Jose Manuel Tesoro · January, 2006

Latest posts by Jose Manuel Tesoro from January, 2006

China: More Crackdowns

  31 January 2006

Danwei summarizes the recent crackdowns on print publications in China that characterized the end of the Year of the Rooster. But there is a note of hope: “Yet as we enter the Year of the Dog, things are very different than they were even a year ago. The Internet has...

Indonesia: Deaf Driving

  31 January 2006

Indonesia Anonymous becomes curious about what effects the loud noise Indonesia's motorcycle rickshaws, a.k.a. “bajaj,” have on their drivers. It's called “noise-induced hearing loss.”

Japan: Jellyfish vs. Whale

  31 January 2006

Mutant Frog Travelogue suggests that rather than hunt whales, Japan ought to focus on snaring jellyfish which have been multiplying in its waters.

Japan, Korea: Grateful Colonies

  31 January 2006

Oranckay rebuts an article in the Japan Times that argues, among other things, that Japanese colonial rule benefited Korea. “It’s one thing to know that mentioning “Japan’s contribution to Korea’s modernization… only creates anger in Korea,” but it’s another to understand that one of the reasons it angers Koreans so...

Philippines: Rent Control

  31 January 2006

Another Hundred Years Hence, a blog by an urban planner, blames artificially low rents for the degeneration of the Philippines’ capital city: “Want to know why Metro Manila is in a state of disrepair? Five decades of rent control. Want to know why we have squatter colonies? Rent control. Want...

Taiwan: What's in a Name?

  31 January 2006

Pinyin News puzzles over — at length — the mystery of the ‘g’ in famous Taiwan director Ang Lee's name, which seems to be properly romanized as “An.” A commenter provides one answer: An Li or Li An sounded too feminine to him.

China: Behind the Scenes

  30 January 2006

EastSouthWestNorth translates an article written last year about Chinese director Chen Kaige's expensive historical epic The Promise, which was scheduled to open before Lunar New Year this year. Like many epics filmed in China these days, the story occurs in a ravishingly beautiful natural setting — in this case, Shangri-La...

Indonesia: Property Rights

  30 January 2006

Aco at Cafe Salemba discusses property rights as a way to comment on the current controversy in Indonesia over a local version of Playboy. The economist-blogger suggests that the magazine's opponents, rather than demonstrating, apply an economic solution: buy the magazine, and then burn it.

Japan, Taiwan: Cute Culture

  30 January 2006

An article about Japan's cultural obsession with cute things leads the leaky pen to write on Taiwan's own version of “cute culture.”

Korea: Singing Rain

  30 January 2006

The Asia Pages is mystified about the apparent rising popularity of South Korean pop singer “Rain” in the United States.

Philippines: PCIJ's Plagiarism

  30 January 2006

The problem of people packaging content created by bloggers for profit is becoming a serious one. The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) published and sold a book lifting comics drawn by blogger Happy Vergara. Happy asked another blogger, the Sassy Lawyer, for advice. PCIJ apologized (but not on its...

Singapore: Baby Makers

  30 January 2006

Illusio discusses the release of the official figures for the 2005 birth rate in Singapore. It increased slightly above 1% — a big deal for the country, which has experienced declining birth rates in recent years.

The Year of the Dog Comes to the Rest of East Asia

  29 January 2006

“Da Hong Deng Long” (Big Red Lantern) by Yining Zhang Blogs all around East and Southeast Asia have gone grey this past weekend as many, particularly those in the overseas Chinese community, celebrate the Lunar New Year. As part of Global Voices Online's continuing celebration of the arrival of the...

Singapore: “Cheering” Conservatism

  27 January 2006

Heavenly Sword “sings” the praises of a conservative Singapore. “What I want to say is really this: that Singapore will always be conservative. And the proxy that I have used in this short essay is the censorship of expressions of sexuality. Sex, lust, and liberal attitudes must not be tolerated...

Japan: Locked Out

  27 January 2006

Mutant Frog Travelogue fumes at being blocked from accessing content from the Japanese download sites: “Listen up, Japan: I would gladly PAY for a lot of this stuff! PAY! MONEY! And I know there are thousands if not millions of Japanese and non-Japanese people who would similarly pony up. So...

Indonesia: Inner Circle

  27 January 2006

Yosef Ardi begins a promising series of posts profiling the inner circle of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, beginning with “SBY”‘s seven official spokespersons.

China: Center of the Universe

  27 January 2006

Musing Under The Tenement Palm takes issue with a Reuters headline that conflates ancient Central Asia with China on a story about ancient cliff paintings in Altay. “Altay lies in Xinjiang, where East Asian and Central Asian cultures have blended, clashed and overlapped for centuries. Too often these are treated...

China, North Korea: SEZ Who?

  27 January 2006

Matthew Stinson has serious doubts about North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's apparent toying with China-style Special Economic Zones (SEZs): “The larger problem is that Kim is unlikely to allow the kind of innovation in development that would make the North’s SEZs a real success. Why? Because doing so not only...

China: What's Truth Good For

  26 January 2006

Beijing Loafer (formerly Chinafool) translates a comment (ZH) from a Chinese blogger to his post on the contrast between China's ideological past and its materialist present: “I’d like to say, that our generation has been ruthlessly deformed into panda bears. I hope the next generation will be able to openly...