Building something from the ground up is a daunting task. Whether it’s a new business start-up or a book manuscript, the process is a labor of love. You put everything you have into it, often sacrificing things along the way to make your dream a reality. Ultimately, it’s an immense…
Tag: Jeremiah Fajardo
YOUNG JAPAN: Looking Westward – The Kickstarter Phenomenon
JEREMIAH FAJARDO WRITES – From potato salad to Oscar nominated films, the popular crowd-funding site Kickstarter has been at the forefront of rethinking project funding. Surprisingly, some of the most successful campaigns have come from Japan’s risk-averse entertainment industry. The time for change has come and it’s in the hands…
LOS ANGELES: A Stellar Showcasing of Soft Power
JEREMIAH FAJARDO WRITES – Despite lengthy lines and oppressive heat, L.A.’s annual Anime Expo broke its previous attendance records, embodying the growth and impact of Japan’s pop-culture diplomacy. Each Independence Day weekend thousands of passionate fans descend upon Southern California for North America’s largest convention for all things related to…
Asia Media’s New Editorial & Advisory Teams
ASIA MEDIA WRITES – For the soon-arriving academic year at The New ASIA MEDIA Center, publisher of the prominent international e-magazine ASIA MEDIA at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, our fall lineup has now been set, and so we are very happy to announce the following major appointments: 1.…
HOW NOT TO MISUNDERSTAND ASIA: The Farewell Interviews by Editors Fajardo & Garcia
TOM PLATE WRITES – Before graduating with their degrees, Asia Media Magazine managing editors Jeremiah Fajardo and Stephanie Garcia spent time with Asia Media’s editor-in-chief for a final panoramic interview on Asia today. The interviews can be viewed below. Jeremiah’s Interview Stephanie’s Interview A collated version for classroom usage can…
JAPAN: Crimea Controversy Leads to Net Sensation
JEREMIAH FAJARDO WRITES – While some countries snort derisively at Vladimir Putin’s annexation of Crimea, in Japan it’s been love at first sight with the Republic’s new attorney general. In the immediate aftermath of the Russian land grab, a press conference featuring 34-year-old Natalia Poklonskaya went viral — and it…
JAPAN: ANA Commercial Sparks Social Media Wildfire
JEREMIAH FAJARDO WRITES – On paper, promoting a sense of international awareness sounds like a logical quality for an airline to convey in its commercials. Such ads can assure customers of a friendly, welcoming environment. Yet, as All Nippon Airways (ANA) has found, this is hardly achieved by poking fun at…
JAPAN: New Bill a Bid for State Security or Gateway to Orwellian Dystopia?
JEREMIAH FAJARDO WRITES – As China works to impose (and handle blow back from) a controversial air defense zone, Japan’s parliament is tied up in its own controversy in the form of a divisive state secrets bill. Already passed by the Lower House in November, the contentious law aims, via…
LOS ANGELES: Second Anniversary Celebration of LMU’s New ‘Asia Media’ – With A Special Guest Star
There is nothing like a good party to take note of a good beginning. And so it was Friday night 22 November that the staff and friends of The New Asia Media at Loyola Marymount University gathered in high spirits for the 2nd anniversary celebration of the launch of the…
JAPAN: New Komeito Party Hopes to Safeguard Media Freedom
JEREMIAH FAJARDO WRITES – Amid the battering winds of Typhoon Wipha, the Japanese government has publicized a refreshing piece of legislature, hoping to broaden the media’s freedom of speech. The bill, referred to as the “Secrets Protection Bill,” aims at “protecting national security secrets to ensure freedom of the media…
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,…
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.…
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…
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…
JAPAN: Cosplay Summit Promotes Japan’s Soft Power
JEREMIAH FAJARDO WRITES – When it comes to making friends abroad, sometimes a pink-haired manga fan beats officially-sanctioned cultural exchanges. That’s proving to be the case in Japan with this summer’s 11th annual World Cosplay Summit (WCS) in Nagoya’s Osu district. Since the 1950s, anime and manga have been core…
JAPAN: Mayor’s ‘Comfort Women’ Remarks Shock Facebook
JEREMIAH FAJARDO WRITES – When hasty, controversial remarks find their way onto social media the result is rarely good for politicians. That’s a lesson Osaka Mayor Tōru Hashimoto has come to learn. According to publications like The Japan Times and Mainichi Daily, two of Japan’s prominent dailies, Hashimoto recently made flippant…