· May, 2008

Below are posts about citizen media in Japanese. Don't miss Global Voices 日本語, where Global Voices posts are translated into Japanese! Read about our Lingua project to learn more about how Global Voices content is being translated into other languages.

Stories about Japanese from May, 2008

Japan: Grumpy Jiisan on Nico Nico Douga

  30 May 2008

The latest hit at Nico Nico Douga, Japan's popular video sharing service, is a retired man from Arizona calling himself “Grumpy Jiisan” [Grumpy Old Man], who shoots videos in which he comments on his favorite Japanese anime. Subtitled versions of Grumpy Jiisan's videos at Nico Nico Douga are so popular that they have drawn thousands of comments.

Japan: The Secret of Mizuki Shigeru

  26 May 2008

At age 86, Mizuki Shigeru is one of the most well-known manga artists in Japan thanks to work that stretches over more than four decades, including among them some of the most popular Japanese manga and anime TV series. GeGeGe no Kitarō, a manga series he created in 1959, is Mizuki's most famous, featuring an orphaned yōkai (monster) named Kitaro who fights for peace between humans and monsters. In a post entitled “Why has GeGeGe no Kitaro remained popular for this long?”, blogger ta26 proposes an explanation for the popularity of this manga.

Japan: Experiences at IDAHO

  24 May 2008

On the International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO), Japanese LGBT communities organized several events and street activities in several cities across the country. With a slogan of “Yes to sexual diversity” (多様な性にYES!), various groups broadcast messages promoting a society where differences and diversity are accepted and respected.

Japan: Earthquake aid starts healing process

  18 May 2008

The largest ever dispatch of aid to China from Japan took place last week when Japanese rescue teams were dispatched to Chongqing. Thanks expressed by Chinese in bulletin boards made it back to articles on the Japanese-language Internet and sparked hopeful reactions among many bloggers, some finding a common understanding in a shared history of earthquake disasters.

Japan: A surge of suicides

  18 May 2008

Over the past few weeks, the Japanese media have been extensively reporting suicide cases associated with the use of hydrogen sulfide gas, providing detailed description of ingredients and methods used. The recent media reporting has been so sensationalized that the Japan Suicide Prevention Association requested that media organizations be more careful with their reporting. The phenomenon has stirred up conversation among Japanese bloggers.

Japan: Bloggers criticize Greenpeace over whale-meat theft

  17 May 2008

The reputation of Greenpeace Japan appears to have dropped a few notches this week, with news that the organization, in order to expose the theft of whale meat by crew members of a whaling research ship, itself stole meat to use as evidence of the crime. Members of Greenpeace Japan admitted to having entered a delivery company's distribution center in Tokyo on April 15th without permission in order to seize packages of whale meat.

Japan: Views on the Sichuan Earthquake

  15 May 2008

The earthquake in China's Sichuan province, besides taking its toll on tens of thousands of Chinese citizens, has also had reverberations far away in the Japanese blogosphere, where the topic ranked top among blogging keyword lists and sparked conversations in forums over the past few days.

Japan: Menu items on DoCoMo mobile phones up for bidding

  13 May 2008

Blogger smashmedia comments [ja] on a CNET article [ja] explaining that mobile carrier DoCoMo is planning to change the ordering of certain “i-menu” items on mobile phones to reflect the size of monetary bids from companies, rather than reflect preferences of users.

Japan: Death Penalty Broadcast, 53 Years Later

  7 May 2008

An audio tape recorded 53 years ago of a death penalty execution in Japan, aired by Nippon Cultural Broadcasting on May 6th and and by Asahi television's Super Morning show on April 29th, has triggered conversations among bloggers about the country's death penalty system. The 50-minute audio footage, which features the last moments of one unnamed death row inmate, is the first of its kind to have ever been released.

Japan: Return of the Gas Tax

  2 May 2008

Japan's “temporary” gasoline tax of 25 yen per liter of gas, extended for over 30 years and funding some 5000 road construction programs, has been re-instated after a short-lived battle with the opposition, and people aren't happy about it. Bloggers describe their experiences trying to fill up at gas stations in the last day before the gas hike came back into effect on May 1st.

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