2016-03-19 18:53
A Russian-speaking friend let me know about the following political cartoon by Sergey Elkin, which has appeared on the popular news site Polut.ru:
President Vladimir Putin is shown trying t… Read More
Blog Directory > Life Blogs > Japan Probe | Japan News life Blog >
Japan Probe | Japan News Blog
japanprobe.com
One of the greatest things about the Line instant messaging application is its ever-growing library of stickers (or "stamps" in Japanese). Line allows users to
2016-03-19 18:53
On Friday, animal rights activists in Britain organized a “Taiji Action Day” demonstration in front of the Japanese embassy in London. Carrying Sea Shepherd banners and signs t… Read More
2016-03-19 18:53
During World War II, Japan was an ally of Nazi Germany, a antisemitic state that carried out genocidal policies against the Jews of Europe. Foreign Minister Matsuoka Yosuke of Japan (pict… Read More
2016-03-19 18:53
A Japanese 2channel user recently posted some photo highlighting his experience staying at Osaka’s Hotel Diamond, which offers some of the cheapest rates in Japan.
The receipt, stampe… Read More
2016-02-29 06:48
One of the greatest things about the Line instant messaging application is its ever-growing library of stickers (or “stamps” in Japanese). Line allows users to create and sell th… Read More
2016-02-25 02:13
If you follow Japan-related news social media, chances are you’ve come across the news story about 2 Turkish nationals who were arrested for sexually assaulting and robbing a Japanese… Read More
2014-03-07 01:59
A Russian-speaking friend let me know about the following political cartoon by Sergey Elkin, which has appeared on the popular news site Polut.ru:
President Vladimir Putin is shown trying t… Read More
2014-02-21 07:36
A new anime film called Giovanni’s Island (ジョバンニの島) will hit theaters across Japan tomorrow. Here is the Japanese language trailer:… Read More
2014-02-21 06:41
The Olympics were created with the intent of bringing the world together to celebrate peaceful athletic competition. However, for many countries it has become a opportunity to vent national… Read More
2014-02-20 06:38
On Wednesday morning, a 69-year-old Korean man threw a bag of feces at the Japanese embassy in Seoul. According to Jiji press, the man had been shouting “Dokdo belongs to Korea!&rdqu&helli…Read More
2014-02-17 00:38
The Korean media has posted photos of American politician Tony Avella (Democrat – 11th New York Senate district) attending a press conference wearing a rather odd t-shirt.
The t-shirt… Read More
2014-02-17 00:32
For the second week in a row, a large snow storm hit the Kanto region of Japan. For most Tokyoites, life is returning back to normal. Snow doesn’t block the roads in the city, and a… Read More
2014-02-16 03:57
South Korean Olympic speed skater Mo Tae-bum arrived at Sochi carrying a bizarre suitcase [via GetNews.jp]:
It was basically a rolling advertisement for Korea’s territorial claim to t… Read More
2014-02-16 03:30
According to a Japanese translation of a Korean news article, a few ultra-nationalists in South Korea don’t like Valentine’s Day:
At a protest held on February 12th in front of… Read More
2014-02-15 03:59
Last night, two trains collided on one of Tokyo and Yokohama’s major train lines:
At around 12:30 a.m., a train on the Tokyu Toyoko line linking Tokyo and Yokohama bumped into another… Read More
2014-02-15 03:34
While randomly surfing through Japanese blogs the other day, I came across a post that was telling readers that the new mayor of Tokyo, Yoichi Masuzoe, drinks like he is a Korean. Apparent… Read More
2014-02-15 03:02
New stories are popping up about the Japanese authorities detaining Martyn Stewart, an animal rights activist and filmmaker who has campaigned against Japan’s dolphin hunts. For the… Read More
2014-02-15 01:11
For the second time in one week, Tokyo has been hit by a “big” snow storm. Yesterday, somebody built a snowy companion for Shibuya’s famous Hachiko statue. Here are some… Read More
2014-02-07 02:09
All the polls seem to show that Yoichi Masuzoe is going to win the Tokyo gubernatorial race when the votes are counted on Sunday night. Could some scandal bring him down at the last minute… Read More
2014-02-04 10:25
In March 2011, Paul Blustein was one of the notable few foreign journalists in Japan who didn’t give in to the trend of writing scare stories about the Fukushima nuclear accident. On… Read More
2014-02-04 01:33
Vehicle registration plates in Japan are pretty bland. The numbers are usually printed on a white or yellow plate, with no decorations. However, now that Japan will be hosting the 2020 ga… Read More
2014-02-03 08:15
The radical animal rights group Sea Shepherd is once again attacking Japanese whaling ships. The latest videos from the waters near Antarctica show a Sea Shepherd ship plowing into the side… Read More
2014-02-03 07:23
The 2014 Tokyo gubernatorial election campaign is entering its final week. Among the candidates is Toshio Tamogami, the former general who lost his job in 2008 after he published an essay… Read More
2014-02-01 09:05
On Thursday Japanese lawmaker Masamune Wada tweeted about an incident that allegedly occurred when Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was speaking in front of the Diet that day:
“今Ą… Read More
2014-02-01 06:23
Back in 2012, I blogged about efforts by Korean lobbyists to trick politicians in American state of Virginia into believing that the use of the name “Sea of Japan” on English la… Read More
2014-01-21 06:07
Even before Garin Dart outed himself as having abandoned his pregnant wife and child without a word or warning and fled to Thailand with company money, the Tokyo police doubted foul play and… Read More
2014-01-21 02:28
On Sunday morning I wrote a blog post about a new All Nippon Airways commercial that used a big rubber nose and a blonde wig to imitate the racial features of non-Japanese people. The link… Read More
2014-01-20 01:26
Sora Tezuka, a 22-year-old Tokyo University student, has been arrested after he allegedly assaulted a participant in a right-wing street demonstration:
The incident occurred on Saturday in… Read More
2014-01-19 14:42
The town of Taiji in Wakayama prefecture is conducting another dolphin hunt, and the animal rights activists are sending out press releases to the international media. Once again, we see h… Read More
2014-01-19 12:54
Update (2/21): ANA has stopped airing the commercial and will make a new version with less possibility of offending potential customers.
All Nippon Airways has a new commercial airing on J… Read More
2013-05-28 06:36
A ceremony was held yesterday marking the burial of Japanese war dead at the Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery (Japan’s tomb of the unknown soldier):
Prime Minister Abe and Princess T… Read More
2013-05-28 05:15
Earlier this month, Toru Hashimoto, the governor of Osaka and leader of the Japan Restoration Party, got himself in trouble after making controversial remarks about prostitution on two diff… Read More
2013-05-28 02:48
In the early hours of Sunday, Vanity, a nightclub in Tokyo, was raided by police. As you can see from this TV news report, it was a large operation that involved many officers, including s… Read More
2013-05-27 14:59
The following video of Munenori Kawasaki making some remarks in English after a MLB game has gone viral:
Kawasaki’s teammates, appreciative of his game-winning double, showered him wi… Read More
2013-05-24 01:21
The JoongAng Ilbo, one of South Korean’s biggest newspapers, has printed an opinion piece arguing that the atomic bombings of Japan were “God’s vengeance,” and that… Read More
2013-05-24 00:54
A 31-year-old Korean man has been arrested after stabbing two Japanese people on the street in Osaka .
Two people were wounded. The first was a newspaper deliveryman. Then, a woman who hap… Read More
2013-04-19 08:56
The following book review was submitted by Scott Urista. The author of the book is Christopher Johnson, a freelance journalist who has threatened Japan Probe because our blog posts asked qu… Read More
2013-04-10 04:20
Japan Probe was invited to the Italian Chamber of Commerce’s “urban sustainability” seminar. Architects A and O wrote this report for us.
It was a busy Friday afternoon at… Read More
2013-04-04 07:03
A Japanese TV news report about some recent foreign currency investment scams:
The video mentions two cases. The first case took place in Hokkaido, where a 73-year-old woman received a pho… Read More
2013-04-04 07:01
A few days ago, the New York Times printed an article by Martin Fackler that claimed that the country was “shifting further away from pacifism.” But is that really the case? Se… Read More
2013-03-04 08:45
Remember Christopher Johnson, the freelance reporter/photographer who became infamous in early 2012 after he threatened bloggers and journalists who were critical of his poorly-written accou… Read More
2013-02-27 09:22
On February 23rd, the city of Mito held its 12th annual Natto eating contest. Speed eaters tried to finish a bowl of fermented soybeans as quickly as possible. The bowls contained no rice… Read More
2013-02-27 04:13
Here is the latest video clip of the ongoing clash between the radical animal rights group Sea Shepherd and Japanese whaling ships in the Southern Ocean:
According to Sea Shepherd:
The Japan… Read More
2013-02-21 07:07
It has come to my attention that the Electronic Journal of Contemporary Japanese Studies has published an excellent new article about the “Comfort Women” issue. Gavan Gray of R… Read More
2013-02-21 06:27
The radical animal rights group Sea Shepherd is renewing its violent attacks on Japanese whalers in the Southern Ocean. The follow video shows an SS ship colliding with Japanese boats:
Luc… Read More
2013-02-21 06:01
Here is an interesting video of a recent protest in Tokyo, courtesy of ANN:
It shows a group of mothers who gathered in front of the Suginami ward office in Tokyo to protest a shortage of n… Read More
2013-02-19 02:00
Who doesn’t like cat posts? Read More
2013-02-01 08:22
Last week, the South Korean nationalists who had erected a “comfort woman” statue in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul (pictured above) announced plans to expand its campai… Read More
2013-01-31 06:43
Japan has agreed to ease restrictions on American beef imports that had been in place since 2006.
Under the new compromise, American exporters will be able to ship to Japan beef from cattle… Read More
2013-01-31 06:33
A group of South Korean men has been caught trying to smuggle treasured historical items that disappeared from the Japanese island of Tsushima:
Three of the men are suspected of stealing a… Read More
2013-01-31 06:23
In a recent Yukan Fuji article, former Japan national soccer team player Ruy Ramos spoke about his commitment to his country of citizenship. Ramos was born in Brazil and first came to Japa… Read More
2013-01-17 05:16
A couple days after the March 11th 2011 earthquake, the French government told its citizens to flee the Tokyo region. It was a notorious overreaction to the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear acci… Read More
2013-01-08 05:13
Over the last year, the relationship between Japan and China has considerably worsened due to increased Chinese provocations over the Senkaku Islands. The dispute between the two states led… Read More
2012-12-26 23:31
In March 2011, the USS Ronald Reagan participated in Operation Tomodachi, an American military effort to provide aid and assistance to Japanese tsunami victims. The aircraft carrier, which… Read More
2012-12-26 22:53
Sea Shepherd is an organization that claims to care about protecting wildlife. Their latest “conservation” scheme involves support of the Chinese government’s claim to th… Read More
2012-12-24 14:22
It has come to my attention that William Sakovich, the blogger behind the Ampontan blog, has passed away. According to a comment from a friend, he died of cancer on December 21st:
Hi every… Read More
2012-12-20 10:47
Since last year 2channel, Japan’s largest internet forum, has been subject to pressure from Tokyo police. According to a January 2012 post by Avery (2channel Fights Police Pressure, S… Read More
2012-12-16 12:37
The results of today’s election are coming in, and it’s terrible news for the Democratic Party of Japan. The ruling party, which failed to live up to a lot of the hype that got… Read More
Subscribe to Japan Probe | Japan News
Get updates delivered right to your inbox!