Girls Generation: The First Non-Japanese Girl Band to Have a Top 3 Single Since 1980
A news report notes that South Korean pop group Girls Generation has become the first female non-Japanese music group to get a top 3 single on the Oricon ranking charts since 1980:
Other foreign groups have broken into the top 10, but the last time anyone got into the top 3 was the Nolans’ “I’m In the Mood for Dancing.”
Their 3rd place single, the “Gee”(see music video below), is their second Japanese language single. Their earlier Japanese language single, “Genie,” also had a good debut on the Oricon charts: 4th place.
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Categories: Celebrity News, Foreigners in Japan
Is the Japanese Media Ignoring Afghanistan?
Japanese freelance journalist Kosuke Tsuneoka was released last month after spending 5 months of captivity in Afghanistan. Disappointed by the lack of Japanese media coverage about the Afghanistan War, he has started speaking out about what he considers a media “blackout” that is taking place in Japan:
According to Tsuneoka, the foreign ministry told its attached press club not to cover him. The Japanese government provides the current administration of Afghan President Hamid Karzai with aid, and Tsuneoka’s story might make people question the wisdom of such aid, since, as he told Kinyobi, the civilians living in those parts of Afghanistan controlled by the Karzai government hate the authorities, and they hate Karzai’s American enablers even more.
“Last year, the people were happy when it was said that Karzai and the Taliban might negotiate,” Tsuneoka says in the interview. Those positive feelings faded when the Taliban gave up on peace overtures after the United States announced increased troop levels last December.
Kinyobi’s editor says that Tsuneoka is the only Japanese journalist bringing back these kinds of stories from Afghanistan and that the media here is effectively ignoring them. But the media is ignoring Afghanistan in general, and the neglect has less to do with government interference than with an overriding mentality whose priorities are closer to home.
Read the rest of the article here.
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Categories: General Japan
Disabled People Rally in Tokyo
About 10,000 people rallied in Tokyo the other day to call for improved government services for the disabled:
The participants gathered from across the nation at the Hibiya Open-Air Concert Hall in Chiyoda Ward before taking to the streets calling for measures to replace the notorious Services and Support for Persons with Disabilities Act, which was criticized for increasing the financial burden on the disabled.
[...]
“We want every disabled person to be assured of the right to live in their local community without discrimination,” a visually-impaired participant said as a representative of the attendants.
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Categories: General Japan
“Bamboo Samurai” Bicyclist Hit By SUV
Takashi Matsumoto, a Japanese man who had been cycling across America to promote the virtues of bamboo bicycles, has been injured after being hit by an SUV in Illinois:
A black 2006 Nissan Xterra driven by 35-year-old Heather B. Dailey hit 33-year-old Takashi Matsumoto of Tokyo, Japan. He was knocked into a ditch area and sustained a mild concussion. Both vehicles were traveling eastbound.
Matsumoto was taken by Johnson County Ambulance to Carbondale Memorial Hospital.
You can check out his blog (which hasn’t been updated since the accident) at http://bamboo-bike-ustrip.blogspot.com/.
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Categories: General Japan
