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Goldfish scooping

Goldfish scooping (Kingyo-sukui?) is a Japanese traditional game in which a player scoops goldfish with a special scooper. It is also called, "Scooping Goldfish", "Dipping for Goldfish" or "Snatching Goldfish". "Kingyo" means goldfish and "sukui" means scooping. Sometimes bouncy balls are substituted for goldfish. Japanese summer festivals or ennichi commonly have a stall. Both children and adults enjoy the game.

Each person plays individually. The basic rule is that the player scoops goldfish from a pool with a paper scooper called a "poi" and brings them to a bowl with it. This game requires carefulness and quickness as the poi can be easily torn. The game is over when the poi is completely broken. Even if one part of the poi is torn, the player can continue the game with the remaining part.

At ennichi or summer festival stalls, the game is not a competition. Participation typically costs around 100yen and players can take scooped goldfish home with a special bag. The game is unlimited, so players can scoop until their pois are completely broken. If they cannot scoop even one goldfish, the shopkeeper of the stall may kindly give them two or so. Each stall usually has its own rule. For example, there are some stalls where players can get a stronger poi if they pay more. Other stalls give players special presents if they scoop a lot. In some variations, there are also medaka (Japanese killfish) that are faster and harder to catch than goldfish. Usually, for every four goldfish, there is one medaka, so in ennichi, if you catch one, it is counted as four goldfish.

This game started in the late Edo period, around 1810. In those days, pois were made of nets, and it was one of the children's plays. Pois came to be made of paper and stalls started it in Taishō period, around 1910.

The game became more and more popular, and National Championship of Scooping Goldfish began in 1995. Today, it is so popular that people will surely see the stall at ennichi or summer festivals in Japan. On the other hand, it becomes a serious problem that scooped goldfish are not properly bred in the players' homes.

Japanese muscle in on China's spa industry

China's bathing culture has a long and colorful history going back 5,000 years.

But now Gokurakuyu, Japan's largest spa operator, is muscling in on the warm tubs and pools of the Middle Kingdom.

With women dressed in eye-catching kimonos offering delicious sushi, hot springs and communal public baths (known as onsen and sento in Japanese) are also important elements of Japanese culture.

Gokurakuyu aims to open its first spa in China by March 2011 with its partners, an affiliate of China's Citic Group and Japanese investment company MBK.

The company has also announced an aggressive expansion plan to run 100 variously-sized spa houses in China within five years, more than it operates in Japan.

Li Shulin, a marketing expert, said he thought the Japanese exercise would prove to be successful if the operators matched their strategy with local conditions in much the same way that overseas companies had managed to sell tea in China, its birthplace.

Founded in the 1980s, Gokurakuyu has plenty of experience in operating hot bath facilities. These range from open-air and bubble tubs, saunas and chiropractic and tanning salons running alongside restaurant and cafe facilities.

The company operates 18 directly-managed outlets and 28 franchises throughout Japan.

It plans to set up spas in China that will be three, four or even five times bigger than their Japanese counterparts in an effort to ensure more space in which customers can relax. Japanese customers are accustomed to greater crowding.

The concept has found a mixed welcome. Wang Jinping, a 36-year-old middle-school teacher in Shanghai, said he enjoyed the high-class environment of Japanese spas, but feared the Chinese version would make him feel like a fish being cooked in a crowded steamer.

For many Chinese businessmen, onsen is not only a place for relaxation: its parlors can act as another office in which they can conduct business or even sign contracts.

To meet these concerns, Gokurakuyu has promised Chinese customers that private rooms will be available.

Xiong Jian, a 46-year-old entrepreneur at a small-scale international trade company in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, used to spend more than 1,000 yuan a time at a luxury spa center in his city.

"Of course, comfort, quiet and private space are the basic requirements for me to enjoy a spa and professional massage and, with a glass of fine wine, it would help my business a lot," he said.

"Both interior and exterior decor should be high quality and tasteful. It not only represents the quality of the spa center, but also acts as a status symbol," he added.

"To be honest, business guys around me don't mind paying over the odds."

In parts of China where people feel uncomfortable bathing communally, Gokurakuyu expects to include an area for customers who want to wear swimming costumes.

Gokurakuyu's selling point will be its Japanese standard of service and hospitality. To meet those demands, Gokurakuyu plans to hire Chinese staff who have lived in Japan.

Chinese spa lovers have expressed an interest in enjoying the Japanese experience at Gokurakuyu's spa houses in China after being impressed with the nation's culture from visits, pop music, romantic movies and even Haruki Murakami's novels.

Wang Wenbo, a 32-year-old fashion magazine editor in Shanghai, said: "I will become a regular visitor to Gokurakuyu if it is able to offer me Japanese-style interior decor, kimono-like spa clothes or a small cup of sake."

Clinton, Gates Visit Korean DMZ

The U.S. secretaries of State and Defense made an unprecedented joint visit to the Korean demilitarized zone, Wednesday morning, in a show of solidarity with South Korea. The visit by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates came in the wake of the sinking of a South Korean Navy ship by North Korea and just a few days before the first of several large scale military exercises in the area designed to send a message of strength and resolve to the North.

"Well, you know we just have to pay particular attention, you know, because we're, like, in the world's eye being up here on the front line, pretty much," said Strickland.  "You know, I believe if North Korea wanted to make a statement, this would probably be the place to do it."

This is among the last vestiges of the Cold War, a heavily defended five-kilometer-wide buffer zone between two countries with the same language and culture, but starkly different societies.

It was Secretary Clinton's first visit to the zone.

"Although it may be a thin line, these two places are worlds apart," said Clinton.

Standing just a few meters from the Armistice Line, with North Korea as a backdrop, Clinton and Gates both spoke of the strong alliance between the United States and South Korea, and the U.S. commitment to help defend the South.  The demilitarized zone is a symbol of the ongoing confrontation with North Korea, heightened by the ship sinking, but Secretary Clinton said that does not have to continue.

"There is a better way," she said.  "There is a way that can benefit the people of the North. But until they change direction, the United States stands firmly on behalf of the people and government of the Republic of Korea."

So far, the Obama administration's efforts to use multilateral diplomacy to end North Korea's nuclear weapons program and moderate its behavior have not been successful.

Secretaries Gates and Clinton entered the negotiation building that straddles the demarcation line and crossed briefly to the North Korean side as they were shown around. A North Korean soldier stared at them from just a few centimeters away, through a window.

The joint visit comes four months after the sinking of the South Korean Navy ship, Cheonan, which killed 46 sailors on board. An international investigation concluded that a North Korean torpedo sank the ship, but North Korea denies the charge.  On Tuesday, the United States and South Korea formally announced a series of joint military exercises, starting this Sunday, as a show of solidarity and a warning to North Korea against making any further such attacks.

Secretary Gates referred to the attack in his statement at the DMZ.

"Looking out across the DMZ, it is stunning how little has changed in the North and yet how much South Korea has continued to grow and prosper," said Secretary Gates.  "The North, by contrast, stagnates in isolation and depravation.  And, as we saw with the sinking of the Cheonan, it continues its history of unpredictable and, at times, provocative behavior."

Secretaries Gates and Clinton went from the demilitarized zone to the Korean War Memorial in Seoul, less than an hour away by road. They paid their respects to the dead from all of South Korea's wars and stopped at a plaque bearing the names of the sailors who were on board the Cheonan. The brief ceremony was part of the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the start of the Korean War.

To emphasize the seriousness with which the United States is taking the Cheonan incident, the American cabinet members were accompanied by a high-level civilian and military delegation, including the top U.S. military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, and the commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, Admiral Robert Willard.