Stories about Japan from March, 2007
Japan: Body Suits
You can choose between sexy body suit or powerful body suit in the beach this summer, Lee from Tokyo Times.
Japan: Money as origami
Edo from Pink Tentacle introduces some fasinating origami made by paper money.
Japan: Abolition of Nationality Clause
Debito reports that Joetsu City will abolish Nationality Clause in limiting foreigner for holding administrative positions (kanrishoku) in the Japanese civil service.
Japan: Apology Problem
Did or didn't Abe apologize for Japan’s wartime use of sex slaves? Oftenover from Japundit comments on the news about Prime Minister Abe's recent apology on sex slaves issue.
Japan: Mask Idol
Lee from Tokyo Times blogs about Japan fashion and fetishism by refering to the recent “Mask Idol”.
Korea and Japan: Sex Trade
Robert Koehler from Marmot's Hole reports that: There are currently an estimated 40,000-60,000 Koreans illegally residing in Japan. Of these, 30,000 are believed to be working in the sex trade. And the number of Korean men in Japanese host-bar is increasing rapidly.
East Asia: History Round up
Jonathan Dresner from Frog in a Well has written a history round up on issues such as comfort woman, Nanjing massarce, textbook, etc.
Korea and Japan: National Flowers
Ampotan has a nice post discussing differences in symbolism of Japan and Korea's national flowers: cherry blossom or sakura (Japan) and the Rose of Sharon or mugunghwa (Korea).
Japan: Tokyo election and nationalism
James from Japan Probe blogs about the Tokyo governor candidates’ stand and debate on nationalism, in particular to the policy of coercing teachers to stand and sing the national anthem ‘Kimigayo’.
The Balkans, Japan: War Re-Enactment Games
Photos of a group of Japanese men clad in Croatian and Serbian military uniforms has caused a scandal in the Serbian blogosphere, Neretva River reports: “…these men were participating in a re-enactment of the recent wars in a ‘capture the flag’ style game which apparently had different scenarios, one apparently...
Japan: Nostril flush
The Nostril flush is for dealing with cedar pollen allergies, JP explains how to use it at Japundit.
Japan: Hello Kitty product
Hello Kitty product from air purifier to condom? Paul Nicholls from Japundit clarified that the Kitty condom is a fake news.
China and Japan: Sino-Japanese Studies Journal Online
K. M. Lawson from Japan History group blog announced the digitization of the Sino-Japanese Studies Journal. The full journal is available online at ChinaJapan.org
Japan, Croatia: Restaurants
Neretva River writes about Japan's two Croatian restaurants.
Japan: Where are the Japanese comfort women?
Ampontan translates a post written by Kiyotani in response to the recent debate about Abe's claim that there was “no evidence” that the recruitment of “comfort women” had been “forcible in the narrow sense of the word”.: I really wonder why no one is talking about the Japanese comfort women....
Japan: police behind racist mag?
Debito explains why he believes that Japan police was involved in the racist publication: GAIJIN HANZAI.
Japan: self-injury
James blogs about a recent survey by Japan Health Ministry: 15% of Japanese women between the ages of 20 and 24 cut themselves.
Japan: salmon skin
Researchers from Hokkaido University have created artificial blood vessels using collagen derived from the skin of salmon – more from Pink Tentacle.
Japan: abortion law
Joe from Multantfrog discusses about the abortion law in Japan. Its origin is related to the Eugenic Protection Act, which is to prevent the birth of progeny which are undesirable from a eugenic standpoint, while protecting the life and health of mothers.
China and Japan: comfort woman
Granite Studio comments on Japan Prime Mininister Abe's recent comments on “comfort woman”: Is history, and especially history education, nothing more than rhetoric and tales in the service of national self-esteem?
Japan and China: changing name of Woman's Day
A member of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference suggests to Change the name of Fu-nu's Day (婦女節) to Nu-xin's Day (女性節), following Japan's example. Zhaihua points out(zh) that such change is unnecessary, because Nu-xin according to traditional Chinese, is more discriminative than Fu-nu.
About our Japan coverage
Nevin Thompson is our Japan editor. Email him story ideas or volunteer to write.
