Global Voices Online

Japanese programmer and blogger id:amachang introduces [ja] Chart Maniax [ja], a service they developed for charting when and through which services web pages have been bookmarked. Services included are Hatena Bookmarks [ja], Livedoor Clip [ja], Delicious and Buzzurl [ja]. As an example, have a look at the chart for id:amachang's entry [ja].

Blogger and lawyer Yōji Ochiai [落合洋司] reports on news [ja] that the Machida city council in Tokyo has made a written request [ja] for investigations into regulation regarding Google's Street View Service, which has sparked some negative reactions in Japan [ja]. “My position has been to oppose entirely the targeting, without careful consideration, of Internet services for legal regulation, “Ochiai writes. “However, I have a feeling that the issues that have led to the submission of this written request cannot be so easily brushed away.”

Blogger Ken writes about verbal gaffs in Japanese politics [ja]. Ken uses the example of a recent statement by Minister Nariaki Nakayama, which the blogger says became a gaff because Nakayama offended both the teachers union and citizen groups opposing expansion of Narita Airport. Ken argues that verbal gaffs are characterized by being value judgments and not factual statements, as in Nakayama's statement about Japan being “ethnically homogeneous”, which came on the heels of the Ainu being recognized as an indigenous people, and thus was not taken as a fact but as a personal criticism.

Ikeda Nobuo at OpenSpectrum Japan reports on two news stories related to copyright law in Japan: the conditional access system B-CAS has been scrapped (and with it so-called “Dubbing Ten”), and on September 18 the plan to extend copyright from 50 to 70 years was also abandoned. Ikeda observes that this may be an indication that the Web is becoming the “Fifth Estate” in Japan to compete with mass media.

Bahraini Yagoob is in Japan - with some unwelcome company.

Niphonese translated some bloggers discussion about the change of regulation on cross media ownership in Japan and its implication on freedom of press by looking into the experience in South Korea.

mojix at Zope Junky Nikki picks up news that the Nikkei stock average has slumped below 10,000 yen for the first time in nearly five years [ja], featuring a PDF of a print article from Nikkei Keizai shimbun announcing the drop. mojix writes: “There are good sides to a strong yen, and [the price of] resources and commodities has dropped, so for Japan this could perhaps be a kind of chance.”

A Japanese parent blogs about their daughter's experience getting her first mobile phone [ja], and the problems involved: the dangers of dating and porn sites, misunderstandings in communication, and constant interruptions during study time. The blogger relates the social distance created by these phones to the shift from traditional sushi restaurants to conveyor-belt sushi, where orders can be made without talking to the sushi chef. “NTT Docomo develops amazing products,” the blogger writes, “and I thank them for that. But I wish they would take a bit of responsibility for how these products are used.”

Blogger id:higayasuo traces recent problems at IBM Japan to the old guard in the company not understanding modern conditions of the industry [ja], carrying over experience from an age of general-purpose computers to a modern Americanized age of rational production through outsourcing and specialization. Based on this experience, id:higayasuo explains, this older generation makes the mistake of outsourcing offshore the task of writing computer programs, while performing writing of program design documents domestically, in the end a more costly way of doing things.