Stories about Japan from August, 2008
Japan: Paper Art
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
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
Martin J Frid from Kurashi highlight a local news concerning the creation of a virtual temple online.
Japan: Animal Garbage Bag
Edo from Pink tentacle blogs about an animal garbage bag project for promoting environmental awareness.
Japan: Pet Culture
Lee from Tokyo Times blogs some photos showing Japanese pet culture in daily consumption.
Japan: Food Safety
Martin J Frid from Kurashi blogs about the changing attitude towards food in Japan.
Japan: Shopping for Funny Items
Mari introduces some funny Japanese items that can be found in online shop.
Japan and Thailand: Children of the Dark
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
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 and China: Angry ‘Olympic Ojisan’ leaves Beijing
James from Japan Probe highlights the mainstream media reports about the early departure of Olympic super fan, 82-years old “Olympic Ojisan”.
Japan: Bathhouse Culture
Verena from Pingmag has written a feature about Japanese bathhouse culture.
Japan: Intangible Cultural Heritage
Ampontan blogs about the nomination of 14 cultural expressions by the Agency of Cultural Affair as Intangible Cultural Heritage. One of the items is chakkirako.
Japan: Yasukuni Shrine on August 15th
James from Japan Probe has a sum-up on the demonstration at Yasukuni Shrine on August 15, the anniversary of Japan’s defeat in the Pacific War.
Japan: To Japanese women, WaiWai was sexual harassment
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: Foreign Population
Adam from Mutant frog blogs about the increase of foreign population on Japan society.
Japan: Gaijin Stereotype Debate
Eric from Japan Probe opened a debate with another blogger Debito over the issue of Gaijin stereotype.
Japan: Soft Machines
Edo from Pink Tentacle blogs about the development of elastic electronic circuits which makes soft machines / robot become possible.
Japan: Rural City
Tony Boys wrote a photo essay about Japanese rural city.
Japan: Debate over Google Street View continues
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: Rumors of idol photo in Olympics press kit
From 2channel, rumors [ja] that a photo of Japanese idol Yuko Ogura appears hidden in the press kit handed out at the Olympics in Beijing.
Japan: Mainichi to shut down website? WaiWai controversy continues
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...
