All pages (1-20 of 26)

Site Upgrade
Thursday, April 3, 2008

As some readers have no doubt noticed, gyaku has not been updated in the past few months, and the update rate had already been decreasing as of the Fall of last year, the main reason being that we are planning a site upgrade, described here. (continue reading)

Regulating the Japanese cyberspace, one step at a time
Thursday, December 27, 2007

With little fanfare from local or foreign media, the Japanese government made significant moves this month toward legislating extensive regulation over web content, mobile phone access, and file sharing. (continue reading)

Interview with David McNeill
Tuesday, December 4, 2007

David McNeill writes regularly for the Irish Times and the Independent, teaches at Sophia University in Tokyo, and is also a coordinator of Japan Focus. We met David at a cafe near Sophia's Yotsuya campus to talk about his experiences teaching media studies and writing as a foreign correspondent in Japan. (continue reading)

Interview with Mr. Koide Hiroaki
Monday, September 3, 2007

In this interview we speak with Mr. Koide Hiroaki, a researcher at the Kyoto University Reactor Research Insitute who for 40 years has been fighting against nuclear power in Japan. (continue reading)

[Summary] Development, environment, human rights: An Interview with Kawamura Akio
Thursday, August 2, 2007

In this interview we speak with Kawamura Akio, an assistant professor at Kobe College with a specialization in international relations, about development, the environment and human rights. (continue reading)

Miscellany and Language: A review of Everything is Miscellaneous
Tuesday, July 24, 2007

David Weinberger's latest book "Everything is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder" presents a view of digital information as having been "freed of its categorical tethers". The question asked here is: what about the barriers of language? (continue reading)

Reflections on Video Art, Media, and a Life of Zen: An Interview with Michael Goldberg
Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Michael Goldberg, a native of Montreal, Canada now living in Tokyo, Japan, has been active in video art and video production for over 40 years. We talked to Michael about his experience as a video artist as well as his new film, "A ZEN LIFE", about D.T. Suzuki. (continue reading)

An Interview with Matsumoto Hajime
Sunday, May 27, 2007

A noisy commotion hit the area around JR Kouenji station in the second half of the nationwide local elections. A group headed by Matsumoto Hajime, one of the candidates running in the Suginami ward elections, organized a campaign in which they played music day and night, organized events on the street near the station, and liberated the streets, all in an attempt to reclaim their city. (continue reading)

Voices of the Precariat: MayDay for Freedom and Lives
Thursday, May 3, 2007

On April 30th, the group of people referred to as the "precariat" -- freeters, part-timers, day workers, homeless, people forced into lives with neither security nor stability -- participated in "MayDay for Freedom and Lives" held in Shinjuku, Tokyo. (continue reading)

Terror from the sky, horror on the ground: The view from Ramadi
Wednesday, April 25, 2007

On April 2, Iraqi aid worker and blogger Kasim Turki spoke about his experiences of the conflict in his hometown of Ramadi and on ongoing reconstruction efforts in which he is involved. (continue reading)

Accenture, JAPAN-VISIT, and the mystery of the 100,000 yen bid
Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Just under one year ago, revelations emerged that a contract for a new biometric immigration system had been awarded by the Japanese government to Accenture Japan Ltd., a corporation previously hired in the role of "advisor" for the same project, at a price of only 100,000 yen (less than 900 USD). Key documentation related to the mystery of this "low-price bid" has been translated and summarized here. (continue reading)

Chai: Recipe and History
Tuesday, April 3, 2007

In Nepal today, chai has become so familiar to the Nepali people that when two acquaintances meet on the street, rather than using the Nepali greeting "Namaste", people often simply ask: "Have you had chai?" (continue reading)

Japanese personal savings fund development loan program
Tuesday, April 3, 2007

In their Spring/Summer catalogue, People Tree Japan featured an article, translated and summarized here, on research by environmental activist Tanaka Yu exposing the web of connections by which money from private citizens' savings accounts is used by Japan's Official Development Assistance (ODA) Program to finance yen-denominated loans for third-world countries. (continue reading)

Hamas and the Future of the Palestine Question
Friday, March 30, 2007

Azzam Tamimi speaks about the historical roots of Hamas, its internal structure and political objectives, and the factors which led to its rise to power within Palestinian society in recent years. (continue reading)

Peace march in Tokyo against occupation in Iraq
Saturday, March 24, 2007

Protest marches in Tokyo and across Japan on March 21st marked 4 years since the outbreak of war in Iraq. (continue reading)

[Summary] The Tachikawa flyering incident: 3 years later
Friday, March 23, 2007

On a clear and sunny Sunday earlier this month, on my way out for the day, I met a group in front of the train station gathering signatures for a petition. (continue reading)

[Summary] My visit to Fuxin City, China
Thursday, March 22, 2007

In writing this article, I take inspiration from one of the goals of the gyaku project: I am writing about a city whose name most people have never heard, a place that even many Chinese do not know of. (continue reading)

The History of Israel Reconsidered
Sunday, March 11, 2007

Ilan Pappe, historian and senior lecturer of Political Science at Haifa University, speaks on the path of personal experiences that brought him to write his new book, "The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine". (continue reading)

Schools across Japan may switch to Linux
Wednesday, March 7, 2007

Japan's public broadcaster NHK reported late last week that the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry plans to introduce the open-source operating system Linux for use within classrooms across the country in the near future. (continue reading)

Democracy as Experience: Ahmad Sa'di speaks on living as a Palestinian in Israel
Tuesday, February 27, 2007

The Japan Palestine Medical Association (JPMA) has for some time been organizing lectures by guest speakers on the subject of the Middle-East. The latest of these lectures (Feb. 17, 2007), entitled "Is Israel a Democracy?: Living in Israel as a Palestinian," was given by Dr. Ahmad Sa'di, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Politics and Government at Ben-Gurion University. (continue reading)