a long way from Smallville

Metropolis is a free weekly magazine in Tokyo for the English-speaking community. Each issue features interesting articles about Tokyo life, arts reviews and events listings for the city.

Each week the editors at Metropolis cull interesting soundbites from all of the major newspapers in Japan and include them in a column titled, The Small Print.

Here are my favorites from this week:

A taxi driver who ran over and killed a passenger after an argument over the quickest route was sent to prison for eight years.

Police are investigating a couple of cases of bizarre objects—one bag of gravel and one bag of sand—being left deliberately on the Odakyu line. A letter was found nearby demanding money.

A Sri Lankan jewelry dealer told police he was robbed in Ueno by a man who sprayed tear gas in his eyes and ran away with a bag containing gems worth ¥60 million and ¥300,000 in cash—but later admitted to making the whole thing up.

A Kagoshima man was awarded ¥600,000 in damages after he was forced by police investigators to trample on pieces of paper on which the names of his family members were written. He was being investigated on suspicion of vote buying, but was never charged.

As the past-expiration-date food scandal spread, officials at Tokyo Disneyland admitted serving 18 customers pieces of cheese that had expired the previous day. Apologies were made.

Narita Airport was thrown into turmoil when Leonardo DiCaprio and Will Smith, here to promote their latest films, landed within 30 minutes of each other, providing hundreds of waiting fans with two stars for the price of one.

The movie industry reported that domestic films made more money than Hollywood blockbusters last year for the first time since 1985. Analysts blamed the trend on Hollywood’s increasing reliance on remakes and sequels, with fewer films that tug on the heartstrings and appeal to Japanese sensibilities.

It was reported that Shiga Prefecture attracts perverts from all over the country trying to take photographs of schoolgirls, whose skirts are said in such circles to be the shortest in Japan.

An Ikebukuro shabu shabu restaurant, OL Shabu Shabu Shomuni, where waitresses dress like “office ladies” and strip in front of the customers, reported booming business. Diners are given mirrors and binoculars so they can get a really good look. [See note]

Lion Corp. announced a new spray that freezes insects to death. Barusan Hyosatsu Jet can be used against flies, spiders, cockroaches, among others, and is available in two versions, one for creatures that fly and another for those that crawl.

DoCoMo released a new clamshell phone that releases a scent when opened.

Animal experts warned dog walkers to beware of aggressive wild boars that have attacked people in recent weeks. The boars are known to dislike dogs—even cute little Chihuahuas.

Note: My male friends and I have been talking about this OL ("Office Ladies") place way too much. In fact, it was all we could talk about on the way to get shabu-shabu for lunch today (in Ginza, not Ikebukuro). Although lunch was delicious and the fully-clothed waitress provided perfect service, at one point our table fell silent. I knew what we were all thinking. "So you're saying I shouldn't ask her to feed me," I asked. We laughed. Then silence again as the waitress returned with our tea. Please go here to read more. (SFW)