Stories about Japanese from May, 2010
Japan: Those Commonplace, Vinyl Umbrellas
How "temporary" vinyl umbrellas fare in the cities of Japan.
Japan: Okinawans vent frustration over Futenma
Japanese PM Yukio Hatoyama has backtracked on promises to reduce the presence of American military forces in Okinawa, and inhabitants of the prefecture are furious. In blogs, they express their disappointment and rage against the failed Japan-U.S. negotiations.
Japan: Monozukuri for the Modern Age
The Japanese counterpart of Make Magazine, an American quarterly magazine for DIY enthusiasts, organizes a regular event in Tokyo called Make Tokyo Meeting (MTM). The fifth MTM, held at the Tokyo Institute of Technology on May 22-23, was the largest yet, featuring everything from bicycle wheels with LED lights, to complex wooden ball machines, to mechanical robot birds. Check out reports on the event on blogs, Twitter and YouTube.
Japan: 1300 years in the making, celebration in Nara
While both culturally and physically a long ways from the modern capital of Tokyo, tracing back well over a thousand years into Japanese history one comes across Nara, a quiet, highly rural area which was established as the capital in 710. In doing so, a more centralized national administration was...
Japan: PacMan, still a hit after 30 years
When it was released in 1980, Pac-Man captured the world's attention and transformed the video game industry. Now Pac-Man is back to celebrate his 30th birthday, and he's popping up in unexpected places. In blogs and on Twitter, Japanese reflect on the game that launched their country to the forefront of the global video game industry.
Japan: Can Twitter help to prevent suicides?
Considered the dramatic increase of young victims who decide to commit suicide every year, some bloggers debate on the use of twitter to promote dialogue and help in suicide prevention.
Japan: 100 Japanese Books with Global Appeal
Tomo Akiyama links to Yurindo's book fair, which lists 100 Japanese Books with Global Appeal in English.
ICT for Development News in Japanese
“ICT for Development.JP” provides regular and comprehensive coverage of ICT4D news and project updates from around the world in Japanese. It is run by Maki and Tomonari, who started this blog as a response to the lack of centralized resources for this topic in Japanese.
Japan: Caterpillar, by director Wakamatsu
The Tokyo Reporter gives an overview [en] on the latest movie by Japanese director Koji Wakamatsu Caterpillar [ja], a film that “attacks the hypocrisy inherent in nationalism and the suffering of innocent civilians.”
Japan：Blogging about illness
High school student Piiko blogs [ja] about her illness (cerebrospinal fluid hypovolemia) and how she deals with symptoms such as chronic headache in her daily life.
Japan: Infinite lines have a reason for being
No matter what the temperature or the fatigue, Japanese people are ready to queue to get what they want. Nobody likes queuing but first come, first served.
