Stories about Japanese from June, 2010
Japan: Thanks, Blue Samurai!
Japan lost to Paraguay 3-5 in a penalty shootout yesterday but the Blue Samurai's performance touched their fans’ heart, Kazumie says.
Japan: The Hero, Sakamoto Ryoma
Confident, charismatic, and ever so dashing, Sakamoto Ryoma has always been one of Japan's favorite historical figures. Since NHK started to broadcast the historical drama series Ryōmaden ('The Legend of Ryoma') this January, a nation-wide Ryoma boom has exploded.
Japan and the World Cup: Silencing the critics
Ranked near the bottom of the 32 teams on the field in South Africa, facing odds estimated at 400-to-1 and four straight pre-tournament losses to boot, Japan was not even expected to win a game in this year's World Cup. But with their convincing 3-1 win over Denmark, perceptions have completely changed, propelling coach Takashi Okada from the butt of all jokes to a national hero.
Japan: A day at an elementary school
Ploychompu Srisa-an, a student at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, spent a day teaching at a Japanese elementary school as part of an exchange program. She created an in-depth video of her experience.
Japan: Okinawa Memorial Day
Today marks the 65th anniversary of the end of the Battle of Okinawa [en]. To commemorate this day, blogger 1919yasuyuki uploaded a video [ja] shot at the Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum [en].
Japan: Butoh Legend Kazuo Ohno Passes Away
Kazuo Ohno, legendary performer and one of the founding fathers of Butoh, passed away on June 1st at the age of 103. Butoh is an avant-garde dance form that originated in post WWII Japan, characterized by white body paint and conceptual, tortured movements.
Japan: The première of “The Cove” will be online
The Japanese video sharing website Niko Niko Doga [en] announced that, on June 18 at 8 p.m. (Japan time), it will show online the documentary “The Cove” [ja] to the first 2000 users who access the website. The users will also be able to live-comment on the film. At present,...
Japan: A World Cup without Nakamura?
Gaki_tsutomu comments [ja] on the absence of midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura from the match [en] that saw Japanese team win 1-0 over Cameroon. The blogger wonders if the player will be relegated to the bench also in the next matches and analyzes coach Okada's strategy.
Japan: Hayabusa returns to Earth tomorrow
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) expects the return of the spacecraft Hayabusa tomorrow, following a 7 year mission filled with enormous ups and downs. The randokukanso blog eagerly awaits its landing with links [ja] to some sniffle-inducing anime videos that cheer its tumultuous journey.
Japan: Two years since Akihabara knife rampage
Last week marked the second anniversary of the Akihabara knife rampage. Akibasuki [ja] went to pay his respects and photoblogged his visit. The scars of the rampage are still raw in the area: the ban on the vehicle-free zone (hokoten or walker's paradise), which Akihabara was famous for, still hasn't...
Japan: Threatened theaters decline to screen “The Cove”
Following threatening calls and protest by right-wing activists, some theaters decided to pull "The Cove". Bloggers discuss the pros and cons of screening the documentary in the country, where it was filmed.
Japan: Reflection upon the Okinawa issue
Kechak considers [ja] both the negative and the positive aspects of the Okinawa question. While, on one hand, former prime minister Hatoyama wasn't able to modify the agreement with the US, on the other hand, he managed to bring attention to the military base issue, that had been ignored for...
Japan: The PM has resigned, long live the PM!
Japan is set to have yet another new prime minister, the fifth in as many years. With the resignation of former-PM Yukio Hatoyama and Naoto Kan named his replacement, the talk is again about "change", but has there been too much of it? Bloggers discuss recent changes in the Japanese political landscape.
Japan: And yet another prime minister
Ybunya reports [ja] on the election of Naoto Kan as the new prime minister of Japan [en]. According to the blogger, the main reason why the former prime minister had to step down [en], on Wednesday, was the incapacity to resolve the Futenma issue [en].
Japan: Tech-savvy fishermen get their business online
Asiajin reports [en] that a fishermen cooperative [ja] “launched a fish and seafood e-commerce site that sells what have been caught in Tokyo Bay in the morning of the day.” Some of the fishermen also live-tweet [in Japanese] from their ships every day @ Yoshieimaru (佳栄丸) and @ Kageyamamaru (蔭山丸).
Japan: More Visitors to Twitter than Mixi
On the news [ja] that the number of visitors to Twitter in Japan for April have surpassed visitors to Mixi, the largest Japanese SNS, Toru Saito [ja] and Netaful [ja] ask, “Has Twitter crossed the chasm?”
