2016/08/23

video, Tokyo Olympics promotional segment

Lots of eye candy, concluding with clever homage to video game icon Mario, played by PM Shinzo Abe at Rio summer Olympics closing ceremony, https://streamable.com/mh3w
Security from human calamity and preparedness for natural disasters will be well in place, one imagines!

2016/08/21

series this week on Japan's 27% elderly population - National Public Radio, Ina Jaffe

On the Sunday morning show, "Weekend Edition - Sunday," there was a segment on Japan being the oldest society these days with 27% at age 65 or older; life expectancy 5 years longer than USA; replacement birth rate falling short, 'scarecrow village' south of Tokyo where once 300 lived now there are just 3 and all the scarecrows planted around the space once occupied by daily lives.

The transcript is posted a few hours after the broadcast story, http://www.npr.org/2016/08/21/490820273/how-japan-is-dealing-with-impacts-of-supporting-the-oldest-population-in-the-wor
One of more of the series coming throughout this next week could make useful classroom discussion openers, or writing prompts.
And if you are not shy about engaging online in public discourse, then you can leave comments to the stories.

==excerpt from Sunday episode, 21 August 2016

MARTIN: So what's it like to just spend some time in that country? I mean, do you see evidence of that aging population?

JAFFE: Oh, you do. In the cities, for example, (laughter) one of the places you see it is convenience stores. And one of the things they're doing to compete is finding ways to cater to their aging clientele. You'll find products there you'd never see in your local mini mart like prepackaged meals for people who have trouble chewing. But really the place that you see aging of Japan most clearly is in the rural areas. There's a term you hear in Japan, it's village on the edge, as in village on the edge of extinction. I went to one a few hundred miles south of Tokyo where the population has gone from around 300 people to just 30.

2016/08/16

photo blog; travel writing - Japan (lonelyplanet)

<><> The "tips and articles" section for Japan gives a series of articles, including lots of gorgeous photos.

For students of Japanese language and life, reading the text with a critical eye is a good exercise: ask "what context is missing" or "what limitation or bias does this writer seem to have." https://www.lonelyplanet.com/japan/tokyo/travel-tips-and-articles/1437 is a good starting place, but as you scroll down to the end, then the next article will load; or a link to "next up: ______" will display in the browser window at lower right corner.

<><> Related is the photo blog by a man long residing in Tokyo, but originally from the Boston area of USA, http://shoottokyo.com/
Same thinking exercise for students of Japanese language and life, apply a critical eye and ask "what context is missing" or "what limitation or bias does this writer seem to have."