Look into the Rising Sun: discover Japan's culture, politics, and economics online

Japan, the land of mesmerizingly cute food and meticulous people. So powerful, yet mysterious; how can a person gain understanding of this historied nation without actually visiting?

Well, for one, watch "Lost in Translation," which we did in Asia Media I last quarter. Funny, realistic, and illustrative of Prof. Tom's life (or so he says), the film -- albeit full of "national narratives" (stereotypes held about a particular country) -- illustrates the pulse and the flavor of Japan's big cities.


I explored some online pathways to Japan, and here's what I found:

GOOD #1
I'm a big fan of websites that compile news from various sources, because a single newspaper or magazine source can only cover so much; you go to the Mainichi Times for stories on, say, the Japanese stock market, and in 20 minutes, you've exhausted their content.

A tastefully selected medley provides for a wealth of different stories, angles, and tones. Take the New York Times DealBook on business and finance, for example. Compiled daily by Andrew Ross Sorokin, it is clear, aesthetically delightful, and comprehensive. It's well organized into sections covering Mergers and Acquisitions, Legal, Private Equity, Venture Capital, I.P.O.'s and other major topics. http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/.nytimes.com/

I bring up the DealBook as a parallel to News On Japan, an excellent site for news on Japanese politics AND business. http://www.newsonjapan.com/

News On Japan seems to follow the same model: it's a compilation of news from both domestic and international sources (Reuters, NYTimes, Asahi). Even though it's not as visually pleasing as the NYTimes DealBook, I would argue (if you allow me to compare two sites covering disparate topics) that News On Japan is actually better than the DealBook, one of my favorite news sites. This is because unlike the Dealbook, News On Japan features, along the left hand side, a list of blogs and "RSS feeds" covering Japan. (For those like myself who aren't technology-saavy, RSS feeds automatically check websites for any updates and new published material, presumably so that the person using the RSS feed does not have to visit all the websites individually.) The News On Japan site does not just feature the viewpoints of those in the established press. Instead, I found a variety of useful blogs and other sources, from the established press to the man-on-the-street. For example, one interesting blog contained the writings by a regular guy named Ken Yasumoto-Nicolson who is authors a blog called "What Japan Thinks: From kimono to keitai; explore Japanese views through the medium of translated opinion polls and surveys." http://whatjapanthinks.com/

The latest topic is: "Should be giri chocolates (the obligatory chocolates that women must give even the semi-significant men in their life on Japanese Valentine's Day) be at work?" Many women found this custom to be an expensive nuisance, while others didn't seem to mind to much.
The poll results and observations in What Japan Thinks are telling because they are perhaps indicative of Japanese society as a whole. How are women's attitudes changing? This resource adds a micro level to the macrocoverage of traditional media sources. It contributes to the richness of News On Japan, which is already a solid source even without the blog and RSS feed component.

With that said, the compilation of traditional sources is also interesting and diverse. Below are three articles from the site, which illustrates the comprehensive, yet diverse, nature of the content:

First, a report on the ever-important topic of international progress of the multilateral effort to get N. Korea under control. And News on Japan of course has some solid pieces covering this topic. With any conflict in the Asia Pacific region, Japan always seems to have its hands tied behind its back. Because the atrocities committed during WWII are still fresh in the minds of many, Japan's goodwill and charitable deeds go largely unnoticed by the community, whereas any threatening move, even if it is just to protect itself (from the looming gloomy N. Korea!), is met with suspicion from China and smaller Asian countries.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/15/world/asia/15japan.html?_r=1&oref=slogin%5C



Second, a CNN article discusses Australian journalist Ben Hill's refusal to apologize for a book he wrote on Japanese Princess Masako's life. The government feels that the book contains factual errors and insults the royal family. I was fascinated to hear that the "43-year-old Masako is a Harvard-educated former diplomat, whom many had hoped would help modernize Japan's staid imperial family when she married Crown Prince Naruhito in 1993...But she has been suffering from a stress-related mental illness caused by the pressures of adapting to rigid royal life." Apparently, there is real-life turmoil in the life of a princess with real-life smarts! I love fairy tale stories, and this one seemed like one gone terribly wrong. How stressful the royal life must if it is causing her to develop mental disorders!
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/02/14/japan.princess.reut/index.html?section=cnn_latestprincess.reut/index.html?section=cnn_latest

Third, a Bloomberg article informs readers about how Merrill Lynch is beginning to expand it's operations in Japan, based on a hiring spree: "The company in January and December hired at least seven bankers in Japan, including five from Morgan Stanley and one from Goldman Sachs Group Inc., said Tokyo-based Hiroto Yamada." Useful information for anyone involved in the financial services industry.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=aNmucBiHcyss&refer=japanucBiHcyss&refer=japan

GOOD #2
Mainichi Times, one of the most prominent papers in Japan, also yielded me some interesting articles on the society. I learned about some new trends.























One trend indicates that some of Japan's populace is better off. For example, the appeal of joining yakuza, or Japanese gangs, is on the decrease, probably due to a rising quality of life for Japanese youth. One yakuza member explained:"I joined up because I wanted to get laid by a sexy woman every night. I thought it was cool. The day I went over and enlisted, the boss gave me 50,000 yen and I went out to a massage parlor and had the time of my life. Just as I'd finished, though, another gang member came to the parlor, dragged me out and took me back to the gang dorm." There he was only allowed out at certain times and was forced to wake up at 6 in the morning to clean the dorm. "When I'd finished, I had to wash all the other members' clothes, then sit in the office and answer the phone all day." Gangs need phones answered? Who would call a gang? The guy from the opposition gang across town calling in threats? No wonder Japanese kids don't want to join yakuza anymore! Basically, with the Japanese economy robust, they could make a better living elsewhere. Domestic chores and office drudgery, nothing like the glamourous life of sex, violence, and drugs that they'd imagined. If only gangs in the U.S. required their members to wash dishes and file paperwork, too; perhaps that would provide enough incentive for kids to avoid joining gangs!
http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/waiwai/archive/news/2002/06/20020629p2g00m0dm999000c.html

Another trend indicates that not every is doing better. I am in total disbelief at the second story I find. Apparently, over the past two or three years, the number of people living out of net cafes has been growing. People live in net cafes?! I guess that's not surprising, given the sky-high expensive living costs that the Japanese must endure. One of the people "was a 32-year old man who and been living in a net cafe for the previous 18 months, occupying a cubicle at the rate of 100 yen an hour." He said, "There's no shower, and no sofa...I sit on a wood chair that doesn't recline, shove the keyboard over to the side of the table and doze there, face down." And "not all cafe inhabitants are young. Take Yasushi, age 59, who's been staying at such places for the past four years."
http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/waiwai/archive/news/2007/03/20070303p2g00m0dm001000c.html