A few News items

A few stories from the recent news that I found interesting…

• A アシカ (sea lion) named 「ななみ」 (“Nanami”) at a zoo in 愛媛県 (Ehime, Japan) was unable to compete for food with the other sea lions in her pen. So she began leaping over three meters (9 feet) and holding onto the wall to eat fish held by the zoo’s visitors.

  She has become a very popular attraction.

  

  (Photo from the Japan Times).

• There was an explosion in a warehouse in 東京都渋谷区 (Shibuya, Tokyo) last Wednesday. It was initially reported that the owner of the place escaped the burning building…but his wife and mother died inside the building.

  It was reported yesterday that the man didn’t escape on his own. He was rescued from the building by a famous Iranian celebrity* who happened to be nearby. (*His name is Rahim Arvanaghi, commonly known as “Randy Muscle“, and he’s famous in Japan).

  He ran into the burning building and pulled the man out. But he was unable to save the man’s wife or mother.

• The 2009 edition of the Michelin Restaurant Guide will be out soon. And once again, Tokyo has more four and five star restaurants than any other city in the world.

  As I mention in this post, Tokyo had the most stars in the 2008 edition as well.

  Tokyo is the capital where there are the most restaurants, more than 160,000, and also excellent cuisine.

  Jean-Luc Naret, Michelin director