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Japan Prime Minister Noda and the Half A Million Dollar Website

Byjay

Japan’s prime mininster’s office has spent 4.5 million yen (nearly  US$550,000) on an overhaul of the Prime Minister’s website. The redesign was done to improve communications. A new section of the site was also designed for kids. The site, titled” The Prime Minister of Japan and His Cabinet” can be found at http://www.kantei.go.jp/ . It includes links…

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The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Opens a New YouTube Channel

Byjay

The YouTube Japan official blog recently announced the creation of a Tokyo Metropolitan Government channel. It is all in Japanese but has some surprisingly interesting videos (unlike a lot of the other YouTube channels of Japanese government agencies… I’m looking at you MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology) because I had high…

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Strange Video From Fukushima Nuclear Plant Live Camera

Byjay

I’m going to embed the video right here so you can watch and try to figure out what’s going on here… Looks like something out of a science fiction movie. The person in the video seems to be a worker at the plant, based on his official clothing, but I’m not sure why he is…

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Japanese Satire News Site Similar to The Onion

Byjay

I was recently asked if Japan has anything similar to “The Onion” which is a humorous website that publishes satirical stories or parodies of current events. Although The Onion is already quite well known, one of its charms is that it publishes stories that are well-written and close enough to reality to give a person…

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Hand Grenade Crime on the Rise in Japan?

Byjay

The Fukuoka Prefectural Police have released a large warning message on their homepage about a recent rise in crimes committed with hand grenades. Although we think of Japan as a place without guns, there are a few gun related crimes every once in a while. This is the first I’ve heard of hand grenade crimes…

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Japanese Government Considering Sales Tax Hike

Byjay

The Japanese government is looking into temporarily raising the sales tax from 5% to 8% for a three year period. They expect the tax hike to increase tax revenues by 7.5 billion yen per year. Just hoping they don’t get used to the money and extend that beyond the three year period.

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Ishihara Wins 4th Term as Tokyo Governor – Any Thoughts?

Byjay

My vote would have been with Mac Akasaka of the Smile Party. However, I am honestly surprised that Hideo Higashikokubaru, the former entertainer and governor of Miyazaki, was unable to take Tokyo away from incumbent governor Shintaro Ishihara… … some friends have said that I should not be surprised at all. The readers of NewzJapan tend…

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Mac Akasaka (Makku Akasaka) Tokyo Governor Candidacy Video

Byjay

If I had a vote in the Tokyo election coming up, I can tell you who would get my vote… however, being a fan of good writing I would rather show you than tell you. Introducing Mac Akasaka or Makku Akasaka who identifies himself with the “Smile” party and has decided to announce his candidacy…

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Hideo Higashikokubaru and Shintaro Ishihara Tokyo Governor’s Race Candidacy Videos

Byjay

As I mentioned in a previous post about the Tokyo governor’s election, it’s on between former Miyazaki governor Hideo Higashikokubaru and incumbent Shintaro Ishihashi. Because anyone who is eligible can nominate his or herself for the position, there are a lot of videos on YouTube now in which people declare their candidacy for the election….

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Daily Pay for Nuclear Plant Disaster Workers Possibly Over $4,000

Byjay

Tokyo Shimbun reports on a 27 year old plant worker who received a call to come to the Fukushima Daiichi plant and work, but turned it down for the sake of his 26 year old wife and 3 year old son. The man said that many workers over the age of 50 were returning to…

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Higashikokubaru vs Ishihara in the Next Tokyo Governor’s Race?

Byjay

Miyazaki Governor Hideo Higashikokubaru, also known as comedian, writer, and TV personality Sonomanma Higashi, has his eyes set on following his stint in Kyushu with becoming the next governor of Tokyo. He announced his official candidacy this week. Incumbent Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara, who loves a good (or bad) soundbite, continues to be criticized for…

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Time Magazine Article on Japan’s Bureaucracy and the Slowing of Earthquake and Tsunami Aid

Byjay

I usually don’t read a lot of Japanese news in English, but an article in Gendai’s online magazine led me to hunt down an article on Time’s site. Funny that Gendai refers to Time for a hard-hitting story on how the government and bureaucracy in place in Japan has made it hard for other countries…