Haruki Murakami was born in Japan during the post–World War II baby boom. Although born in Kyoto, he spent his youth in Shukugawa (Nishinomiya), Ashiya and Kobe. His father was the son of a Buddhist priest, and his mother the daughter of an Osaka merchant.[8] Both taught Japanese literature. Since…
KIARA BRAMASCO WRITES – A top editor at Bangladesh’s Amar Desh newspaper has been arrested and at least one human rights group says he’s being tortured in police custody. The international Committee to Protect Journalists, meanwhile, has called on the government to stop its official harassment of the Dhaka daily.…
JESSICA GADOMSKI WRITES – Candidates running in next month’s election are obviously vying for votes. But some candidates, like Imran Khan, are bringing the competition into the 21st century. Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) political party recognized early on that social media could influence the election. PTI began reaching out…
NICOLE SABA WRITES – A new media law has been drafted in Kuwait, severely restricting both freedom of the press and freedom of speech. This law will let the government regulate both traditional and social media, including, but not limited to: blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and any other online forums. Though…
LIZA HERNANDEZ WRITES – During a recent CNN interview, former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf admitted that his government made a secret deal with the United States that allowed drone strikes to occur in Pakistan. In the interview, the former president stated that permission was given to execute drone strikes “…only…
ALEXANDRE GUIRAUD-COINTREAU WRITES – In Myanmar, laws are changing, media companies are moving back to the country, and daily private newspapers are being published. But there is still a long way to go before this country can achieve a truly Western style press. Publishers are faced with new issues every…
MARLENA NIP WRITES – The Malaysian elections are fast approaching and judging from current public opinion polls, it looks like Malaysian citizens are shoving the national party out the door. This could be a historical election if the opposition party is able to take the reigns on Malaysian politics. The…
Thanks to the brilliant recent book “UNIVERSE IS FLUX,” by John Teramoto with Stephen Addiss and David Rosand, our art spotlight goes to the late Tawara Yusaku, whose Tawara’s artistic vision was highly influenced by Buddhist concepts of cosmology and space. See the stunning sample above. As the book’s authors…
TOM PLATE WRITES — Thanks to the brilliant recent book “UNIVERSE IS FLUX,” by John Teramoto with Stephen Addiss and David Rosand, our art spotlight goes to the late Tawara Yusaku, whose Tawara’s artistic vision was highly influenced by Buddhist concepts of cosmology and space. As the book’s authors tell…
JESSICA GADOMSKI WRITES – Coming elections have Pakistanis wired. With polls set for May 11, the Election Commission of Pakistan’s website has been under heavy scrutiny, by both voters looking for info, and hackers looking to make a point. And according to some accounts, the latter have succeeded in taking…
ALEXANDRE GUIRAUD WRITES – After a half century of a media system controlled by an authoritarian government, Myanmar is finally seeing a shift toward its better angels. No longer will the media face such stringent censorship or fear government repercussions up to an including death. But as private daily newspapers…
KIARA BRAMASCO WRITES – Rest easy, readers. The Bangladeshi government has been busy clearing the cyberworld of blasphemous content. The Daily Star reports a group of “Muslim Clerics” submitted a list of bloggers they believe are responsible for alleged insults to Islam made online. The list was handed to a…
NICOLE SABA WRITES – With expressive voices and growing influence at home and abroad, participants in Lebanon’s online community are finally getting their due. The First Annual Social Media Awards, sponsored by RAGMAG Magazine and Online Collaborative, an NGO that began at the American University of Beirut, will conclude with…
Margaret Thatcher, who died earlier this week, may not have been one “for turning”, as she dubbed her putative inability to not ever alter basic principled direction. But when the first woman ever to become British prime minister first met the maximum leader of China — Deng Xiaoping in 1982,…
TOM PLATE WRITES — The term ‘noir’ is rather difficult define but instantaneously recognizable. In the American literary tradition, many of our greatest writers have been associated with the tradition of ‘noir’ (French for ‘black film’). They would include Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain, Ross Macdonald and Elmore…
