· July, 2009

Stories about Japan from July, 2009

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...

29 July 2009

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.

29 July 2009

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...

29 July 2009

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...

26 July 2009

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.

24 July 2009

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...

22 July 2009

Japan: Political animation

Adamu from Mutantfrog Travelogue posts three political animations produced by political parties that campaign for the Lower House election in August.

22 July 2009

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...

21 July 2009

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...

21 July 2009

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.

15 July 2009

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...

15 July 2009

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...

9 July 2009