Stories about Japan from November, 2006
Japan: fake consultation meetings
Adamu from Mutantfrog reports on an investigation of recent scandal about the government's fake public consultation meetings on issue such as postal privatization and education reform.
Japan: typical foreigner?
Debito blogs about a school ad: “E R English School needs a native speaker. Blonde hair blue or green eyes and brightly character.”
Japan: cutting cedar trees
Multantfrog points to a news concerning Japan public policy makers recent action: The Tokyo Metropolitan Government started a project Monday to cut down 1.8 million cedar trees in the mountainous Tama region west of Tokyo to help people with cedar pollen allergies.
Japan: fingerprinting foreigners
Joe in Multantfrog blogs about the newly introduced foreigner registration system in Japan, which requires foreigners to give the immigration a copy of their criminal / fingerprinted record.
Japan: blogger survey
Kaishin in Japundit presents some data from a recent blogger survey: almost 70% of the people who took it responded that updating was too much of a trouble…
Japan: school bullying
Kaishin blogs about the school bullying issue in Japundit.
China, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan: acquittal rate
Chinese law prof blog compares acquittal rate among China, U.S, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan.
Japan: miserable youth
JP in Japundit quotes from a report which reveals Japanese youth are the most miserable in the world.
Japan: historical preservation activist
Adamu reports on a speech given by author/businessman/historical preservation activist Alex Kerr.
Japan: internet homeless
Adamu at Mutantfrog Travelogue comments on the growing phenomenon of people living in Internet cafes.
Japan: cultural day
David Weber in Japundit has a nice photo essay on the Japan cultural day.
China: Put the E back in APEC
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum came to a harmonious enough end this Sunday with all twenty-one member nations agreeing to renew calls for North Korea to put an end to its nuclear plans and key player China putting its weight behind the pledge. Chinese bloggers, however, seem to have...
Japan: paper plane
JP on Japundit blogs a recent world record set up by elementary school students in Hiroshima: creating the world’s largest paper airplane and flying it.
Japan and China: oil dispute
Citizen reporter, Hisane Masaki, at Ohmynews has an article on the development of oil dispute between Japan and China in East China Sea.
Philippines: Toxic trade with Japan
Last September 9, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi signed the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement or JPEPA in Helsinki, Finland during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations-Europe meeting. According to Manila Standard Today: “The JPEPA provides that almost 95 percent of Philippine exports to Japan...
South Korea: university pressure on Dokdo
Robert Koehler at Marmot's Hole reports that a blogger has received pressure from university because of his blogging about Dokdo, an island with territorial controversy between Japan and South Korea.
South Korea: war criminals cleared
Robert Koehler in Marmot's hole comments on the clearing of 83 Koreans (out of 148) conscripted by the Japanese military during the World War II of war crimes.
Japan: lining up
Neomaxisme has an interesting post on Japan lines culture: ever since I first lived in Tokyo back in 1998, the concept of lines/queues has always been inextricably central to my understanding of Japanese consumer culture.
Croatia: Japan in Zagreb
Neretva River writes about Japan's growing popularity in Croatia's capital.
Japan: police can't marry non-Japanese?
Debito repasted another blog post from a German girl who has a Japanese policeman boyfriend: Policemen in Japan have to report their girlfriends when they become serious about their partnership. So my boyfreind reported me. After that we really had a lot of problems, because his organisation said that he...
Japan: letter to youtube
Adamu wrote a letter to youtube hoping that the company can remove sexy videos of 12-year-old Japanese actress Saaya Irie.