Latest posts by Tomomi Sasaki
Coworking Spaces and Nomad Workers in Japan
Coworking is a growing worldwide movement, and Japan is no exception. Surprising to see in a culture where the idea of physically being in the office at all hours is ingrained in the psyche of the salaried worker? Perhaps not.
Australian Documentary about Japanese Yakuza
Jake Adelstein comments on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's 2010 documentary, “Yakuza”. The video is now available for viewing on YouTube.
Japan: Campaign to increase inbound tourism
In response to the ministry of tourism's plan to invite 10,000 foreigners to Japan, Danny Choo asks what your travel plans would be. The campaign's aim is to create buzz by leveraging social media to attract tourists to Japan.
Black Scholars Who Make a Specialty of Asian Studies
The Black Tokyo blog writes about the rich history of Asia studies by African-American scholars. “I want to follow the path of Blacks that have made it possible for other Blacks to provide information on Asia, in my case Japan, from an Afro perspective.“
Japan: Tracking a telecom giant's quest for carrying the iPhone
Since news broke that Japan's 2nd largest carrier KDDI has struck a deal with Apple to sell the iPhone5, tech savvy netizens are keeping a close watch on the company's actions. The company has not made an official statement at this point.
Japan: Pass rates for bar exams at all time low
Marcelo de Alcantara from the Japanese Law Blog has translated a news article with 2011 statistics about the revised bar examinations.
Japan: Anti-nuclear power demonstration on 911
Buddhika Weerasinghe has posted photos of the anti-nuclear power demonstration held in central Tokyo on September 11th. Several thousand people joined the demo, as can be seen in this video footage [ja] and 12 people were arrested. See also the official site [ja] for the demonstration.
Japan: Most rational, least traditional country?
Hashi at Tofugu blogs about the World Values Survey results that show that Japan is “one of the most rational, least ‘traditional’ countries out there” and tops the list of countries as having the strongest secular-rational values.
Japan: Noda elected as leader of ruling party
Finance minister Yoshihiko Noda has been elected leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, and will become the next prime minister. On the Agora blog, Hiroshi Ohnishi calls [ja] it a safe, if low-key choice, while Seki Obata claims [ja] Noda's virtuous personality is the only way of survival for...
Japan: Tofugu's favorite YouTube vloggers
The Tofugu site shares their favorite Japanese/English YouTube vloggers, saying “there is definitely a rising J-vlogging scene“.
Japan: Trends in the blogging service landscape
Netaful shares observations [ja] from a recent comScore report [ja/pdf] that in terms of visitor count, livedoor blogs have surpassed Ameba Blogs. The report concludes that even with the spread of SNS, “Japan remains one of the world's leading blog markets“.
Japan: Web, Social Games, and Mobile
Serkan Toto from Asiajin has made available his presentation on The Web, Social Games And Mobile In Japan.
Japan: Computers as a social and communicative tool
In Japan's Former Computer Lag, Néojaponisme looks at the development of the Internet and computers in Japan from the perspective of infrastructure and as a social and communicative tool.
Japan: Indie service GoogleSatTrack used by NASA
Isana Kashiwai, developer of GoogleSatTrack, is astounded [ja] to see his software being used in NASA's Mission Control Center. He had happened to be watching the Atlantis return to Earth on NASA-TV.
Comedic Fun with Japanese Hashtag Memes
Since Twitter introduced Japanese language capability for hashtags, the Japanese Twitterverse has turned into an oasis for wordplay.
Japan: Mapping radiation online
Rick Martin gives an update on the radiation mapping work by Yahoo Japan and Safecast.org.
Japan: Kusoshigoto blog closed down
“Diary of a NEET Working Abroad” by Kusoshigoto “crappy job” was unexpectedly closed down and deleted, with a short message that conveyed his regrets and fear of danger. Tweeps are speculating [ja] that his identity had been compromised. A Japanese expat in Singapore, Kusoshigoto blogged against “slaving away” for Japan...
Japan: Perspective on London Riots scale in relation to Tokyo
To get perspective on the geographical scale of the London Riots, @c50cub96 mapped a comparison to the greater Tokyo area.
Japan: Foraging for food in Tokyo
Jess Mantell blogs about “free food everywhere, in Tokyo” at her blog, Edoble. Her latest discovery is perilla growing in the pavement.
Japan: Photo Report for Yokohama Triennale 2011
William Andrews from TABlog has a photo report on Yokohama Triennale 2011, “arguably the biggest art event of the year”.
Japan: Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami Creative Industry Survey Results
Chris Palmieri published “Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami Creative Industry Survey Results” in English and Japanese on the AQ blog, reporting how people who work in the creative industries were affected by the events following the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan on March 11. It's also been translated into Chinese.
