So I've spent the past hour or two having some fun trolling around the website of the Mainichi Shimbun a Japanese daily paper that was linked off The Guardian.

The Tokyo City Guide was a lot of fun. How many tourist pamphlets are you ever gonna pick up that give you directions to the red light districts? The unabashed honesty in describing some of the attractions in Tokyo was definitely a treat.

Lots of good stuff in the photo specials section. If nothing else, take a look at the cosplay fiesta special and the game show geeks special. There's someone in the latter who has on this fucking amazing Gundam getup. I could give a shit about mecha anime, but I totally thought it was Kim Jong Il at first.

Finally, I just came across some headlines that you just wouldn't see in any sort of mainstream media here. I don't know how "mainstream" this paper is, but it seems like it is, since I've seen it quoted when I'm reading news about Japan. As a warning, the last paragraph in this next article is pretty fucked up. It's an account of a second-year university student. Like I said, you've been warned.