Stories about Japan from June, 2006
Japan: PM goes to Graceland
Perhaps having realized his trips to the Yasukuni war shrine were losing him votes, as seen on Mutantfrog, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is making a trip to a different, more widely-accepted shrine.
Global Food Blog Report #22
#1: Klephblog, no doubt over-caffeinated, writes "How Coffee changed the Modern World," a great essay about this fruit of the Gods: This wondrous plant is a native of the new world and was sprung on an unsuspecting European public as these shores became colonized in the 15th century. By the...
Japan: Koizumi's legacy
“Lost in the frothy trivialities of the debate over Prime Minister Koizumi's Yasukuni Shrine visits,” writes Japundit blogger Ampontan, “is an impressive record of accomplishments during his term in office that should have left the world's media hailing him has Japan's greatest postwar political reformer.” These accomplishments as listed by...
Brazil, Japan: Digital TV to Mobile Devices
Melo Bichuetti explains the Japanese-Brazilian collaboration to offer digital television, noting that the “Nippon-Brazilian model allows transmission to mobile devices, what is not possible in the case of the European model.”
Geisha Blog
Geisha Blog has made a series of great posts to introduce Japanese tradition and culture. The latest entry is about the public bathhouse.
Dell on Fire!
Gaston saw that a Dell laptop computer exploded into flames , at a conference in Japan. The damn thing was on fire and produced several explosions for more than five minutes…We'd suggest you avoid actually using a laptop on your lap. Ouch.
Japan: Motorbikes, scooters banned
When Rising Sun blogger GaijinBiker walked out onto the streets of Tokyo this morning, the first thing he noticed was the missing motorcycles and scooters, as described in his post ‘A law meant to be broken.’
Japan: Smoking minors penalized
“No Smooking,” says a misspelt sign posted by JP at Japundit, preceded by a post telling of a mother in Japan charged for neglecting the law which makes her two sons’ smoking illegal.
China and Japan: Animation academy
Ben Ng reports that A Sino-Japan animation academy was established in Beijing on 11 June (zh). According to a statistic, in year 2004, the animation industry in China made 19.5 million yuan income, the Japanese animation shared 1/5 of the market. The animation industry will be taking off in coming...
Japan: whaling
Onemanbandwith notes that Japan has got to be disappointed because they have spent, on average, 100 Million US Dollars each in “foreign aid” to countries who voted down a proposal to allow Japan resumption of whaling in their own coastal areas in the International Whaling Commission.
Japan: the spread of Japanese kawaii
What is the implication of the spread of Japanese Kawaii (cute) image? Is Kawaii a new phenomena or rooted in tradition? Marie Mockett puts up a summary of different viewpoints in Japundit.
Japan: foreigners database
JP in Japundit reported that the Japanese government is planning to create a central database of information about all registered foreigners in the country for the purpose of “improving services to foreign residents.” Is that really for your own good?
Japan: Internet beauty queens
An internet beauty queen has been chosen, writes Tokyo Times‘ Lee, from 5,500 entries: “[I]n a bid to make sure that the victor didn’t turn out to be a balding and bearded middle-aged man living with his parents and known online as Judith, the organizers asked the 20 best contestants—chosen...
Japan: The shape of state buildings
Kotaji blogger kotajihwa blogs on some interesting sights found using Google Earth to look down on Japanese and South Korean government buildings in ‘Archigraphy.’ via Kerim and Pinyin News.
Mongolia: Whaling Support
Luke Distelhorst reports that Mongolia, a country without a single inch of ocean coastline, has come out as a supporter of whaling. Like many other countries with a newfound support for whaling, Mongolia receives aid from Japan.
Japan: Literary reader published
FG blogger Mulboyne takes a look at the recently-published book ‘Japan: A Traveler's Literary Companion‘ and the stories in it which, the blogger writes, “like the country and the people, are beautiful and compelling.”
Global Food Blog Report # 20
We keep a database of delicious food blogs from all over the world, and make sure to follow their creations and stories every week. Being the blogoholic I am, I spend endless hours searching and blog-hopping trying to find new and interesting blogs to feature. We love to learn about...
Japan: HIV situation worsening
“Japan has an AIDS problem that is not getting the attention it deserves,” writes Japundit‘s JP, with a post looking at recent HIV infection statistics. “One expert says,” blogs JP, “that the number of people who actually have AIDS is four to five times the level being officially reported.”