Stories about Japan from May, 2009
Internet in North Korea, Nokia's Ovi Store, Google Wave and Tech Happenings
Tech events were happening in Thailand, Vietnam and Japan. North Korea got mobile internet and Google released a new product. We have reviews, analysis and links from bloggers in Asia and Africa.
Go Farm, Young Man! – How Farming in Japan is Changing
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
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
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
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: Aging Population and Public Transport
Yumeji's Theme sees signs of the hyper-aging population influencing Tokyo's public transport in ‘The Tyranny of the Aged‘ [en].
Japan: Ministry of Health posts YouTube video
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
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?
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
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
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
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
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: Video by Eric Testroete
Eric Testroete has posted ‘This is Japan!’, a fantastic video using hundred of images from a three week stay in Japan. [via watashi to tokyo]
Japan: Hatoyama is the next DPJ leader
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
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: ‘Yoshiharu Habu and Modern Shogi’, an Open Translation Project
A volunteer translation project sprang up and translated all of Mochio Umeda's book "Watching Shogi from Silicon Valley - Habu Yoshiharu and Modern Times" into English in under a week.
Japan: Mass hysteria over swine flu
James from Japan Prob quotes from Tsuyoshi Takashiro's blog [ja] on the opinion about the over-reaction to the swine flu.
Japan: Nice middle age
Harvey from Japan Newbie introduces a hilarious music video by Takosan called Nice Middle.
Japan: Akihabara Aftermath
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!
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,...
