Stories about Japan from March, 2008
Japan: Why does Mario move from left to right?
Blogger lastline has drawn over 400 bookmarks on the Japanese bookmarking service Hatena for a detailed investigation of the question: Why does the video game character Mario run across the screen from left to right, and not right to left [ja]? The blogger explains that video tends to prioritize movement...
Japan: Views on Yasukuni, the movie
A documentary film about the controversial Yasukuni shrine, shot by a Chinese filmmaker through funding by a Japanese government agency, has sparked debate and discussion after a group within the ruling LDP party convened a screening to assess its "neutrality". Bloggers offer differing views on the move and on the idea of their government subsidizing what some see as a "political" film.
Japan: Richard Gear ditched by Nissan?
A news report [ja] (summary in English) that Nissan has decided to back out of a contract for a TV commercial with Richard Gear due to the actor's support of the Dalai Lama has triggered hundreds of comments in posting forums [ja] and responses from bloggers. While some wonder whether...
Japan: 40% Spam Blog
Asiajin pointed to Nifty Laboratory survey which found out 40% Japanese Blogs are spam.
Taiwan: Religious buildings–a way to explore how cultures mix
The popular image of multi-culturalism as a mosaic, a salad bowl in which different cultures mix but keep their integrity, is misleading. Cultures are more like soups, flavored with many ingredients, some identifiable. –From the book ‘Cultures and societies in a changing world,’ written by Wendy Griswold. Taiwan has a...
Japan: Ikeda Nobuo's Spectrum Japan Blog
Blogger and economics professor Ikeda Nobuo has started [ja] an English-language blog entitled “Spectrum Japan” focused on spectrum policy in Japan. In the first post, he explains that the Japanese government is planning to stop analogue broadcasting by 2011, and writes about closed meetings held to allocate the spectrum, a...
Japan and Korea: Comfort Woman
Michael Solis from Ohmynews! reported on Korean comfort women who live in the house of sharing.
Japan: Nobody Outpolls Asō
Global Talk 21 highlighted a poll on “Who among the current Diet members do you think is most appropriate as the next Prime Minister?” The choice on “nobody” has outpolled all other candidates.
Japan: The New Era of Video
Last Friday, Japan's national broadcaster aired a special on the "New Era of Video" predicting changes in the industry of broadcast television that will shake the foundation of mass media. But why would a broadcaster as big as NHK air a TV special about the end of TV? Wouldn't that be against its own interests? Blogger Kobayashi Akihito asked if there wasn't more to the NHK special than meets the eye.
Japan: Eyes on Tibet
Essa at the Uncategorizable Blog proposes (in Japanese and also in English) a simple way for bloggers to focus attention on Tibet, by adding a Tibet-related link to their everyday posts. He emphasizes that: “This movement focuses on decentralized weak concerns. It suggests your readers just to see it. Not...
Japan: Rokkasho nuclear reprocessing plant fuels debate
The village of Rokkasho, situated Aomori prefecture in the north of Japan's main island Honshū, hosts a nuclear facility for reprocessing spent nuclear fuel, the first of its kind in Japan. While the scale of this reprocessing plant dwarfs standard nuclear plants, most Japanese citizens have up to recently known little to nothing of its existence. This has started to change recently with demonstrations held in various parts of the country by citizen groups. Bloggers have also picked up this debate, offering varying perspectives on the costs and benefits of the latest development of Japan's nuclear industry.
Japan: How to Eat a Bamboo Shoot
Marie Mockett from Japundit shows the readers how to cook bamboo shoot.
Japan: Crackdown on File Sharing?
Danny Choo writes about an announcement that Japanese ISPs are going to forcibly cut off users who share files over the Internet, pointing out differences between English-language and Japanese-language coverage of the story.
Japan: Tibet Tibet
Blogger and artist Takami Toshio writes about the Japanese film Tibet Tibet [ja] at his blog Radical Imagination. He points out the similarity in perspectives between the director, who is Zainichi Korean, and the people of Tibet, both of whom do not have a country of their own.
Japan: Support for Tibet
As fires rage on in the streets of Lhasa, bloggers in another part of the world have been anxiously following developments in Tibet with open eyes and open ears. Over the weekend, as mainstream media in Japan presented what many criticized as toned-down coverage of ongoing events in Lhasa, the word "Tibet" climbed to number one on Japanese blog search engines with thousands of entries largely in support of the uprising.
U.S.A and Japan: Comparing School Bus
The Englishman compared the school bus designs by U.S and Japan school.
Japan: Ancient Toy Design
BibliOdyssey selected and reposted some Ancient Toy Design pictures from the Ningyo-Do Bunko Database.
Japan and Korea: History Issue
William Underwood (internews) via Ohmynews! has an article on the new era of the Japan and Korea history debate.
Japan: Obama gets support from Japanese city
Excitement is growing in a sleepy fishing town on the coast of the Japan Sea. The city of Obama, whose name means “little beach” in Japanese, is receiving unusual attention for its coincidental resemblance to the name of a certain US presidential candidate.
Japan: Mythical Body Worm
Edo from Pink Tentacle introduces a 16th Century medical book which explains body diseases with body worms and describes how to fight them with acupuncture and herbal remedies.
About our Japan coverage
Nevin Thompson is our Japan editor. Email him story ideas or volunteer to write.
