Stories about Japan from July, 2009
Japan: Housing statistics
Joe Jone from Mutantfrog reads into the newly released housing statistics.
Japan: DPJ's election manifesto
Tobias Harris from observing Japan comments on Democratic party's 2009 general election manifesto. The manifesto covers five major areas: (1) cutting waste (essentially political and administrative reform); (2) child care and education; (3) pensions and health care; (4) regionalization; and (5) employment and the economy.Part I and Part II.
Japan: Parental child abduction
Given the rise in cases where children born to a Japanese mother and a foreign father are abducted by the Japanese mothers and brought to Japan without the father's consent, the U.S., France, Canada and the U.K. have recently urged Japan to sign the Hague Convention.
Japan: Yokohama Mayor Resigns
Shisaku on Yokohama Mayor Nakada Hiroshi's resignation: “When an electoral shoo-in like Nakada takes a leap like this into the unknown, it is just one more indication that postwar system is on the verge of final, precipitous collapse”.
Japan: Election manifesto
Paolo Soldano at Japanblues sums up (it) the main points of the election campaigns of LDP and DPJ.
Japan: Fireworks in Tokyo
Auberginefleur at Japan Now & Then has compiled a handy list of Tokyo's firework events for 2009. suzurzan.ranran, cadm2, chris.jan have uploaded their photos of yesterday's Sumidagawa Fireworks Festival, one of Tokyo's biggest summer events.
Japan: Possible Twitter Novel Publication
Netafull [ja] reports that writer/essayist Mica Naitoh tweeted [ja] that she has received an offer to publish her Twitter novel, just a few days after she started tweeting with the hashtag #twnovel.
Japan: Mizuhiki twine art
Adamu from Multantfrog introduces a Japanese craft, Mizuhiki, which uses twine made from Japanese-style paper to create fancy bows and other designs.
Japan: School Lunches
Kara at morotsuka.com has chronicled what goes on during school lunches in Japan.
Japan: No Twitter for Election Campaigns
In response to the government's decision that the usage of Twitter in election campaign activities violates the Public Offices Election Law, Kengo Preston wonders why disruptive methods such as direct phone calls and street speeches with megaphones are permitted while these low-cost and practical new technologies are not.
China: On Eclipses and Astronomy in Chinese history
Today part of India, China and Japan saw the longest total sola eclipse in 21st Century. In Chinese Astronomy, solar eclipses is related with instability and Granite Studio has an interesting article on eclipses and astronomy in Chinese history.
Japan: Political animation
Adamu from Mutantfrog Travelogue posts three political animations produced by political parties that campaign for the Lower House election in August.
Japan: Internet users in the world
A post [ja] at ideaxidea shows graphs [en] describing the percentage of the world's internet users in 2008.
Japan: Cat mania
The spreading of communities of people with same interests and hobbies is not new in the internet society. Netizens often exchange news, suggestions and picture on things and activities they share a common interest on. In Japan that is not only limited to hobbies, however, also love for pets is...
Japan: Japanese characters as ccTLD?
Motoko Hunt reports that a new conference is being set up to discuss Japanese ccTLD (country code Top Level Domain) issues. We'll be seeing ccTLD with Japanese characters, such as “xx.日本”. (日本 is ‘Japan’ in Japanese.)
Japan: Unemployment in Japan by Region
Curzon from Mutantfrog posts a map that shows unemployment in Japan by region.
Japan: Poor Japanese people
Lee from Tokyo Times brings into focus a 10 minutes documentary, Japan: A Story of Love and Hate, which touches upon poverty problem in Japan.
Japan: The coming DPJ tsunami?
Tobias Harris from Observing Japan comments on Daniel Twining's argument that the advent of a DPJ government could represent a “tsunami” for the US and Japan. The blogger pointed out that the era of Japan's becoming a deputy to the US sheriff in East Asia has passed.
Japan: Tokyo prefectural election results
Adamu at Mutantfrog liveblogged [en] the election results for Adachi Ward (Tokyo).
Japan: Beng Mealea Temple and Miyazaki's Laputa
Karapaia shares some pictures of the ruins of Beng Mealea Temple, Cambodia, which, the blogger says, inspired the architecture of the floating island in the anime Laputa: Castle in the Sky (original title 天空の城ラピュタ, Tenku no Shiro Lapyuta), by Miyazaki.
Japan: Personal Donations to Politicians
With “Love Japan“, Rakuten Inc. has enabled personal donations to politicians via credit card, a first in Japan. Hit Okano [ja] ponders about the relationship between the amount of donated money and its influence on politicians, while blogger Satotaku [ja] refers to U.S. President Obama's success with online contributions and...
About our Japan coverage
Nevin Thompson is our Japan editor. Email him story ideas or volunteer to write.
