Japan in the Guinness Book of World Records

Have you ever looked through the Guinness Book of World Records?

Some of the records in there are amazing. Like the “World’s Fastest Professional Boxing Knockout” which was dealt by Mike Collins to Pat Brownson with the first punch in their match in November 1947. The fight was over four seconds after it started.

And some of the records are odd. Such as that currently held by an American woman named Lee Redmond…”World’s Longest Fingernails”. She hasn’t cut her nails since 1979 and now they’re about 90 cm (3 feet) long!

I was just watching a TV program tonight about some of the unusual records in the Guinness Book and it made me wonder what types of records are held by Japanese people.

So I checked the Official Guinness World Records website.

It seems that there are many records currently held by Japanese people.

For example:

– Megumi Suzuki of Saitama, Japan has held the record of the “Most Jump-Rope Skips in Thirty Seconds ” for four years now. In September 2006 she skipped 152 in thirty seconds.

– The record for “The Largest Toast at a Single Venue” was made this past June in Tokyo at a Swallows vs Tigers baseball game. 27,126 people held up their drinks in unison and said 「かんぱい！」 (“Cheers!”) together.

– The famous Japanese TV host Mino Monta broke the record for hosting the “Most Live Hours on TV in a Single Week” when he was on TV for a total 22 hours and 15 seconds in one week.

– When 569 Honda car drivers got together in Tochigi, Japan this past July they set the record for the “Longest Parade of Honda Cars“.

– The parade of Honda cars must have been quite a sight…but couldn’t have compared to the procession of 323 young women in bikinis at a shopping center in Tokyo this past May. They broke the record for the “Longest Bikini Parade“.

– Since 2008, Toshie Kawakami of Tokyo has held the record for “Longest Eyebrow Hair” when she had a single eyebrow hair officially measured at a length of 15.1 cm (nearly 6 inches) long.

What types of world records are held by people from your country?

White Day

Today is 「ホワイト・デー」 (White Day).
(Click here to read my F.A.Q. about 「ホワイト・デー」 (White Day)).

「ホワイト・デー」 (White Day) is the day the men give gifts to the women who gave them chocolate on 「バレンタイン・デー」 (Valentine’s Day)…so I gave chocolate to my wife and daughters today.

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Yesterday was Friday The 13th. Just last month, the 13th was on the Friday too…and I wrote a post about it. (Click here to read it.)

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In Osaka, fans of the Japanese baseball team The Hanshin Tigers are quite zealous.
When their team wins, many fans jump into a nearby river. It’s a Hanshin Tigers tradition.

In 1985, the Hanshin Tigers won the Japan Baseball Championship for the first time.
Many fans, of course, jumped into the river…and one fan took the Colonel Sanders statue* from the front of a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant and threw it into the river.

(*In Japan, KFC restaurants have lifesize statues of Colonel Sanders out front.)

The Hanshin Tigers have never won the Japan Baseball Championship pendant again.

An urban legend developed that the Tigers‘ bad luck since 1985 was due to the 「カーネルサンダースの呪い」 (“Curse Of Colonel Sanders“)!
And the curse wouldn’t be lifted, and the Hanshin Tigers bad luck end, until the statue was retrieved from the river.

(I wrote a comment on another post about this “curse”. Click here to read it).

Well…last Tuesday, the statue of Colonel Sanders was found by divers in the river.

As you might expect, the statue’s not in the best condition after sitting on the riverbed for 24 years…but I guess the 「カーネルサンダースの呪い」 (“Curse Of Colonel Sanders“) has ended.
So, the Hanshin Tigers have no excuse if the continue to lose!