It's the year of the rat according to the Chinese lunar calendar, and to celebrate, designer Vivienne Tam created these Mickey-Mouse-themed dresses and held a fashion show at Hong Kong Disneyland.. They're very kitschy-pretty. I like the fourth one from the left and the third one from the right. Image by Reuters.
The October 15 issue of Fortune Magazine features 100 of the most powerful women in the world, 50 in the US and 50 in the rest of the world. Pretty surprisingly diverse group of ladies—the #1 in the US is Indra Nooyi, Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo. She's Indian-American. Andrea Jung of Avon is Asian, and Oprah is black, and they're both in the Top 10. The international list has plenty of representation from France, Britain, China, the Netherlands, Singapore, South Africa. So guess how many of the 100 are Japanese?
Two! Surprising, considering that Japan is so first world. But then again, not surprising at all if you know a thing or two about what it's like to be a woman in the Japanese work force. Anyway, Yoshiko Shinohara, president of Tempstaff, comes in at #39 on the Global List, and Sawako Noma, Pres and CEO of publishing giant Kodansha (she's the founder's granddaughter), comes in at #45. Interesting to note also that both Shinohara and Noma are much older than the average woman on these lists—they're in their sixties and seventies, compared to the American top dogs who are mostly in their early 50s (some are even in their thirties!).
Check out this Reuters photo of demonstrators in Burma (Myanmar). Here, security forces shoot at the demonstrators, who are fleeing. The guy lying on the floor is 50-year old video journalist Kenji Nagai. This was taken shortly before he died from the bullet wounds that have him lying on the ground. He was 1 of 9 that died in Yangon that day.
Apparently, this girl—whom I swear was in my brother's middle school class in Tokyo (can anyone confirm?)—is a celebrity in Korea. Here she talks about sex ed and Korean chicks.
This little Chinese girl, who makes an appearance here on a Japanese TV show, is really good at playing the xylophone. And she's having so much fun!
(Thanks, Cherlyn!)
In 2008, Chronicle published my book: Urawaza: Secret Everyday Tips and Tricks from Japan.
I am also the founder of The Tofu Project, a boutique program that helps Japanese entrepreneurs and creators think deeper, tell better stories, and go out into the world in a much bigger way. We work with companies like Mixi, Japan Airlines, and Salesforce.com.
Sometimes I try to explain Japanese culture on CNN, BBC, CBC, WSJ, ABC (so many acronyms!) or in person at places like the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan, ETech, and Ignite!
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