Stories about Japan from May, 2009
Japan: What a marker can do
Minimal, beautiful drawings of women by Yutaka Onozawa at his blog 11 nines.
Japan: Opposition leader's resignation
At his blog, essayist Takeyo Shimura (志村建世) discusses [ja] about the resignation of Japan's opposition leader Ichirō Ozawa (小沢一郎).
Japan: Virtual consolation service
Serkan Toto from Asiajin introduces a virtual consolation service in Japan. The website would praise the user according to their profile information.
Japan: Business models of social media
Fumi Yamazaki looks into the various business models of social media in Japan.
Japan: Motion graphics videos
GilCrows suggests that motion graphics is drawing attention on the Japanese video sharing website Niko Niko Douga [ja]. In the post, also a ranking of the best videos uploaded to NND. (The movie Ukiyo Hakkei (浮世捌景)is also available on youtube)
Japan: For the Price of a Plane Ticket…?
Recently, an initiative by the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare offering to cover the travel expenses for unemployed nikkei nationals who wish to return to their home countries has been causing a stir.
Japan: Japanese electro-pop and clubs
If you are interested in “Tokyo & Japan's clubs, electro-pop, and Shibuya-kei-related scenes”, check out Chipple.net (in English): a “Japanese music, movie release and event announcement blog”.
Japan: Doctor shortage, the medical system in crisis
Together with the economic crisis the shortage of doctors (医師不足, ishi busoku in Japanese) is becoming more and more urgent in Japan. As a Fire and Disaster Management Agency survey pointed out in 2007, the causes are the uneven distribution of the doctors mainly settled in urban areas and the...
Japan: On Takiji's “Cannery Ship”
‘The “Boom” was Manufactured and Real’ – ikjeld.com offers an online edition of Norma Field's “Commercial Appetite and Human Need: The Accidental and Fated Revival of Kobayashi Takiji's Cannery Ship” (published in the Asia-Pacific Journal) on how and why Takiji's pillar of Japanese proletarian literature hit it off with the...
Japan: Tsukiji Fish Market
Check out Davewalsh's precious photos of the tuna auctions and of the whale meat shop, at the Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market (or Tsukiji Fish Market).
Japan: Fooling Gun Radio
A new internet radio is born: Fooling Gun Radio [ja]. A project started in mid-April by the Japanese grad students Foo-san and Gun-san, with the help of other two colleagues, Bluman and Hihhi, Fooling Gun Radio aims to present some everyday life topics under a new and fresh perspective. Twice...
