· May, 2010

Stories about Japan from May, 2010

Japan: My Eyes Tokyo

  31 May 2010

Isao Tokuhashi at My Eyes Tokyo interviews foreigners living in Tokyo. The latest interview, the 32nd in the series, is Robert Koch, an audio products manufacturer from Pietermaritzburg in South Africa.

Japan: Okinawans vent frustration over Futenma

  31 May 2010

Japanese PM Yukio Hatoyama has backtracked on promises to reduce the presence of American military forces in Okinawa, and inhabitants of the prefecture are furious. In blogs, they express their disappointment and rage against the failed Japan-U.S. negotiations.

Japan: National police to share information on organized crime members

  31 May 2010

Sarah Noorbakhsh, at Japan Subculture Research Center's blog, reports [en] on the forthcoming cooperation between the National Police Agency (NPA) and the Japan Security Dealers Association (JSDA). The police will provide information for a database on yakuza (Japanese mafia) members “to combat organized crime members opening securities accounts”.

Japan: Monozukuri for the Modern Age

  30 May 2010

The Japanese counterpart of Make Magazine, an American quarterly magazine for DIY enthusiasts, organizes a regular event in Tokyo called Make Tokyo Meeting (MTM). The fifth MTM, held at the Tokyo Institute of Technology on May 22-23, was the largest yet, featuring everything from bicycle wheels with LED lights, to complex wooden ball machines, to mechanical robot birds. Check out reports on the event on blogs, Twitter and YouTube.

Japan: 1300 years in the making, celebration in Nara

  24 May 2010

While both culturally and physically a long ways from the modern capital of Tokyo, tracing back well over a thousand years into Japanese history one comes across Nara, a quiet, highly rural area which was established as the capital in 710. In doing so, a more centralized national administration was...

Japan: PacMan, still a hit after 30 years

  23 May 2010

When it was released in 1980, Pac-Man captured the world's attention and transformed the video game industry. Now Pac-Man is back to celebrate his 30th birthday, and he's popping up in unexpected places. In blogs and on Twitter, Japanese reflect on the game that launched their country to the forefront of the global video game industry.

Japan: Buddhist Pet Funerals

  19 May 2010

The Quirky Japan Blog introduces some actions a pet owner can take following the loss of a beloved pet, in a post titled “Buddhist Pet Funerals“.

ICT for Development News in Japanese

  15 May 2010

“ICT for Development.JP” provides regular and comprehensive coverage of ICT4D news and project updates from around the world in Japanese. It is run by Maki and Tomonari, who started this blog as a response to the lack of centralized resources for this topic in Japanese.

Japan: A fashionable prime minister

  13 May 2010

Sarah Noorbakhsh at JSRC wrote a post [en] about Japanese prime minister`s fashion. Check out the pictures of Mr. Hatoyama and his playful shirts.

Japan: Caterpillar, by director Wakamatsu

  9 May 2010

The Tokyo Reporter gives an overview [en] on the latest movie by Japanese director Koji Wakamatsu Caterpillar [ja], a film that “attacks the hypocrisy inherent in nationalism and the suffering of innocent civilians.”

Japan:Blogging about illness

  3 May 2010

High school student Piiko blogs [ja] about her illness (cerebrospinal fluid hypovolemia) and how she deals with symptoms such as chronic headache in her daily life.