Stories about Japan from November, 2007
China: Spicy Crayfish
Hegel Chong wrote the migration of Crayfish from Louisiana to Japan and then China (zh). Now it has become the most famous street food in major cities: spicy crayfish.
Japan: Mobile Manga
Nicholls from Japundit blogs the finding of a questionaire about manga culture and mobile phone.
Japan: Cat Pot Video
Cat pot video became a popular motif in Japan. According to Mari, this is the first video clip and here is the search result from youtube.
Japan: Fingerprints, mugshot, welcome to Japan
Despite protests from human rights organizations and the foreign community, new immigration procedures, which require all non-Japanese citizens over 16 years of age to be fingerprinted and photographed when entering Japan, will come into effect on November 20, 2007. Fingerprinting of foreign nationals in Japan is not a new affair,...
Japan: Panama, again?
Boguspokesman at Bogus News reports that conversations [ja] on Japanese forums about the sinking of a Panamanian freighter off the coast of Japan yesterday have been very critical of Panama. At 2-channel, one person blamed Panamanians for having “bad manners”, another wondered what the frieghter was even doing near Japan,...
Japan: Am I a Blogger?
Kikko, one of the most popular bloggers in Japan, questions whether what she writes is really a “blog” [ja]. When she was selected as one of Japan's “Alpha Bloggers” [ja] in 2005, she was asked what she thought of Web 2.0, to which she replied: “Web 2.0? What's that?” Is...
Japan: Pulling the Strings
While the world focused this week on the aftermath of negotiations between the leaders of Japan's two largest political parties, the behind-the-scenes mediator, Watanabe Tsuneo, celebrated winning this year's Media Person of the Year Award. Some bloggers, however, wondered what Japan's largest media baron was doing brokering backroom political deals. Was it just a coincidence that coverage differed so much between major newspapers?
Japan: Savings Bomb
Edward Chmura from Japundit introduces a new toy called “savings bomb” bank. It is designed to “explode” and scatter its contents all over the place if it is not fed coins over some preset interval.
Japan: Stop Fingerprinting Non-Japanese
Arudou Debito announced an action on November 20 at the Justice Ministry against the policy on fingerprinting of non-Japanese.
Japan: Ramen Research
Ampontan introduced a website on Japan instant food industry, which has most detailed information about the history of instant ramen starting from 1958.
Japan:
David Marx from neojanponisme blogs about a list of 100 greatest Japanese rock albums of all time, which reflects on local rock history.
Japan: Fearless Mouse
Edo from Pink Tentacle reports on the invention of a genetically engineered mouse that does not fear cats.
Russia, Japan: Putin's Sexiness Ranking
Siberian Light writes that the Japanese have voted Vladimir Putin the world’s fifth most attractive politician.
Soviet History: Richard Sorge
ExecutedToday.com writes about Richard Sorge, a spy whose “signal achievement was establishing, as a foreigner in a highly xenophobic Japan, a spy ring that for years penetrated the highest levels of the Japanese government and the German embassy, giving Moscow an inside look at Axis planning” – and who was...
Iran:Interview with an Iranian-Japanese-American filmmaker
Pars Arts has published an interview with Maryam Kashani,an Iranian-Japanese-American filmmaker.Her first documentary feature, Best in the West was released in 2006 and has been screening at festivals. The film tells the story of Kashani’s father and his Iranian friends who all ended up in San Francisco.
Japan: Sleep Deprivation
James from Japan Probe blogs a survey on sleeping hours in Japan.
Japan: itojun passes away
Gen Kanai reports that Jun-Ichiro “itojun” Hagino, one of the celebrated computer programmers of Japan and a key developer of IPv6 for BSD Unix, passed away on Oct. 29 at the age of 37.
Japan: Sinful NOVA Volunteers?
David Markle from Japan Probe wrote a news satire about NOVA teachers doing voluntary teaching.
Japan: Ozawa resigns, a new era begins
Observing Japan writes about the resignation of Ozawa Ichiro, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, observing that while the party could benefit from Ozawa's departure, the event may also bring momentum to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
Bahrain: If You're Arab And We Know It…
Bahrain's bloggers are facing hard times this week, with two being denied entry to Kuwait, another subjected to racial profiling in Japan, and a fourth traumatised by a change in Dairy Queen's menu...
Japan: Dolphins and Heroes
In English-language media and blogs this week, everyone had something to say about the Japanese dolphin hunt in Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture. Footage of angry Japanese fishermen clashed with images of blonde-haired Western celebrities endeavouring to "share the water" with the soon-to-be slaughtered dolphins. While opinion on the issue in English-language blogs and forums for the most part supported the spirit of the protest, Japanese bloggers had differing things to say.
