25 Japan Links You Might Want to Check Out - Aug 28

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Sulfur pits in Hakone (Owakudani)

Howdy all! We're back with some more Japan-related links from the past couple weeks. Enjoy!

Living in Japan

Cheap Internet When Staying in Tokyo (Tokyo Cheapo)

Nine power firms to trim electricity prices in October (Japan Times) - Less money to pay, yay!

Japan yens for Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups - My favorite line, "addicted expatriates accounted for some of the sales". That said, according to this article Reese's are here to stay.

Foreigners get home for elderly (Japan Times) - So, the caregivers speak languages other than Japanese. A good thing, I think.

Check with school, kids before posting videos of children online (Japan Times) - For all you teachers out there taking photos of all your school events and students and posting them on Facebook or blogs, you might want to read this.

El Nino likely to last until winter, Japan Meteorological Agency says (Japan Today) - Could we have a warmer winter? Please, and thank you. (I'm sure all you winter-lovers will be shaking your heads in disagreement at this.)

Rolling blackouts this summer averted by public power-saving efforts (Japan Times) - That's probably somewhat obvious (the why part), but it seems overall electricity usage has been lower than peaks in 2010.

Japan fifth in Bloomberg healthiest countries rankings (Japan Times) - Not just based on diet, of course. What do you think? Does Japan deserve to be ranked so high?

Food

[Raw] Rice cesium levels to go online (Japan Times)

What do Japanese People Put in Their Rice Balls? Top 22 Most Popular Onigiri Fillings! | (RocketNews24) - What's your favorite?

Innovative organic farming achieves sustainability in rural Hokkaido (Japan Times) - I thought this was a fascinating read. About a guy from Germany who ends up in Hokkaido with his wife and becomes a farmer. Ok, so my short version doesn't sound interesting, but I thought his whole process of becoming a farmer, finding a place to live (that wasn't Tokyo), and surprising other farmers with managing to grow his crops organically, was interesting.

Vegetable Curry (No Recipes)

Travel and Recreation

Hot springs resorts band together in support of breast cancer survivors (Japan Times)

“Worst Busters” Project To Reform The Worst Of Japan With Smartphone Apps (Asiajin) - Would you travel to a certain part of Japan just to see why people don't like it much?

Nagasaki kicks off bullet-train work (Japan Times)

Is Japan cool? Well, that's a silly question. But you do have a chance to win free tickets to Japan. One in a billion probably, but still!

Just Because

JR Tokai previews 'advanced' bullet train (Japan Times) - Like what the iPhone 3GS was to the iPhone 3G, only it's bullet trains instead of smart phones.

Softbank bets on credit card tieup (Japan Times) - Softbank is teaming up with Paypal to try and convince folks here in Japan that plastic is better than carrying around buckets of coins.

Japanese Festivals and the Annual Cycle of Life (Nippon.com)

Ever wonder what washes up on Japan's shores? Hamazon.com by Tomomi Tamura will tell you. Might make for some unique shopping. (Spoon & Tamago)

Japan, Why So Kawaii? (Tofugu) - In case you're wondering why you see dancing bears, bunnies, cats and unidentifiable characters with giant eyes everywhere.

Free schools a haven for kids who can't fit in (Japan Times) - I like this concept. A lot.

Osaka's New Bicycle-Share Project Aims to Give Jobs to the Homeless and Bikes to the People (Japan for Sustainability)