· December, 2007

Stories about Japan from December, 2007

Japan: Web visionary Umeda Mochio

  30 December 2007

While famous in Japan as a web visionary, Silicon Valley resident Umeda Mochio, president of Muse Associates, co-founder of Pacifica Fund and board member of the Japanese bookmarking and diary service Hatena, is little-known overseas. His recent book "Web Shinkaron" ("Theory of Web Evolution") sold 370,000 copies and become a national besteller in Japan. Umeda was recently interviewed by the Japanese magazine Central Review (Chuo koron), portions of which are introduced and translated in this post.

Japan: Learning from the failure of Second Life

  27 December 2007

Second Life in Japan is virtually dead. While three-dimensional environments such as "meet me" and Hatena World have seen their popularity rise, the most famous virtual environment in the world has seen its virtual space depopulate in Japan. What lessons can be learned from the burst of the Second Life bubble? One blogger offers his thoughts.

Japan: Economics of the “Illegal” Download

  23 December 2007

Following on recent moves by the government to regulate the Internet, plans for regulation in other areas of online communication have been moving ahead apace in Japan. Among these is the plan to revise article 30 of Japan's Copyright Law to make it illegal for individuals to download copyrighted material for personal use, something which up until now had been considered legal. Blogger and economist Ikeda Nobuo delves into the economics of the "illegal download", strongly criticizing the proposed revision.

Japan: UFOs Do Exist

  20 December 2007

James from Japan Probe picks up an interesting local news: a top government official believes that the existence of UFO is definitely real.

Japan: The battle of HCV victims

  20 December 2007

Stories about tainted blood products are nothing new in Japan. In the 1980s, patients with hemophilia contracted HIV from tainted blood products, the result negligence on the part of the government and pharmaceutical companies about an earlier FDA decision to withdraw its approval of the products.

Japan: Final Report on Internet Regulation

  16 December 2007

The idea that a country boasting one of the world's most active net cultures would attempt to regulate online content within its borders may appear to some as infeasible. But plans unveiled earlier this year by the Japanese government aim to do exactly this, targeting a broad range of content that includes blogs and personal homepages.

Bahrain: A tenfold increase in population?!

  15 December 2007

This time the roundup from Bahrain covers three weeks. We have frustration on every front, unfortunately: frustration with being surrounded by apathy and ignorance, with being a teenager, and with a ludicrous criminal charge. One blogger is considering leaving the Gulf for a better life back in India, another admits he rarely reads, and a number of others are debating the merits of secularism.

China: Forgetting Nanjing Massacre

  14 December 2007

Yesterday (December 13) was the 70 year memorial of Nanjing Massacre. The Chinese government is trying to downplay the historical issue by stressing that they don't want to stir up hatred. Zoula points out (zh) that we should know more about the details of Nanjing Massacre, even though some of...

Japan: English-language Blog about Japan IT, Asiajin

  14 December 2007

Akimoto at Akky Blog writes about his new English-language blog [ja] entitled Asiajin. While there are many great online services in Japan, he explains that almost none of them make it abroad due to barriers of language and community. Asiajin will try to remedy this situation by reporting about IT...