12.12.2007
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Chinese Immigrants Chase the
Japanese Dream
Dec. 6, 2007 | Hannah Beech/Tokyo
 For centuries, East Asia's two great powers took turns trading regional supremacy, each thriving only when the other was at its weakest. More recently, China and Japan have been locked in a political deep freeze, seemingly unable to overcome the legacy of a devastating war more than six decades ago. Yet today, the two countries are both economic juggernauts — and their futures are inextricably linked. Upwards of 20,000 Japanese now live in Shanghai alone. The flood the other way is even more impressive: at half a million strong, Chinese legal immigrants now make up the largest group of recently arrived foreigners in Japan — and, no, they're not just stirring woks or taking the graveyard shift at convenience stores. More than 80,000 Chinese students are studying at Japanese universities, two-thirds of Japan's total foreign college-student population. Upon graduation, they are entering the Japanese workforce, crowding lucrative fields such as IT and biotech. Sheer numbers work in China's favor; each year Japan graduates 100,000 science majors, while China pumps out 2.5 million. [Continued]
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09.12.2007
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The Weinsteins Bring Their Act to Asia
Sept. 6, 2007 | By Adriane Quinlan
Harvey Weinstein and his quieter brother Bob are among the last old-fashioned film moguls, known in the business for their flash and their foresight. After building their studio, Miramax, from the ground up, they proceeded to make bold, unexpected choices — such as producing Quentin Tarantino's edgy Pulp Fiction in 1994 and bringing Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar-wai to American screens in 1996 — that have inspired packs of copycats.
Bob Weinstein (left) and his brother Harvey
Industry eyes were therefore watching closely last month when Harvey announced that the brothers' new venture, the Weinstein Company (TWC), would oversee a $285 million fund for the production and distribution of roughly 30 "Asian films" in total — that is, movies made in Asia, by Asian filmmakers, or about Asian subjects. The move is expected to help the Weinsteins make important savings at a time when North American box-office takings are flattening out and production costs are on the rise. (The Weinsteins' five-month-old Grindhouse cost $53 million to make, according to the brothers, but has earned just over half that at box offices worldwide.)
With cheaper production, location and labor costs, films can be made for less in Asia. But in strategic terms, the Weinsteins may also be looking to stake a claim on the market of Asia's movie viewers, which has become the world's fastest growing. [Continued]
Smoking Ban Brings Positive Results in Scotland
 [10 Sept. 2007] A study of nine Scottish hospitals has found a 17% fall in admissions for heart attacks in the first year after Scotland's smoking ban came into force. The figure is part of a national evaluation of the impact of the government's smoke-free legislation, and it shows that the smoking ban has had an overwhelmingly positive effect. The evaluation found that after the legislation came into force there was also:
- a 39% reduction in second hand smoke exposure in 11-year-olds and in adult non-smokers
- an 86 per cent reduction in secondhand smoke in bars
- an increase in the proportion of homes with smoking restrictions
- no evidence of smoking shifting from public places into the home
- high public support for the legislation even among smokers, whose support increased once the legislation was in place
View unabridged article >>
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07.19.2007
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Retail: Aspirational Hazard
Bigger is better in China, but runaway construction of giant megamalls is too much of a good thing
Jul. 12, 2007 | By Kathleen Kingsbury
Beijing's Golden Resources Mall ought to be a shopper's paradise. Built on the city's outskirts in 2004, the Art Deco-style center boasts a staggering 6 million sq. ft. (560,000 sq m) of retail space, making it the world's second largest mall, 30% bigger than Minnesota's famed Mall of America, once the largest. Golden Resources accommodates more than 1,000 shops, dozens of restaurants, 230 escalators and an ice-skating rink. On its five floors, you can buy everything from fur coats to exercise equipment to pet supplies.
There's something missing, though: shoppers. On a recent Monday afternoon, despite blazing temperatures outside, the only crowd to be found in the air-conditioned expanse of Golden Resources is a gaggle of shopgirls on their breaks. The few customers loitering around appear to be just window-shopping. Nearly half of the mall's original restaurants shut down in the first year after opening. The parking garage's 10,000 spaces host a handful of cars. Xiao Chen, a shoe salesman, states the obvious: business stinks. "Monthly sales here are not as much as a weekly sales in other stores located in those shopping centers downtown," Xiao says. "But what can we do? No traffic."
Golden Resources' barren parquets are less the exception than the rule in China these days. Rampant overdevelopment of retail space and too-optimistic expectations about the spending power of the country's growing middle class have produced a plethora of gui gouwu zhongxin (ghost malls) in the nation's metropolises — megacenters like Golden Resources that are struggling to attract shops and consumers. Although retail sales throughout China have been growing at 12% a year and in 2006 totaled $800 billion, during China's recent construction boom far more retail space has been added than the market can absorb. More than 500 new malls have been built since 2002 and at least 100 more are expected to open this year, adding a total of about 320 million sq. ft. (30 million sq m) of new retail space — 16 times Manhattan's total. [Continued]
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06.18.2007
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For Emil, it’s all about love
After some two decades in the entertainment industry, veteran singer-songwriter Emil Chau Wakin talks about what’s most important to him in life and in his work.
 For singer-songwriter Emil Chau Wakin, nothing tops love. “It could be all sorts of love and care. Love between family members, friends, colleagues, and love for your work,” he said when we met yesterday. “The feeling of care and love that exists between people is what keeps them going,” he said, adding that one such example would be his fans’ undivided and unconditional love and support for him over the years. For Emil, it was highly important that colleagues got along fine. “Our lives revolve around family and work. Most of the time, we are at work. It is crucial for workmates to get along and care for each other,” he said. It is not easy for a singer to remain as one of the most-sought-after stars after being in the entertainment industry for two decades. But Emil, who is marking his 20th year in the industry, has proven that he has what it takes to remain popular all these years. [Continued — Thanks for the heads-up, Shereen!]
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06.13.2007
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Hong Kong's Future: Sunshine with Clouds
A decade after its return to China in 1997, Hong Kong is more vibrant and spectacular than ever. But as the city looks ahead, it faces a critical question: How can it be both a part of the motherland and the world?
 These days, 10 is practically the new teen—as knowing, and as confused, an age. You think you understand who you are, but you don't, not really. You want to be independent, but you still need adult supervision. You are developing a sense of righteousness, but find it runs up against a pragmatic world where compromise is a necessity. Ten is a neat number, but a messy stage in life.
So it is with Hong Kong. At just past midnight on July 1, 1997, in a glittering and poignant ceremony, Hong Kong passed from being the last jewel of an old empire to a component of a new global power. Hong Kong people viewed their city's handover from the U.K. to China with mixed feelings: joy at a fresh start; sadness at seeing the British go; pride over returning to the motherland; apprehension over the future. Today, by most measures, Hong Kong is in great shape, but its outward appearance masks a collective angst. As the territory marks its first decade as a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China, it faces an interlocking set of existential questions from which all its once and future challenges flow: Who am I? What do I want to be? Can I be all that I want to be? Will I be allowed to? [Continued]
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05.03.2007
知的財産権の保護の問題
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【中国】人気の石景山遊楽園：いつかどこかで見たような
 北京市郊外で今、人気の観光スポットが「石景山遊楽園（遊園地）」だ。5月1日に始まるゴールデンウイーク直前の4月26日にも新規に大型の乗り物を導入し、子連れ客やデートを楽しむ若者も多い。
ところでメインの建物だが、「いつかどこかで見たような」雰囲気。よく見ると、「お城」の下の絵にあるように、使っているキャラクターも、世界的に人気のあるものの「そっくりさん」が多いという。ちなみに、同園は公式サイトで、「ディズニーの雰囲気を備えたジョーンズの冒険」「ヨーロッパ調の幽霊の邸宅」などと目玉アトラクションを誇らしげに紹介。
折りしも、中国は知的財産権の保護で問題の多い国とされ、米国通商代表部も自国企業に多大な損害が出ているとしてWTO（世界貿易機関）への提訴を決めたほどだ。今後、「石景山遊楽園」の経営方針が問題視される可能性もありそうだ。（編集担当：如月隼人）。【5月2日19時36分配信 サーチナ・中国情報局】
北京石景山游乐园
Beijing Shijingshan Amusement Park
http://www.bs-amusement-park.com/
http://www.bs-amusement-park.com/ChinaIn/
about-e.asp
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04.03.2007
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黄砂 名古屋駅前ビル群すっぽり
 偏西風の影響で西日本を中心に２日、大量の黄砂が観測され、名古屋市内のビル群も黄色っぽいかすみに覆われた。
各地の気象台によると、水平方向の見通しを示す視程は名古屋、津、岐阜各市で約３キロまで落ちた。中国大陸で巻き上げられた黄砂が上空約１万メートルの偏西風に運ばれたことが原因で、気圧の谷が通過する３日までこの傾向が続くという。
気象台は屋外に干した洗濯物が黄ばむ恐れがあるほか、視界不良で見通しが悪くなるため、高速道路などでの運転に注意するよう呼びかけている。【桜井平】4月2日17時41分配信 毎日新聞
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03.21.2007
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＜ネイチャー＞日本に編集部なぜ？ …光関連産業分野でリード
ＤＮＡの二重らせん構造の発見やクローン羊「ドリー」の誕生など、世界をびっくりさせる成果を掲載してきた科学誌ネイチャー（本部・英国）が日本に進出してきた。光に関する月刊の姉妹誌「ネイチャーフォトニクス」はすべて英文。英語の浸透が薄い日本に英文雑誌の編集本部を置いた意味は。【田中泰義、小谷守彦】
ネイチャーフォトニクスは１月に創刊。創刊号は７２ページ（年間購読で２万８３５０円）。記事はすべて英文で編集され、英国で印刷されて全世界で発売される。扱う論文や記事は主に光の性質やその応用技術など、光産業に関するもの。光はカメラや次世代ＤＶＤ、超高速の情報処理だけでなく、環境や生命科学など幅広く応用されている。[ つづき / 3月20日14時6分配信 毎日新聞]
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01.07.2007
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ROUND SEVEN
Give it a try — our fingers are crossed that you may win the famous
Stars Ferry jacket! |
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01.05.2007
日本
「中華年記念音楽祭」 |
 チャネル BS-Hi
◆ 日中友好コンサート HI-VISION
2007年 1月 8日（月）
放送時間： 午後0:30 〜 午後2:00 (90分)
 ２００７年日本中華年に向けたキックオフイベントとして開催された華流の人気アーティストと日本人アーティストとの歌の豪華共演をたっぷりとお届けする。
- 【出演】中孝介、w-inds.、S.H.E 、周華健（エミール・チョウ）、
王心凌（シンディー・ワン）、元ちとせ、韓雪（ハン・シュエ）ほか
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) stumbled on them! Released on January 18, 2007:
