Two of the best China-focused blogs combine for the newest episode of Danwei TV.:

This installment of the Hard Hat Show features Roland Soong of ESWN, guiding us on a short literary quest in Hong Kong.
We are looking for real places that feature in Eileen Chang’s (张爱铃) novella Love in a Fallen City (顷城之恋) which is set in Hong Kong. We find one of them in a rather surprising part of the island.
This is quite a tricky tale to tell in video: it’s about literature and writing, but conveyed with the superficiality of the the moving image. Any mistakes or problems are Danwei’s: Roland was an excellent guide.

Technorati Tags: asia, east asia, northeast asia, hongkong

Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein has just been published in Japan.:

The book, believed to have been written on the eve of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and titled “Devil’s Dance” in its Japanese translation, hit stores around the nation Friday.

Jordan banned the book on the grounds it could damage ties with Iraq, but pirated copies of the tale of an Arab tribesman who defeats foreign invaders became a bestseller in Amman.

The original manuscript was smuggled out of Iraq by one of Saddam Hussein’s daughters, Raghad, and a copy given to Japanese journalist and translator Itsuko Hirata.

“The novel is dated to the times of ancient tribal society but the tribal warfare depicted in the novel is strikingly similar to what happened and is happening in the Iraqi war—totally,” Hirata told Reuters before the book’s release.

“He (Saddam) knew he was heading into a war he couldn’t win, so I think with this book he was trying to make his position clear and send a message to the Iraqi people.”

The book jacket, Mutantfrog notes, says “Worldwide first edition! This is an indictment, and a warning. That Hussein wrote a novel.”

That the dictator is a novelist should not surprise. He was fond of paper. Image and caption stolen from here.

After years of reports that Korean national dish kimchi prevents regular consumers from contracting avian flu and SARS, a study has indicated that the spicy fermented cabbage dish may be linked to ‘the most common cancer among Koreans.”:

The researchers, all South Korean, report that kimchi and other spicy and fermented foods could be linked to the most common cancer among Koreans. Rates of gastric cancer among Koreans and Japanese are 10 times higher than in the United States.

“We found that if you were a very, very heavy eater of kimchi, you had a 50% higher risk of getting stomach cancer,” said Kim Heon of the department of preventive medicine at Chungbuk National University and one of the authors. “It is not that kimchi is not a healthy food — it is a healthy food, but in excessive quantities there are risk factors.”

Kim said he tried to publicize the study but a friend who is a science reporter, told him, “This will never be published in Korea.”

Other studies have suggested that the heavy concentration of salt in some kimchi and the fish sauce used for flavoring could be problematic, but they too have received comparatively little attention.

Even the most ardent proponents say that at times, kimchi might be too much of a good thing.

Nutritionist Park, who in addition to the Kimchi Research Institute heads the Korea Kimchi Assn. and the Korean Society for Cancer Prevention, said that traditionally, kimchi contained a great deal of salt, which could combine with red pepper to form a carcinogen.

As a regular kimchi consumer AsiaPundit is deeply concerned about this report. Moreover, given how much Korean men smoke, he is shocked that gastric cancer is the most common form of the disease.

(Via Japundit)

Technorati Tags: asia, east asia, korea, kimchi, northeast asia, south korea

If Jesus walked on water, we must ask whether he was divine or whether he had cool Ninja shoes.:

Testing a driver’s-side air bag, with Ninjas, on TV, in Japan.:
Via Caleb, the adventures of Dr McNinja.:

Technorati Tags: asia, east asia, japan, ninjas, northeast asia