What happens all the time?
Dozens of our stories start with
people going into convenience stores.
Millions of people going to
convenience stores every day.
And you don’t hear a word
about it because nothing happens
because they don’t do
something weird or stupid.
She was arrested for
destruction or property.
Now, the property she
destroyed was a single bun.
So what she did, she
picked up a pack of four buns
and she took one and she squeezed
it flat with her thumb and finger.
And, but because
the bread didn’t sort of
refluff, the owner of the
convenience store said,
I can’t resell this,
therefore you have to pay
for it or it’s a damaged
property or something.
The woman left the store so he
called the police and he had arrested.
The buns in total cost 181 yen.
So this is one of those things where it is.
Is it worth ruining your
life over a 200 yen crime?
Because you do have to involve the police.
You have to deal with the police.
There is a crime there.
No matter how small it is.
She claims I only pressed
it lightly in my hand
to see if it was firm, but he’s
saying it was squished flat.
Like you couldn’t squish it anymore.
This apparently was
not the first occurrence.
So that’s where my opinion
sort of starts to change.
Like, okay, I’ve probably
picked up a product in a grocery
store or something and maybe
squeezed it too hard by accident.
Now, I’ve never done it on purpose.
I can honestly say
that, but I probably have
ruined a couple products
by accident once or twice.
Maybe I drop something.
I’m sure something like that has
happened and I would apologize for it.
And if you want me to pay
for it, I’d probably just pay for it.
But it’s not consistent behavior.
This woman seems to come
into this convenience store
on a regular basis and squish
something and then walk out.
Maybe she buys something else, but
she’s got a thing for squishing bread.
Because this was not the first occurrence,
the owner was on the
lookout for the serial
squisher so that he
could have them arrested.
And have them arrested,
he did this woman again.
So we only have proof of
one crime worth 181 yen.
But we can assume she’s sort of a serial.
We can see that there’s
a pattern of behavior here.
She might not have realized
she was destroying the property.
So there is sort of a defense there that
she didn’t maybe realize what she was doing.
But that being said,
maybe it’s better to just
not squish anything at all.
(upbeat music)
There’s a company called
Trust Ring Company in Osaka.
And they paint crap.
I mean, it’s just let’s just be straight.
They paint crap.
They paint up just slightly
above minimum wage.
And they do that, but
they’ve had zero turnover in
the last three years, which
seems almost impossible.
‘Cause even like good minimum wage drops,
the ones where you maybe like gas station
attendant where you just take money.
Like you don’t actually
have to fill up gas or anything.
You just sit in that little booth.
That probably has higher turnover.
Like you probably have people
leave more than every three years.
So why are they able to keep their staff?
It’s because of this weirdly,
this unusual benefits package.
And their benefit package
includes coming in late because
you’re hungover as a valid
excuse for coming in late.
So I go out and I’m drinking.
And I say, you know what?
I don’t feel good.
I’m still a little hungover.
I’m gonna sleep till
about 10, 11 o’clock today.
Then I’m gonna go in
and start work at noon.
I can call up the office and say,
“I’m taking my hangover leave.
” And the company’s gonna go,
“All right, please do that. Go ahead.
” They also allow
you to drink at work.
So they have beer on tap.
They offer other drinks,
which means you can be
at the office working
and having a drinker too.
And if you get too much during
the day or continue into the evening
and then you have a hangover
the next morning, you can take
a little extra time off or shift
your schedule later that day
and come in and start
the process all over again.
This is created.
Job satisfaction for the
people who work there.
The people who work there clearly,
they’re not there for the money.
They’re there because this is
a good environment to work in.
They’re there because they enjoy drinking.
They’re there because they’re
drinking as an acceptable behavior.
They’re there because
people do not give them
a hard time for going
out on Friday night
or Sunday night or whatever
day would impact their work week.
They can go out and do what they
want and their company is understanding.
So this weirdly demonstrates that
money is not the deciding factor.
‘Cause I have something to argue against.
Like you wanna keep
people, you gotta pay them.
But if you have, pay them
a ton of money and have a
really terrible work environment,
people are gonna leave.
If you pay them less money
but make it a great place to work,
a place where really they’re
happy to be where they
enjoy being every day,
they’re actually gonna stay.
The company says they are striving
to make a positive work environment.
They clearly understand
the people who work there.
They clearly understand
that giving them a certain
amount of flexibility will lead to them
having more satisfaction and staying longer.
And then they don’t even have to pay
them more than just above minimum wage.
(upbeat music)
There seems to be a second wave of news and
streamers that have descended upon Japan.
They’re not making as big
a splash as Johnny Smalley.
Johnny Smalley has now moved
to Korea where he got in trouble.
And now he’s being held in perpetuity.
Who knows how long
he’s gonna be held there?
In perpetuity, he’s not the right word.
He’s in limbo, essentially.
They’ve taken away his passport
so he can’t leave the country.
So I’ve still been following that story
but I haven’t been talking
about it on an individual pen
because this would be Ninja
News career or something like that.
It’s a different country.
So it kind of doesn’t
fit except that it would
be a follow-up on a
story I’ve done in the past.
He’s gone.
So we’re not really worried about him.
In Hokkaido, there seems to
be a group or a whole bunch
of different sort of people
who follow in the same vein.
I wouldn’t say as bad, but they
spend their time getting drunk,
being loud, being difficult,
causing trouble for local people.
In Hokkaido, I don’t know
why Hokkaido specifically.
It is the winter.
So Hokkaido’s a kind of magical place.
It’s a very winter place.
They’ve got lots of
snow, that kind of stuff.
They’re probably going
there for events and stuff.
And that’s where they’re going
to get drunk and cause trouble.
Well, it seems they’ve gone
to a point where they are in
conflict with each other because
an Australian streamer who is 32
hit an Indian streamer who is 38 with a
selfie stick and apparently multiple times.
The police are looking into the history.
I can almost guarantee if
there’s multiple streamers
in an area and they’re
trying to create drama
and their nuisance streamers,
they’ve caused problems for each other
or they’ve worked together
and then had a falling out
or something like that,
there is some history there.
And it’s going to be well documented
because they stream everything they do.
The Indian streamer had cuts to his face.
The Australian streamer
defended himself by saying,
“I didn’t hit him
with a stick, it’s a lie.
” The interesting part I
do like about these defenses
is because, again, I’m
sitting outside of this.
I have no sort of, I have
no sort of stake in it.
So it’s very easy for me to
pick apart the statements.
He says, “I didn’t
hit him with a stick.
” That doesn’t mean
he didn’t hit him.
He means he didn’t hit him with a stick.
And he didn’t say, “I didn’t
hit him with a selfie stick.
” ‘Cause a selfie stick,
he might in his mind say,
“A stick in a selfie stick
or two different things.
” And he’s being
semantic about it.
It’s a lie.
It’s a lie he hit him with a stick,
but it isn’t a lie he
hit him and it might not
be a lie that he would
have a selfie stick.
He might have just hit him.
Might as a straight up punch the guy
and the guy is actually, “I
wonder if hitting someone
with a closed fist or hitting someone with
a thing, like a stick, if that’s worse.
” I’m sure it’s
probably just assault,
but assault with a weapon
can actually be worse.
I don’t know about that as far
as Japanese, the law is concerned.
The article I read said both
had disputes in the past,
but didn’t get into the
specifics of what they were.
I am honestly confused as to
why news and streamers exist.
Japan is going to very
soon just lock it down.
They’re gonna be like, “If
you’re streaming in public
“or we’re gonna make
streaming in public illegal,
“or if you’re streaming in public
and you cause a disturbance,
“that’s just gonna be immediate
crime, “you just get deported right away.
” There have had enough
experiences where they’re starting
to handle this and see it regularly, and
once it becomes a big enough nuisance,
Japan just makes a law about
it and closes it off altogether.
So then in no longer becomes an option,
and then Japan will be closed
two streamers in the future.
(upbeat music)
A 43 year old man, a little
younger than our 50s losing
your mind theme of the
last few months, to be honest,
broke into a club room and stole
a variety of dance team uniforms.
He did this on two evenings,
a January 4th and 5th.
He broke into the club room.
So a lot of Japanese clubs
have their own room in a school.
That’s where you keep your stuff.
So you have like, the Judo
team might have a changing room.
Doug and I certainly gonna
have to tell me dojo area,
but they might have their own
place where they keep your stuff.
Judo guys, I mean, it’s just Judo students,
so they probably just hang them up.
Something with equipment.
If you have an American football team,
they’re gonna have a place
to store their equipment.
If you have a volleyball team, they’re
gonna have a place where they keep the balls
and then the net when it’s
not out and that kind of stuff.
The dance team’s gonna have
a place where it’s essentially
again another change room with lockers
and stuff where they keep their uniforms.
They might not be locked
though, ’cause the room is locked.
One morning, they came and discovered
a broken window in the club room.
The man was the rest, they
didn’t say how they found him.
I don’t know if there was
a lot of security footage
or something, but they
figured out who it was.
They arrested him.
He said, “There is no doubt I stole
them, but I did not break the window.
” Which again, led me to
believe like, is there a question
of is breaking the window
making your crime worse?
Like, you’re being arrested for theft.
You’re all clearly
entered is not breaking the
window enough of a
difference to the actual crime.
Like, there’s a lot of
people when they get
arrested for murder
in Japan, they go like,
I did not intend to kill
because that intense might
will change how much
the punishment would be.
But in this case, I’m wondering if
that would make any difference at all.
Like, someone else broke the window.
I used that opportunity to
get in and steal these uniforms.
Police then, of course, searched his house.
And when they went to his house,
they found, what would you expect?
More uniforms.
And our last story, and
therefore our grossest story
of the day, that had to make us very sure.
When I did want to get an episode out,
I’m trying to be consistent,
at least about releasing
episodes just so that I don’t lose
the habit of doing it every week.
I’m trying to reorganize
so much stuff right now.
It’s a bit insane.
You don’t want to hear about it.
I keep forgetting that people
don’t want to hear about it.
They just want the news.
I used to hate channels
that would come on and
be like, hey, I haven’t
posted for so long.
Here’s why.
And then they don’t
post anything ever again.
I get it.
Your life has changed
or something’s happened.
Yeah, you don’t want the updates.
You just either want the contents or not.
I got to get that straight in my head.
It’s because I feel bad about not
doing everything I wanted to do.
And then I feel like I’ve let
you down the viewer or listener.
And I haven’t because
you get in an episode.
Screw you for being so selfish.
You should care about me a little more.
See how quickly you can turn that around
if you’re actually like follow the logic.
A senior stock exchange official.
So he’s in his 60s.
So he’s beyond our 50s
range for losing your mind.
So maybe he was holding it in for the whole
time, which is how he lost it this time.
He was arrested for attempting
to take up skirt photos
of two 17-year-old girls sitting
across from him on the train.
So he’s sitting on a bench.
They’re sitting on a bench
on the other side of the train.
They’re facing each other.
He’s like, ah, they’re school girls.
Probably wearing high school uniforms.
They’re skirts.
I’m going to assume we’re pretty short.
So that’s how he thought.
I’ll maybe I’ll be able to get an
up skirt photo of these two ladies.
I don’t know why, man.
This is the bit that got me the most.
He used a tablet.
So a lot of these guys, when they
do up skirt photos, they
have these tiny, tiny cameras.
They put on top of their
shoe, and it’s almost impossible
to see, or they’ll take
like their cell phone,
and they’ll try to
like on an escalator,
try to get it going up
to skirt at the right angle.
That kind of thing has
a level of subtlety to it.
This guy is on a tablet.
And I don’t think you can pull out a
tablet and aim it up someone’s skirt.
Like even if they’re sitting or standing,
subtly enough that people wouldn’t notice.
Weirdly, that’s not what
the girls say happened.
They say they heard the shutter
sound and reported to the staff.
So I’m sure they heard the
shutter sound turn around.
Saw an old man with a tablet out.
And we’re like, I think that guy
might be trying to take pictures of us.
They went and reported to the staff.
Staff called the police.
Police picked the guy up
when he gets off the train.
His defense is, I only took pictures
of their feet as if that was better.
No, I saw two versions of this story.
And this is an interesting
translation note,
because what he says is I
only took pictures of their ashi.
Ashi can be either feet or legs.
Because it’s really just the
lower limb is all it really refers to.
So the first article said feet.
And I think that writer is like, well,
I’m going to translate this to
be the creepiest version of it.
And somehow, foot fetishists are creepier
than people who take up skirt photos.
But of course, he’s probably
doing both, who knows.
Maybe he was taking picture of their feet.
Maybe he was trying to get up skirt photos.
Either way, he shouldn’t
be taking pictures of people.
I think that’s pretty much set.
The second article I read
with the same information
translated that last
sentence is translated
that last sentence as, I only
took pictures of their legs.
Still bad.
I mean, there’s, again,
not much of a defense,
but it’s interesting when
you get into translation,
when you get into articles written
from one language to another language.
There are some decisions
the translator makes
that will definitely influence
the feeling of the reader.
And it’s something to be very aware of.
Should you be reading
news from other countries
or even the news
from your own country,
that language choice,
the images that go with it,
the things those are
definitely chosen to paint a
picture for you as the person
in taking the information.
And something you should be very aware of.
(upbeat music)
(upbeat music)
(upbeat music)
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