Stories about East Asia from November, 2007
Philippines: Media on Suicide
Philippine Commentary looks at the media-led stampede of “jumping to conclusions” on the suicide by a 12 year old girl.
Cambodia: Blog Award
The Open Forum of Cambodia is announcing a blog award.
Costa Rica: The Arrival of China
Costa Rica recently established formal political and economic relations with global power China, which led to the dropping of ties with Taiwan. As a result, investment and trade between the two nations have begun and has been impulsed after the passed Free Trade Agreement with US. National and international bloggers report on the progress.
China: Golf Culture in University
Xueyong criticizes the golf culture in China university (zh). The blogger notices that for other countries, students enjoy sports that stresses physical competition, such as footballs and basketball, while golf is a showing off of class status.
Japan: 5 Foreigners Kicked Out
James from Japan Probe has an update on the finger-printing immigration policy in Japan.
China: Schoolmate Webites
Lui Ren blogs about his experience in a local SNS website called xiaonei.com. There are so far 2000 universities registered in the website. The blogger notices that there are 22,595 Anhui University alumni registered in xiaonei network while the university only has a population of 26,994 (zh).
China: Signature for Operation
A pregnant woman was sent to the Beijing hospital. Even though she didn't have any money, the hospital was willing to give a free operation as she and her unborn baby were in a critical condition. However, her husband refused to sign the operation paper, eventually the woman and the...
Japan: Kids these days
What do you do when you've had enough of young girls sitting on the floor of the train, talking on their phone and acting like it's their home, when meanwhile you've had a gruelling day at work and just want to get through? One 35-year-old man in Yokohama decided that he'd had enough and kicked the 17-year-old girl sitting and chatting with friends beside him. Bloggers had mixed opinions about the incident, but the majority seemed to be sympathetic.
Hong Kong: Street Market Festival
The last open space wet market in Central Hong Kong is about to vanish because of urban development. Citizen reporter gumpz reports on the recent street market festival for saving the space. He also pointed out that under the existing urban redevelopment plan, with the rise in office and commercial...
China: Yangcheng Lake's Hairy Crab
Imagethief blogs about his recent trip to Yangcheng lake, a place where hairy crab is planted.
China: Child Labour?
The Opposite End of China criticizes the Congressional Executive Commission on China for putting cotton picking under the child labour section.
China: Dongbei Tiger Eaten by Other Tigers in the Zoo
Yao ronggui urges for more attention to the news about a Dongbei Tiger being killed and eaten by other four tigers in the Zoo (zh). Obviously the tigers were very hungry. The blogger also posts the news report video.
China: Arrested and Beaten for Being a Poor Peasant Worker
A peasant worker was arrested and beaten by local police in Guangzhou because he was dressed poorly. The story was first posted at hqj's blog and Liu Xiao yuan pointed out that similar cases happen all over China. The poor are not protected in the present system.
Vietnam: Why Preya Loves Vietnam
Preya on why she loves the Vietnamese capital city Hanoi.
Japan: Joi Ito on the Tokyo Metro
Joi Ito ponders about “train accident” suicides in Japan in a post entitled Life and death on the Tokyo metro.
Myanmar: Reliable News
Jotman writes “In Burma your only reliable sources of information are electronic.”
Myanmar: Rapper Arrested
Rapper arrested for displaying a religious tattoo at a concert and the crowd riots.
Japan: Introduction to the Social Web in Japanese
Blogger Akimoto recommends a new book about social networking [ja] by Japanese writer/translator Namerikawa Umihiko (who blogs at Social Web Rambling [ja]). The title of the book is Introduction to the Social Web (ソーシャル・ウェブ入門) and, according to Akimoto, it is easy to read even for beginners.
China: Bullog International
The Chinese Blog Service Provider Bullog has been closed for more than a month by now and they are yet to wait for the official approval document for re-opening the site. To save time, the Bullog international has been launch. Danwei has a translation of their launching note.
Japan: Panties Pulling Game
Lee from Tokyo Times blogs about the panties pulling game.
Japan: Buzzwords 2007
Edo from Pink Tentacle blogs 60 buzzwords which has been nominated as Japanese buzzword of the year (2007) by local publishers. Among the 60 nominees, a panel of judges will select the top 10.
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