Zhang Huimin (张惠敏), an 8-year-old girl from South China’s Hainan Province is preparing for a south-to-north journey across the country… by running. [Crienglish]
(Image courtesy of Hinews.cn)
Nicknamed “little magic deer”, Zhang has been in spotlight since Jan 2007 when she spent 17 days on an 840-kilometre long run around Hainan Island.
After a kick-off ceremony on July 4, the little runner will take off from Sanya, China’s southernmost city.
She plans to run all the way northwards, through the provinces of Guangdong, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Anhui, Shandong and Hebei, before finally reaching Beijing. The trip is expected to take 2 months.
The effort came with a price though… as the young kid has to undergo tough training. Many netizens have urged her father, Zhang Jianmin to give up his strict regimen, which they fear would inflict severe pain on the physically immature girl.
[Update Aug 27] Zhang completed her journey.
According to Mainichi, a huge numbers of migratory locusts have invaded the island of the No. 2 runway at Kansai International Airport that is due to open on August 2, prompting an extermination effort.
Kansai International Airport (Kansai Kokusai Kūkō) is an international airport located on an artificial island in the middle of Osaka Bay, off the shore of Sennan district of Osaka, Japan.
I never knew that there are locusts in Japan. The locusts were first noticed in large numbers on June 9, and now it’s estimated that a million locusts are around the new runway on the reclaimed island. On Wednesday the airport workers sprayed chemicals as part of an extermination effort and mowed the grass where the locusts live.
Some wonder if the large number of insects is a sign that the airport will be buzzing with business once the second runway opens… should I call them superstitious or positive thinking?
This video clip is said to be the first ever moving picture film shot in Japan; it was taken in 1897 by French filmmakers using the newly-invented Lumiere camera… [Japanprobe]
Namie Amuro is popular Japanese singer famous for her dancing and hip-pop style of music.
Picture of Namie Amuro
Namie Amuro Profile
Name: Namie Amuro
Japanese name: 安室奈美恵
DOB: September 20, 1977
Birth place: Naha, Okinawa, Japan
Height: 158cm
Blood type: O
Profession: Singer
(Also known as Amuro Namie, ‘Suite Chic’)
Namie Amuro Biography
Namie Amuro was discovered when she was 12 and was enrolled into Okinawa Actor’s School. When she was 14 she was drafted in “Super Monkeys”, a girls group formed with another 4 of her classmates.
Super Monkeys released their debut single in 1992 and achieved decent result; this prompted the girls to leave Okinawa to Tokyo. However, their later ventures were not really successful… they endured some changes before getting notice again in 1995, and Amuro was already the star of the group back then.
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Want some sexy underwear as your cell phone straps? I bet only girls would dare to buy and use it… guys would be seen as pervert if they use it; some weird old man might buy it for personal collection though. [Hat tip to Tokyomango]
Erokawa (Erotic + Kawaii) underwear cell phone straps (Image courtesy of
Strapya)
Japanese tourists are the best in Europe, according to a recent survey of hoteliers across the continent conducted by online travel agent Expedia.
Japanese came top of the survey following a questionnaires of 15,000 hotel owners who were asked during a two-week period in April, to rate a selection of nations across a range of categories.
Hoteliers across Europe were asked to vote for countries based on such things as cleanliness, generosity, noise, behavior and spending power.
2nd in the league table of best tourists are the Americans followed by the Swiss. The worst tourists in Europe were judged to be the French - due to their unwillingness to speak the local language, lack of generosity and impoliteness; followed by the Indians, Chinese, Russians and British.
The Japanese were judged to be the best tourists in each of the 12 European countries where hoteliers were questioned, apart from in Norway where they came 2nd.
The family house of Korean star Ryu Shi-won is becoming a tourist spot…
Picture of Ryu Shi-won
According to KBS, a Japanese travel agency has introduced a package that includes a visit to the family house of Korean star Ryu Si-won in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province.
Ryu is famous TV actor; some of his drama series are quite popular in Japan.
During the 3-day tour of Ryu’s family house in Andong, tourists can see beautiful natural scenery and experience traditional Korean culture.
They will also get to sleep in Damyeonjae, where Queen Elizabeth II was given a birthday party and watched the Hahoi mask dance during her visit to Korea in April 1999.
Ryu’s fans should particularly enjoy this tour package, since Ryu’s mother will personally cook Korean dishes for the tourists and tell stories from his childhood.
I wonder how much it would cost…
Mainichi reported that litter and other trash are piling up on Japan’s sacred Mount Fuji…
“If you look up from the forests at the foot of Japan’s Mount Fuji, the volcano’s graceful slopes rise into the distance and peak in a nearly symmetrical, snowcapped cone.
If you look down in the forests, however, you see something much less elegant: trash… lots of it. Just below the surface of leaves and topsoil are discarded microwave ovens, construction debris, broken office furniture, even rusting refrigerators.
Mount Fuji, the pride of the nation and symbol of the Japanese soul, is a huge garbage dump.”
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