Stories about East Asia from May, 2009
Japan: NHK says no to Takafumi Horie on backstage YouTube video
Former Livedoor chief Takafumi Horie wrote on his blog that NHK, Japan's national public broadcasting organization, rescinded their request for an interview when Horie stated as his terms the right...
South Korea: Roh Moo-hyun dies
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.
China and Taiwan: Support democracy
David explains why Taiwanese should support democracy in China.
Japan: Children's Day
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...
Japan: John Roos to be U.S. Ambassador to Japan
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...
China: A turmoil triggered by T-shirt
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
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...
China: Taobao is toxic and Alibaba has no antidote
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...
Philippines: Storytelling for Hunger Awareness
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.
Taiwan: LiveCast and music for saving rural livelihood
Citizen journalists, activists and artists use different forms of media - LiveCast, written reports and musics- to save rural livelihood and Taiwan's agriculture from destructive government rural policies.
China: Sophie Beach from China Digital Times
Kai Pan from CNreviews interviewed Sophie Beach about the development of China Digital Times.
Wrong definition of Lao in Webster's dictionary
According to Webster's dictionary, Laos is the “thai language of the Lao people.” This is wrong. Blogger JRM writes that Lao is the “official language of the country of Laos”
Indonesia: Army plane crash
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
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...
Myanmar: Facebook campaign for Aung San Suu Kyi
A Facebook page was created by pro-democracy activists who are demanding the release of democracy icon and Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Almost 50,000 people have registered their...
Japan: Harvest Time In Satoyama
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...
South Korea: May 18
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...
China: Future school safety, but not the past
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...
China: The democracy movement since 1989
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...
Sri Lanka: Prabhakaran, The King Maker Is Dead
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...
Japan: Video by Eric Testroete
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]
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