· May, 2009

Stories about Japan from May, 2009

Go Farm, Young Man! – How Farming in Japan is Changing

  31 May 2009

For a country that identifies strongly as being historically agricultural people, the landscape of Japan's agricultural sector is bleak, and has been for some time. Simply put, the workforce is rapidly aging and there aren't nearly enough successors. The price of rice has gone down, and structural reform is unlikely...

Japan: Open access online journal Journal@rchive

  29 May 2009

Librarian Charles Ellwood Jones writes about academic journals focusing on antiquity at open access online journal Journal@rchive, an archive site of J-STAGE operated by the Japan Science and Technology Agency. The site offers high resolution scans and OCR texts on a wide range of journals.

Japan: Nova under G-Education

  28 May 2009

Koichi gives us a rare glimpse of life after the collapse of giant English school Nova at ‘Post-Nova Bust: How is G-Education for teaching English in Japan?‘. [en] His blog post is an interview with a teacher who worked for both Nova and G-Education, the company that bought them out.

Japan and Korea: Nuclear test and missiles

  27 May 2009

Are you surprised that North Korea conducted another nuclear test? And fired more short-range missiles into the Sea of Japan? Ampontan made a list of surprises to comment on the new round of North Korea nuclear and missile test.

Japan: Ministry of Health posts YouTube video

  26 May 2009

Kotori Piyopiyo praises the progressiveness of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare for posting a video on YouTube and observes with irony that they have turned off the embedding function. The video introduces preventive measures for swine flu.

Japan: A brief review of the eco-technologies

  25 May 2009

In mid May the Japanese Government has launched a stimulus package to boost the demand for energy efficient household appliances with a new eco-points system, details of which will be made clear in the next month after the Diet's approval of the supplementary budget for this fiscal year. The aim...

Japan: Shunsuke Nakamura to rejoin Yokohama Marinos?

  25 May 2009

Ryota welcomes the news that soccer star Shunsuke Nakamura might be coming home from Celtic to his old stomping grounds of Yokohama F. Marinos, calling him “a treasure of Japan“. Occhan is excited about the possibilities for the city of Yokohama. Blogger No.5 gives the back story.

Japan: NHK says no to Takafumi Horie on backstage YouTube video

  23 May 2009

Former Livedoor chief Takafumi Horie wrote on his blog that NHK, Japan's national public broadcasting organization, rescinded their request for an interview when Horie stated as his terms the right to videotape the interview and upload it on YouTube. Keita Akai is not surprised, saying that for NHK, allowing unlimited...

Japan: Children's Day

  23 May 2009

At Hi, I am Ruther, a travel blog about Japan, two posts (Koinobori and Kabuto and Kashiwamochi) describe [en] some customs and festivals related to the Children`s Day (子供の日, kodomo no hi), celebrated on May 5th.

Japan: John Roos to be U.S. Ambassador to Japan

  22 May 2009

Unexpected appointment of lawyer John Roos as the next U.S. ambassador to Japan: Blogger namekawa01 gives a high evaluation of Roos's close connections with President Obama and speculates that he must have forgone more visible positions in favor of this one, while Koichiro Mizuochi compares this appointment with that of...

Japan: Harvest Time In Satoyama

  19 May 2009

Martin J Frid from Kurashi introduced a video, Harvest Time In Satoyama, which explains the links between satoyama landscapes and food and fuel security. The video is produced by Anne McDonald, Mio Horiuchi, and Toshiya Kai at the United Nations University Kaori Brand at the UNU Media Studio.

Japan: Hatoyama is the next DPJ leader

  17 May 2009

Following Ichirō Ozawa's resignation, it's Yukio Hatoyama‘s turn to be leader of the Democratic Party of Japan once again – Tobias Harris on Hatoyama's leadership abilities, Ampontan with ‘some morsels of news and rumor’ of the election, and Shisaku on the ‘choice‘.

Japan: Ueno as a World Heritage site

  17 May 2009

A UNESCO panel has recommended postponing listing of the National Museum of Western Art and the surrounding buildings in the Ueno area as a World Heritage culture site. Blogger Dragon says that countries with the means to preserve its own heritage sites should give way for less resourceful countries. Taito...

Japan: Akihabara Aftermath

  13 May 2009

Almost one year after the Akihabara massacre (covered by GV here, here, and here), Fumi Yamazaki at “What's Happening in Japan Right Now?” gives a comprehensive recap[EN] of the happenings, coverage, and aftermath of the terrible tragedy.

Japan: Marriage Hunting!

  13 May 2009

Since autumn of last year, in Japan, a new term has been floating in the air. It is konkatsu 婚活 (an abbreviation of kekkon katsudô 結婚活動), based on the popular phrase shûkatsu (就活 job hunting), it may be roughly translated as ‘marriage hunting’. Konkatsu is not merely a new word,...