Italian living in Tokyo, between March 2009 and September 2011 I was the Japanese language co-editor for Global Voices with Tomomi Sasaki.
Latest posts by Scilla Alecci from July, 2010
Japan: How to Enjoy Fireworks Displays
After a video on Cherry Blossom Viewing [en], the team of Legon produced an instructional animated video on How to Enjoy Fireworks Displays (Hanabi) [en] in Japan. Both in English and Japanese, it illustrates the basics of the firework festivals that often light up the summer night sky in Japan.
Japan: Mob collusion soils the sumo ring
After the National Police decided to crack down on the connections between crime syndicates and sumo wrestlers, sumo fans question the image of sumo as a sacred sport.
Japan: Rice paddy art
Pink Tentacle published several pictures [en] of wonderful examples of rice crop art, “which is created by carefully arranging different colors of rice plants in the field.”
Japan: Basic English skills, a must for today's workers
In a post titled English necessary for today’s Japanese workers? [en] Adumu at Mutantfrog reflects on a recent debate on the state of English in Japan.
Japan: A short documentary-post on Tuvalu
Photographer Ken Umemoto dedicates a post [ja] to Tuvalu [en] and the disastrous effects of human intervention and climate change on the island. The post also includes fascinating “auteur photos”,
Japan: Artistic manhole covers
Jamaipanese reviews [en] Drainspotting, a book dedicated to the artistic manhole covers located all over Japan.
Japan: Manga blogging on Mexico
Mexico based Ohtoh Ryoko manga-blogs [ja] on her Mexican daily life and the unfamiliar customs of the country. The main character is a little girl with pigtails, who wears a yellow luchador (wrestler) mask.
Japan: A tryst in the starry sky
Look at the sky on the night of July 7 for this is the only night in the year when the two stars Vega and Altair are destined to be reunited, or so the legend foretells.
Japan: Bits of Beat Takeshi's autobiography
In a post titled Kitano delivers a beat-down to today's Japan, Ryuganji translated some excerpts from an autobiography of director Takeshi Kitano [en], that will be released in Japan on July 7.
Japan: Party leaders campaign for upper house election
Buddhika Weerasinghe uploaded pictures of Japan’s main party leaders [en] addressing speeches ahead of an upper house election, that will be held on July 11.
Japan: Tech-savvy freelancers break down the monopoly in information
While in many countries around the world ordinary citizens learn to take advantage of the new technologies to make their voices heard, in Japan it's the free-lance journalists who take up the battle against establishment media from which they are determined to remain apart.
Japan: Hashima Island, the abandoned island
Craig Schmeizer at Make A History wrote a post on Hashima Island [en] (also dubbed Warship Island), a small island in the south of Japan that was abandoned in 1974. According to the blogger, it was “a center of a major mining complex owned by Mitsubishi Corporation” until it was...
Japan: The art of cutting paper
Japanstyle dedicates a post [en] to kamikiri, one of the traditional crafts that uses paper and that is also a stage performance. Attached to the post a video where popular kamikiri artist Hayashiya Imamaru creates splendid silhouettes with scissors and paper.
