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A flyer shared by Global Noise Tokyo
In Japan, a series of actions to protest against the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings are being called for by Global Noise Tokyo and @OccupyTokyoJp on October 13, 2012. More about Global Noise around the world can be found here.
A man is arrested at no-nuclear rally in front of Kansai Electric Power Co., Inc on Friday October 5, 2012.
The Japanese prime minister's office has opened an account [ja] on LINE, an instant messaging application for smartphone and PCs, to provide useful information to citizens, such as disaster information in case of emergency.
TenThousandThings posted a video showing a group of Okinawan women singing “We Shall Over Come” to protest against US military V-22 “Osprey” aircraft deployment at Oyama gate, US Marine Futenma Air Station, Ginowan City, Sunday night, September 29, 2012.
Anne Henochowicz from China Digital Times translated a stability maintenance instructions from within an university from Shaanxi province which demands teachers and staffs from various departments to monitor students’ sentiment on the Diaoyu Islands disputes and prevent “rumors” from spreading.
Yuzuko Horigome and her violin. Photo used with permission from Change.org Japan.
On August 16, 2012, German customs officials at Frankfurt Airport seized a Guarneri violin from Japanese professional musician Yuzuko Horigome when she failed to present correct documentation. They demanded that she pay nearly US$ 500,000 in order to get it back.
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The disputed Senkaku (Diaoyu) Islands. Photo from Wikipedia.
The watchdog for accuracy in news reporting in Japan reports [ja] in its website gohoo.org that several major Japanese newspapers have recently written posts on the Senkaku (Diaoyu) Islands, which are currently part of an ownership dispute with China (for example), based on false information.
Sijia Song from Tea Leaf Nation has translated a Chinese prominent writer, Li Chengpeng's latest blogpost: “Confessions of a Traitor”. The post has received more than 200,000 views and 19,000 comments in less than two days on Sina Weibo.
Popular Japanese porn star Sola Aoi appealed for friendship between Chinese and Japanese early last week when the tension between China and Japan elevated. But her friendly gesture was not well received. More »
Xujun Eberlein from Inside out China translated a QQ conversation on the China-Japan Island dispute to help the outside world understand how ordinary people felt about the conflict.
Multilingual community radio station FMYY in Kobe has aired a radio drama titled “Under Invisible Clouds” [ja], the story of Yasuko Sasaki, one evacuee from the town of Namie in Fukushima Prefecture. This story was produced by volunteers in Hiroshima as a part of the 100 Stories Project [ja] about northeast Japan folklore.
Anne Henochowicz from China Digital Times reports on the new waves of anti-Japan protest in major cities in China. Some angry protesters attempted to attack Japanese restaurants and cars.
Japan's 7th Kansai Queer Film Festival kicks off in Osaka this weekend September 15-17, and will be held in Kyoto on October 12-14. It celebrates and shows various films that focus on diverse gender and sexuality issues around the world.
ACTA and three other motions were all adopted together in a plenary session [ja] of the Japanese House of Representatives on September 6, 2012.
Former United Nations worker Kaori Izumi called for a “Vote for Solidarity” [ja] in order to change Japan's policies around nuclear energy at a gathering of Fukushima women on August 29, 2012.
The territorial conflict between Japan and China has led to a series of protests in major Chinese cities, with angry patriots smashing Japanese vehicles. In response to such action, a Japanese car owner issued an open letter to the patriots. Rachael from Tea Leaf Nation translates the letter and puts it into context.
A series of anti-Japanese protests in major Chinese cities has been triggered off by the arrest of Hong Kong activists who landed on the disputed Diaoyu Island by the Japan government. The Nanfang.com reported on the protests in Shenzhen and Guangzhou today on 19 August 2012.
Dictionary of Politically Incorrect Hong Kong Cantonese discusses about the political contradictions of Hong Kong activists who travelled to Diaoyu Island against Japanese territorial claim.
At this year's Korean Independence day, a Korean guy held a one-man protest at the Yasukuni shrine in Japan, a symbolic and controversial place for worshiping war criminals from the Second World War. A net user living in Japan posted photos of how the protester was being chased and beaten by numerous Japanese right wing groups and gangsters.
A number of activists from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau landed the Diaoyu island on August 15. While mainland Chinese media gave large coverage to the news as it reasserted China's territorial claim over the disputed island, the flag of the Republic of China (Taiwan) was missing in many of the media outlet. China Media Project highlighted the news.
South Korean President, Lee Myung-bak visited Dokdo (or Takeshima in Japanese) islands, sparking international media frenzy. Lee would be the first South Korean leader to visit the disputed islands which both South Korea and Japan have a historical claim to. The Dokdo Times blog wrote a post explaining the context, with bit of media criticism.
The Korea and the World blog published a detailed analysis on South Korea's good results in the 2012 London Olympics, pointing out Koreans’ strong patriotism as one of the main reasons for success.
Asia Sentinel reports on a controversy in Rikuzentakata, a city in Iwate, Japan over the public spending of about USD 2 millions for preservation a dead tree and turning it into a symbol of hope.
Tens of thousands Japanese citizens held a protest on July 16, 2012 urging their government to abandon nuclear power. People reportedly expressed rage over Japan's culture of obedience and the government's shirking responsibility towards worsening natural disasters. Totgazet, which is published by JVJA, a group of freelance photojournalists posted amazing photos of this unprecedented large scale protest.
North Korea Tech blog wrote about evidence showing that North Korea tested digital radio broadcasting. The blogger also embeded a Youtube video posted by a radio monitor in Japan.
Police in Tokyo raided the office of a North Korean-linked science association over illegal PC exports allegations. North Korea Tech blog explains the association's past records and suspicions surrounding them.
North Korea Tech blog wrote about two Japanese people who were indicted for exporting personal computers to North Korea, thereby violating the Japanese government’s trade sanctions.
Serkan Toto rounds up key trends that shaped Japan's web, mobile, and gaming industries in 2011.
Sophie Knight explores how business culture misunderstandings between Michael Woodford and Olympus might have played a role in the happenings around the fraud exposure.
“It’s been a traumatic year for Japan and the Tokyo art world” – William Andrews rounds up what the art world went through in the year 2011 on the Tokyo Art Beat blog.
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