Latest posts by Keiko Tanaka
Is Japan Alone? Survey on Dance Regulations and Clubbing
Fresh off writing a series of posts on dance club regulations in Japan for Tokyo's city life magazine Time Out, James Hadfield is taking a survey on clubbers around the world: In light of the ongoing controversy regarding clubbing in Japan, where clubs continue to be shut down and harassed...
Imagining Japan's Citizen and Community Media in 2020
The use of technology by non-professionals to spread information only came under the spotlight following the Tohoku earthquake of March 2011.
Japan's US Base Plan Hits Snafu With Local Mayor's Re-Election
Susumu Inamine, who opposes a plan to transfer the US airbase from Futenma to Henoko district, a coastal area of his city, was re-elected on January 20.
‘AFTER 25 Conference': Tokyo and Berlin Discuss Creative Culture
As Berlin and Tokyo mark 20 years of friendship as sister cities, representatives of two creative industries, including Chairman of the Club Commission of Berlin Marc Wohlrabe and Takahiro Saito, a lawyer and member of Let's Dance, a consortium that fights against Japan's dance regulations, will come together for the AFTER 25 conference on...
Creating Japanese Food With Ingredients from Crete
Five prominent Japanese chefs and five of their Greek counterparts got together at a hotel in Crete on January 14, 2014 to create ten dishes representative of the respective origins using local products. At the culinary event dubbed “CRETE delicious” [el], Japanese chefs demonstrated how Cretan products can be incorporated...
Japan Scores Well on Internet Freedom Status Report
U.S. based watchdog organization Freedom House compiled a report on Freedom on the Net 2013 and included the report on Japan for the first time. Japan was evaluated as “Free”, where the constitution protects all forms of speech and prohibits censorship, and Internet and digital media freedom are generally well established. For...
Viral Photo of a Giant Squid Found in California is Fake
The doctored image accompanied a fake report from Lightly Braised Turnip, which appears to be a satire website. That didn't stop many Web users from circulating the news as real.
‘Abita’, Animated Short Film About Fukushima Children
“Abita”, an animated short film about Fukushima children who can't play outside because of the radiation risk, delicately illustrates their dreams and realities. The film, produced by Shoko Hara and Paul Brenner, won the award for Best Animated Film at the International Uranium Film Festival in 2013. Shoko Hara, a...
No Girls Allowed at New Cosmology Public School in Japan
A new public school in Japan that will teach students cosmology is open for applications. Enrollment is only open to boys.
‘Hafu’ Film Explores Mixed Race Japanese Identity
Filmmakers explore Japan's under-documented emerging generation of mixed race Japanese who refer to themselves as 'hafu'.
The Faces of Those Affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami
Japanese researchers have published a digital archive of the recovery process of one of the areas hardest hit 2004 tsunami, the Indonesian province of Aceh.
PHOTOS: First Visit to Shinto Shrine of 2014 in Japan
Hatsumōde (初詣 hatsumōde), the first Shinto shrine visit of the New Year, is a common practice among Japanese. Tokyo-based blogger Tokyobling posted a series of photos about the ritual of Hatsumode in Japan.
Top 10 YouTube Videos of 2013 in Japan
RocketNews24 has compiled a list of the top 10 YouTube videos in Japan for the year 2013. The list includes a video uploaded by a popular Japanese idol girl group AKB48, a video of two cute kids showing off their new toys, and a video of a shocking moment of...
7 Amazing Vintage Photos of 19th-Century Japan
Take a look at what life was like in Japan some 150 years ago, thanks to a series of photos that recently entered the public domain.
Japan's Open Data Catalog Launches Beta Version
Data.go.jp, a website that aggregates publicly available data by Ministries and Agencies of the Japanese government, launched its Beta version on December 20, 2013. Datasets by 21 governmental organizations and 567 groups are available under Creative Commons License Attribution 2.1 Japan detailed in the Terms of Use. This comes as a...
Protesters March Against Nuclear Plant's Re-Start on Japan's Kyushu Island
About 1,800 people marched on December 15, 2013 in protest of the re-start of the Sendai Nuclear Power Station [ja], according to the protest organizer. After two years of the plant's operations being suspended, Kyushu Electric Power Company applied for a review in July from the Nuclear Regulation Authority with the intention...
Refuse to Pay Pension Premium? Japan Could Seize Your Assets
The Japan Pension Service has announced that people who refuse to pay the national pension premium could have their assets seized if they still refuse to pay. Japan's young population have been reluctant to pay for national pensions mostly because they believe the system will be broken by the time...
UNESCO Honors Japanese Cuisine as Intangible Cultural Heritage
The United Nations cultural agency UNESCO has officially recognized Japan's traditional cuisine “washoku” as “Intangible Cultural Heritage” among its 14 new listings. Overjoyed after reading the news, Japanese twitter user Komachi jokingly commented that her regular habit is now part of renowned heritage: 私、3日にいっぺんくらいは無形文化遺産作ってる!と言えるわけですね。 「和食」無形文化遺産に登録決定…ユネスコ(読売新聞) – Y!ニュース http://t.co/Fxvh0uoCNO — komachi (@komatchr)...
In Japan, Disaster and a Radio Show Put Refugees On the Agenda
For nearly 10 years Katsuya Soda has worked to bring the refugees issue to the attention of the complacent Japanese public. These days he has some extra help.
1,000 Days Since 2011's Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami
December 4, 2013 marked the thousandth day since a powerful earthquake triggered a tsunami that hit the island of Japan on March 11, 2011, killing more than 15,000 people, devastating parts of the country, and causing a nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. According to a survey conducted last...
Top 4 Buzzwords that People in Japan Couldn't Stop Saying in 2013
"Imadesho", meaning "how 'bout now?!", and "baigaeshi", meaning revenge, are at the top of the list of popular buzzwords in Japan this year.