· December, 2007

Stories about Japan from December, 2007

Japan: Alpha Blogger Awards 2007

Three years after its establishment in 2004, organizers of the Alpha Blogger Awards, established to showcase influential bloggers in the Japanese blogosphere, have changed their approach. In contrast to previous years, the group of nominees in the 2007 awards were largely unknown even to the presenters themselves. Include in this post is a summary of the event and an interview with one of the winners.

13 December 2007

Japan: Coffee Splitter

James from Japan Probe blogs about the arrest of coffee splitter who had assaulted 5 schoolgirls with coffee via drive-by spitting attacks.

12 December 2007

Japan: Three inmates executed

Tomumaru[jp] quotes recent BBC coverage of the Japanese executions of three death row inmates on December 7. The glogger condemns the secrecy of Japanese executions and discusses in detail the...

11 December 2007

Japan: Flaming and the secrets we hide

The phenomenon of flaming (enjo) is widespread in Japan, particularly on anonymous posting forums such as 2-channel. One Japanese blogger picked up the topic of flaming last week and asked: are the things that people are attacked for so viciously online really so out-of-the-ordinary?

11 December 2007

Japan: NOVA Video Story

A youtube video story on the jobless life of foreign teacher after the close down of NOVA – via ying yang report.

10 December 2007

Adamu criticizes the recent Washington Post article on the Japanese blogosphere of having serious mis-characterisations and inaccuracies.

10 December 2007

Japan: In the shadows of influence

A scandal that had been brewing for months came to a head last week when former Vice Defense Minster Moriya Takemasa and his wife Sachiko were arrested by authorities in Tokyo, suspected of having received millions of yen in bribes from former defense equipment trader Miyazaki Motonobu of Yamada Corporation. Many bloggers were surprised, and some dug deeper into the problem of behind-the-scenes maneuvering in Japanese politics.

7 December 2007

Japan: The Terabutadon Incident

Blogger Kikko writes about the Terabutadon (テラ豚丼) incident in which two employees of Yoshinoya, Japan's largest beef bowl restaurant chain, shot a video of themselves piling pork over a rice...

6 December 2007

Japan: Mutant Frog on Sasagawa

Adamu at Mutant Frog Travelogue writes about Ryoichi Sasakawa, the (now deceased) Japanese right-wing philanthropist and war profiteer once quoted as claiming to be “the world's wealthiest fascist”.

6 December 2007

Japan: Michelin Guide Hits Tokyo

On November 22, the much-talked-about Michelin Guide Tokyo went on sale. With a combination of French connections and something of gastronomical interest, you can never go wrong in Japan. Sure enough, for days leading up to and after its release, the Japanese media flocked to cover the event and the Guide itself, the most recognized restaurant and hotel guide book published by French tire manufacturer Michelin.

5 December 2007

Japan: KakikoTV for Non-Japanese

Serkan at Tokyotronic translates from Japanese to English instructions for using a new service, KakikoTV, which allows users to modify videos and photos online. The service also allows for the...

5 December 2007