Beard ban in Tajikistan: Santa Clauses placed into detention camp

DUSHANBE-Tajikistan's president Emomali Rahmon is banning facial hair because the government trying to restrict the influence of Islam in the country.

Earlier this month, 10 Santa Clauses have been sent to  a detention camp located 10 km away from Tajikistan's capital Dushanbe after being arrested because of violating the new legislation. The original reason to enforce the beard ban was to crackdown Islam and everything connected with it but now it is also affecting Santa Clauses.

In recent years, Santa Clauses from Finnland have started to promote Christmas all over the world because the market in Europe and USA is already saturated. This year, they also started a Santa Claus campaign in Tajikistan but the ban has been a major setback.

Olavi Toikka, an experienced Santa Claus, claims "a Santa Clause without a beard is just a burger without a patty. A real Santa Claus needs a beard."

Tapio Hiltutnen, Santa Claus novice for 2 years, says he "just wanted to bring joy and happiness to all children in the world and Tajikistan should not be excluded."

It has been reported that police forcibly shaved facial hair from the detained Santa Clauses. The future of the Santa Claus campaign in Tajikistan is still uncertain.

Japan legalises marriage with a virtual girlfriend

TOKYO-Supporters of the law, who were sitting on the public seats in the legislative building, erupted in celebration when the results were announced. The bill was backed by 460  out of 10 members of the House of Represenatives. "We are making history this moment," said Jun Suzuki, a leader of the Japan Otaku Association, a otaku rights group that drafted the proposal. 

Otaku are a generation of geeks-most of the time men-who have emerged 20 years ago and have chosen to live in their own fantasy world of anime and manga.

According to a survey conducted by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare in 2010, 36% of Japanese males aged 16 to 19 had no interest in sex. Another survey in 2011 found that 61% of unmarried men and 49% of women aged 18-34 were not in any kind of romantic relationship. Instead of a having a relationship in real life, more and more Japanese prefer two-dimensional love affairs. The new legislation allows men from 16 to marry their 3-D girlfriends.

"I am dating Manaka for 4 years and last year I started to think about marrying her but the Japanese marriage law did not allow to marry your virtual girlfriend. It was very frustrating," Suzuki explains. "Now it's legal and I am filled with happiness." Manaka is Suzuki's girlfriend and also a video game: She is one of the 10 virtual girlfriend that players can choose from in LovePuss, a Japanese dating simulator for the pocket-sized DS game player.

"Sometimes she is moody but most of the time she makes me happy when I feel down. And the best thing is I can always carry her in my pocket," says Suzuki. When commuting to work in the train for over an hour, at dinner, during taking a shower and even in the toilet- Manaka is always with him.

Next year, Suzuki plans his wedding ceremony with Manaka in his real life. Since Manaka is limited to understand just a handful phrases it is difficult for Suzuki to choose the right wedding dress for her. One is for sure: The wedding ceremony will be celebrated with a hologram of Manaka.

China and Japan outraged: Greece's super-rich buy Senkaku Island

Chinese's and Japan's defence ministries are outraged about super-rich Greeks buying strongrooms on the Senkaku islands.
The Senkaku islands located in East China Sea have been the cause of sharpening dispute between China and Japan both countries making territorial claim.

Last month, the Greek bank Zeus Bank started a new service offering strongrooms on the Senkaku islands. Christos Papadopoulos, managing director of Zeus Bank, explains that the new service targets the Greece's super-rich. The past month, the Greece government introduced capital controls and restrictions on withdrawals making the super-rich very worried about their money. As the crisis deepens, they have started to disperse their wealth. Senkaku islands become increasingly popular among the rich Greeks because of its safety for strongrooms.

Xenophon Vassilakis, a yacht company owner, said he is very satisfied with the service. "China and Japan prevent each other to get on shore making it impossible that any living thing will plunder our wealth. Finally, our money is safe from the public and the government," he says.

Japan plans to hire skilled Jihadi suicide bomber from Isis

Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe announced his long-awaited growth strategy on Monday and said Japan will start issuing (skilled) visas to highly skilled foreign jihadist suicide bomber because of decreasing kamikaze pilot population.

The Japanese public is increasingly worried about the effects of declining kamikaze population. In the first time of decades, Japan will loosen its immigration policy. Japan will start issuing visas of category J to skilled foreign jihadist suicide bombers from April 2016. The spokesperson of Council on Economic said jihadist will be utilized to protect the Senkaku islands.

Osama A., a skilled jihadi suicide bomber from the Islamic State is very excited about this new opportunity. “I will definitely take this opportunity. I love sushi and anime. In Japan I could have 72 geishas.”