Burusera Ordinance.

This country just gets stranger and stranger to me. I'm going to add this Japanese news site to a forthcoming links section. For now, check out mainichi.com article which discusses a new ordinance in Tokyo:

"Tokyo's Burusera Ordinance, which takes its name from the Japanese-English contraction of the words 'bloomer seller,' bans the purchase of used panties from anybody under the age of 18, as well as any activities that would facilitate such a sale."

The way of circumventing the law, according to the article, is for these Japanese schoolgirls to meet their clients without the protection of Burusera middlemen in dark alleys. There are more gems on the site including this story about Kazuhide Uekusa, a Japanese economist and professor, who is credited as being "one of Japan's finest minds" and, apparently, an afficianado of looking up the skirts of young schoolgirl commuters. This equally bizarre article proposes a viable, but confusing "solution" to the "huge number of sexless marriages" in Japan.