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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…

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Comedian and Singer Chiaki Among Those Injured in Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami

Byjay

Chiaki, a comedian, singer, businesswoman, and mother recently reported the injury on her blog. She said she suffered a cut on her finger that reached down to the bone and needed an operation. The injury is expected to take 5 weeks to heal. After describing her injury she quickly added… but I’m in Tokyo and…

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Making a More Stable Japan Prime Minister Tweet

Byjay

Sometimes tweets from the government here in Japan send up red flags for me. Below is one of those tweets. A very suspicious way of looking at the statement below is that government officials are already rubbing their hands together thinking of things that they can do to make a “more stable” Japan… more stable…

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Man Rescued Eight Days After Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Not Actually Rescued After Eight Days

Byjay

This is another interesting story about the sensationalism of the media and the lack of fact checking done by most major media outlets. I have seen the same story repeated on the websites of both national and local newspapers in the United States, Canada, China, and Australia with only a simple search for them. The…

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Scary Tweets from Japanese Government Concerning Safety Around Fukushima Nuclear Plants

Byjay

Readers of the blog know that I’ve been tweeting information about the situation in Tohoku whenever I’ve been available and had something to add or emphasize from the conversation. One of the important ongoing discussions between the media, Japanese government, foreign embassies, and people of Kanto and Tohoku is just how far away is far…

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Japanese Comedy Pair “Sandwichman” Unlikely Heroes in Japan Earthquake

Byjay

In all the pain, suffering, and uncertainty facing the people in Japan. There have been some heroes. None of the heroes have been so unlikely as the two members of the Japanese manzai pair “Sandwichman”. The pair, Mikio Date and Takeshi Tomizawa, both have popular blogs on the blog site Ameblo. Both also hail from…

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Struggling Areas Welcome American Food Deliveries

Byjay

I’ve been looking for some stories to write about that relay the seriousness of the situation while not being the same sensational images of houses and cars floating away or houses reduced to splinters. On the topic of international cooperation following the Tohoku Earthquake and tsunami in North-eastern Japan, there are several Japan bulletin board…

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Hilarious Video of Japanese Guy Playing FPS Video Game Through Earthquake

Byjay

People who have seen this video on bulletin boards or the internet have talked about how it gave them something to laugh at and enjoy in these stressful times. The guy in the video had me laughing my head off with these sincere but wacky lines. The video is of from a Japanese guy who…

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Lady Gaga Japan Earthquake Relief Charity Wristband Put on Sale

Byjay

It’s no secret that Lady Gaga is a fan of Japan. She has just put a bracelet up for sale that says “We pray for Japan” in both Japanese and English. The bracelet is on sale for $5 and all proceeds will go directly to Japan relief efforts. She is very quick to act and…

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Links to Good Ways to Follow Japan Earthquake News

Byjay

I will twitter some news when I can (you can see it in the sidebar of this blog or @newzjapan on twitter). UPDATE: TV Japan being broadcast for free in the US for the next few days (not sure about other countries) but live NHK broadcast can be seen on tv through participating cable tv…

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Japan Twitter Users Ranking by Prefecture

Byjay

An interesting graphic was recently released showing the number of twitter users per 10,000 residents. There were not too many surprises here as prefectures with large, busy cities tended to rate higher. However after a second look at the data, I also tend to think that cities with a large number of universities fared well…