Stories about East Asia from July, 2007
Japan: Protester nearly killed at Henoko Bay
An activist protesting environmental surveys currently being conducted in Henoko Bay (Okinawa) in preparation for the construction of a new military base was reportedly nearly killed when government-contracted divers attacked him. While the Defense Facilities Administration Agency (DFAA) denies the incident, the activist himself, pastor Taira Natsume, released a statement...
Philippines: I am not Plastic
Cathy introduces her new venture that reduces plastic waste by creating their own range of fashion conscious reusable shopping bags. “Our initial step is to get Filipino shoppers into the habit of refusing plastic bags when they shop. Our next step is to create even more bags which will have...
Korea: Remember 5.18
History seems unforgettable. Especially tragedies. A movie that just opened in Korea brings up a piece of history, the Kwangju Uprising or Kwangju Democracy Movement (known in Korea as 5.18), and has been touted as a film Koreans should watch. The film touches on issues of patriotism, the plight of...
Madagascar: Community, Identity and the Malagasy diaspora
As it is sometimes the case for sub-Saharan African nations, the Malagasy diaspora carries a substantial weight of the cultural, political and virtual activities related to Madagascar. In the World Wide Web, the bandwidth limitation is a major encumbrance to a larger participation of bloggers from Madagascar in the global...
Hong Kong: Mainstream Media VS Cyber bullying
Erynnyes from Those were the days commented on the recent cyber bullying case and pointed out that the blogger and editor Zhou Li had also made unfair comments on Mr. Nike, as she drew groundless correlation between the uploading of Japanese AV to the increase of youth sex crime. The...
China: Hiding Up The Shirtless Migrant Workers?
Joel Martinsen from DANWEI translated a discussion about the anxiety that shirtless migrant workers (who do all the construction work) would affect the image of Olympic in Beijing.
China: Reporter Recieved Death Threat
Pang Jia-ming wrote in his blog that he had received some death threats through mobile text messages and e-mails. According to another blogger, Wang Kei qin, Pang is an investigative reporter from China Economic Times (zh). In order to show support to Pang, Wang reposted Pang's message.
Hong Kong: Union Organizer Arrested
In response to a call from the International Trade Union Confederation（ITF), unionists in Hong Kong organized a peaceful protest at the Iran Consulate in Hong Kong against the illegal arrest of Iranian union leader Mansour Osanloo in July 13. However, according to coolloud citizen report, after two weeks, the organizer...
Japan: Sanja Matsuri suspension
Anpontan has posted an overview of the reasons behind this year's suspension of the main event of a three-day festival, which he explains are connected to the increasing presence of yakuza, who have “taken to wandering from festival to festival in Tokyo lately looking for action and dominating events.” He...
Bangla blogs discuss evolution – Of life, blogs and women power
What is blogging all about? Is it about sharing one's daily life and/or thoughts with the rest of the world? Is it then an autobiography of sorts? Can a blog be deemed as literature? Suman Rehman, who labels himself as an ‘uploader’ rather than a true blue blogger, set the...
Japan: Smoke, Fire, and Fault Lines
Matt Dioguardi at Liberal Japan has posted a couple of round-ups (here and here) on the crisis at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant following the recent earthquake.
Indonesia: Air Safety Compromised
Indi is blogs about a plane he took recently where the overwing emergency doors were blocked by seats. Usually, seats are not placed next the emergency exit to keep the area clear just in case there is a need to open the emergency doors.
Cambodia: Guide to Phnom Penh Restaurants
Phnomenon posts his list of top 13 restaurants in Cambodian capital city Phnom Penh
Malaysia: 70's India and Current Malaysia
South East Asia based Indian blogger Rana find parallels in Malaysia's crackdown on bloggers and Indira Gandhi's muzzling of Indian press in the 1970s.
Hong Kong: Sorry, you have no rights to know
The Television and entertainment licensing authory (TELA) has given out 17 advices in the book fair (one of them is the “Love Mythology”), citizen reporter, Ip Iam Chong from inmediahk.net, called up TELA and Trade and Economic Development Bureau to find out which were the 17 books. It takes him...
Japan: Finger Vein Money
Edo from Pink Tentacle reports on the newly developed “finger vein money” system, which verifies a person's identity by reading the pattern of blood vessels in his or her fingers.
Japan: Memories of Internment in the USSR
James from Japan Probe reports on a multi-lingual website that displays the drawing of a Japanese soldier, Kiuchi Nobuo, on his memories of the World War II.
Hong Kong: Miss Zhou PK Mister Nike
ESWN has translated the background of the cyber bullying case of Miss Zhou by Mister Nike's fans. Nike is known as the God of Adult Videos.
Hong Kong: King of Kwoloon Pass Away
Big sister from Life is but an empty dream… blogs about the King's life. He is also a Mr. Tsang who cliamed he owned the land in Kwoloon district by drawing graffeti in the street (zh). The blogger said he is the pioneer in local civil disobedience. erynnyes from Those...
China: Immigrants and sea
Maryannodonnell from Shenzhen fieldnotes blogs the opening ceremony for a documentary “immigrants and sea” which is about cultural life in Latin American Coastal cities.
Hidden Message To The Burmese Junta Published In MyanmarTimes Newspaper
An ad appeared in Monday's edition of Myanmar Times talking about Myanmar's tourism and its appeal to tourists from Scandinavia . The normal looking ad actually had a hidden message targeted at the ruling junta in Myanmar. Myanmar bloggers posted their reaction to the ad.
About our East Asia coverage
Oiwan Lam is the North East Asia editor. Email her story ideas or volunteer to write.
Nevin Thompson is the Japan editor. Email him story ideas or volunteer to write.
