Stories about Japan from October, 2008
Japan: Photos that evoke the senses
Have a look at Sinsoku VIP [神速VIP] for an amazing list of photos that evoke the senses [ja].
Japan: Google, the anti-social corporation
In a post entitled “Google, the anti-social corporation” [ja], former Mainichi journalist and writer/blogger Hiroyuki Fujishiro [藤代裕之] at Gatonews picks up on an ongoing series of posts [ja] by blogger and security researcher Hiromitsu Takagi [高木浩光] criticizing Google's handling of the roll-out of its Street View service in Japan. Fujishiro...
Japan: 1st Keitai Photo Awards
id:heimin posts pictures he's taken with his keitai [mobile phone] camera over the last year [ja], including: shots before and after he shaved his head, close-ups of cutting nostril hair, snapshots of meals he's eaten, cats and dogs, the Hanshin Tigers, manga and ice cream. The popularity of Keitai Shosetsu...
Japan: Heiankyo Alien
mojix at Zope Junky Nikki writes [ja] about Heiankyo Alien [平安京エイリアン], a video game developed by the University of Tokyo's Theoretical Science Group in 1979. mojix explains that the game, which consists of dropping aliens into holes in Heian-kyo (ancient Kyoto), can now be downloaded and played without even installing...
Japan: Jiyugaoka Street Exhibition 2008
Space Journal has pictures of an ongoing street exhibition in Jiyūgaoka (Tokyo) held today and tomorrow (Oct. 4-5), designed by architecture group g86 [ja]. The show, located on Shirakaba street next to Jiyūgaoka station, is a “virtual exhibition” featuring QR codes as a “window” to various works by artists and...
Japan: Pictures from Hatena Haiku
id:y_arim at Electric Lover Hinagiku collects together pictures he has posted over the past two months at Hatena Haiku [ja] and adds short comments to each. Pictures feature anime characters Asuka Langley Soryu and Rei Ayanami, and a figure reminiscent of anime Weiß Kreuz.
Japan: The Future of Web Community and Contents
Blogger and writer Chiki Ogiue [荻上チキ] at seijotcp announces that the 2008 Young Critics Summit on “The Future of Web Community and Contents” [ja] will be held on Sunday Oct. 12 from 14.00 – 16.00 (doors open 13.30) at Sanseido Bookstore [ja] in Kanda, Tokyo. The summit will feature three...
Japan: The mysteries of Kourakuen
Blogger id:kokorosha writes about the many mysteries [ja] of Kourakuen [幸楽苑], a chain of ramen restaurants in Japan.
Japan: Day of Sake
Ad Blankestijn from Japan Navigator blogs about the Japanese tradition in brewing new Sake on October 1, the Day of Sake.
Japan: Robot Fair
Edo from Pink Tectacle blogs photos of old and new robots at the CEATEC 2008 home electronics trade show.
Japan: Cirque du Soleil ZED
Blogger sky2525 posts photos of her night out [ja] at Cirque du Soleil ZED in Tokyo on Oct. 1st, as well as some pictures of cats doing a few circus tricks of their own.
Japan: HubMedia
Blogger smashmedia introduces a Japanese online publishing site [ja] called HubMedia [ja] (ハブメディア), a project to showcase quality edited contents on the web, with revenue coming from advertisements and small-lot publication sales. HubMedia will focus on niche markets with high-quality contents and on realizing continuous communication between writers and readers....
Japan: Who can you call about Google Street View?
Blogger Hiromitsu Takagi [高木浩光] takes up the story [ja] of Google vice president Kent Walker's Q&A at a press conference in Tokyo on Sept. 29th, highlighting statements [ja] by Google Japan director Kōichirō Tsujino [辻野晃一郎] claiming that people who would like images from the company's Street View service to be...
Japan: Major papers agree on mutual consignment deal
Hiroyuki Fujishiro [藤代裕之] at Gatonews comments on reports [ja] that Japan's two largest dailies, the Yomiuri shimbun and the Asahi shimbun, have agreed on a mutual consignment deal that, by 2012, will consolidate the printing end of the news production process. The two papers will also assist in printing the...
Japan: Being a Geisha in the blog age
One of the most ancient professions in Japan, geisha are masters of all kinds of skills, from music to poetry, and from traditional dance to conversation. But today's geishas do more than this. Just as geisha in ancient times noted down everyday happenings and thoughts in their diaries, modern geisha artists today write diaries as well. Nowadays, however, they are also able to share them with their clients and fans, by posting them at their blogs.
Japan: Key issues of general election
Niphonese translated a blog post from Economist-blogger Kazuhide Uekusa on three key issues of the forthcoming general election.
Japan: Photos of Shizuoka's Secluded Omori Station
At The Wonderful World of Stations, blogger naka_premium showcases photos [ja] of Omori Station in Kawanehon, Shizuoka Prefecture (Japan). The blogger explains that people used to come to Omori Station to do construction work nearby, but that work has ended and the station, which has no houses or roads nearby,...
Japan: Part-time University Teachers among Working Poor
At A Prisoner in the Cave, id:eirene describes a documentary on Tokyo Television exploring the situation of working poor among part-time teachers in Japanese universities [ja]. The documentary introduces the lives of two PhD-holding part-time university teaching staff living on a salary of 100,000 yen/month [around 1000 USD], highlighting differences...
