The 22nd Golden Disk Awards 2007: winners list, photos, and download
Elderly woman dies after 30 hospitals refuse to accept her
TONDABAYASHI, Osaka — An ailing 89-year-old woman died after 30 hospitals refused to accept her and she was forced to wait inside an ambulance for two hours in front of her home.
Homeless shoplifter lived in hotel for 2 years by cashing stolen CDs
SAITAMA — An unemployed, homeless man who has been indicted recently for shoplifting was found to have lived at a business hotel for nearly two years with money he obtained by selling CDs and DVDs he shoplifted, police said Saturday. Tsutomu Shimizu, 44, who has no fixed address or job, shoplifted CDs and DVDs from bookstores in Saitama Prefecture since around January 2005 and sold them to secondhand goods dealers to obtain cash. Read more
Fukuoka fruit salad literally grows on tree
The lemon tree laden with 11 kinds of fruit is pictured in Onga, Fukuoka.
2007 Annual ORICON CHART
Top 100 Album (Source: Oricon, translated by Lady-Rinoa @ jpopmusic)
1. HOME — Mr.Children (1,181,241 copies)
2. Black Cherry — Koda Kumi (1,022,448)
3. ALL SINGLES BEST — Kobukuro (852,632)
4. The Best Damn Thing — Avril Lavigne (848,912)
5. A BEST 2-WHITE- — Hamasaki Ayumi (716,582)
6. Ai am BEST — Otsuka Ai (713,563)
7. A BEST 2-BLACK- — Hamasaki Ayumi (696,728)
8. Ketsu no Police 5 — Ketsumeishi (680,002)
9. CAN’T BUY MY LOVE — YUI (646,412)
10. Greatest Hits — Sukima Switch (644,231)
11. EXILE EVOLUTION — EXILE (641,374)
12. R35 Sweet J-Ballads — Various Artists (609,004)
13. VOCALIST 3 — Tokunaga Hideaki (552,024)
14. HEART — Ito Yuna (532,715)
15. PLAY — Amuro Namie (514,560)
16. B-SIDE — Mr.Children (478,019)
17. A’, Domo. Hajimemashite — GReeeeN (460,121)
18. 39 — KinKi Kids (455,612)
19. Golden Best ~15th Anniversary~ — ZARD (442,950)
20. Denim — Takeuchi Mariya (434,746)
21. BESTYO — Hitoto Yo (417,551)
22. First Message — ayaka (406,290)
23. RANGE — ORANGE RANGE (404,252)
24. THE BEST of mihimaru GT — mihimaru GT (400,753)
25. ORANGE — ORANGE RANGE (384,508)
26. Because Of You — Ne-Yo (384,286)
27. Minutes To Midnight — Linkin Park (362,773)
28. Scratch — Kimura Kaela (359,590)
29. LOVE PiECE — Otsuka Ai (357,544)
Read more
Parents seek to have teacher’s suicide recognized as workplace casualty
The parents of an overworked female elementary school teacher who committed suicide have decided to file an application to have her death recognized as a public service workplace casualty, it has been learned.
The parents of the teacher, who worked at an elementary school in Nishitokyo, plan to file the application by January. They say that their daughter became depressed due to excessively heavy public service and stress.A lawyer speaking at a news conference on behalf of the parents said that the teacher, who was aged 25 at the time of her death, hanged herself at her home in October last year, and died two months later without regaining consciousness.
The teacher had been newly appointed in April last year, and was in charge of a class of 36 second-year students. She reportedly worked more than 100 hours overtime a month and frequently received calls on her cell phone from students’ parents late at night.
A hospital diagnosed her as suffering from depression, and she took time off work in July and August. The school reportedly knew about her situation, but didn’t provide appropriate support when she returned to work, according to the lawyer.
Click here for the original Japanese story
Jay-Z stepping down as Def Jam president after contract expires
Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter, president and CEO of Def Jam, is interviewed by CNBC’s Donny Deutsch at Microsoft Corp. headquarters during an online advertising conference, in this Wednesday, May 3, 2006, file photo in Redmond, Wash. Carter said Monday, Dec. 24, 2007, that he will leave his post as president of Universal Music Group’s Def Jam Records label after his contract expires this year. (AP)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter said Monday that he will leave his post as president of Universal Music Group’s Def Jam Records label after his contract expires this year.
The rapper, whose contract ends Dec. 31, said in a statement that it is “time for me to take on new challenges.” He will continue to release his own music through his record label, Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam.
Antonio “L.A.” Reid, chairman and CEO of Island Def Jam Music Group, said the label regrets Carter’s decision to move on.
“While he will continue to be one of our signature artists, he will nonetheless be missed in this executive capacity,” Reid said in a statement.
Carter took over Def Jam in December 2004 in an incentive-laden deal that was reportedly valued at up to $10 million. His appointment followed the exit of Lyor Cohen, who departed to be chief executive of Warner Music Group.
As Def Jam’s president, Carter signed a number of acts including Ne-Yo and Rihanna, one of the record label’s biggest sellers this year with her hit “Umbrella.”
Carter co-founded Roc-A-Fella records with Damon Dash in 1995. The label has since become wholly owned by Def Jam, home to Kanye West, among others.
Carter has sold tens of millions of records during his career, powered by hits such as “Big Pimpin”‘ and “Give It To Me.”
He famously said a few years ago that he was retiring from recording music, but returned last year with the album “Kingdom Come.” Most recently, he recorded an album inspired by the Denzel Washington-Russell Crowe drama “American Gangster.”
（Mainichi Japan） December 25, 2007
40% of Japanese men sit down to pee, survey shows
About 40 percent of adult Japanese men sit on the toilet to urinate — a staggering figure almost three times the number recorded in 1999 — according to a survey by Western-style toilet manufacturer Matsushita Electric Works Ltd.
The survey of 518 men and an identical number of women whose ages ranged from their 30s to 50s showed that the younger the man, the more likely he is to sit down while peeing instead of the traditional method of standing up.
The 40 percent of men who sit while urinating is almost three times more than the 15 percent of men who did so when the company first started surveying toilet habits in 1999.
Coffee Bukkake Man Arrested
A man has been arrested in Numazu, Shizuoka Prefecture for assaulting 5 schoolgirls with coffee via drive-by spitting attacks. Here’s a report from Asahi TV: Read more