JAPAN - How do free manga make money in a declining manga market?

“Since my last translation of something about the anime industry was something of a hit, I thought I’d do a little pandering an take a look at an emerging free manga in Japan as reported by Weekly Oriental Economy.”

CHINA - Maoist revival in China

“Thirty years after Mao Zedong’s death, nostalgia has taken hold. The Chinese remember the time when he dominated the entire country. The Maoist current has become a real social and political force in the country.”

JAPAN - Review of GAIJIN HANZAI Mag: what’s wrong with it?

“The first impression is one which hardly needs explanation. Crazed faces of killers putting bullet holes in the cover, with classic ethnic profiles (center stage is what appears to be a slitty-eyed member of the Chinese Mafia), with a Jihadist, generic white and black people, and caricatures of both N and S Korean leadership in the very back–all coming to get you, the reader.”

SINGAPORE - Black sheep or white sheep, you are still sheep

“Deng Xiaoping had this famous quote attributed to him, which goes something like this “No matter if it is a white cat or a black cat; as long as it can catch mice, it is a good cat.”… And I realised that this could be easily adapted for our Singaporean context, but with a twist in the meaning. In Singapore, it doesn’t matter if you are black sheep or white sheep, you are all still sheep.”

CHINA - China’s U-23 team brawls with QPR in friendly

“The Team China (China PR’s Olympic U-23 team) friendly match with English League Championship club Queen’s Park Rangers was abandoned after a brawl in the second half. The English club was leading 2-1 at the time. Zheng Tao was knocked unconscious during the fracas and rushed to hospital as was captain Chen Tao.”

INDIA - Indians Buy Organs With Impunity

“Authorities arrest three organ brokers in the state of Tamil Nadu, where hundreds say they’ve illegally sold their organs whil the government turns a blind eye. Scott Carney reports from Chennai,”

CHINA - Chinese Marriage Rites and Wrongs

“l’ve had to ask a lot of Chinese people about this marriage thing in China, to understand this obsession with marriage in the dawn of one’s life. It is an absolute and pure motivation for life and living in China: to get married and to propogate the blood line.”

PHILIPPINES - How To Spot Fake 5-Peso Coins

“Some enterprising criminals . . . have gone against the grain and proceeded anyway with the production of counterfeit five-peso and ten-peso coins, thinking that most people will not too closely examine the coins they receive. After all, as the Tagalog saying goes, barya lang ‘yan - why bother with mere coins?”

SINGAPORE - The rich little place that the others love to hate

“Despite 40 years of expressing fraternal warmth at meetings of the Association of South-East Asian Nations, the region’s leaders never miss an opportunity to pick a fight with Singapore. “

CHINA - Girls cautiously pole dance their way to fitness

“Treadmills are run-of-the-mill — Luo Lan wants the Chinese masses to pole dance instead.. As manager of Beijing’s first pole dancing school, Luo says she is trying to make exercise fun — and not morally corrupt anyone in a country where this kind of  dancing is associated with seedy bars and sex is still a taboo topic.”

CHINA - Flower Restaurant encourages painting nearly naked models

” Nanjing restaurant that promoted itself by encouraging customers to draw on scantily clad models has stirred controvers among diners The restaurant, which specializes in dishes cooked with fresh flowers, announced that people who ate more than  1,000 yuan ($129) per person in dishes would be allowed to draw roses on the bodies of three models, who wear only facial masks and underwear.”