· August, 2008

Stories about Japan from August, 2008

Japan: Paper Art

  29 August 2008

Ryoko from Pingmag interviews Kanako Yaguchi, who brings the art of classic cutting paper techniques to textile and clothing designs.

Japan: Ministry study on biological roots of withdrawal and rage

  28 August 2008

Starting next year, a team of researchers recruited by the Japanese Ministry of Education will commit themselves to studying the connection between brain structure and sociability. Their aim will be the analysis of structures of the brain that control mechanisms such as sleep rhythm and stress tolerance, in order to prevent -- and eventually cure -- those disorders which affect social relations.

Japan: Virtual Temple

  28 August 2008

Martin J Frid from Kurashi highlight a local news concerning the creation of a virtual temple online.

Japan and Thailand: Children of the Dark

  26 August 2008

Roy Berman from Multant frog elaborated his comments on a newly released film “Children of the Dark” which is about how children in Thailand are exploited by developed countries.

Japan: Ikeda on Everything is Miscellaneous

  21 August 2008

Well-known Japanese blogger Nobuo Ikeda (池田信夫) reviews [ja] the recently released translation of David Weinberger's book “Everything is Miscellaneous” (インターネットはいかに知の秩序を変えるか?), translated to Japanese by Rei Kasiwano (柏野零).

Japan: To Japanese women, WaiWai was sexual harassment

  18 August 2008

Since it exploded on the Japanese Internet less than two months ago, the scandal at Mainichi surrounding the newspaper's former English-language column “WaiWai” has taken on epic proportions. While much has been written about the scandal and its deeper implications, the duration and intensity of attacks on one of Japan's largest national newspapers has surprised almost everybody.

Japan: Soft Machines

  14 August 2008

Edo from Pink Tentacle blogs about the development of elastic electronic circuits which makes soft machines / robot become possible.

Japan: Debate over Google Street View continues

  14 August 2008

Less than two weeks after Google rolled out Street View in Japan, debate continues in the blogs over whether the new service is an appropriate match for Japanese culture and urban residential life. A letter addressed to Google written by IT professional Osamu Higuchi drew a huge reaction last week, the translation of which was picked up abroad in both the U.S. and the U.K., in Japan both in English and in Japanese, and eventually even made its way onto Chinese bulletin boards. While many bloggers in Japan supported sentiments expressed in the letter, others responded with criticism.

Japan: Mainichi to shut down website? WaiWai controversy continues

  12 August 2008

In the latest installment of the ongoing WaiWai saga, news [ja] is climbing the bookmarks [ja] in Japan that Mainichi is investigating the possibility of shutting down the online version of its newspaper. Meanwhile, 2channel has discovered that the WaiWai column existed before the Internet [ja] (contrary to what some...