· January, 2010

Stories about East Asia from January, 2010

Vietnam: Football frenzy

  26 January 2010

Football is very popular in Vietnam. Every time Vietnam wins in international competitions, it generates a lot of excitement, and traffic, in big cities.

Japan: Grand Sumo Tournament

  25 January 2010

Godo Chillida published a photo reportage on the final day of the Tokyo Grand Sumo Tournament. The photographer captured intense pictures of the wrestlers and the decisive match.

China: War of Internet Addiction

  25 January 2010

DigiCha introduces an online video called “War of Internet Addiction” which a satire on the government’s attempt to “harmonize” China’s Internet with forced installations of “Green Dam Youth Escort” and the travails of Chinese World of Warcraft players over the last several months.

Japan: Doraemon Jet

  25 January 2010

Pink Tentacle reports on the Japan Airline's anime-themed aircraft, Doraemon Jet.

China: No more dirty joke via SMS

  25 January 2010

According to last week's Xinhuanet report, Mobile China Shanghai branch will start suspending a mobile phone's SMS function if they find the number distribute “vulgar”, “pornographic” and other illegal contents(Details see GVA). Other cities and mobile companies also carry out similar practices since the beginning of 2010. The new policy...

Timor Police Brutality Video

  25 January 2010

Police brutality in Timor-Leste is not new, but getting it on video is. This is something of a “Rodney King” moment for Timor-Leste and its police service.

China’s Orwellian Future

  25 January 2010

John Chan (陳冠中), an author from Hong Kong who is currently living in Beijing, has written a novel entitled The Fat Years: China, 2013 (盛世 – 中國, 2013). The story happens in 2013, when China enters a new era of material prosperity and everyone is happy, while the western world...

China: How does the young generation view Confucius

  24 January 2010

A rumor circulated on the web that all the 2D versions of Avatar have been pulled out of the Chinese cinemas to make way for the domestic movie Confucius. Despite reports like this, government officials quickly denied it. Yet like all rumors, even if wrong, they may contain a kernel...

Bhutan, China: Of Cyber And Border Wars

  22 January 2010

With quiet diplomacy and tact the tiny Himalayan state Bhutan took on giant China over encroachment and border issues recently. The Bhutanese officials and netizens are usually cautious to protest these issues with China, the powerful neighbor, but some netizens are voicing their dissent anonymously or under pseudonyms.

China: The future of mobile media

  22 January 2010

DANWEI has a short Q & A with Lu Gang, co-founder of Kuukie.com and OpenWeb.Asia and chief editor of Mobinode.com, on the future of mobile media.

Japan: Kawaii Ambassadors

  21 January 2010

Harvey blogs about the appointment three Kawaii ambassadors by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The government expects they will increase international understanding of Japan and its people.

Japan: Tweeting Politicians

  21 January 2010

The Twitter application Politter offers lists of tweets from the official accounts of Japanese politicians. It also has an interface for hashtags related to politics. @masamix0417 uses it instead of following the politicians on Twitter. [ja]

About our East Asia coverage

Oiwan Lam
Oiwan Lam is the North East Asia editor. Email her story ideas or volunteer to write.

Mong Palatino
Mong Palatino is the South East Asia editor. Email him story ideas or volunteer to write.