Author: Video Ichiban

Musical Memories of Summer in Gunma

A Musical road is a road, or part of a road, which when driven over causes a tactile vibration and audible rumbling transmitted through the wheels into the car body in the form of a musical tune. As of 2016, there are now over 30 Melody Roads in Japan, [including] one in Hokkaido, another in Wakayama (where, at 40km/h, a car can produce the Japanese ballad “Miagete goran yoru no hoshi wo” by Kyu Sakamoto), and a third in Gunma, which consist of 2,559 grooves cut into a 175 meter stretch of existing roadway and when driven over at 50 km/h, produce the tune of “Memories of Summer”.

National Route 401 is a national highway of Japan connecting Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima and Numata, Gunma in Japan, with a total length of 171.1 km (106.32 mi).

Located in northern Gunma, Katashina is bordered by Tochigi Prefecture to the east and Fukushima Prefecture to the northeast. Much of the village is within the borders of Oze National Park. Katashina is not served by any railway lines.

Gunma Prefecture (群馬県, Gunma-ken) is a prefecture of Japan located in the northwest corner of the Kantō region on Honshū island. Its capital is Maebashi. One of only eight landlocked prefectures in Japan, Gunma is the northwestern-most prefecture of the Kantō plain.

Toroko-buros cleaned up to become Soaplands

A Soapland (ソープランド, sōpurando) is a a type of brothel in Japan where male clients can engage in sexual activity with female prostitutes, although officially the clubs do business as places where the client is bathed. Soaplands began when explicit prostitution in Japan became illegal, as a simple form of bath where women washed men’s bodies. They were originally known as toruko-buro, meaning Turkish bath. Following a campaign by Turkish scholar Nusret Sancakli denouncing the use of this name for brothels, the new name “soapland” was the winning entry in a nationwide contest to rename them.

Sean Connery downs a double Crest

For some time it was believed by many that whisky made in the Scotch style, but not produced in Scotland, could not possibly measure up to the standards of the traditional Scotch distilleries. Until fairly recently, the market for Japanese whiskies was almost entirely domestic.

Suntory operates two museums, the Suntory Museum of Art in Tokyo and the Suntory Museum Tempozan in Osaka, in addition to a number of cultural and social programs across Japan.

[Sean] Connery has “Scotland Forever” tattooed on his arm, and used his fee from Diamonds Are Forever (1971) to establish a charity to support poor children in Edinburgh, as well as Scottish film production. He has said that he will return to Scotland when it is granted independence.