Mutantfrog Travelogue
Photos, Stories and articles on East Asia



What will the news look like in the future? (Jan 4)
Happy new year everyone! The New Yorker had a nice, concise piece on the financial state of the newspaper industry recently (it’s bad), which concludes: Does that mean newspapers are doomed? Not necessarily. There are many possible futures one can imagine for them, from becoming foundation-run nonprofits to relying on reader donations to that old standby the [...]


When I think kabuki, I think Iceland (Jan 3)
Another usage of the dreaded kabuki metaphor, this time in the midst of a very entertaining Slate.com report from the protests in economically devastated Iceland. It is an accusation that sits uncomfortably, a reminder that this weird public Kabuki is, somehow, the glint off larger problems. In this case, I get the impression that kabuki is not [...]


Japan as a model for American prison reform? (Dec 30)
The Washington Post has a very interesting article on Senator James Webb (D – VA)’s campaign to reform US criminal justice and prisons. Webb seems to be among the few senators who actually realizes how broken the US justice system is, with its obscene incarceration rate and often stiff penalties for minor violations. This is [...]


Adamu’s best posts of 2008 (Dec 29)
Following up Roy’s latest, I thought I would post my personal favorites from 2008: 40% of Japanese blogs are spam—This wasn’t my own discovery or anything, but it was nice to see a reality check from the oft-cited “Japan is the bloggingest nation” myth. The New Yushukan— Reflection on my trip to the war museum connected to Yasukuni Shrine. [...]


My best posts of the year (Dec 29)
With 2009 almost upon us, I thought I’d try riding the wave of cheesy end of year roundups. Here are my personal favorite five items I posted this year. (Adam and Joe can of course do their own. Visas I have known. Scans of all the visas in my passport (key data blacked out of course) [...]


IIjima Ai’s meaning to Taiwan (Dec 28)
The mysterious death of former porn-star turned memoir author and TV celebrity IIjima Ai has been big news in Japan. I wouldn’t normally mention something like this due to lack of really caring much, but I was alerted to a rather interesting twist in a comment by Taiwanese TV Journalist Michella Jade Weng at Michael [...]


The Himeji Monorail (Dec 28)
I just learned of the existence of the Himeji Monorail, from my housemates who spotted it today when walking around after a castle visit. Japanese Wikipedia has a decent article on it. It opened in 1966, but shut down in 1974. While it was a novelty, it was so expensive that “two people could ride [...]


Inventing Xmas (Dec 28)
Christmas is over but “the holidays” continue. As you recover from over-eating, you might enjoy reading about how America’s modern Christmas traditions were born. About.com has a concise guide. One interesting tidbit on the first depiction of the modern Santa: Santa’s suit features the stars and stripes of the American flag, and he’s distributing Christmas packages to [...]


Bertram Bethuel Bronson (Dec 27)
I know only two things about him. One, that he wrote a thesis in 1920 entitled The educational principled and methods of the Philippine school system and their adaptability to the present needs of Siam and two, that he had an amazing name.


Burying the lede? (Dec 26)
The NYT has a new article explaining in a decent length how currency-finagling led to a codependent financial relationship between China and the US over the last few years. Yes, that’s all very informative, but as is often the case they slip the best part in towards the end, where most readers will have already [...]