Stories about Japanese from August, 2010
Japan: Web Startups Present at WISH 2010
The second edition of the web industry event WISH was held on August 28th, and hundreds gathered to hear a panel discussion by industry leaders and 14 presentations by startup services.
Japan: Anime Director Satoshi Kon's Last Message
Anime director Satoshi Kon died of pancreatic cancer on August 24th, at the age of 46. Kon's final message that was posted to his website resonated with fans around the world that mourn his passing.
Japan: Eyebrows raised by China’s rise to number two
This month the Japanese government admitted that spending China has stolen its thunder becoming the second largest economy after the US. But this announcement hasn't surprised many Japanese people who had been expecting it to happen sooner or later, and has made many bloggers raise their eyebrows and say: so what?
Japan: Copyrights-free photos
In the looop recommends [ja/en] 19 websites that provide copyrights-free photos.
Japan: Photos by Astronaut Soichi Noguchi
The Slick blog is thrilled [ja] that a selection of photos by astronaut Soichi Noguchi will be published as an iPhone/iPad application. As @Astro_Soichi, Noguchi posted more than 600 photos...
Japan: Hikikomori as a global issue
News that the Japanese word hikikomori was included in the newest edition of the Oxford Dictionary of English prompted some bloggers to think of English equivalents of the word. Perhaps...
Japan: Lost generation
Tanaka Hidetomi reflects [ja] on the meaning of lost generation (失われた世代) and the origin of such phenomenon.
Japan: Ogasawara Islands to be next UNESCO site?
With access limited to a chartered ship which sets sail once every six days or so, the Ogasawara Islands (小笠原諸島) are assuredly among the least accessible parts of Tokyo (where...
Japan: Where taking a vacation is a no-no
Lying lazily in the shadow of an umbrella on a beach, being a tourist and wandering around the streets of an unknown city with a guide book in your hands, or just relaxing at home enjoying free time. These seem to be the trivial options for holidaymakers – that is, if they don't live in Japan.
Japan: A manga to celebrate the US-Japan alliance
Jamaipanese reports [en] that the US military in Japan have published the first chapter of a manga to celebrate 50 years of Japan-US alliance. The first chapter is titled “Our...
Japan: An ancient Roman at the Japanese public bath
What could two cultures as distant in time and space as ancient Rome and the modern Japan have in commom? Such a question might sound like a riddle to many but is actually what inspired manga author Mari Yamazaki to create Thermae Romae , a manga said to inaugurate a new genre - the ‘bath’ manga.
Japan: On A-Bomb Day, one minute of silence on twitter
Some twitter users will observe a minute of silence [ja] in remembrance of the victims of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki 65 years ago [en]. No tweets...
Japan: Is it wrong to climb Mount Fuji empty-handed?
If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it matter if it made a sound or not when the tree was doing its own thing? A Japanese blogger ponders mountains, morals, and messages in a Japanese post titled "Is it wrong to climb Mount Fuji empty-handed?"
