Every week, Darrell Whitten puts out a high-quality newsletter on Japanese finance and the state of affairs in the Japanese economy. Each week there is a different focus within finance, but his writing is accessible and his analysis cogent and logical.
I'm not in finance, but I do read Whitten religiously because he cares about Japan deeply and his perspectives are often right alongside my own. I urge you to sign up for his newsletter at JapanInc.com.

J@pan Inc - Money Watch - Viewpoint: Comply or Explain: Japan's Shareholders Speak Up

What kind of a Japan-blog doesn't link to Tokidoko.it's Supaaaa Sushi Race! It's omoshiroi!

tokidoki v2.0 - The Supaaaa Sushi Race

The New York Times covers a 60 year reunion of Japanese-Americans who were interned at Minidoka Relocation camp in Idaho during World War II.

Her family had no idea where they were going, she said. Her father, a restaurant worker, had immigrated to Seattle from Japan in 1899 ? about the time when many Japanese immigrants were settling on the West Coast ? and he was not an American citizen, which Ms. Sudo said made him afraid to fight the relocation.

"For my father, it was devastating," she said. "He was 64 or 65 when he left camp, and he had lost everything. He lived until he was 88, but he didn't really live, he just existed."

Both sisters said that returning to Minidoka this weekend made them deeply angry about the internment.

"When I think back," said Mrs. Ikeda, who was 10 when the family was sent to the camp, "I think that if I were older and able to speak out, I feel I would have resisted."

Japanese-Americans Relive Barbed Era

San Helifino, CA /DenounceNewswire/ -- 28 June 2003 -- Did you ever wonder what it would be like to live in the world of Internet Punditry? Do you dream of meeting and learning from the legends of the web? Is there a blog article in your head that you would like to bring to life? Do you want to spend five days and nights following pundits around to see what they do?

IPFC, Inc. announces the launch of the Internet Pundit Fantasy Camp, and a chance to be among the presence of such luminaries as Jason Kottke, James Lileks, Doc Searls, Glenn Reynolds, Esther Dyson, Cory Doctorow, Christopher Locke, Clay Shirky, Xeni Jardin, Scott Rosenberg, Joi Ito, Marc Canter, John Dvorak, Dan Gillmor, Andrew Sullivan, Dave Winer, and David Weinberger.

It's funny AND false ;)

Denounce Newswire: Internet Pundit Fantasy Camp

via pundit Dan Gillmor

This is brilliant! What a great idea! It's like Reese's "two great tastes that taste great together." However, I doubt the bloging functionality with worth with anything but Blogger. Nevertheless, it is a great new feature.

Google tweaks toolbar to block pop-ups | CNET News.com

Google Toolbar 2.0 Beta

Two of my college friends and another friend of their, all originally from Maine, are about to attempt an ascent of Cotopaxi (Ecuador) and to ski/snowboard down.

This is the sort of beyond-incomprehensible comment by a Japanese politician that makes me realize how broken the political system here is and how far behind Japan is in the path towards gender equality.

Trent Lott lost his senate majority leader for comments as abhorrent. Ota NEEDS to be punished or this kind of talk will continue and these deeds will continue.

Japan Today Japan News - News - LDP lawmaker calls gang rapists 'virile'

More comments on MetaFilter: Strange Solutions For Population Decline | Metafilter

UPDATE: BBC coverage shows that Koizumi wants Ota criticized. That doesn't go nearly far enough, imo.

UPDATE 2: The New York Times covers Ota's idiotic comments from a broader perspective, including reporting on a teacher-student rape case.

USC's Japan Media Review reprints Joi Ito's "Emergent Democracy" paper which was recently translated into Japanse (PDF) by Shumpei Kumon of GLOCOM. More exposure for this kind of thinking is really valuable, imo.

Japan Media Review -- Will the Web and blogs Change how we Govern -- and are Governed?

No comment.

Moody's Cuts Sony Rating, Citing Electronics Outlook

Over a month old but VERY interesting. Many, cheap, disposable, etc.

IEEE Micro: Web Search for a Planet: The Google Cluster Architecture. [104K PDF]

via aaronsw