I Don't Think This is the Natural Habitat.

Welcome back to JJNN (for the second time today.)

Today's news story comes from the Yomiuri Online.

Imagine this. You work in a small school. It's the 4th of July and you come to work early despite it already being  oppressively hot to find a weird smell coming from the pool  area of the school. You walk to the pool and find a total of 30 dead bluegill fishes floating in the pool.

That is exactly what happened in a small town called Kurate in Fukuoka prefecture. But, that's not the worse part. The same thing happened the next day, only with 40 bluegills. How could the same thing happen two days in a row? Well the fact that pool is outside helps. The pool itself is surrounded by a two meter tall chain link fence with a lock on the door, but there is no roof, so who ever decided to pull this off just threw the fish over the fence with enough good aim so they landed in the pool.

Well, I don't what else to say about this one. The police are looking into it, but, personally, I think this is just a damn good prank. It would be terrible to be one of the students that like to swim because the swimming pool was suppose to open on the 4th.

Imagine seeing a total of 70 dead versions of this in your pool

It is now time for the word of the day. Today's word is プール(ぷうる). It is pronounced puuru and it means pool.

Tests and snow

Walking to the test in the snow

Yesterday and today were two very important days in the lives of many young people in Japan. They were two days that actually shaped the future of the many thousands of Japanese students who wish to enter a Japanese collage.

It is not very easy to enter collage in Japan. There are many tests that have to be taken and essays that have to be written. The first (and some would say the most important) of those tests is the National Center Test for University Admissions.

That test is almost always held in mid-January. It might seem a mystery that the test is held in the middle of the winter, but keep in mind that the Japanese school year starts in April. If the test were any earlier the student would not have time to learn the material on the test (Japanese schools teach for the test...but that another discussion for another time) and if it were any later the results could not be used to apply for university.

The Center Test for this year just happened to over lap with a major snow storm that covered almost all of Japan with a lot of snow. 20 tests sites were effected by the storm with delays of 15 minutes to one hour for about 5600 students. There were also 17 students in all that just couldn't make it to the test on time because of all the snow.

Snow was not the only problem to hit the test takers this year. At one of the test sites in Nagoya there was a power outage that lasted about a minute and 40 seconds. The students had to turn their papers over and wait for the power to be restored. Also 98 students will have to take their English listening tests again because their listening apparatus failed.

What I love the most about news stories like this is the fact that they are news stories at all. This would not make a news paper or even an online news site if it happened in America. It just goes to show how important tests are to the Japanese I guess.

It is now time for the word of the day. Today's word is 試験(しけん). It is pronounced shiken and it means test. I used to like taking tests when I was in junior high school. I guess I was a little weird.

See you next time at JJNN!

When you got to go (play a video game) you got to go

I have seen many strange things in my life, but I got to say the video game in the video above takes the (toilet) cake. I think that most have you have heard of the new game controllers that were put out for the xbox and the ps3. Those controllers are innovative because they allow a player to control their character without the traditional controller. Sure, they are nice controllers and all, but they don't let a player control a game with pee.

That is exactly what "Toilets," the urinal video game system, lets players do. Notice that I didn't say it was a video game. It is actually a video game system that has a library of at least 4 games that are all controlled by a pressure sensor in the urinal.

As you probably expect, the games in "Toilets" are not the normal run of the mill games that you find for other game systems. The simplest of the games gives a score based on the amount of urine. Another game is a race against time to erase graffiti on a wall...with urine. The next game pits you against the person that urinated before you to see who had the highest pressure. The last one is the most controversial because the pressure of the urine determines how many pieces of clothes blow off from a woman in the game.

All of those games sound crazy, I know, but what is one factor that keeps most gamers coming back to their video game system over and over? I think it is probably that drive to get a high score. That leads to a tiny problem with these systems because one person probably won't be able to get back to the same urinal all the time to work on a high score. Worry not, though! It turns out if you have a USB memory stick you can plug it into the "Toilets" and save all your high scores to impress friends and family later.

As a side note I think that the name of the game system comes from the Japanese for "toilet" and "let's." I think it was suppose to be a play on words for "Let's go to the toilet."

It is now time for the word of the day. Today's word is 小便(しょうべん). It is pronounced shouben and it means urine. Man, I really have to pee!

See you next time at JJNN!