Scilla Alecci · April, 2009

Latest posts by Scilla Alecci from April, 2009

Japan: Tunisians in Japan

  27 April 2009

Blogger kuskusu, whose husband is Tunisian, makes some observations about the Tunisian people living in Japan. Dividing them into two categories, she observes that, since 9/11, immigration laws in Japan have become more severe and illegal Tunisian residents are very few nowadays. While many of them come to Japan as...

Japan: The “anime” business

  26 April 2009

Hiromichi Yasuda (増田弘道), production director of the anime production company Simple d'essai [ja] and author of Anime Bijinesu ga Wakaru (アニメビジネスがわかる, lit. Understanding the Anime Business), constantly updates his blog [ja] with news and reviews of books about the anime business world in Japan.

Japan: An Oscar to “Okuribito” (Departures)

  22 April 2009

For the first time a Japanese movie, Okuribito (or Departures), has been awarded the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, over the French “The Class” and the Israeli animated documentary “Waltz With Bashir”. Directed by Yôjiro Takita, Okuribito is based on the novel Nôkanfû Nikki (納棺夫日記, lit. Diary of an undertaker)...

Japan: The SHADO Collective

  19 April 2009

Photoreporter Noriyuki Aida (会田法行) presents the SHA-DO Collective (写道・写真家集団). The group comprising Aida-san and other four photographers based in Tokyo — the Japanese Yasuhiro Ogawa, the Greek Androniki Christodoulou, the Spanish David Coll Blanco and the German Eric Rechsteiner — intends to provide “five specific photographic approaches focusing mainly on...

Japan: CB2, the child robot

  13 April 2009

On Pink Tentacle, updated news about CB2, the Child Robot With Biomimetic Body. The robot, already presented to the public in 2007 by the researchers of Osaka University, is said to have developed socials skills by recording human expressions via eye cameras. According to Professor Minoru Asada, within the next...

Japan: Filipino girl sees her parents deported

  11 April 2009

All are equal before the law and in Japan, foreigners without a legal permit to stay must leave the country. Deportation is assured for any illegal immigrant. This is what the Calderons are heading for. Arlan and Sarah Calderon, two Filipino citizens, illegally resident in Japan since the early 90s,...

Japan: The best remedies for hay fever

  8 April 2009

id: Fromdusktildawn sums up [ja] the best items and treatments against hay fever (花粉症, kafunsho). The blogger illustrates the pollen structure and the allergens that cause the hay fever through graphs and microscope images, and accurately reports on the different masks, vacuum cleaners and air filters purchasable in Japan.

Japan: Bullying at school, the parents’ point of view

  5 April 2009

Ijime – the Japanese word for “bullying” – is still a worrying social phenomenon in Japan, despite the “latest” surveys published by the Japanese Ministry of Education [pdf, ja] (no data after 2007 is available) appearing to show how the cases of bullying at school have decreased by 7.1% in later years...

Japan: A food tale

  1 April 2009

Greenz.jp, a bilingual internet media source “dedicated to promoting a green economy and a sustainable society”, presents the illustrated book Tabemonogatari (たべものがたり, lit. A food tale). The book is part of the project Think the Earth and it explains the importance of food and many allied and concerning issues through...