Stories about East Asia from February, 2009
Hong Kong: Budget report: university students on sale!
Financial Secretary of Hong Kong John Tsang made the budget speech for the fiscal year 2009-2010 at the Legislative Council on 25 of February. This is the first budget report...
Japan: Bloggers on the Nakagawa affair
Over a week has passed since now-infamous footage of Japan's former finance minister Shōichi Nakagawa stumbling through a 20 minute speech at the G7 meeting in Rome made world headlines and hit the top of YouTube charts. In this post I feature a handful of responses to the speech by Japanese bloggers.
Korea: Economic downturn and which companies have the best chances for survival.
While all of us hope the economic downturn is over soon, it seems that it’s a long term battle. Companies are cutting employees or decreasing their business scope. A netizen...
China: From Red Guards to Cyber-vigilantism to where next?
Rebecca Mackinnon from Rconversation discusses the rise of Net power in China: “Will the Chinese people rise above cyber-vigilantism and use the Internet to build a just and fair society...
China: Harnessing human search engines for government use
Joel Martinsen from DANWEI translated a recent incident when netizens human flesh search two reporters who are critical towards corrupted practice of local government in constructing their government building.
Japan: Alpha Blogger Awards 2008 (Part 2)
Starting December 24th, the Alpha Blogger website called for people to nominate 1-3 blog entries written in 2008 that had affected them the most. Mid-term results were announced on January 16th, and voting was open until February 18th. The second half of this year's winners are featured in this post.
Taiwan: CECA, economic elixir or poison?
CECA? Neither a new game console from Japan nor another evil science project that is going to bring this world to an end? But according to the Government, CECA is coming to save Taiwan's economy from drowning in global financial crisis and the greatest recession in 50 years. However, most people still have no idea what CECA is, and like all the other issues, it is quickly politicized as a new media battle ground set for the continuous fight between KMT, the ruling party, and DPP, the major opposition party. Bloggers again try to ask key questions and explain the issues deeper on their own.
China: Bush maize ad
Sunbin posted a photos showing an ad making use of Bush for selling maize.
China: Reactions on the auction of stolen bronze relics
Fauna from ChinaSMACK translates Chinese netizens’ reactions on the auction of stolen bronze relics in France.
Taiwan: Google Map back to 1944
Kaishao introduces (zh) a new google map mashup presented by Center for Geographic Information Science, Academia Sinica. The map combines Google Map with the maps of several counties of Taiwan...
Singapore: Copyright Act and blogosphere
ringisei is worried that the Copyright Act is being used to “strangle” the blogosphere in Singapore.
Singapore: Amended law to allow filming of “factual” political rallies
Individuals who use their mobile phones to film illegal rallies can be arrested under an amended law in Singapore. Live film recordings of political events are allowed but the events being filmed must first be held in accordance with the law.
Malaysia: Many are not satisfied with their sex lives
Myhorng links to an article which shows that many Malaysians are not satisfied with their sex lives.
Malaysia: Operation Valentine
Malaysian police arrested 26 unmarried Muslim couples in hotel rooms during Operation Valentine to curb premarital sex. The crime of “khalwat,” or “close proximity” forbids unmarried Muslims to meet behind...
Brunei: Fund drive for flood victims
As part of the efforts to collect donations for flood victims, charity drives have been organized in recent weeks in Brunei. The heavy downpour last month caused heavy floods and landslides in the country, affecting homes of more than 200 families, and destroying milllions of dollars in properties and crops.
Indonesia: Tsunami museum
A Tsunami Museum opened in Aceh, Indonesia last Monday to commemorate the 230,000 people who died in the 2004 Asian tsunami. But some have criticized the project since they want...
Vietnamese equivalent of the Christmas tree
Jerome from Hanoi posts a picture of a fallen peach tree: the Vietnamese equivalent of the Christmas tree during the Lunar New Year
Nepalese doctors in the Philippines
Due to shortage of doctors in government hospitals, a province in the Philippines plans to import doctors from Nepal.
Philippines: Praise for “Milk” film
Talinghagang Gala, a student leader in the Philippines, is happy for the Oscar victory of Sean Penn for his acting performance in the film “Milk.” He praises the progressive message...
China: A hard place to defend
Angry Chinese blogger explains why it is difficult to defend China human rights condition by referring to the visit petition of 62 year old Zhong Ruihua.
Japan: Alpha Blogger Awards 2008 (Part 1)
On the 20th of February, the 2008 Alpha Blogger Awards were held in Tokyo. Sponsored by Pringles Chips, the event this year was attended by close to 80 people (including the team of GV Japan), awarding prizes to the twelve posts from the Japanese blogosphere in 2008 that received the most votes on the ABA site.
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