Stories about Japan from May, 2006
Tokyo: Creative rehearsal space
Lee at Tokyo Times has a suggestion, photographic explanation included, for Tokyo musicians hard up for rehearsal space and who risk eviction by practicing at home.
Japan: Radio station webcast
from the inside, looking in blogger Shinichiro Fukushige links in a post today to the announcement of one of Tokyo's most popular radio stations’ long overdue internet broadcast.
Japan: Net user surveys
Two recent surveys from Ken Y-N at What Japan Thinks reveal some facts about Japanese netizens: that net-based telephony service Skype is not making inroads there, and that ninety percent of the democratic nation's bloggers write anonymously.
Japan: Love, death and money
Japundit‘s JP summarizes the details in one of the hottest news stories in Japan right now, one “that involves deception, betrayal, greed, murder and many of the other trappings of a soap opera” and revolves around 45 million yen, a dead Japanese man and his Filipina beneficiary. “I saw her...
Japan: Bloggers Association?
Daphne joined a blogger meet-up last week in Tokyo and learned about a fake blogger association funded by tax revenue from Japanese Government, for the retired officials. Daphne posts a write-up to the “Japan Bloggers” mailing list. Aki also writes about this meet-up.
Japan: Korean terrorists interested
I am the Japanese rightist blogger yellowpeep continues her series of posts this month exposing religious and right-wing terrorist groups in Japan with a story that shows the various roles Koreans expats play in the organizations and violence.
Edible Blog Report
#1: A food blogger's reunion in Pistoia, Italy: Kishko and Lucullian Delights tell the story in their blogs. The photos are stunning. It makes me want to go there! Then we bought some chocolate and loitered around, looking at the main sights but as I am a lousy guide and...
Japan: Questionable new laws
Riding Sun‘s GaijinBiker pokes some big holes first in the Japanese government's new law requiring all foreigners entering the country to have their fingerprints scanned followed by another new law which will see a gradual decrease in the number of free parking spaces for bicycles, scooters and motorcycles in Tokyo.
China: Textbook reform urged
As a pan-Asian consensus seems to have been reached on changes to a revisionist Japanese history textbook, a translation from Joel Martinsen at Danwei of historian Ye Yonglie's essay Textbook Problem suggests Chinese textbooks should be next.
Japan: Signs of nationalism?
Of prefect officials in Japan's Fukui city ordering one library to cease stocking a list of 150 books, Tokyo Times‘ Lee sees the move as “all in all a rather unsavoury affair, although as an isolated incident it’s hardly indicative of a return to ‘the bad old days.’ No, surely...
Japan: Nationalist politicians clarified
Tokyoid at Japundit challenges the perception that Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara is a major source of Japan's nationalist problem with the claim that the blame lies with Foreign Minister Taro Aso: “There are those who view Tokyo Governor Ishihara as the embodiment of resurgent Japanese nationalism. They are wrong. Ishihara,...
Japan: Chinese chopsticks nonforthcoming
The Japandit blogger notes that following a doubling in price last year of Chinese chopsticks, the Chinese government has now decided to block their export altogether in a move aimed at protecting China's forests.
Korea: Geographic history documented
Gerry Brevers at Korean Language Notes does his own ongoing research into the history of Ulleungdo island, located in the disputed border region between South Korea and Japan.
Japan: Youth through the war
Tokyo Times‘ Lee blogs photos from an ongoing exhibition which shows the lives of children in Tokyo during the Showa era (1926-1989), “[a]n event that should prove nostalgic to those brought up during the period, and a source of interest to much younger viewers, allowing them a peek into a...
Japan: Trippy urban art
The an englishman in osaka blogger has a theory on what inspired a creatively-designed work of art commemorating the Japanese city's 900th birthday: “Initial ideas included ‘a singing carpet’ and ‘a piece of string with lollipops attached.’ However, after much discussion they settled on ‘a big plastic thing with two...
About our Japan coverage
Nevin Thompson is our Japan editor. Email him story ideas or volunteer to write.
