Latest posts by Tomomi Sasaki
Japan: “Investigations in Suburban Tokyo”
Chris Berthelsen from a-small-lab posted his slides for a workshop titled “Transforming Neighbourhoods – Tokyo/Berlin“, where he investigates the city of Tokyo for hints of “usable cities”.
Japan: “100 English Dreams” by Christiana Aretta
100 English Dreams is a visual storytelling project by Christiana Aretta in support of the JET program, in which she asked her Japanese elementary school students, “Do you think you will use English in the future and why?”.
Japan: Photography Project ‘Yamanote Loop’
Steve from the Fwdmovement site has kicked off a photography project called Yamanote Loop. The project will cover each of the 29 stations in Tokyo's JR Yamanote Line, starting with Mejiro Station.
Japan: Hiring research talent from abroad
In “No choice but need to hire from abroad?“, Sibylle Ito outlines how some Japanese companies in different sectors are taking a multinational approach to supplement research and product development power.
Japan: Web Startups Present at WISH 2010
The second edition of the web industry event WISH was held on August 28th, and hundreds gathered to hear a panel discussion by industry leaders and 14 presentations by startup services.
Japan: Anime Director Satoshi Kon's Last Message
Anime director Satoshi Kon died of pancreatic cancer on August 24th, at the age of 46. Kon's final message that was posted to his website resonated with fans around the world that mourn his passing.
Japan: Photos by Astronaut Soichi Noguchi
The Slick blog is thrilled [ja] that a selection of photos by astronaut Soichi Noguchi will be published as an iPhone/iPad application. As @Astro_Soichi, Noguchi posted more than 600 photos to Twitter from space.
Japan: Hikikomori as a global issue
News that the Japanese word hikikomori was included in the newest edition of the Oxford Dictionary of English prompted some bloggers to think of English equivalents of the word. Perhaps “shut-in”, one blogger offers. Hikikomori – Social withdrawal in Japan, Hiroshi Tomishige's blog about his experiences with hikikomori and thoughts...
Japan: Second oldest man actually not alive
Discovery that the second oldest man in Japan, at 111 years of age, has actually been dead for around 30 years has been fodder for many incredulous and humorous responses in the Japanese blogosphere and 2channel. Here's Mr. Salaryman's (English) contribution – “The secret of the high life expectancy in...
Japan: JET Program in danger of being cut
Amidst cost-cutting pressure, the government-run JET (Japan Exchange & Teaching) Program is in danger of being cut. Many JET alumni are speaking up, such as Bahia, who explains how the program provides essential foreign exposure and helps improve English proficiency. The Jetwit site provides background details. The 23 year old...
Japan: Is it wrong to climb Mount Fuji empty-handed?
If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it matter if it made a sound or not when the tree was doing its own thing? A Japanese blogger ponders mountains, morals, and messages in a Japanese post titled "Is it wrong to climb Mount Fuji empty-handed?"
Wikileaks’ Japan data on Afghanistan
Richard Smart at the Tokyo Digital Journalism blog posted a summarized list of Wikileaks’ Japan data on Afghanistan. Raw data can be found on his blog.
Japan: Abandoned Building Clock
@MaripoGoda crowd sourced Flickr photos to build Haikyo Tokei, which shows a different photo of broken clocks in abandoned buildings to tell the time every minute. @mazzo shared [ja] his communication with the developer, who acknowledged that the images for 11:02 and 08:15 represent the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and...
Japan: Art on an island
Nazra Zahri blogged – with gorgeous photos and a video – about her trip to Teshima, one of the seven islands that's celebrating Setouchi International Art Festival.
Japan: Agriculture and Entrepreneurship
Barnali and Anirvan (who traveled from the U.S. to Japan by ship!) blog about interesting Agriculture 2.0 projects that they encountered at green drinks Tokyo. “About sixty young people crowded into an event space to hear speakers talk about “Agriculture 2.0,” projects connecting urban dwellers with healthy local food, while...
Japan: Eating unagi eel to battle the heat
It's Doyo No Ushi in Japan today – the day to eat grilled eel to bolster your energy for battling the summer heat. TsukuBlog gives a comprehensive explanation of the tradition and A Radiused Corner has some beautiful pictures of the dish.
Japan: Questionnaire about English ability
What Japan Thinks translated the results of a questionnaire about “when Japanese feel most ashamed about their lack of English”. The number one situation? “When a foreigner asks me the way and I cannot answer. ” Here's a series of comical commercials from Nova, the now defunct English conversational language...
Japan: The Hero, Sakamoto Ryoma
Confident, charismatic, and ever so dashing, Sakamoto Ryoma has always been one of Japan's favorite historical figures. Since NHK started to broadcast the historical drama series Ryōmaden ('The Legend of Ryoma') this January, a nation-wide Ryoma boom has exploded.
Japan: A day at an elementary school
Ploychompu Srisa-an, a student at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, spent a day teaching at a Japanese elementary school as part of an exchange program. She created an in-depth video of her experience.
Japan: Butoh Legend Kazuo Ohno Passes Away
Kazuo Ohno, legendary performer and one of the founding fathers of Butoh, passed away on June 1st at the age of 103. Butoh is an avant-garde dance form that originated in post WWII Japan, characterized by white body paint and conceptual, tortured movements.
Japan: Hayabusa returns to Earth tomorrow
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) expects the return of the spacecraft Hayabusa tomorrow, following a 7 year mission filled with enormous ups and downs. The randokukanso blog eagerly awaits its landing with links [ja] to some sniffle-inducing anime videos that cheer its tumultuous journey.