Tech & Web Nintendo-3DS

Nintendo 3DS: Impressions from the haves and have-nots »

So the Nintendo 3DS has sold out in Japan, selling 374,764 units in it’s first week (see chart below). Since then we’ve learned a little bit more about the device:…

Mar 6 2011 / No Comment / Read More »
Screen shot 2011-02-09 at 2.26.53 PM

Media: Facebook may not overtake Mixi in Japan »

Facebook “may not” overtake Mixi as Japan’s dominant social networking site, the head of Japan operations for U.S. social network games developer Zynga hedged to financial news service Bloomberg this…

Feb 8 2011 / No Comment / Read More »
News & Opinion

Al Jazeera: Dead, Missing, Displaced: #Japanquake’s Human Story »

Japan earthquake

Here’s some great work by Al Jazeera, putting together an assortment of pictures, tweets, news articles, and other information to…

Mar 29 2011 / No Comment / Read More »

Daily environmental radiation levels in Tokyo »

tokyo radiation levels

All levels measured in μGy/h (microgray per hour). Source data from jaist.ac.jp from a monitoring site at Hyakunincho, Shinjuku-ku. The…

Mar 25 2011 / No Comment / Read More »

Graphic: How deadly is the radiation from Japan? »

Japan radiation

Yesterday I wrote a piece for The Japan Times about a couple of people who were helping make all the…

Mar 24 2011 / No Comment / Read More »

National Institute of Radiological Sciences advisories, March 14-15 »

NIRS

Here are a few documents from NIRS that were translated piece-by-piece by volunteer translators today and yesterday on Google Docs.…

Mar 15 2011 / No Comment / Read More »
Life & Culture

Wired Cafe, Shibuya »

Wired Cafe Shibuya

Finding a cafe with free, open Wi-Fi can be tricky, but Wired Cafe is a place that usually has a decent connection. The connection can be hit-and-miss though, as it sometimes asks you to register for a freespot account. As for the food, give the…

Feb 24 2011 / No Comment / Read More »

Japan still plagued by suicides, though the numbers are uncertain »

Suicides in Japan

An interesting piece by the BBC today on the stigma of Japan’s suicide apartments, highlighting how suicide negatively affects property values and the ‘compensation fees’ that families of the deceased often have to pay. One sentence struck me as a little misleading though: “[A]s the…

Feb 11 2011 / No Comment / Read More »

Media: Facebook may not overtake Mixi in Japan »

Screen shot 2011-02-09 at 2.26.53 PM

Facebook “may not” overtake Mixi as Japan’s dominant social networking site, the head of Japan operations for U.S. social network games developer Zynga hedged to financial news service Bloomberg this week. Robert Goldberg, C.E.O. of Zynga Japan, was quoted saying Japan “is one place where…

Feb 8 2011 / No Comment / Read More »
Politics

Foreign direct investment to Japan down 83% in 2010 »

World Economic Forum host city Davos

Foreign direct investment to Japan decreased 83% in 2010 from 2009.…

Jan 28 2011 / No Comment / Read More »
TV tokyo-control-01

Japan’s first 3D drama: Tokyo Control

Sony and Fuji Television held a press conference on January 12 to promote the world’s first 3D drama Tokyo Control. Here are some shots of the cast.…

Jan 24 2011 / Read More »
Politics World Economic Forum host city Davos

Foreign direct investment to Japan down 83% in 2010

Foreign direct investment to Japan decreased 83% in 2010 from 2009.…

Jan 28 2011 / Read More »
Data tokyo radiation levels

Daily environmental radiation levels in Tokyo

All levels measured in μGy/h (microgray per hour). Source data from jaist.ac.jp from a monitoring site at Hyakunincho, Shinjuku-ku. The graph below will auto-update according to the source, though there may be a slight delay. See…

Mar 25 2011 / Read More »
Photos foreigners-leaving-japan

Quake before & after: Flow of people in and out of Japan

Thanks to Richard Smart for pointing out this Ministry of Justice pdf report on the nationalities and visa status of foreigners coming into and out of Japan just before and after the March 11 quake. I…

Apr 18 2011 / Read More »
Music RIAJ

RIAJ: YouTube, Nico Video disincentive for potential music buyers

The Recording Industry Association of Japan (the RIAJ, Japan’s version of America’s RIAA) has released it’s survey concluding that online video services are taking a toll on music sales. Timog.com has a nice summary of the…

Feb 20 2011 / Read More »
Business Bank of Japan

Bank of Japan governor Shirakawa bullish on Japan

Bank of Japan (BoJ) Governor Masaaki Shirakawa believes that while Japan is in better shape than many of its economic competitors, businesses have been seduced by reasonably strong domestic demand into assigning a low priority to…

Feb 9 2011 / Read More »
Video Shinmoedake

Scenes from eruption of Shinmoedake volcano

The Shinmoedake volcano on Mt. Kirishima has been giving us some spectacular sights over the past few days. National Geographic has a great photo presentation with amazing shots of volcanic lightning. The video above from YouTube…

Jan 29 2011 / Read More »
Sports sumo world up in arms again

Even more bad news for sumo

As if things were not bad enough in the world of sumo, news comes today that the police have uncovered evidence of match fixing via pre-match calls and text messages between wrestlers: From The Mainichi Shimbun:…

Feb 2 2011 / Read More »

Video

Scenes from eruption of Shinmoedake volcano

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