An estimated one out of every three Japanese are signed up to play games on their cell phones, helping to grow a mobile gaming juggernaut that’s currently dominated by a few Japanese startups. Now, those same startups are eyeing a new playing field â the U.S.
http://www.npr.org/2012/08/23/159575805/in-japan-mobile-startups-take-gaming-to-next-level
Commentator Andy Raskin returned to Tokyo, where he once lived, and discovered musical improvements to the notification sounds played at each stop on the Japan Railways line. We hear some examples.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1435627
A 7,000-year-old Japanese clay pot has managed to remain almost perfectly intact. Pots began in Japan around 17,000 years ago and by the time this pot was made had achieved a remarkable sophistication. This simple clay object makes a fascinating connection between the Japan of today and the emerging world of people in Japan at the end of the Ice Age. What was the significance of agriculture to the Jomon and how did they make their pots?
For many in the U.S., life without a cellphone is all but unimaginable. But if you think you’ve maxed out its utility, a look towards Japan shows your cell can do so much more. OTM producer Mark Phillips phones it in from Tokyo.
Three stories from ABC’s Tony Barrell:
Ambiguity Okinawa: A portrait of the Japanese islands of Okinawa and their confused relationship with the USA and mainland Japan.
The Valentich Mystery: This program reconstructs the last minutes of a young pilot whose disappearance over Bass Strait in 1978 led to speculations that Australia might have its very own UFO culture (and a Bermuda Triangle).
That was Then and So is This: This program was broadcast in the last hours of 1999 as a satirical commentary on the media’s obsession with the arrival of the year 2000.
From http://speechification.com/2008/08/18/ambiguity-okinawa/
All about Shibuya.
Full transcript here: http://blog.hotelbook.com/hotelblog/2006/04/tokyo_podcast_p.html
Survival Phrases for Japanese.
A look at shopping and dining in one of the most exciting districts in Tokyo, Japan.