· May, 2010

Stories about East Asia from May, 2010

Japan: My Eyes Tokyo

  31 May 2010

Isao Tokuhashi at My Eyes Tokyo interviews foreigners living in Tokyo. The latest interview, the 32nd in the series, is Robert Koch, an audio products manufacturer from Pietermaritzburg in South Africa.

China: lost in translation

  31 May 2010

The machine translation of Chinese character into English can be really hilarious. PH from veggie discourse has a few examples.

China: Responses to FoxConn's suicides

  31 May 2010

SACOM have several updates on reactions and responses to FoxConn workers’ consecutive suicides, including 1. Appeal by Sociologists on FoxConn suicides, 2. Global Day of Remembrance for Victims of Foxconn, 3. Letter to Apple and 4. A protest action in Hong Kong

Japan: Okinawans vent frustration over Futenma

  31 May 2010

Japanese PM Yukio Hatoyama has backtracked on promises to reduce the presence of American military forces in Okinawa, and inhabitants of the prefecture are furious. In blogs, they express their disappointment and rage against the failed Japan-U.S. negotiations.

Japan: National police to share information on organized crime members

  31 May 2010

Sarah Noorbakhsh, at Japan Subculture Research Center's blog, reports [en] on the forthcoming cooperation between the National Police Agency (NPA) and the Japan Security Dealers Association (JSDA). The police will provide information for a database on yakuza (Japanese mafia) members “to combat organized crime members opening securities accounts”.

Japan: Monozukuri for the Modern Age

  30 May 2010

The Japanese counterpart of Make Magazine, an American quarterly magazine for DIY enthusiasts, organizes a regular event in Tokyo called Make Tokyo Meeting (MTM). The fifth MTM, held at the Tokyo Institute of Technology on May 22-23, was the largest yet, featuring everything from bicycle wheels with LED lights, to complex wooden ball machines, to mechanical robot birds. Check out reports on the event on blogs, Twitter and YouTube.

Angola: Similarities between Cabinda and East Timor

  29 May 2010

Orlando Castro discloses [pt] the similarities between the Angolan enclave of Cabinda and the recent history of East Timor, criticizing the positions of the Portuguese and Timorese leaders for failing to recognize the self determination of a province that produces 70% of domestic oil.

Oil spill disaster in Singapore

  29 May 2010

A ship collision in Singapore Strait caused the spilling of 2,000 tonnes of crude oil into the sea. Singapore netizens are using the web to monitor and document the marine disaster and to call for volunteers in the cleanup drive.

China and Hong Kong: Responses to Cheonan sinking incident

  27 May 2010

The release of the international investigation report on sinking of Cheonan in May 20, 2010, concluding that the South Korean warship had been bombed by a North Korean torpedo has alleviating the tension in Northeast Asia region. South Korea suspended all trade and investment with North Korea while Pyongyang denied...

China: Hebei’s “Great Leap Forward”

  27 May 2010

More than 1000 residents of Hebei Province will be subject to forced evictions before June 5, in a government development project online opinion has dubbed a “Great Leap Forward.” Guangping County, an impoverished area in southern Hebei, will see 2 billion yuan ($293 million) invested in new building and development...

South Korea: Critical discourse on North Korea

  26 May 2010

K. M. Lawson from The Korea History Blog criticized South Korean concerned scholars (the Alliance of Scholars Concerned About Korea) on the lack of critical discourse on North Korea when countering the mainstream media report on the Korea crisis, in particular sinking of the South Korean vessel Cheonan.

Southeast Asia: Reactions to Thailand protests

  25 May 2010

The violent confrontations between the heavily armed soldiers and Red Shirt protesters in Thailand in the past week have stunned the world. What are the reactions of bloggers from neighbouring Southeast Asian nations?

Taiwan: Heavy metal and death penalty

  25 May 2010

One of the top public issues in Taiwan blogosphere recently is whether Taiwan should abolish death penalty or not. Thus, The Ball Music sorts out and introduces several heavy metal songs that are about death penalty(zht). “…You don't have to support the abolishment of death penalty just because you are...

Japan: 1300 years in the making, celebration in Nara

  24 May 2010

While both culturally and physically a long ways from the modern capital of Tokyo, tracing back well over a thousand years into Japanese history one comes across Nara, a quiet, highly rural area which was established as the capital in 710. In doing so, a more centralized national administration was...

About our East Asia coverage

Oiwan Lam
Oiwan Lam is the North East Asia editor. Email her story ideas or volunteer to write.

Mong Palatino
Mong Palatino is the South East Asia editor. Email him story ideas or volunteer to write.