· May, 2009

Stories about East Asia from May, 2009

Japan: NHK says no to Takafumi Horie on backstage YouTube video

  23 May 2009

Former Livedoor chief Takafumi Horie wrote on his blog that NHK, Japan's national public broadcasting organization, rescinded their request for an interview when Horie stated as his terms the right to videotape the interview and upload it on YouTube. Keita Akai is not surprised, saying that for NHK, allowing unlimited...

South Korea: Roh Moo-hyun dies

  23 May 2009

Todd Thacker from Ohmynews International reported about South Korea former president Roh Moo-hyun's sudden death. Western media mostly assumed that Roh had committed suicide because of corruption scandal.

Japan: Children's Day

  23 May 2009

At Hi, I am Ruther, a travel blog about Japan, two posts (Koinobori and Kabuto and Kashiwamochi) describe [en] some customs and festivals related to the Children`s Day (子供の日, kodomo no hi), celebrated on May 5th.

Japan: John Roos to be U.S. Ambassador to Japan

  22 May 2009

Unexpected appointment of lawyer John Roos as the next U.S. ambassador to Japan: Blogger namekawa01 gives a high evaluation of Roos's close connections with President Obama and speculates that he must have forgone more visible positions in favor of this one, while Koichiro Mizuochi compares this appointment with that of...

China: A turmoil triggered by T-shirt

  22 May 2009

Lawyer Liu Shihui's T-shirt, on which a quote is printed, seems to have the power to attract police and disturb the social order. Below is a partial translation of Liu's blog entry about his experience in Guangzhou.

South Korea: Banning Suicide

  22 May 2009

To counter growing group suicides in the nation, the South Korea government decided to ban keywords related to suicide and block access to Web sites. More from Gusts of Popular Feeling

China: Taobao is toxic and Alibaba has no antidote

  22 May 2009

BloggerInsight from CN Review translated Keso's comment on Alibaba's recent campaign on e-business. The blogger warned the university students to be cautious of the vicious cycle of purely price competition – which has already turned milk into melamine.

Philippines: Storytelling for Hunger Awareness

  21 May 2009

A few years ago, a short film won the public's approval at the 56th Berlin International Film Festival, and to this day, it is still making its rounds through internet, raising awareness on poverty and hunger. Chicken Ala Carte by Ferdinand Dimadura is one of the videos we bring you today about hunger past, present and future.

Indonesia: Army plane crash

  20 May 2009

An Indonesian army plane carrying more than 100 passengers crashed in East Java. Twitter user ari197 comments: “Indonesian soldier is dying not because of war but because of old device/weapons/planes/ships.”

Taiwan: Minister encounters protest at WHA

  20 May 2009

Some Taiwanese students protested against the Taiwanese Health Minister Yeh Ching-chuan (葉金川) who is attending the World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva. The students claimed he was selling out Taiwan by allowing the use of the designation Chinese Taipei at the WHA. The View from Taiwan looks at how the...

Japan: Harvest Time In Satoyama

  19 May 2009

Martin J Frid from Kurashi introduced a video, Harvest Time In Satoyama, which explains the links between satoyama landscapes and food and fuel security. The video is produced by Anne McDonald, Mio Horiuchi, and Toshiya Kai at the United Nations University Kaori Brand at the UNU Media Studio.

South Korea: May 18

  19 May 2009

May 18 is the 29th anniversary of the Gwangju Democratization Movement. Ask a Korean! translated a review on a movie, May 18, which touches upon the media representation of democracy movement in Korea.

China: Future school safety, but not the past

  19 May 2009

David Bandurski from China Media Project looked into the education ministry's recent project on “secondary and primary school safety” and noticed that there was no mention at all of the collapse of shoddily constructed schools in last year’s Wenchuan earthquake.

China: The democracy movement since 1989

  19 May 2009

During the last mother's Day weekend on May 10th, a number of intellectuals in Beijing organized a seminar discussing 20 years of the democracy movement in China. This is a very significant event in breaking the long silence among intellectuals on the June 4th student movement, as well as in...

Sri Lanka: Prabhakaran, The King Maker Is Dead

  18 May 2009

Ajith P. Perera at Dare To Be Different writes about the life of the slain LTTE rebel chief: “Prabhakaran is no more a hero than Hitler or Pol Pot, but he is a legend that will live on. I am sure for centuries to come mothers use his name to...

Japan: Video by Eric Testroete

  18 May 2009

Eric Testroete has posted ‘This is Japan!’, a fantastic video using hundred of images from a three week stay in Japan. [via watashi to tokyo]

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.