Unseen Japan: Scam Website Steals Japanese Cosplayer’s Labor of Love. “A Japanese cosplayer was recently horrified to find that their homemade cosplay of a much-loved character — an outfit still sitting in their own home — was listed for sale on an online outlet under their own photo and some of their own words.”
National Diet Library, Japan: 320,000 items from the National Diet Library Digital Collections have been made available via the Digitized Contents Transmission Service. “The National Diet Library has made roughly 320,000 items (ZIP: 45.7MB) from the National Diet Library Digital Collections newly available via the Digitized Contents Transmission Service, as detailed below.”
Asahi Shimbun: GaaSyy refuses to appear in Diet to apologize, risking expulsion. “Yoshikazu Higashitani, a YouTuber-turned-lawmaker known online as ‘GaaSyy,’ has informed his secretary he will not attend the March 8 plenary session of the Diet, as ordered by the Upper House’s disciplinary committee, to apologize for failing to appear for any parliamentary proceedings.”
Engadget: Google workers in Japan have joined a labor union in response to planned layoffs. “Dozens of Google Japan employees have organized under the Tokyo Managers’ Union. It’s the first labor union at Google Japan, according to Meiji University Assistant Professor Ken Yamazaki, who also posted a copy of the group’s statements from a press conference. Apparently, the employees chose to organize out of fear that they could be abruptly laid off, especially since some of them are in Japan on work visas.”
Asahi Shimbun: Descendants pass on memories of now-forbidden island of Iwojima. “One recent day, Tokiko Okuyama recounted her childhood memories on Iwojima over black-and-white photographs spread out on a table as two descendants of war-displaced islanders were writing down her accounts in notebooks.”
Engadget: Viz Media makes ‘Sailor Moon’ and other anime classics available for free on YouTube. “Viz Media has uploaded some of the most well-known anime series out there to YouTube and made them available to stream for free. You can now find shows such as Sailor Moon — the old series that aired in the 90s, not the remake, Sailor Moon Crystal — Naruto, Death Note, Inuyasha and Hunter X Hunter on the publisher’s account.”
Asahi Shimbun: Japan has more than 14,000 islands, digital mapping reveals. “Thanks to digital mapping technology, Japanese geographers have identified more than 7,000 islands previously unrecognized in the country’s waters. The first such survey in 35 years revealed that the nation is made up of 14,125 islands rather than 6,852, as previously thought, according to a source familiar with the matter.”
The Conversation: Historic Iwo Jima footage shows individual Marines amid the larger battle. “I came across this film clip in my work as a curator of a collection of motion picture films shot by Marine Corps photographers from World War II through the 1970s. In a partnership between the History Division of the Marine Corps and the University of South Carolina, where I work, we are digitizing these films, seeking to provide direct public access to the video and expand historical understanding of the Marine Corps’ role in society. Over two years of scanning, I have come to realize that our work also enables a more powerful relationship with the past by fostering individual connections with videos, something that the digitizing of the large quantity of footage makes possible.”
The Register: Japan joins ranks of nations plotting smackdown for Apple, Google. “Japan’s competition regulator has recommended big changes to local laws to reform the ‘oligopoly’ it’s assessed Google and Apple enjoy in the markets for mobile operating systems and the apps that run on them.”
Unseen Japan: Japan’s “Mermaid Mummy” Finally Identified via New Research. “The mummy is 30 centimeters long and has human features on its face. However, it also has scales running down its back…. Last year, a team of researchers began a mission to discover the mummy’s true identity. Scientists at Kurashiki University of Science and the Arts (倉敷芸術科学大) carefully subjected the artifact to X-rays and other examinations at the University’s animal research college.”
Unseen Japan: Twitter-Addicted Japan Laments the Service’s “Ice Age”. “Twitter users in Japan have remained fairly nonplussed by Elon Musk’s private takeover of the once-public service. But a recent spate of account freezes this past week have led some to wonder whether it’s the end days. Others, however, vow they’ll keep rearranging deck chairs until the vessel sinks.”
Asahi Shimbun: Japan setting up rapid-response unit to counter disinformation. “The central government is setting up an organization within the Cabinet Secretariat to take on disinformation campaigns, such as fake news and impersonator accounts.”
Asahi Shimbun: Students lay groundwork for research project on Donald Keene. “Students have taken the lead in a project to sort out more than 7,000 books in the collections of American-born Japanese literature expert Donald Keene (1922-2019). Toyo University, Tokyo’s Kita Ward and the Donald Keene Memorial Foundation in July signed an agreement to scrutinize the collections of the scholar who introduced Japanese literature and culture to people around the world.”
Nikkei: Japan taps AI to defend against fake news. “The foreign ministry will launch an AI-powered system in fiscal 2023 to collect and analyse fake information on social media and other platforms, allowing it to track how foreign actors are trying to influence public opinion over the medium to long term. The framework will not only cover information geared toward the Japanese audience, but also information aimed at harming foreign perceptions of Japan.”
NHK World Japan: JMA launches website on 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake. “The website presents photos and data related to the 7.9-magnitude Great Kanto Earthquake, which struck on September 1, 1923. The temblor destroyed buildings, triggered landslides and tsunami, and caused massive fires that engulfed wide swathes of Tokyo and Yokohama. It left more than 100,000 people dead.”
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