Stories about East Asia from May, 2006
Japan: Love, death and money
Japundit‘s JP summarizes the details in one of the hottest news stories in Japan right now, one “that involves deception, betrayal, greed, murder and many of the other trappings of a soap opera” and revolves around 45 million yen, a dead Japanese man and his Filipina beneficiary. “I saw her...
China: Destitution inspires art
Guangzhou-based Supernaut artist-blogger Frances D'Ath finds inspiration for her death-themed works in the killings and violence which have taken place over the past year in clashes between villagers and Communist authorities in several small villages around southern China's Guangdong province in her post ‘云浮, 汕尾, 太石 and other holiday places.’...
South Korea: Chinese labor unattractive
A post by James J. Na on The Korea Liberator blog looks at a decrease in Korean manufacturers doing business in China as labor conditions in the Communist state continue to improve, and costs rise. “They should do what the Chinese do already,” says Na: “go to Vietnam instead. And,...
China: June fourth buildup
Chinese authorities get a little anxious around this time every year, says Celia at China Activist Weekly, and this year is no different.
Special Indonesia Earthquake Blog
The helps and donations which come from around the globe on the 6.2 richter scale earthquake in Yogyakarta, Central Java, Indonesia have been heartening. Indonesians outside Yogyakarta also watch the post-earthquake news very closely some of them a bit confused as to how to make donation and to which institution...
Global Food Blog Report
#1: Viaggi & Sapori, an Italian living in Sweden, goes home in Venice for the weekend. She was invited to a wedding of a friend: Matrimonio al profumo di muggheto. You Will LOVE every photo and description of the menu, everything looks and sounds incredibly delicious! #2: Peru Food reviews...
Indonesia: Earthquake in Java
Fatih Sayud has a post on the earthquake in Indonesia. The 6.2 magnitude earthquake hit Java island just after dawn and caused the death of around 3000 people.
Vietnam: Visiting Saigon
The blogger at Vietnamese God visits Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) and compares it to Hanoi – the city where he lives. “Each time I come here it brings me a different feeling. It seems always new and things are changing very quickly which is good. I love wandering around...
Philippines: Ethical Question
Blogging Bugs has stopped asking students studying accounting a particular ethical question because she fears the answer might be something she may not want to hear.
Indonesia: Using Religion for Violence
Unspun explains why it is both heartening and depressing at the same time to see Indonesia's major Muslim organisation asking the president to crack down on thugs who use religion to justify violence.
Philippines: Wickedly Sweet Filipino
The blogger at Manilastreetwalker introduces “wickedly-sweet” Filipinos he encounters in his travels in Spain.
Malaysia: Corruption in High Places
Bridget in Malaysia talks about Malaysian politicians and their confidence in running scams. She gives a recent example of a member of parliament who asked the Malaysian Customs to “close one eye” and let in an illegal consignment of logs from Indonesia to Malaysia
East Timor: More Violence
Factions continue to fight with each other in East Timor . The blogger at Diligence, in his post titled Another Bad Day, mentions this incident that took place on Thursday, 25th May The UN released details of the casualties from an encounter between FDTL soldiers and the police after army...
Taiwan: Ten years of democracy
A post earlier this week commemorates what Politics from Taiwan blogger David sees as ten years of democracy on the island off China's eastern coast: “By my reckoning, today marks the 10th anniversary of Taiwan's democracy. On 20th May 1996 Lee Teng-hui gave this speech at his inauguration. The election...
China: Merchant life
A post today on Raymond Zhou's Not only movies blog looks at the lives of the largest group of foreigners in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou's expatriate community: African and Arab traders.
China: Photos of churches
For a country ruled by Communists, China has its fair share of churches—eleven in the Southern Chinese city of Guangzhou alone, as photoblogged today at Frances D'Ath's Supernaut: “Guangzhou is home to at least eleven notable historic churches, built between 1850 and the early 20th century, but of these, 石室圣心教堂...
Taiwan: China threat growing
Although no clear timeline has been set by Beijing, an invasion of Taiwan is not a matter of ‘if,’ says political analyst-blogger Confidential Reporter at China Confidential, but when: “Notice we said ‘when,’ not if, because it is becoming increasingly clear that unless Taipei eventually, well, surrenders to Beijing, there...
North Korea: Foreign bureau opens
International news agency Associated Press has opened a bureau in the North Korean capitol of Pyongyang, blogs Asiapundit‘s myrick, making it the third to do so after China's Xinhua and Russia's Tass: “It will be interesting to see what sort of copy the local staff will produce for AP. But...
China: Technorati learns Chinese
Welcome news on Danwei today of Technorati's announcement of a partnership with public relations firm Edelman which will see an increase of the blog aggregator's services to include five new languages. While Chinese is one of the languages on the list, a focus on mainland users brings with it some...
Taiwan: Can't stop blogging
“[T]he Net has taken over my life,” decided prominent English-language The View from Taiwan blogger Michael Turton last Sunday, “and I need to regain control. So expect a drastic drop in posting.” The drop didn't last long as there is a long, new post today.
China: Migrant laborer shortage
The change of the labor market is one of the subjects China-based blogger-correspondent Fons Tuinstra tracks regularly at China Herald, and a post today looks at a newly-released study which offers, if not new insights, at least a wealth of useful demographics.