TOKYO — A Japanese artist cooked his own genitals and served them to five paying diners in Tokyo to cover the medical costs, in a bizarre act to raise awareness about sexual minorities.

Mao Sugiyama had his penis and testicles surgically removed in March and kept them frozen for two months before dishing them out—seasoned and braised—to customers at an event hall on May 13, according to postings on his Twitter account and local police.

Diners paid 20,000 yen for the plate with a portion of genitals. Pictures published on a website appeared to show the meal came complete with mushrooms and a parsley garnish.

The painter, who is reportedly 22, said on Twitter the organ had been removed by a physician and certified to be free of infections.

The meal was prepared under the supervision of a certified cook and diners were required to sign a waiver indemnifying Sugiyama and event organizers.

In May 18 tweets, the artist said steps were taken so the act met all relevant laws, including a ban on organ sales, processing of medical waste and even food sanitation requirements.

“I receive questions from some women and men… asking ‘Will there be a next time? Please host it again.’ But there is only one set of male organ,” he tweeted on May 16.

“Unfortunately, I have no plan for the next time.”

Sugiyama, who considers himself “asexual,” that is without gender, initially thought about eating the genitals himself, but decided to solicit paying customers to help pay his hospital bills for the surgery.

In an email to AFP, he confirmed the event had taken place and said it was organized to raise awareness about “sexual minorities, x-gender, asexual people.” He said he was readying to publish an official account of the day.

Police in Tokyo said they knew of the episode, but added that it had not broken the law as cannibalism was not illegal in Japan.

“We are aware of the case. There was nothing (criminal) to it. It does not violate any detailed rules. There is nothing to take action about,” an officer at Suginami police station told AFP.

Adapted from:
Japan Today


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TOKYO —In a deepening recession the homeless are getting younger and younger, Shukan Jitsuwa (Dec. 30) finds. Among those it encounters in the streets of Tokyo and Osaka is a young man who sleeps in phone booths when cold makes shelter necessary, and young women who turn increasingly cheap tricks to pay for a night at a Net cafe or manga coffee shop.

The evidence offered is anecdotal rather than statistical. We are introduced first to “S-san,” who at 53 represents an earlier generation of homeless. A barber by profession, he boldly threw that over when the asset-inflated economic bubble of the 1980s made instant fortunes possible – or seemed to. From his native Hokkaido he went to Tokyo, worked in construction, and sure enough, lined his pockets to the tune of 400,000 yen to 500,000 yen a month. If only it had lasted!

But of course the bubble burst, the jobs dried up, and now he’s reduced to sleeping on cardboard and surviving on food handouts at Ueno Park. Still, he has his pride. When Shukan Jitsuwa’s reporter asks why he doesn’t apply for welfare, S-san shoots back, “Too many restrictions. Doesn’t suit me. Better to be free.”

That proud defiance seems missing in “N-san,” 29. His is a tale of the 2000s. There’s no bubble in his memory. He graduated from high school in Kyushu, drifted to Tokyo, and did temp work for years, living in a company dorm. Last spring he lost his job and, simultaneously, his accommodation. Construction day labor kept him going for a while, but lately even that seems beyond reach. “The main reason,” he says, “is that I’ve got no fixed address, no guarantor. What could I do? I registered at a job center.”

He gets work occasionally, but “it’s just scraping by. If I earn 40,000 yen a month, it’s a lot.” He’s the one who has taken to sleeping in phone booths as winter approaches. “Still,” he says, “I’m better off than some.”

He’s thinking of young homeless women – a relatively new breed. Many of them are former ero-entertainment workers, squeezed out of a trade that’s no longer what it used to be. Now they service the poor for 3,000 yen or 5,000 yen. “Petty prostitution,” one observer terms it.

In Osaka there’s a place called “Thieves’ Market,” a warren of narrow streets lined with outdoor stalls selling videos, used books, used appliances and the like. Many of the young women on staff, Shukan Jitsuwa says, are homeless.

The magazine for some reason doesn’t ask the women how they feel about their lives, or what they see looking to the future, but the impression is that it’s being shrugged off almost as normal. If so, it’s a sad state Japan has come to, with no short-term prospect of better. As S-san puts it, “I thought when the Democratic Party of Japan came in, there would be more jobs for us, but no way. It’s worse than it was in the days of the LDP.”

Adapted from:
Japan Today


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A legend is born

KFC (or “kentakkii,” as it’s popularly known) launched its Japan-wide Christmas campaign in 1974 and since then has aggressively marketed its buckets as a holiday essential. Today, as Public Radio International's Akiko Fujita has reported, "KFC commercials signal the start of the Christmas season in Japan."

A homesick foreigner wandered in, bemoaned Japan’s lack of turkey, and chose fried chicken as the next-best alternative. Today, the company claims, Japan has a custom of chicken for Christmas, and the origin of this custom is KFC. According to one Tokyo-based consumer, “Turkey here is hard to get, and we don’t have big ovens like in the United States, so it’s easier to eat fried chicken,” says Chisato.

Japanese press declares 'Chicken War'

But this year, some Japanese media report, KFC’s Christmas supremacy may be in peril, as a new contender enters the ring: McDonald’s. McDonald’s spokeswoman Miwa Yamamoto confirms in a phone interview that the company is now “focusing on chicken” with the introduction of their iCon’ series, featuring a line of sandwiches and their first-ever Christmas chicken special, the iCon’ BOX.

Dubbed a “chicken war” by the Japanese news source Insights, the battle of the bird has been heating up since summer, when McDonald’s first unveiled its entire new iCon menu. Popular business magazine Diamond reports it’s been “getting hotter and hotter in the chicken market,” especially since CEO Eikoh Harada boldly proclaimed in June, “McDonald’s is No. 1 for chicken.”

Adapted from:
http://www.cnngo.com/tokyo/eat/mcdonalds-vs-kfc-japan-christmas-meals-591494


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