Stories about Japan from October, 2008
Japan: Dubbing 10 and Broadcast Law
Economist and blogger Nobuo Ikeda writes about a prominent idea [ja] to introduce the “dubbing 10″ system, abandoned only weeks ago, though an airwaves encryption scheme. Ikeda explains that the idea would be to pair a key to the encrypted airwaves with the dubbing ten system, which he claims is...
Japan: Children in tears over potato fields, net users suspicious
Net users are responding to images appearing on TV [ja] showing children crying in potato fields in Osaka (Japan) on the morning of the 16th after the city sent in forces to clear the way for a national highway between Fushimi Ward and Kadoma Ward. On bulletin boards threads [ja],...
Japan: Wallpaper pictures
Sinsoku VIP [神速VIP] has a long list of “cool and sad” pictures to stick on your wall [ja].
Japan: Financial crises and financial markets
Japanese blogger and economics scholar id:eliya provides a brief background to financial crises that “even a high-schooler would understand” [ja], and then in a later post answers the questions: “What are financial markets for? And are they useful to me?” [ja]
Japan: Making Monks
Japan-newbie introduces a new blog called making monks, which aims at creating an online sangha capable of supporting the growth and development of Buddhist monks.
Japan: The dangers of pre-paid cards
An article at Jan-Jan describes the situation of people who bought pre-paid cards [ja] to use at Kakimoto Sekiyu, a company in Aomori Prefecture that went bankrupt and closed its gasoline stands on the 6th of this month. Customers who bought pre-paid cards in advance, some for as much as...
Japan: Popularity of elderly on the rise?
At E.L.H. Electric Lover Hinagiku, blogger y_arim reacts to a news article [ja] in Yomiuri shimbun reporting that popularity of the elderly in Japan is on the rise among young people [ja], writing that he's rarely seen news so gross. “At the heart of the grossness is the fact that...
Bahrain: The pleasures and perils of studying abroad
Although Bahrain has a number of universities, both government and private, many Bahrainis have the opportunity to go abroad to pursue undergraduate and postgraduate studies, often by means of scholarships. One of the first problems they face is that few people know where Bahrain is. In this post we hear about the experiences of three bloggers who have just gone abroad for higher studies, to Japan, Britain and the United States, and a fourth blogger who has been studying in India for some time.
Japan: Chart Maniax
Japanese programmer and blogger id:amachang introduces [ja] Chart Maniax [ja], a service they developed for charting when and through which services web pages have been bookmarked. Services included are Hatena Bookmarks [ja], Livedoor Clip [ja], Delicious and Buzzurl [ja]. As an example, have a look at the chart for id:amachang's...
Japan: Rikimaru Toho, the first manga narrating cantastoria
His stage name is Rikimaru Tōhō, he defines himself a “manga reader”, and for five years he has been enchanting hundreds of passersby with his performances in the suburbs of western Tokyo. A legendary performer, Rikimaru Tōhō's popularity is due not to TV or radio shows, but to his ability to modify his voice and play the parts of the characters in the stories he reads. Read some responses to Rikimaru's performances, and some passages from the manga reader's own blog.
Japan: Machida city council requests regulation of Street View
Blogger and lawyer Yōji Ochiai [落合洋司] reports on news [ja] that the Machida city council in Tokyo has made a written request [ja] for investigations into regulation regarding Google's Street View Service, which has sparked some negative reactions in Japan [ja]. “My position has been to oppose entirely the targeting,...
Japan: Verbal gaffs and Japanese politics
Blogger Ken writes about verbal gaffs in Japanese politics [ja]. Ken uses the example of a recent statement by Minister Nariaki Nakayama, which the blogger says became a gaff because Nakayama offended both the teachers union and citizen groups opposing expansion of Narita Airport. Ken argues that verbal gaffs are...
Japan: Web becoming Fifth Estate
Ikeda Nobuo at OpenSpectrum Japan reports on two news stories related to copyright law in Japan: the conditional access system B-CAS has been scrapped (and with it so-called “Dubbing Ten”), and on September 18 the plan to extend copyright from 50 to 70 years was also abandoned. Ikeda observes that...
Bahrain: Unwelcome Company in Japan
Bahraini Yagoob is in Japan – with some unwelcome company.
Japan: Street View and Public Space
The debate about Google's new Street View service in Japan, which sparked criticisms following its launch over a perceived lack of cultural sensitivity, has come back into the spotlight with the recent visit to Tokyo by Google vice president Kent Walker, and with reports emerging that the service does not appear to properly distinguish between public and private spaces.
Japan and South Korea: Cross Media Ownership
Niphonese translated some bloggers discussion about the change of regulation on cross media ownership in Japan and its implication on freedom of press by looking into the experience in South Korea.
Japan: Nikkei drops below 10,000 yen
mojix at Zope Junky Nikki picks up news that the Nikkei stock average has slumped below 10,000 yen for the first time in nearly five years [ja], featuring a PDF of a print article from Nikkei Keizai shimbun announcing the drop. mojix writes: “There are good sides to a strong...
Japan: Children and mobile phones
A Japanese parent blogs about their daughter's experience getting her first mobile phone [ja], and the problems involved: the dangers of dating and porn sites, misunderstandings in communication, and constant interruptions during study time. The blogger relates the social distance created by these phones to the shift from traditional sushi...
Japan: Perspective on problems at IBM Japan
Blogger id:higayasuo traces recent problems at IBM Japan to the old guard in the company not understanding modern conditions of the industry [ja], carrying over experience from an age of general-purpose computers to a modern Americanized age of rational production through outsourcing and specialization. Based on this experience, id:higayasuo explains,...
Japan: Newsgraphy and HatenarMaps
With ever-increasing amount of news information making its way onto the Internet every day, the question of how to parse and interpret this information is becoming more and more critical. One Japanese engineer and blogger has proposed two new services, HatenarMaps and Newsgraphy, as a way to overcome this problem through data visualization.
Japan: GLOCOM report on new JICA president Sadako Ogata
The GLOCOM blog has a report (in both English and Japanese) on new JICA president Sadako Ogata's [緒方貞子] presentation Oct. 2nd at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan (FCCJ), which follows on the Oct. 1st consolidation of much of Japan's Official Developmental Assistance (ODA) through the merging of JICA and...