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28 Aug 2010 13:30

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World: Thanks computers! Chinese, Japanese youths forget how to write

  • goodTechnology has made it easier than ever for Chinese and Japanese youths to use their language.
  • bad As a result though, many of them no longer know how to actually write it out by hand. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Aug 2010 20:09

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Offbeat: Synergy: Sumo wrestlers and iPads go fat-hand-in-fat-hand

  • It’s official. Sumo wrestlers have fat fingers. Their fingers are so fat, in fact, that they have to use iPads as phones, because they can’t quite tap on mobile phones OK. So, the Japan Sumo Association decided to give their wrestlers 60 iPads to use. This is funny, sure, but there’s a spying element to this story. See, the league has recently been nailed by scandal recently. Sumo wrestlers like gambling, and who can blame them? Gambling is awesome. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Aug 2010 21:31

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Biz: It’s official: China’s economy is bigger than Japan’s, way behind U.S.

  • $1.28B the GDP of China’s newly 2nd-place economy in the second quarter of 2010
  • $1.22B the GDP of Japan’s economy in 2nd quarter 2010, which fell behind China for the first time
  • $14B the GDP of the U.S. economy throughout 2009, which is way out in front source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

06 Jul 2010 10:24

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World: Shocker of the day: Sumo apparently has a seedy underworld

  • bad Some of the sport’s athletes have been caught smoking marijuana and rigging matches.
  • worse A 17-year-old novice wrestler was fatally beaten, which doesn’t sound very friendly at all.
  • worser At least 19 wrestlers have been caught gambling on baseball with organized criminals. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink

19 Jun 2010 09:38

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World: Japan’s far-right minority doesn’t want you to see this documentary

  • There are millions of Japanese people. There’s around 10,000 far-right nationalists. And they really don’t want you to see “The Cove,” an Oscar-winning film about Japan’s fishing trade, which often is very violent towards dolphins (and notes the amount of mercury in the country’s fish supply). The protests are getting enough attention that the film might not get a showing at all. “Everybody is so scared,” said Tatsuya Mori, a film director and critic of the protests. “The Japanese tend to imagine worst-case scenarios, but we need to remember that they are in fact a very small number of people.” Not a single theater in Japan has been willing to show the film. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Jun 2010 12:18

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World: Naoto Kan, Japan’s new prime minister, doesn’t wear ugly shirts

Note the suit that Kan is wearing. It really lends itself to a “take me seriously, United States, you’re a lynchpin of my foreign policy” vibe. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Jun 2010 22:02

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World: Japan has a lot of Prime Ministers who resign really quickly

  • 4 straight PMs haven’t made it very far in Japan’s top spot source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

01 Jun 2010 21:49

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World: Troubled Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama resigns

  • It was the shirt, wasn’t it? Yukio Hatoyama, Japan’s prime minister, hasn’t had an easy time of it since he became PM last year, and it’s only gotten worse for him after he ditched a campaign pledge to get the U.S. military to move off Okinawa. His party afraid of losing some serious momentum, Hatoyama resigned tonight. Sucks to be him. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 May 2010 11:19

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World: Japanese PM Yukio Hatoyama sides with U.S. military, feels the pain

  • It is true that I said I wanted to relocate the facility outside of Okinawa. However, I’d like to apologize that the conclusion is not what the Okinawans wanted.
  • Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama • Regarding his decision to allow the American military to keep its main Japanese base, over the concerns and protests of many local residents. The U.S. takes up 10 to 20 percent of the island of Okinawa, and in recent months became a charged political issue. “I must say the situation is extremely disappointing and severe,” said Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 May 2010 20:34

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Culture: After 36 years, Hello Kitty’s popularity finally waning

And thank God for that. That cat is absolutely terrifying. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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