Stories about Japan from May, 2007
Estonia: The Emperor's Menu
Nami-Nami examines the menu of the Emperor of Japan during his recent visit to Estonia: “The only ‘outsider’ is the snow crab, which was caught in Kamtchatka.”
Japan: “Thought Check” Screening for Citizen Judges
While news in Japan this week has been understandably fixated on the sensational suicide of Agriculture Minister Matsuoka Toshikatsu, another story revealed in a blog entry by Diet member Hosaka Nobuto slipped by with little fanfare last weekend. In the post, Hosaka outlines the latest step in moves by the government to implement a "citizen judge system" in Japan. This step, he claims, would allow the prosecution to effectively disqualify, through a "thought check" screening process, all citizens judge candidates who express doubt about the trustworthiness of police investigations.
Japan: Miss Universe
Marie Mockett from Japundit comments on Miss Japan, Riyo Mori, who has just taken the crown of Miss Universe pagent: As long as the Japanese were sticking to their version of “kawaii,” they were never going to win a thing.
Japan: More on the suicide of Matsuoka Toshikatsu
Blogger fukumimi at from the inside, looking in speculates about possible explanations for the suicide of the late minister of agriculture Matsuoka Toshikatsu. Responding to a report mentioning that a suicide letter was found, he writes: “If I were a betting man I’d bet that, being a typical ex-bureaucrat turned...
Japan: Agriculture Minister commits suicide
James at Japan Probe writes about news reports indicating that the head of Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Matsuoka Toshikatsu, committed suicide today, noting that the suicide could be in response to news from a few days ago that Minister Matsuoka had received 13 million yen in donations.
Japan: Love Hotels Find a Way
With great photos and a lot of background information, Ampontan explains how, despite many obstacles, love manages to “find a way” in Japan: “Love will find a way […] and in Japan that way is usually in a “love hotel”. Since the urge is eternal, the Japanese have no problem...
Lotto Fever strikes BIG in Japan
People across Japan turned out in large numbers last week to line up and get their hands on tickets for “BIG”, a variation on the soccer lottery “toto” operated by the National Agency for the Advancement of Sports and Health. The combined sales figure for all soccer lottery tickets was...
Japan: Cat shooting game
Japan Probe introduces a new game, cat shooting game, from the Neko Games team. You can click to play here.
Japan: Spring swallows
Overoften blogs about Japanese spring time with very nice photos of the swallows under his roof.
Japan: Listen to the voices of the Tokyo fire bombing victims
112 people, including the victims and their families of the 1945 Tokyo fire bombing, are suing the Japanese goverment for an official apology and 1.2 billion yen compensation. On March 24, a trial hearing was held at the Tokyo District Court and blogger tokyodo-2005 urges that more attention should be...
Japan: B-guy
Mari blogs about the changing preference of Japanese women's choice towards their boyfriends from IKEMEN (nice looking guy) to B-otoko (B class guy).
Japan: Japan Brand
Adamu from Mutantfrog blogs about a new logo “Japan Brand” for promoting exports, boost tourism, and take control of how Japan as a nation is perceived abroad.
Japan: The Hair Police
Debito writes about the experience of a Brazilian high-school student in Japan's Shizuoka prefecture, apparently “forced by her school to dye her hair weekly because it was not as dark as her peers’”. Debito went to the school itself to talk to one of the so-called “Hair Police”, and returned...
Japan: Thoughts on the (English-language) Blog Scene
Ken Worsley at Trans-Pacific Radio has an op-ed piece on discussions in the (English-language) Blog Scene in Japan over the past couple weeks, focusing on foreign media (mis-)coverage of government plans for constitutional revision.
Japan: Marriage and “Casual Infidelity”
Shari at My So-Called Japanese Life has a thoughtful piece on the way in which Japanese people, as compared to Americans, view marriage. She writes: “It's always been my impression that the Japanese set the bar “lower” when it comes to the romance part of marriage and “higher” when it...
Japan: Bridging the Generation Gap
What with all the news last week of beheadings, shoot-outs and baby dumping — and subsequent soul-searching on the part of Japanese bloggers, at a loss for what to make of the nation's younger generation — I felt that it would be appropriate this week to highlight a slightly more...
Japan: Ice Aquarium
Edo from Pink Tentacle introduces an ice aquarium with 40 large ice blocks containing 450 specimens (80 varieties) of local marine life — including squid, crab, bonito and saury — which appear to be frozen in mid-swim.
Japan: Background to Constitutional Revision
Japan Observer has posted a long and very thoughtful entry outlining the history and politics of the constitutional revision debate in Japan. On the future of the debate, JO writes: “[W]ith the collapse of organized opposition to revision within the political system, the only potential source of opposition is from...
Japan: Mail from Henoko
dr.stonefly reprints an email sent by an activist in Henoko, urging the readers to take direct action in the protest against the marine survey. The email describes a fierce collision between the authorities and the peaceful demonstrators on boats and canoes. [Ja]
Which father is my real father?: Japan's 300-day rule
In early May, the Japanese government announced that it will take a special measure to recognise children born within 300 days of their mother's divorce, given that the mothers became pregnant after divorce. This announcement came after a group of divorced women with children raised the issue on the current...
Japan: Strange Confession Note
More on the story of the boy who sawed off his mother's head and brought it to the police, courtesy of Mutant Frog Travelogue: “After the crime, he went into an Internet cafe, watched a Beastie Boys DVD, and apparently wrote the following note…“
About our Japan coverage
Nevin Thompson is our Japan editor. Email him story ideas or volunteer to write.
