Global Voices Online

Chris Salzberg

Japanese Language Editor

Stories

October 11th, 2008

East Asia

Japanese programmer and blogger id:amachang introduces [ja] Chart Maniax [ja], a service they developed for charting when and through which services web pages have been bookmarked. Services included are Hatena Bookmarks [ja], Livedoor Clip [ja], Delicious and Buzzurl [ja]. As an example, have a look at the chart for id:amachang's entry [ja].

October 10th, 2008

East Asia

Blogger and lawyer Yōji Ochiai [落合洋司] reports on news [ja] that the Machida city council in Tokyo has made a written request [ja] for investigations into regulation regarding Google's Street View Service, which has sparked some negative reactions in Japan [ja]. “My position has been to oppose entirely the targeting, without careful consideration, of Internet services for legal regulation, “Ochiai writes. “However, I have a feeling that the issues that have led to the submission of this written request cannot be so easily brushed away.”

October 9th, 2008

East Asia

Blogger Ken writes about verbal gaffs in Japanese politics [ja]. Ken uses the example of a recent statement by Minister Nariaki Nakayama, which the blogger says became a gaff because Nakayama offended both the teachers union and citizen groups opposing expansion of Narita Airport. Ken argues that verbal gaffs are characterized by being value judgments and not factual statements, as in Nakayama's statement about Japan being “ethnically homogeneous”, which came on the heels of the Ainu being recognized as an indigenous people, and thus was not taken as a fact but as a personal criticism.

October 8th, 2008

East Asia

Ikeda Nobuo at OpenSpectrum Japan reports on two news stories related to copyright law in Japan: the conditional access system B-CAS has been scrapped (and with it so-called “Dubbing Ten”), and on September 18 the plan to extend copyright from 50 to 70 years was also abandoned. Ikeda observes that this may be an indication that the Web is becoming the “Fifth Estate” in Japan to compete with mass media.

October 7th, 2008

Japan: Street View and Public Space

Chris Salzberg · 15:32, October 7th, 2008 · East Asia

The debate about Google's new Street View service in Japan, which sparked criticisms following its launch over a perceived lack of cultural sensitivity, has come back into the spotlight with the recent visit to Tokyo by Google vice president Kent Walker, and with reports emerging that the service does not appear to properly distinguish between public and private spaces. 2 comments · read »

East Asia

mojix at Zope Junky Nikki picks up news that the Nikkei stock average has slumped below 10,000 yen for the first time in nearly five years [ja], featuring a PDF of a print article from Nikkei Keizai shimbun announcing the drop. mojix writes: “There are good sides to a strong yen, and [the price of] resources and commodities has dropped, so for Japan this could perhaps be a kind of chance.”