Archive for July, 2008

Life in a Tokyo shantytown

A cool short film featured on BoingBoing TV:

On a day off in Tokyo I visited a small shantytown in Shibuya I had seen from a train the day before, tucked away in a kids playground. My translator Nick Stone and myself introduced ourselves to a friendly group of people and negotiated permission to pry into their lives and film, in exchange for some food/ cigarettes and wine.

My intentions for the piece were to stay clear of making a patronizing “cry/be angry for the homeless people” thing or a romanticized view of that life. I wanted to distill the experiences of the people who took the time to talk to me and question myself why I ended up going there in search of something to film.

Dokdo Golf

An amusing display of nationalism (via Ampontan):

With nationalism at a fever pitch in the country, O2 Resort, a golf course in Taebaek, Gangwon, put a Korean flag in the Dokdo part of a Korean Peninsula-shaped bunker at its 18th hole, and is using it as promotion.

In other islet dispute news, a revision made last week to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names’ website that classified the disputed islets as territory belonging to no country has been overturned by President Bush after South Korea’s government officially complained about it. The move is clearly an attempt to pander to South Koreans ahead of Bush’s visit to their country next week, and it might succeed in reducing the amount of protests during his visit.

The Japanese government has responded in its usual calm manner:

“We don’t necessarily think we have to react excessively every time one organisation of the US government does something,” Japanese government spokesman Nobutaka Machimura told reporters in Tokyo.

“The Japanese government does not believe that the change in this statement on the website reflects a change in the position taken by the United States.”

Nationalism in Japan?

Robert Dujarric, director of the Institute of Contemporary Japanese Studies at Temple University Japan, has written an editorial in the Japan Times reminding everyone that “Japan scores very low on nationalism.” Here is an excerpt comparing Japan to its nationalistic neighbors:

… In autocratic China, nationalism is an indirect way to oppose the ruling party. When demonstrators throw rocks at the U.S. embassy or attack Japanese diplomats, they are also criticizing their rulers for being weak-kneed. Moreover, simply by marching through the streets, or gathering virtually on the Internet, they demonstrate to the Communist Party that the people can mobilize on their own.

Though South Korea is now a liberal democracy, many of its leftwing nationalists came of age when anti-American (or anti-Japanese) nationalism was fused with the fight against the military regime. Japan, however, has been a free society for well half a century, if its citizens are unhappy they simply go to a voting booth rather than seek alternative forms of mobilization.

Japanese society may have problems but nationalism is not one of them.

Update: For further reading, check out the response to this editorial over at Observing Japan!

Non Blinking World Record Attempt

A Japanese chocolate commercial that won the bronze award of TV ad section at Cannes Film Festival:

[via Watashi to Tokyo]

World Cosplay Summit 2008

The 2008 World Cosplay summit will be taking place this weekend in Nagoya, and senior vice foreign minister Itsunori Onodera (pictured above) has been meeting with cosplayers to promote the event:

The sixth-annual World Cos-Play Summit in Nagoya, central Japan, is expected to draw 28 contestants from 13 countries, including China, Brazil, Germany, Italy, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand. The two-day contest will name a winner on Sunday, but it was unclear if there would be any prizes.

Onodera acknowledged he didn’t recognize the cartoon characters, but said that Japan is serious about aggressively promoting animation and the culture that it represents overseas.

The country has been trying to use the power of pop culture to raise its clout on the international stage, recently appointing cartoon cat robot Doraemon as an ambassador.

“Japanese culture has spread abroad through animation. As a nation, we support animation and hope to make the best use of it as an important diplomatic tool,” Onodera said.

Read more at Yahoo! News and the event’s official homepage.

Japan may cancel naval exercises because of high fuel prices

The Japanese government has announced it will pay 690 million dollars in fuel subsidies to fishermen, but it seems that national defense is less of a priority:

The Maritime Self-Defense Force’s annual naval maneuvers, the largest navy drill that involves about 90 warships and 170 jets, has never been canceled since it started in 1954, even during the “oil shock” during the 1970s.

This year’s drill was planned for November, although official dates have not been announced.

“In order to secure enough fuel for emergency relief activities, we’ve cut down on the scope of our exercises, but there is a limit,” a Maritime Self-Defense Force official said on condition of anonymity, citing department policy.

“Now we are considering canceling the upcoming large-scale naval drill, which would consume large amounts of fuel.”