Politics & Diplomacy
Hashimoto to retract sex suggestion for U.S. military
Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto aims to retract his remark that U.S. servicemen in Okinawa should use the local adult entertainment industry to avoid committing sex crimes.
Reference | FYI Jan 8, 2013
Xenophobia finds fertile soil in web anonymity
by Ayako Mie
As diplomatic strains with China and South Korea worsen over territorial disputes, more and more Japanese are using the relative anonymity of cyberspace to vent their political spleens online. Enter “Net uyoku,” the people who freely post their ultranationalistic, xenophobic bluster online. Here is ...
Media Nov 4, 2012
Symposium looks at the disturbing rise of online nationalism
by Eriko Arita
While the territorial disputes between Japan and China, and that with South Korea, seem to have quietened down recently, some people remain frustrated by the issue. Since August, when South Korean President Lee Myung Bak visited the Takeshima islands (known as Dokdo in South ...
Media | MEDIA MIX Oct 28, 2012
Hashimoto needs a much thicker skin
by Philip Brasor
There is a breed of political reporter that thrives on misanthropy. These journalists have no use for empathy when trying to understand issues or individuals. They are only stimulated by acrimony, by the need to reveal the darkest impulses of human endeavor. H.L. Mencken, ...
Media | MEDIA MIX Jun 27, 2004
Korean wave may help erode discrimination
by Philip Brasor
Though a lot of people are tired of the guy by now, there’s something encouraging about the inexhaustible, Beatlemaniacal attention being paid to Korean star Bae Yong Joon. Bae’s popularity is merely the most prominent feature of the current kanryu (Korean wave) boom, but ...