· May, 2008

Stories about Japan from May, 2008

Mozambique: The rice and our independende

Elísio Macamo [pt] reacts to the Japanese pledge to help Africa double rice production within 10 years, during the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) held in Yokohama. “After...

30 May 2008

Japan: Grumpy Jiisan on Nico Nico Douga

The latest hit at Nico Nico Douga, Japan's popular video sharing service, is a retired man from Arizona calling himself “Grumpy Jiisan” [Grumpy Old Man], who shoots videos in which he comments on his favorite Japanese anime. Subtitled versions of Grumpy Jiisan's videos at Nico Nico Douga are so popular that they have drawn thousands of comments.

30 May 2008

Japan and U.S: Jurisdiction Agreement

Niphonese wrote a post on the recent exposure of a secret agreement between Japan and U.S government in 1953 that Japan should abandon jurisdiction over crimes of Japan-based US soldiers,...

29 May 2008

Japan: NHK on Youtube

Serkan Toto from Asiajin reported that Japan’s public broadcaster NHK started putting contents online on a NHK channel on Youtube.

29 May 2008

Japan: The Secret of Mizuki Shigeru

At age 86, Mizuki Shigeru is one of the most well-known manga artists in Japan thanks to work that stretches over more than four decades, including among them some of the most popular Japanese manga and anime TV series. GeGeGe no Kitarō, a manga series he created in 1959, is Mizuki's most famous, featuring an orphaned yōkai (monster) named Kitaro who fights for peace between humans and monsters. In a post entitled “Why has GeGeGe no Kitaro remained popular for this long?”, blogger ta26 proposes an explanation for the popularity of this manga.

26 May 2008

Japan: Experiences at IDAHO

On the International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO), Japanese LGBT communities organized several events and street activities in several cities across the country. With a slogan of “Yes to sexual diversity” (多様な性にYES!), various groups broadcast messages promoting a society where differences and diversity are accepted and respected.

24 May 2008

Japan: Earthquake aid starts healing process

The largest ever dispatch of aid to China from Japan took place last week when Japanese rescue teams were dispatched to Chongqing. Thanks expressed by Chinese in bulletin boards made it back to articles on the Japanese-language Internet and sparked hopeful reactions among many bloggers, some finding a common understanding in a shared history of earthquake disasters.

18 May 2008

Japan: A surge of suicides

Over the past few weeks, the Japanese media have been extensively reporting suicide cases associated with the use of hydrogen sulfide gas, providing detailed description of ingredients and methods used. The recent media reporting has been so sensationalized that the Japan Suicide Prevention Association requested that media organizations be more careful with their reporting. The phenomenon has stirred up conversation among Japanese bloggers.

18 May 2008

Japan: Bloggers criticize Greenpeace over whale-meat theft

The reputation of Greenpeace Japan appears to have dropped a few notches this week, with news that the organization, in order to expose the theft of whale meat by crew members of a whaling research ship, itself stole meat to use as evidence of the crime. Members of Greenpeace Japan admitted to having entered a delivery company's distribution center in Tokyo on April 15th without permission in order to seize packages of whale meat.

17 May 2008

Japan: Views on the Sichuan Earthquake

The earthquake in China's Sichuan province, besides taking its toll on tens of thousands of Chinese citizens, has also had reverberations far away in the Japanese blogosphere, where the topic ranked top among blogging keyword lists and sparked conversations in forums over the past few days.

15 May 2008

Japan: Yushukan Museum

Adamu blogs about his visit to a Shinto Shrine, Yasukuni Jinja, and Yushukan Museum. The Shrine is dedicated to Japan’s war dead while the museum displays the military history of...

12 May 2008

PangeaDay: an event lived worldwide

Pangea Day took place Saturday, and people from different parts of the world got together to watch movies and be a part of the worldwide event where movies, speakers and music showed us a bit of life on the other side of the globe, uniting people from all walks of life to believe that we aren't as different as we would believe. It also included a mobile video contest, with an international lineup of winners.

12 May 2008