Chris Salzberg
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Latest posts by Chris Salzberg
25 January 2009
10 January 2009
Japan
Michi Kaifu at Tech Mom from Silicon Valley responds to news that Toyota “crown prince” Akio Toyoda is to take the company's president position in June this year. Reflecting on the future of the car maker and on rumors in the Japanese blogosphere, Kaifu writes, “if you still have some money to invest, buy Toyota share. I am pretty sure that they are TOTALLY OK.”
9 January 2009
Japan: “What are you up to now?” has become a taboo question
The world recession has hit Japan just as it has hit other parts of the world, and many are worried about their future. In an entry that attracted a great deal of sympathy from readers, blogger koheko reflects on the impact of the slowdown on human relationships with friends and colleagues, to the point where the simple question, "What are you up to?" has become taboo.
6 January 2009
Japan
Blogger smashmedia points to [ja] Japanese business news site J-CAST's recent negative campaign against traditional media. The blogger posts links to a J-CAST interview [ja] with freelance journalist Tetsuya Kuroyabu [黒薮哲哉], who explains that more than 20% of newspapers (so-called “oshigami”) are actually undelivered, concealing a lower-than-expected readership; the blogger also links to an interview [ja] with journalist Toshinao Sasaki [佐々木俊尚], who describes the continuing hatred of the Internet among the Japanese newspaper industry.
Japan
PingMag, the Tokyo-based magazine about “Design and Making Things”, has announced that it will be “taking an extended hiatus, and will not be updated for the foreseeable future.” Over 300 comments from fans of the site have poured in, many describing people's sadness at seeing the end of a unique window into Japan.
2 January 2009
Japan
Who runs Japan's largest bulletin board, 2-Channel [2ch]? This is the question being debated on 2channel threads today [ja], with rumors that the board's enigmatic founder Hiroyuki Nishimura has transferred ownership to a company, PACKET MONSTER INC., apparently based in Singapore. “The beginning of the end,” one commenter writes. Many are more skeptical. “It's a bit early,” another quips, “for April Fools.”
24 December 2008
Japan: The year in Japanese blogs
What were bloggers writing about this year in the Japanese blogosphere? The year in Japanese blogs at Global Voices included posts on everything from an American Enka singer making waves in Japan, to debates on the regulation of “harmful” Internet content, to the Olympic torch relay in Nagano.
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8 December 2008
Japan: Crisis in primary news reporting
The shifting landscape of news media in Japan has triggered its fair share of debate recently, with many criticizing the mainstream press for major slip-ups and what some perceive as an attitude problem. On August 4th in a popular entry at Hatena's AnonymousDiary, one blogger picked up the theme of the crisis of primary news reporting in Japan, recounting the story of a friend who works as a fledgling reporter at a major local newspaper.
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Japan
Britty at Brittys Wake gives suggestions to Japanese about how to learn a foreign language [ja]. “There are two things that are absolutely necessary if you want to learn a foreign language. The first is time, and the second is skill in using your native language.” On the need for time, Britty writes: “Just like gymnastics, swimming, driving and cooking, [languages] are not hard once you're used to them, but it takes time to get the knack.” And on knowing your native language: “If you can't express nuances in your own language — in our case Japanese — then you will not be able to express them in a foreign language.”
7 December 2008
Japan
Agile Media Network announces [ja] a bloggers meeting on December 18th starting from 19.30 at the Nomura Research Institute [ja]. The event is free and in Japanese. More info in Japanese here. [ja]
I want to ask, there is not software to change from letter to letter Latin...