YVONNE EPPS WRITES – Trashy fiction is an increasingly popular guilty pleasure, making one writer’s trash a corporation’s treasure. Racy Vietnamese novel Soi xich (The Chain) was sold on the Apple App Store without author and actress-singer Le Kieu Nhu’s permission, violating the copyright laws protecting the work. Although the…
Author: Asia Media Staff
JAPAN: Who Needs Real “Likes” When You Have Cash?
JEREMIAH FAJARDO WRITES – Can you call yourself popular when most of your fans are fake? As more businesses and politicians are seeking attention via social media, services selling Facebook “Likes” and Twitter followers are appearing. The Yomiuri Shimbun, one of Japan’s leading dailies, interviewed one purveyor of Internet fame,…
TAIWAN: Yes, Young Man, You Could Be a Rape Victim, Too
BRIAN CANAVE WRITES – Men are surprisingly alarmed to learn that they too can be victims of sexual assault. Taiwan’s Ministry of Education released a video three years ago entitled, If I Knew Boys Could Be Sexually Assaulted as Well. Uploaded to the internet about a month ago, the video…
CHINA: Watermelon-Man Death Prompts Micro Blog Uproar
LEXIE TUCKER WRITES – It never occurred to Huang Xixi that selling watermelons would be a business endeavor that could cost her the life of her husband. On July 27, police apprehended six urban management officers who reportedly attacked a married couple selling watermelons. The result left the man dead…
JAPAN: Abe But No Lincoln
JEREMIAH FAJARDO WRITES – After two decades and a plethora of Prime Ministers, has political stability finally come to Japan with its united Diet? With the July 21 Upper House elections, Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) seized the second, upper half of the Diet in an acclaimed landslide victory.…
TAIWAN: Is It Only ‘Transparently’ Corrupt?
BRIAN CANAVE WRITES – Transparency International has released its 2013 findings on official corruption and this year Taiwan took it on the chops. The annual assessments are widely respected, and can influence investment by foreign firms and the evaluations of other international agencies and nonprofits. For 2013, Taiwan’s politicians and…
CHINA: Novelists With Killer Instincts
LEXIE TUCKER WRITES – On July 16, web fiction author Sollong passed away from literally working himself to death. Known only by his Internet pseudonym, which translates to “Snowfall for Ten Years,” Sollong’s real name is a mystery to everyone, except the management at Qidian.com, where he was employed as…
SRI LANKA: Not Easy to Make a Sympathetic War Movie
STEPHANIE GARCIA WRITES – Ever since the end of its 26-year civil war in 2009, Sri Lanka has been in the hot seat, the constant target of allegations of war crimes from the UN and the international community. So it’s no surprise that the island-state is hyper-sensitive to criticism, particularly…
NORTH KOREA: It’s A Very Hard Sell
RYAN LIPPERT WRITES – It seems that some foreigners are growing tired of the international community’s casting of North Korea as the outcast on the block. Hoping to change its undesirable reputation, a group called the Korean Friendship Association (KFA) has been running a YouTube channel focused on portraying the…
NEW ZEALAND: Threat to Net Privacy Appears
E.J. DE LARA WRITES – Imagine any phone conversation, text message or other form of communication people use daily. Now imagine a law that lets Big Brother monitor it all. Throughout June, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key pushed for a new bill that would essential do that — allowing…
JAPAN: ‘Retweets’ Herald Surge in LDP Influence
JEREMIAH FAJARDO WRITES- Political tension in Japan is high with the upcoming Upper House elections, but has the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) already won over the Twittersphere? The LDP and Japanese Communist Party (JCP) currently have the most influence from a social media standpoint, according to researcher Ryosuke Nishida of…
THAILAND: Flood Prevention Contract Wiped Out of ‘Hardcore News’ Time
ELIZABETH NAAI WRITES – After the devastating floods of 2011, which killed 800 people and wreaked havoc on the economy, flood prevention has been at the forefront of Thai national security. A host of local and international firms has sought to cash in, competing for a 160 billion baht ($5…
SINGAPORE: SAF Joins Forces to Create ‘Cyber Army’
STEPHANIE GARCIA WRITES – Gone are the days when warfare was contained on a physical battlefield. Netizens beware — cyberspace is the new frontier. On July 1, Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen announced the creation of the Cyber Defense Operations Force Hub, a collaboration between web security specialists of the…
SOUTH KOREA: Complaining About the Boss Gets Newspaper Staff Locked Out
RYAN LIPPERT WRITES – Bad bosses have made life miserable for employees since the dawn of time, but Chang Jae-ku is one boss who won’t tolerate complaints. Since June 15, approximately 180 correspondents have been kept from returning to their jobs at Hankook Ilbo, a South Korean newspaper. Their boss,…
JAPAN: The Dangers of Distasteful Tweeting
JEREMIAH FAJARDO WRITES – Government use of social media to engage with citizens has boomed. Japan is a great example, with many bureaucrats and politicians tweeting about their views or upcoming campaigns. Disappointingly, Yasuhisa Mizuno, a 45-year-old official, managed to tweet his way out of a job. According to the…
PHILIPPINES: Newspaper Publisher Fails to Uphold Press Freedom
LAUREN CHEN WRITES – This February, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) recognized the late Philippine Daily Inquirer publisher Isagani Yambot Sr. and four others as “Press Freedom Heroes.” But try telling that to Inquirer cartoonist Pol Medina Jr., whose recent suspension, censorship and eventual resignation challenges…