Stories about Japan from September, 2008
Japan: Internship at Hatena
University student and blogger id:suztomo describes (with many photos) their experience in September doing an internship [ja] at Hatena in Kyoto, Japan. The blogger had two objectives with the internship: to learn how to set up a server that can withstand many users, and to learn about how web services...
Japan: The psychology of prostitution, and why it should be legalized
id:fromdusktildawn delves into the the roots and social context of prostitution [ja], arguing that by looking down on women who work in the sex industry, men offload feelings of guilt about their lust for prostitutes onto the prostitutes themselves. The blogger claims that by legalizing the 5 trillion yen prostitution...
Japan: MIRAI brings together gadgets and the Internet
Alpha Bloggers announces a free event [ja] in Tokyo entitled, “Mirai: synthesis of gadgets and the net” (MIRAI：ネットとガジェットの融合), to be held on October 20th from 7pm to 10pm near Kudanshita station (see map [ja]). The event will discuss the possibilities of a future in which gadgets and the Internet are...
Japan: Fluctuations in Yen-Dollar rate
Japanese blogger kawase_oh [為替王] analyzes recent fluctuation in exchange rates [ja] between the yen and the U.S. dollar, and also between the yen and other major currencies. The blogger says to look out this week for the Bank of Japan's Tankan survey [日銀短観] on Oct. 1st, and to the announcement...
Japan: Group Bookmarking with 4dk
Osamu Higuchi at Higuchi.com introduces a free bookmarking service [ja] (in Japanese) called 4dk [ja], where bookmarks are visible only to those within a closed group. Higuchi refers to this idea as “group bookmarking”, explaining that it is different from the “group catharsis” of open bookmarking services like del.icio.us and...
Japan: Dropping out of Graduate School
At Hatena's AnonymousDiary, a former student of a Japanese graduate school describes their experience and why they decided to drop out [ja]. The student explains that in their lab, what mattered most was not experimental techniques or fundamental knowledge, but just the amount of time that students spent at their...
Japan: Taiwanese blogger looking for Japanese boyfriend
According to Ameba news [ja], Taiwanese blogger and Japan-lover Shuen Shuen, also known as “Naomi”, announced on her blog [zh] that she wanted to move to Japan and find a Japanese guy to marry. That news is now all the talk of the Japanese bulletin boards [ja], and apparently sparked...
Japan: Photos from Iriomote
Blogger id:mereco posts amazing photos [ja] from her trip to the island of Iriomote [西表島] in Okinawa, Japan. Photos from the trip include pictures of cows, hermit and coconut crabs, and a box turtle. The full set can be found on id:mereco's Flickr page.
Japan: Uni likes the bathtub
At Uni no Himitsu Kichi (うにの秘密基地), Japanese blogger sauta19 posts photos of her cat [ja] Uni following her into the bathroom and on top of the bathtub, a place that only a few days ago Uni had hated. She also announces to readers that she will be showing pictures of...
Taiwan: The Return of Local Cinema
This summer, Taiwanese cinema is not only celebrating a comeback, but is also shining like the sun. No matter how strongly the typhoon hits Taiwan, movie theaters are witnessing hundreds, if not thousands, of people waiting in line just for the new film, “Cape No.7“. The movie became a blockbuster...
Japan: Mapping the News with Newsgraphy
Hatena user id:kaiseh introduces a news mapping mashup service they created [ja] called “Newsgraphy“, based on an earlier mapping service for Hatena blogs released in June (with much fanfare [ja]) called HatenarMaps (also by id:kaiseh). The new service creates a 2-dimensional visualization of news stories from Yahoo News using Voronoi...
Japan: Kiki's Atashi Kanojo
Blogger Akihito Kobayashi at the Shirokuma Blog reports on his experience [ja] reading the winning work in this year's keitai shosetsu awards: “Atashi Kanojo” (あたし彼女) by 23-year-old writer Kiki. Although the short story has all the elements of the genre — sex, pregnancy, abortion, and many one-word sentences — Akihito...
Japan: Nakayama comment on expansion of Narita Airport
id:takerunba comments on a statement [ja] by Japanese Minister of Construction and Transport Nariaki Nakayama in an interview with Sankei Shimbun, in which Nakayama criticized local residents obstructing the expansion of Narita airport for not having the spirit to sacrifice themselves for the public good. id:takerunba agrees with Nakayama, pointing...
Japan: Views on Wall Street Crisis
The ongoing collapse, bail-out and buy-out of Wall Street investment banks, threatening a U.S. and possibly worldwide recession, has triggered no lack of debates in Japanese blogs on the country's strong financial connection with its overseas ally.
Japan: Hikikomori – Invisible Population
Coriolinus from Japundit blogs about the social phenomena of Hikikomori - People who isolate themselves and refuse all human contact for long periods of time, often years.
Japan: 2channel on Aso UN speech
New Japanese Prime Minister Aso Taro‘s speech at the UN yesterday is all the talk on 2channel [ja], Japan's largest bulletin board. According to news reports [ja], 5 minutes into his speech Aso was told that there was a technical problem and that the English simultaneous interpreting had not kicked...
South Korea: Essay Contest on “Why is Dokdo Korean Territory?”
Ampontan brings the readers’ attention to a writing competition (for foreigners) sponsored by Korea Time on “Why is Dokdo Korean Territory?” And the prize is round trip to Dokdo!
Japan: Google or Galapagos?
Blogger and economist Nobuo Ikeda [池田信夫] remarks in an article [ja] that whereas U.S. papers are making their sites more Google-friendly, articles on Japanese news sites do not even have permalinks. His comparison of the isolation of the Japanese web to Galapagos sparks a response from Fukuyuki Murakami [村上福之] at...
Japan: Name of new PM poses challenge for Canadians
At Canada de Nihongo (カナダde日本語), a Japanese blogger living in Canada describes how she can't stop laughing [ja] when people mention the name of Japan's new Prime Minister: although they try to say “Taro Aso”, what comes out inevitably sounds like “Taro Asshole”.
Japan: Prosecutors want 1.5 years for bulletin board comment
2channel threads are commenting on news [ja] that prosecutors in Japan are asking for 1.5 years in the case of 23-year-old Atsushi Sugita's (杉田敦史) declaration on a bulletin board that he would “kill young girls”. Sugita said he did not intend to commit any crime and that in using the...
Korea: The End of OhmyNews Japan (following Hanako's)
Following the post, “The End of OhmyNews Japan” by the Japanese editor, Hanako, I was curious how Korean bloggers talk about the failure of OhmyNews Japan. Many bloggers have analyzed the success of OhmyNews Korea and have been keen on changes in ONK, which is regarded as the godfather of...
About our Japan coverage
Nevin Thompson is our Japan editor. Email him story ideas or volunteer to write.
