Stories about Japan from December, 2013
7 Things You Didn't Know About Japanese Food
Global Voices contributor Taylor Cazella, who recently moved from the US to Japan, introduces seven unexpected yet tasty foods from non-traditional Japanese cuisine.
Top 10 YouTube Videos of 2013 in Japan
RocketNews24 has compiled a list of the top 10 YouTube videos in Japan for the year 2013. The list includes a video uploaded by a popular Japanese idol girl group AKB48, a video of two cute kids showing off their new toys, and a video of a shocking moment of...
7 Amazing Vintage Photos of 19th-Century Japan
Take a look at what life was like in Japan some 150 years ago, thanks to a series of photos that recently entered the public domain.
Japan's Open Data Catalog Launches Beta Version
Data.go.jp, a website that aggregates publicly available data by Ministries and Agencies of the Japanese government, launched its Beta version on December 20, 2013. Datasets by 21 governmental organizations and 567 groups are available under Creative Commons License Attribution 2.1 Japan detailed in the Terms of Use. This comes as a...
Protesters March Against Nuclear Plant's Re-Start on Japan's Kyushu Island
About 1,800 people marched on December 15, 2013 in protest of the re-start of the Sendai Nuclear Power Station [ja], according to the protest organizer. After two years of the plant's operations being suspended, Kyushu Electric Power Company applied for a review in July from the Nuclear Regulation Authority with the intention...
Refuse to Pay Pension Premium? Japan Could Seize Your Assets
The Japan Pension Service has announced that people who refuse to pay the national pension premium could have their assets seized if they still refuse to pay. Japan's young population have been reluctant to pay for national pensions mostly because they believe the system will be broken by the time...
Another Rural Japanese Elementary School Disappears Due to Declining Birthrate
Every year, about 500 public schools in Japan are closing due to shortage of children as the cost of education becomes unbearable for rural communities.
UNESCO Honors Japanese Cuisine as Intangible Cultural Heritage
The United Nations cultural agency UNESCO has officially recognized Japan's traditional cuisine “washoku” as “Intangible Cultural Heritage” among its 14 new listings. Overjoyed after reading the news, Japanese twitter user Komachi jokingly commented that her regular habit is now part of renowned heritage: 私、3日にいっぺんくらいは無形文化遺産作ってる！と言えるわけですね。 「和食」無形文化遺産に登録決定…ユネスコ（読売新聞） – Y!ニュース http://t.co/Fxvh0uoCNO — komachi (@komatchr)...
In Japan, Disaster and a Radio Show Put Refugees On the Agenda
For nearly 10 years Katsuya Soda has worked to bring the refugees issue to the attention of the complacent Japanese public. These days he has some extra help.
1,000 Days Since 2011's Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami
December 4, 2013 marked the thousandth day since a powerful earthquake triggered a tsunami that hit the island of Japan on March 11, 2011, killing more than 15,000 people, devastating parts of the country, and causing a nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. According to a survey conducted last...
Top 4 Buzzwords that People in Japan Couldn't Stop Saying in 2013
"Imadesho", meaning "how 'bout now?!", and "baigaeshi", meaning revenge, are at the top of the list of popular buzzwords in Japan this year.
Artist Project Illustrates “Fear and Folly” of Nukes
A map created by Japanese artist Isao Hashimoto – 橋本公 – shows all the 2,053 nuclear explosions which have taken place between 1945 and 1998. According to the CTBTO website that hosts the time-lapse video, the artist created it with the goal of showing “the fear and folly of nuclear...
Hirokazu Tanaka: One Name, Many Different People
Through the Internet, Hirokazu Tanaka continued to meet other Hirokazu Tanakas. After 20 years, there are 104 Hirokazu Tanakas recorded by the organizer of Hirokazu Tanaka movement.
20 Bitter Voices Rise From Fukushima After Japan's 2011 Nuclear Disaster
"Lately there have been many times in which I’ve come to think that human beings are scarier than radiation", Fukushima residents comments curated on Buddhist blogpost.
About our Japan coverage
Nevin Thompson is our Japan editor. Email him story ideas or volunteer to write.
