MTV Japan’s Student Voice Awards 2008 were presented last Tuesday (Aug 26) at Studio Coast, Kōtō-ku, Tokyo…

Best actor and actress, Shun Oguri and Juri Ueno (Image from
SVA Blog)
The winners (via Tokyograph)…
Best Artist: YUI
Best Dance Artist: AAA
Best Group: Ikimono Gakari
Best Actor: Shun Oguri
Best Actress: Juri Ueno
Best Love Song: “Soba ni Iru ne”, Thelma Aoyama feat SoulJa
Best Lyrics: “Home”, Shōta Shimizu
Best Party Karaoke: “Polyrhythm”, Perfume
Best Ringtone: “Kiseki”, GReeeeN
Best Movie: “Koizora”
Best Game: “Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G”
Best Athlete: Ryo Ishikawa
Best Comedian: Harumi Edo
Best Fashionista: Jun Hasegawa
Best Trend: “Wisshu~” (DAIGO)
Respect Award: AI
Naomi Yotsumoto is currently one of the most talk-about Japanese ping-pong players, not just for her skills, but mainly for her fashion and style during the games…

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Moscow is the world’s most expensive city for expatriates for the third consecutive year, according to the latest Cost of Living Survey from Mercer.
Mercer’s survey is arguably the world’s most comprehensive cost of living survey and is used to help multinational companies and governments determine compensation allowances for their expatriate employees.
The survery covers 143 cities across six continents and measures the comparative cost of over 200 items in each location, including housing, transport, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment.
Top 10 most expensive cities in 2008
Moscow (Russia), Tokyo (Japan), London (UK), Oslo (Norway), Seoul (South Korea), Hong Kong (China), Copenhagen (Denmark), Geneva (Switzerland), Zurich (Switzerland) and Milan (Italy).
Surprisingly US have only one city in the top 50 (New York at 22nd)… and Canada don’t even make it into top 50. Perhaps we should migrate to that region instead lol.
Japan’s NHK and other broadcasters have proposed a new tower in Sumida, Tokyo… which if completed, would be the world’s tallest free-standing tower (611m) and the tallest man-made structure in Japan.
The new tower is officially named Tokyo Sky Tree (東京スカイツリー, Tōkyō Sukai Tsurii) following a public voting by Tokyo residents. The tower is currently scheduled for completion in 2011.

Artist’s impression of Tokyo Sky Tree (Image from Tobu Railway Co & Tobu Sky Tree Co)
The current tallest man-made structure in Japan is the original Tokyo Tower, a popular tourist attraction, which stands at 333m tall.
It’s always a bad thing when you received an apology from a doctor… it would have to be something like “sorry, I gave you the wrong meds,” or “sorry, I made a wrong diagnosis,” or perhaps “sorry, I cut the wrong eye…”
The University of Tokyo Hospital in Tokyo’s Bunkyo-ku has apologised to a patient for operating on the wrong eye. The doctors at the hospital mistakenly performed an operation on the right eye of a patient in his 70s who was suffering from glaucoma in both of his eyes. [Mainichi]
It shouldn’t be much trouble since that the patient’s right eye would require an operation sooner or later… the only problem was that the operated eye was not sanitised for the operation, which could lead to infection if he’s unlucky.
The hospital performed surgery on the left eye the following day after realising their mistake… on the bright note, he might get a buy-one-get-one free surgical bill. I don’t think I would want to have this kind of luck though :)
The mass murder in Tokyo’s Akihabara Electric Town has left the nation in shock… a 25-year-old man turned rampage on Sunday noon, killed seven and injured 10 before he was arrested by the cops.

A mourner paying his respect to the victims [More story on
Mainichi]
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Japanese TV presenter Ako Kawada committed suicide by inhaling a lethal amount of toxic carbon monoxide gas.
The 29-year-old freelance presenter’s body was found in a car belonging to her talent agency in Tokyo’s Minato-ku on Monday morning. Traces of burned charcoal were also found in the vehicle.
A suicide note addressed to the TV personality’s parents was found on the dashboard of the car, but she didn’t mention what had been worrying her enough to take her own life.
She had however posted a message on her blog recently saying how she felt mentally and physically fatigued. [via Mainichi]
One of the saddest things in life is when people who wanted to live are not given the chances while people who have to opportunity to enjoy their life have decided to end theirs.
Condolences to her parents. Rest in peace Ako, regardless.
Japanese starlet Maki Horikita is crowned Miss Cotton 2008. Eiko Koike is named as Mrs Cotton while TOKIO’s Taichi Kokubun the Mr Cotton.

(L-R) Horikita, Kokubun and Koike receiving the awards (Image by
Taro Fujimoto)
The 5th Cotton USA Awards, meant to promote the cotton industry in Japan, were presented on May 14 in Ebisu, Tokyo. The annual awards are given to celebrities to celebrities who possess the ‘softness’ and ‘freshness’ like cotton.
That’s just about the weirdest award I have heard of.