Global Voices Online

Minae Mizumura's The Fall of the Japanese Language in the Age of English, which sparked debate recently in Japan on the future of the country's national language, is the subject of a blog post [ja] by Nobuo Ikeda. Ikeda writes that his wife had bought the book and described it as “boring”, and when he later picked it up and had a read himself, he felt the same. “She says that Japanese literature is being threatened so we need to protect it, but her understanding is mistaken,” he writes. “In scholarship and business, at least, Japanese is already nothing more than a regional language.”

Ampontan translated an article from a magazine which gives an overview of the problems faced by the Japanese print media with a few suggestions for overcoming those problems.

Matimulog reports on news that the Fukuoka Bar Association has made a declaration requesting that Google halt its Street View service [ja], launched in August of this year in Japan to mixed reviews, due to its violation of the right to privacy. The blogger writes: “I can't help but wonder: why the Fukuoka Bar Association? The Street View service hasn't even been offered anywhere in Kyūshū, let alone in Fukuoka.” (For more info see also J-CAST article [ja].)

Englishman posted a few photos spoofing Japan's prime minister Taro Aso's wit in his speech.

Edo from Pink Tentacle collects a series of photos on decorated trains in Japan.

As a part of wAds (World Aids Day Series) [jp], the HIV/AIDS prevention and education campaign taking place between October and December, many people this year have again participated in the Red Walk in Tokyo. As blogger Koji describes at Koji no Shiiteki Nikki [Kojiの恣意的日記], on the 30th of November [jp], hundreds of young people dressed in red gathered in the morning at Yoyogi Park to walk around the whole Shibuya Ward until the afternoon, in order to stimulate public debate on the AIDS issue.

Blogger que es que, a Japanese living in Guadalajara (Mexico), commented on news concerning Hiroshi Nohara [en], a Japanese man who has been living for months in the Benito Juarez International Airport of Mexico City. The blogger writes that they would like one day to experience Nohara's free style of living.

Blogger Takashi reports [jp] on the Second International Congress of Asian Hemp Industry (第２回アジア大麻産業国際会議) held in Donghae (Korea) at the Hangzhong University from the 20th to the 23rd of November, 7 years after the first congress took place. Participants from Japan, China and South Korea [jp] debated the hemp industry in their respective countries and the necessity for new regulation, stressing the importance of creating an Asian “hemp road” which places emphasis on the use of the plant as a textile and a medicine, as well as on its traditional values. [VIa i-morley]

At the Irregular Rythm Asylum blog, Shiga announces [ja] that she received a letter from Chinpô-san [珍宝さん], a Japanese who has been serving his term of life imprisonment at Bangwang Central Prison for over 10 years. Chinpô explained that starting this year, Japanese and Thai governments will cooperate in the transfer of prisoners from Thailand to Japan, so that Chinpô-san (and other Japanese prisoners) returning to Japan will not have to stay in prison forever [since there is no life imprisonment in Japan]. The plan is not yet finalized, however, and Shiga encourages readers to send messages to the MOFA to push for the realization of the project.