Stories about East Asia from September, 2009
Indonesia: Strong earthquake hit West Sumatra
The coastal city of Padang, West Sumatra is once again devastated by an earthquake.
Japan: Anime Character ‘Masuo-san’ on Twitter
Sazae-san, a comedy chronicling the lives of the fictional Isono family, is one of Japan's longest-running and oldest comic strips and animations. The animated series first aired in 1969 and is broadcast every Sunday from 6:30 to 7:00. It's not much of an exaggeration to say that at some point...
South Korea: Kids Lack Sleep
Korea beat translated a local news report on a survey about Korean kids’ sleeping time, which is the shortest among the 6 surveyed countries.
China: When will the sunshine come?
Chinese officials will soon be required to report all their assets as part of an anti-corruption "Sunshine Act" of the Communist Party. But resistance so far has been significant, leading to much online public debate among Chinese citizens.
People with disabilities and the promise of ICTs
More than 600 million people in the world live with disabilities. Oftentimes, poverty and disabilities go hand-in-hand. Can the promise of ICTs help disabled people better integrate socially and economically?
China: Mooncake
Uln found the gift economy of moon cake during the mid autumn festival in Shanghai amazing.
China: Humanistic measures towards filial criminals
Xujun Eberlein from Inside-out China comments on the Chinese court's humanistic measures towards two brothers who committed kidnapping in order to save their ailing mother.
China: Visa to Tibet
The angry Chinese blogger writes on the recent confusion over the ban on visa to Tibet.
China: Censorship arms race escalates
Rebecca MacKinnon sums up the recent censorship measures in China, including the launching of new surveillant software and the recent attack of major censorship circumvention techniques and technologies.
Myanmar: New Currency Note Issued
The government of Myanmar had announced on state television and radio that a new currency note of 5000 Ks. will be issued starting from October 1st, 2009.
Philippines: Flooding documented on citizen videos
Citizen videos were able to capture horrible scenes of loss and devastation caused by a tropical storm which struck Metro Manila and nearby provinces in the Philippines last Saturday.
Philippines: Helping flood victims through social media
A tropical storm hit many parts of Metro Manila and nearby provinces in the Philippines last Saturday. Social networking sites were flooded with personal stories, photos and videos of the typhoon's aftermath. The stream of information soon became a “hub” for coordinating rescue and relief efforts for those who had access to the internet
Japan: Lessons in Communication from the Hatoyama Essay
When an online Op-Ed piece by current Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama appeared in the New York Times just days before the Lower House elections last month, national reaction ranged from surprise to consternation to pure mortification. “A New Path for Japan” was an abridged and translated version of “My Political...
Japan: Measuring Celebrity Buzz on 2ch
Blogger APEESCAPE translated a 2ch post that measured the buzz of celebrity stories by counting the number of threads on 2ch from 2004 to 2009.
Japan: Animated Explanations of Policies?
Inspired by this American video explaining ‘Why We Need Government-Run Universal Socialized Health Insurance‘, Media Sabor suggests using some of the budget from the canceled National Center for Media Arts to have animators create understandable animations to explain new policies to the public [ja].
Philippines: Worst Flooding in 40 Years
Tropical Storm "Ondoy" hit the Philippines last Saturday triggering the worst flooding in 40 years which left 50 people dead and 280,000 residents displaced. Social media sites were maximized to share updates about the storm and to assist flood victims
Japan: Training for disaster prevention
The first week of September in Japan is the Disaster Prevention Week [ja]. During this week schools, organizations, offices and so on come together to organize disaster prevention training.
Taiwan: BoF 2009
Started by a group of bloggers in 2005, and then organized by ADCT since 2006, BoF(Birds of a Feather), aka Taiwan Youth Blog Festival, has become the major Web 2.0 event in Taiwan. This year, because of Typhoon Morakot that wreaked havoc in August 2009 in southeren Taiwan, BoF 2009...
Japan: Homeless World Cup
Ikeda-san, at Greenz, uploaded some old and recent pictures and videos [ja] of Nobushi Japan, the football team that represented Japan at the Homeless World Cup, the championship held in Milan at the beginning of September.
China: Re-programming CCTV
In the coming year, CCTV will cut one third of its program in order to be more competitive. One of the program to be cut is “Tell it like it is”, a talk show that encourages audience to participate. Joel Martinsen from DANWEI translated a blogger, Hecaitou's post, explaining why...
China: Xinjiang restaurant blown up
Beijing-based Twitter user Maggie Rauch had her camera ready when her local Xinjiang food restaurant exploded on Friday morning. “Could feel the explosion from my apartment,” she writes on her Twitpic of the blast. “Some of the guys who work there standing outside.” One week remains until the 60th anniversary...
About our East Asia coverage
Oiwan Lam is the North East Asia editor. Email her story ideas or volunteer to write.
Nevin Thompson is the Japan editor. Email him story ideas or volunteer to write.
