Global Voices Online

Blogger smashmedia points to [ja] Japanese business news site J-CAST's recent negative campaign against traditional media. The blogger posts links to a J-CAST interview [ja] with freelance journalist Tetsuya Kuroyabu [黒薮哲哉], who explains that more than 20% of newspapers (so-called “oshigami”) are actually undelivered, concealing a lower-than-expected readership; the blogger also links to an interview [ja] with journalist Toshinao Sasaki [佐々木俊尚], who describes the continuing hatred of the Internet among the Japanese newspaper industry.

PingMag, the Tokyo-based magazine about “Design and Making Things”, has announced that it will be “taking an extended hiatus, and will not be updated for the foreseeable future.” Over 300 comments from fans of the site have poured in, many describing people's sadness at seeing the end of a unique window into Japan.

A blogger at Toppei no Minna Chigatte Minna Ii (トッペイのみんなちがってみんないい) introduces a website where it is possible for deaf followers to download the .wmv files and the original texts of the Buddhist Sacred Scriptures interpreted through the use of the (Japanese) sign language. While this initiative may not sound new to Christian believers, it seems to be one of the first experiments of this kind related to Buddhism since the Society for the Promotion of Buddhism (仏教伝道協会, Bukkyô Dendô Kyôkai) [jp] released a DVD entitled “The Teaching of Buddha by the Sign Language” (手話仏教聖典) [en] in 2007.

Wishing a happy new year to everybody, Nobuo Ikeda makes remarks about Japan's destiny in 2009, following the global financial crisis in the last months of 2008. Professor Ikeda believes that it would be better for Japan to go through a drastic and radical economic crisis at all levels once and for all, instead of a partial one as has been happening since the Bubble economy burst in the 90s. By finding the energy and resolution to surmount the crisis, this would enable the country to start a new age of growth (as it did in the decades after the 2nd World War [ja]).

Who runs Japan's largest bulletin board, 2-Channel [2ch]? This is the question being debated on 2channel threads today [ja], with rumors that the board's enigmatic founder Hiroyuki Nishimura has transferred ownership to a company, PACKET MONSTER INC., apparently based in Singapore. “The beginning of the end,” one commenter writes. Many are more skeptical. “It's a bit early,” another quips, “for April Fools.”

Blogger Happy Kernel suggests a website that collects videos of Christmas illumination along the streets of every Japanese city. The idea of this website's creator, Shinya, was to make it possible for parents with small children to enjoy the Christmas atmosphere from home.

Blogger Yoshihara (吉原) at Engineer Live no Henshûchô (エンジニアLiveの編集長) comments about a new trend which is spreading among Japanese salarymen. As a response to the Japanese practice of working overtime from morning to night without rest, many white collar workers seem to have decided to dedicate the first hours of the morning to themselves: some of them study, others read a book in a cafe or enjoy the “breakfast” menus which many restaurants prepare especially for them.

Edo from Pink Tentacle has a collection on digital illustrations of mechs, droids and borgs.

Neojaponisme has a roundup on 2008 Japan Politics, in particular concerning the dynamics within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).