Japan Booze Blind on "Japan Eats"

The Beaujolais Nouveau just hit shelves a week ago, and the reaction was pretty muted compared too years past. On the left is a photo from my local supermarket, Seiyu, where all the expensive wine was deserving of in terms of presentation was a big unused cooler with an island made from a red, felt-covered box.

There's a write-up on this phenomenon and how it pertains to Japan here, and since we're talking about alcohol anyway, let me take a moment to pimp a project that I'm working on right now.

"Japan Eats" is a new website that tries to introduce a wider audience to Japan's varied culinary and alcoholic delights. I host a show on the site called Japan Booze Blind in which blind tastings are used as an excuse for drinking alcohol early in the morning.

The site just officially went live today, so please stop by and check it out.

Work Safety Issues

Saw this delivery guy doing a very delicate balancing act in order to work on some unknown problem with the light fixture at the back of the cargo bay.

Ever heard of a stepladder?

It's a little hard to tell from this photo, but he's got one of those hefty cargo straps rigged like a tightrope, and he used that in order to reach the problem area on the ceiling.

Didn't stick around long enough to see if he broke his neck on the dismount...

The t-shirts students wear

This t-shirt appeared in one of my classes last semester. The wearer shall remain nameless, but I can confirm that he did indeed understand the subtext.

Ichihashi apprehended

Believe it or not, Ichihashi was caught in Osaka after someone at a ferry station called in with information on his whereabouts.

Ichihashi worked for a construction company

Tatsuya Ichihashi, the suspected killer of Lindsay Ann Hawker, spent much of the last year working for a construction company in Osaka prefecture where he had a room in the outfit's dorm.

He was apparently able to fly below the radar due to alterations to his appearance that may have included plastic surgery. He is said to have often worn hats and glasses to help mask his appearance.

The Japanese nightly news is currently doing a roundup of his recent whereabouts and possible connections.

Having failed miserably at figuring out how Ichihashi could survive on the lam for so long, hopefully the police use the recent lessons learned to reassess cold cases involving other dangerous individuals that they lost track of long ago.

Newly released photo of Ichihashi looks nothing like him

Or that's what it sounded like when I read this in the Mainichi today:

According to investigators, the picture was taken prior to the cosmetic surgery. The man had a beard and mustache in the picture, but police intentionally erased the features in the released picture to avoid confusion.

So it would appear that the police have provided the public with a photo that won't really help the people who have seen him recently understand that they have actually glimpsed the fugitive himself, Tatsuya Ichihashi. Why? Because when they saw him he had a mustache and beard in addition to all of the cosmetic surgery that the media is currently talking about.

And it won't really help the rest of us either. If he's still sporting facial hair, then how does that doctored photo assist in his apprehension?

Or did the police hold off on releasing the photo long enough so that Ichihashi would have plenty of time to shave...?

Well, either way, I think it would be helpful if police released the original, untouched photo as well.

Hawker's killer had plastic surgery in Nagoya?

The Mainichi reported that Lindsay Ann Hawker's accused murderer is suspected of having had plastic surgery at a clinic in Nagoya late last month.

Tatsuya Ichihashi has been on the run ever since he managed to elude a football team's worth of police officers that cornered him at the scene of the crime (his apartment) back in March 2007.

Police apparently headed to Nagoya soon after they received the news that someone resembling Ichihashi underwent a cosmetic procedure. There is no word yet on what type of appearance-altering procedure he had done.

Update (11/5/09; 11:30 AM):

The TV news is finally running with this story, and Ichihashi's face is once again all over the place. It is pretty remarkable, however, that he was able to waltz all over the country visiting different clinics and not sounding any alarms. The Japan Times carried this more detailed story today.

Update (11/6/09; 10:55 AM):

The Japan Times posted the before and after photo of Ichihashi (above right) that police obtained from a clinic in Nagoya. It appears as though the fugitive has been hard at work remolding his facial features.

Vermont Folks

Big ole Vermont reunion in Tokyo at a Swallows home game versus their cross-town rivals, the Yomiuri Giants.

We (the Tokyo Swallows) got stomped.

But everyone had a good time anyway. Pizza and beer will do that.