Chris Salzberg
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5 November 2011
Japan's IT Exodus: A Personal Perspective (Part 2)
Japanese blogger and programmer Ryo Asai describes the cultural differences between his previous workplace, a Japanese system integration company, and his new job at Amazon Japan.
30 October 2011
Japan’s IT Exodus: A Personal Perspective (Part 1)
37-year-old software architect Ryo Asai writes at his blog “Becoming a Master Programmer” about his reasons for leaving his previous job, a Japanese system integration company, to work at Amazon Japan. In explaining his reasons for the move, Asai provides a unique perspective on the underlying roots of Japan's failure to keep up in the new digital economy.
18 October 2011
Japan: We're Losing to Apple, and Here's Why
Blogger Isseki Nagae considers the sorry state of the Japanese personal electronics industry in light of the recent success of Apple in Japan. Through the words of Steve Jobs, Nagae argues that Japanese manufacturers pay too much attention to the views of the average user rather than developing new ideas.
19 March 2011
Japan: Tweeting from Fukushima
At Japan's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Reactor in Fukushima Prefecture, a brave group of workers, dubbed the Fukushima 50, have been left to tame an escalating nuclear disaster. Japan Ground Self-Defence Force (SDF) official and Twitter user @kir_imperial - one of the people on the ground in Fukushima - has been tweeting about day-to-day events at the nuclear power plant.
15 March 2011
Japan: Tell the World to Help
A simple search for pictures posted on Twitter can bring up amazing things. Search the characters “宮城” (Miyagi) and a handful of different pictures come up from the prefecture, one of the hardest-hit in Japan by the recent tsunami. Scroll down, and one picture stands out, a blob of brown and blue until you click it…
11 March 2011
Japan: Tsunami Strikes Coast, Leaves Nothing in Wake
Following the country's largest earthquake in recorded history, Japan is being hit by it's most ferocious tsunami. People across the country are glued to their TV screens as scenes of a tsunami measuring more than 7 meters in height sweeping away cars and buildings flashes across the news.
28 June 2010
Japan and the World Cup: Silencing the critics
Ranked near the bottom of the 32 teams on the field in South Africa, facing odds estimated at 400-to-1 and four straight pre-tournament losses to boot, Japan was not even expected to win a game in this year's World Cup. But with their convincing 3-1 win over Denmark, perceptions have completely changed, propelling coach Takashi Okada from the butt of all jokes to a national hero.
30 May 2010
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.
23 May 2010
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.
17 January 2010
Japan: For Haiti it may be too little, too late
In an odd twist of fate, the worst earthquake to hit Haiti in two hundred years has erupted within days of the 15th anniversary of Japan's worst earthquake since the second world war: the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995. Given the timing of the catastrophe, one might have expected a strong Japanese presence in Haiti. To the frustration of many in Japan, the opposite was in fact the case.
Few years ago, when a British farmer was jailed for Killing a criminal who attacked...