· April, 2010

Stories about Japan from April, 2010

Japan: Plastic duck race

Photoreporter Damoncoulter uploaded original pictures of the duck race held at the second Ashigara River festival in Matsuda city (south of Tokyo). Some hundred yellow, plastic ducks are emptied into...

29 April 2010

Japan: Kabuki Theatre to be Rebuilt

One of the most recognizable buildings in Japan, the grand, old Kabuki-za in Ginza is closing this month. It will be torn down and become a theater and office complex...

29 April 2010

Japan: The art of making Sake

A few pictures by Buddhika illustrate the art of making sake, the alcholic beverage made from rice. The photographer portrays some workers at a sake distillery in Fukui Prefecture.

25 April 2010

Japan: Diet Session Snapshot

A photo of members from the newly formed political party Sunrise Party of Japan nodding off has been making the rounds in the 2channel boards and Twittersphere. The party name...

16 April 2010

Japan: New Hires Seen Around Town

New hires that started their jobs on April 1st “reminds me of baby penguins standing around waiting for their masters to bring them scraps of food…”, says The Adventures of...

15 April 2010

Japan: Toilet terror

Pink tectacle has a collection of pictures on legendary ghost Hanako-san, a spooky young girl that haunts school restrooms across Japan.

15 April 2010

Japan: The Nikkei stops free links

Andy in Tokyo wrote a post [en] on the Japanese financial newspaper Nikkei Shimbun's new policy, according to which “linking to any of its articles – and even its home...

14 April 2010

Japan: 2channel Advice for New Hires

Matt Alt translates “nuggets of wisdom for new hires at Japanese companies from the anonymous hordes of 2ch”. It offers another angle on the subject to our article “Japan: Call...

8 April 2010

Japan: Call us social beings now!

April 1st marks a new academic year for students and the first day of work for the young, new employees. To distinguish them from the students, who don’t pay taxes and have no civic responsibilities, those who work and contribute with their job to ‘society’ are referred to as ‘social people’ - shakaijin in Japanese.

8 April 2010

Japan: The meaning of globalization

Chikirin reflects upon the meaning of ‘globalization’ [ja]. She wonders whether it's really possible to call ‘global’ the Japanese companies, only because they export their products abroad, while their personnel...

8 April 2010

Japan: Remote-control female android

Pink Tentacle has a post on a robot project by Osaka University to create a realistic-looking remote-control female android that mimics the facial expressions and speech of a human operator.

6 April 2010