Here we are now, entertain us! Two new sites, one focusing on Japanese video game industry news, and one on Korean entertainment news. (UPDATED)

This week we have gotten around to talking about a topic that anybody can agree on: entertainment. While it’s enjoyable (for the most part) writing about mainstream news on things such as politics and the economy, it's nice to deviate a bit. The sites on this week’s platter are Joystiq, a site that covers the video game industry in general, with information from Japan, the U.S., and Europe, but the focus here will be the Japanese video game industry. The second site that’s been picked out is entitled Yummy Celebrities, which is an Asian celebrity website with up-to-date news on virtually all Asian entertainers, and the focus will be on the Korean celebrity news that it features.

Joystiq, while not specifically being a Japanese video game industry site, has a great amount of information on the Japanese video game industry. The main page of the site has a search function, and typing in “Japan” and searching the Joystiq database gives readers all the information they could ever want on today’s Japanese game industry.

As most video game aficionados know, the Japanese and American video game markets are not alike, as Japanese and American gamers have different tastes and preferences. One of the great things about Joystiq is that the writers of the news articles on the site are aware of the differences, and they don’t fail to make light of this when writing their stories. For instance, the Japanese have historically not been very receptive to gaming products made outside of Japan, as Microsoft and its Xbox 360 game console have not had much success in Japan. A couple articles comment on the “rare” success of some Xbox 360 games, such as the game Blue Dragon. The article explains that while the Xbox 360 system has been struggling in the region, this game for the system in particular has been a runaway success, with many people buying the game in a bundle along with the Xbox 360 system, therefore making the game a seller of the system. The article, written by Joystiq blogger Jonti Davies, is very well written and stylized, flowing in a way that you would not see in a more formal news article where information is given in brief increments. A similar Xbox 360 Japan success story on the site was on the game Gears of War, which unlike Blue Dragon was made with American audiences in mind, and features run-and-gun gameplay and copious amounts of blood and gore which usually do not appeal to the Japanese. Apparently the game has done well enough to sell out in the country, and it was highly rated by the top Japanese video game magazine, something that is a bit surprising.

On the flip side, the site features an article by James Ransom-Wiley that explains that the trade in-value of a Nintendo DS Lite, a small portable system made by Nintendo, a Japanese company, is a full 1,800 yen more than the trade in-value Microsoft Xbox 360, which is a stand-alone console that costs more to buy and has much more technology incorporated into it.

Stories of this sort expose how Joystiq is great source of information for people who know very little about the Japanese video game industry. With the site being blog-like in nature, comments are welcomed, and the site gives readers the option to easily email articles to friends, and to see who has linked to specific articles. The articles on the site are adorned with pictures and video clips, making the site quite visually appealing. The site uses a blue theme, and it fits the site quite nicely. A fair amount of advertisements exist, but thankfully they are well placed on the pages. Most of the advertising is for video game related items, such as games and accessories, while others are for travel, movies, and AOL links.

Yummycelebrities.com, as has been aforementioned, is a site that is about all Asian celebrities. The front page features a thorough list of Asian celebrities, along with individual categories for Korean celebrities, Indian celebrities, etc. but the site appears to be very Korean-oriented, with the vast majority of the main page featuring stories that concern Koreans. The site also has a few articles on western celebrities, but there is only a small amount of them. Although the site is done in a blog style that is not much different from the one we are doing for this class or from Joystiq, the site features a good amount of news stories at its disposal, written in a traditional news style.

The most striking aspect of the site that will garner attention of most viewers is how graphically appealing the site is. Every article the site has features at least one large picture, and some stories even feature videos. The site features a simplistic white and pink style, but the well-done placement of the stories on the site combined with the fact that advertising has been kept to a minimum (the only advertising on the site are a few ads from Google for celebrity photos, ringtones, etc.) makes the site very maneuverable. The aforementioned list of celebrities is something that would come in very handy to somebody who is interested in one particular celebrity, as each link for individual celebrities features complete biographies on the celebrities, complete with dates of birth to information on the star’s rise to stardom. These links to individual celebrities also feature the latest news stories on the particular stars toward the bottom of the pages, along with picture and video sections.

The Korean celebrity news section features a wealth of articles going back several days, as the site features a copious selection of backlogged news stories. However, where Yummy Celebrities falls a bit short is in the length of its articles and in spelling and grammar. For instance, a story on Korean pop artist Rain, who injured his left elbow performing in Hong Kong, features two very large pictures, but the actual article is very short. Furthermore, the story features some grammatical errors, such as, “Rain was unlucky to injured his arm on his 2nd concert” and “Rain’s spokesmen later told the press that Rain’s twisted his elbow.” Another article, which reports the death of Korean actress Jung Da-bin, has a grammatical error in the title of the article, with it stating, “Korean Actress Jeong Da-bin died at 27” instead of “dead at 27.” Note the two differing spellings of the actress’s name that are used in this article. These grammatical errors don’t necessarily detract from the information that is being provided, but when the articles are so small in size, these errors do stand out a bit more.

Jung Da-bin Rain

With this being a blog-styled website, the site does make it easy for readers to contribute their opinions, and every article features a way for people to contribute. Readers are able to comment on stories and talk amongst themselves on the particular story at hand.

Both sites are great at doing what they do, and that is gathering information on forms of entertainment. Because Joystiq does such a good job getting news stories from Japan, the site could look into creating an entire part of the website devoted to Japanese game industry news in English. Everything else on Joystiq is well done, so it easily earns a rating of nine out of ten. Yummy Celebrities is a very entertaining website that would please anybody wanting information on Asian celebrities, but the fact that the articles can be a bit short and have spelling and grammatical errors detracts from the experience of the site as a whole. Still, the up to date coverage and the good amount of videos and pictures make it a great site. Yummy Celebrities gets an eight out of ten.

Even MORE websites on Japan! (UPDATED)

This week's prescription for the blog is either websites focusing on national politics in Tokyo, or the national economy of Japan. I have chosen to talk about the national economy of Japan, which I have already done before actually; if anyone actually is reading this blog out there, (besides the people administrating this class) they would know that I have already done quite a bit on Japan already. Fortunately, although I had to search around a little bit more for the websites this week, I found a couple other websites with some goods on the Japanese economy that I have not done before. This week we have The Daily Yomiuri Online and a website called Economy Watch. First off, it is important to note that Economy Watch is not a news website per se. While it does have some news articles thrown in here and there on the homepage, it doesn't address Japan specifically; in fact, the website states on the front page that it is centered on the Indian economy, and is a "user-friendly site [that] offers a wide range of information regarding the current world economy and India's performance in the era of Market Friendliness." Since this week's topic does not specifically ask for news websites, this is a good time to examine such a site. True to its creed, the entire right hand side of the front page is devoted almost entirely to Indian economic concerns, such as India's budget, India and the global economy, India's external sector, jobs in India, etc. The site's layout and style appear good to me, with a burnt-orange, light brown, and white background scheme that just seems appealing to me...I don't really know why. Furthermore, the site is very orderly, with no elements overpowering or under-powering any part of the site. Something that I particularly like about the site is that it gives detailed contact information, such as an address and phone numbers at the bottom of the site's home page.



Since this is a blog about the Japanese economy, what I'm most concerned with is the site's world economy section, which houses an information section that is totally devoted to information about Japan's economy. At the top of the economy info page (as with all the other pages devoted to different countries), readers can get information on economic indicators, the structure of the economy, export and import news, insurance news, mortgage news, and finally stock information. The economic indicators section, for example, explains that Japan is ranked 9th in the world in terms of population, 65% of the people live in urban areas, and that the adult literacy rate is 99%. The structure of the economy section explains that Japan’s economy since the 1960s and today accounts for just over 20% of current-price GDP, that Japan is the world’s largest maker of machine tools, and that Japan is one of the world’s most important iron and steel makers. While Economy Watch is great for factual information such as this, the arrangement of some of the elements of the site are done quite poorly. The export and import section features informative graphs on exports and imports and the balance of payment, but they are far too small to be much effective and can’t be enlarged on the site itself. The advertisements on the page are right in the middle of the textual material; in fact, most of the Japanese economy section has the first line of text cut off by a large advertisement box, with the rest of the text continuing after the advertisement. Sometimes this happens twice in one section, with more text separated by advertisements. To the right of each section there is also a bar of advertisements. To top it all off, clicking the different sections of the Japanese economy information page presents the reader with a pop-up ad. While most of the advertisements do not stray too far away from the subject of the economy, with most of them regarding insurance, it is still too much advertising for most readers to take.

The Economy Watch logo

The Daily Yomiuri Online is your more typical news website, with stories, editorials, columns, and the like. Its front page features everything anyone would want from a news website, similar to the ones that have been reviewed before, such as individual sections for national news, sports, business, world news, and features. The main page of the website features a graph for the weather in some of Japan’s biggest cities, and the site has multiple up to date stories with links. However, for a proper English news website on Japan, especially one that is an online version of a print newspaper, the site appears a bit too bland.

The business section of the website features a good amount of articles, about twenty on the main page, and every one of them is dated. However, nothing is really stylized well, with every article being bulleted with a generic diamond shaped icon and a plain font for the text. The background for the entire website is plain white with very few differences, save for a little bit of green and blue. While the business section has its own section for information on stocks and the current exchange rate with some fairly well done graphs for displaying information, but that is the extent of the visual presentation.

Keeping in tune with the site’s low-key appearance, the site features almost no advertising, with only a few advertisements for the Yomiuri Daily itself, hotels, and communications companies.

As far as the actual news stories go, they’re a bit of a mixed bag. All of them use the “one-line-at-a-time” system that makes reading them a bit tedious, but the stories are all satisfactory as far as grammar and spelling are concerned. Some stories are from outside sources, such as the Yomiuri Shimbun, with no writer identified. Others are written by Daily Yomiuri staff writers. One particular story that I found interesting was written by Daily Yomiuri staff writer Yosuke Sakurai, and it explains that Fujio Mitarai, chairman of the Japan Business Federation, said on Monday that an increase of the consumption tax rate from the current 5 percent to 7 percent by 2011 and to 10 percent by 2015 was inevitable to help reduce massive outstanding public debt. The story is very informative on the matter, with many direct quotes from Mitarai himself on the issue. The articles unfortunately lack trademarks.


Economy Watch is a very informative website, very much unlike the websites that I have reviewed before. While it does an admirable job of informing readers with hard facts on the Japanese economy (and other world economies) the amount of advertising on its pages is far too much. With this issue being addressed, I can see Economy Watch being a extremely useful site for people wanting to know about the Japanese economy. I would rate Economy Watch a six and a half out of ten.

The drab appearance of the Yomiuri Daily is a bit disappointing, it does make up with what is most important: well-written news. The Yomiuri Daily could improve itself by making it a bit more visually appealing and professional-looking. The Yomiuri Daily gets a rating of eight out of ten.

Asia's industrial growth is a burning hot topic...(UPDATED)

Best: Peak Oil News websites

Worst: China.org.cn

This week we have been instructed to find out environmental news or news relating to energy and or resources for one country, and the country that I have chosen for this blog is China. The two sites that I have decided to focus on are Peak Oil News, a website that has news on just about every country and region, but does contain a lot of Chinese environment and energy news that is easy to search for and find. The other site that I have chosen is China.org.cn, which is a complete Chinese news website that has an entire full-fledged section devoted entirely to China’s environment.

.com site's main image

In the case of Peak Oil News, there are two Peak Oil News websites that are out there: both work in conjunction with each other, as links on one will lead to links on the other. One is a .com and the other is a .info site. The one I have concerned myself most for the purpose of this blog is the. info site. The .info site's rather low-key appearance is a bit disappointing, (especially considering that I just got done reviewing some rather unattractive websites for last week) with its pages being entirely white save for some red and black splashed here and there, and not to mention the site's car style gas gauge that serves as its logo.





However, unlike last week, there isn't much searching around for what I want; the site thoroughly lives up to its name, and has numerous sections breaking down articles on energy into specific categories, archives going back several months, the ability to contribute articles, message boards...the site is a prolific energy website. Of particular interest to me of course is the information that it has on Chinese environmental news, and typing in “China” into the site’s search engine yields the information that I want (here’s a link for searching for Chinese environmental news.) Among the first results of this search are stories on the UN doubting that China will overtake the U.S. in carbon by 2009, China blaming the west for global warming, and the resistance in Africa to China’s influence.Like some sites before, the Peak Oil News websites are not news websites in their own right, but rather gather information from other sites. This is nothing that detracts from the sites, and it is admirable that these sites exist. One article on the .info site that caught my attention was one about China’s pollution targets for this year and how the country’s plan to reduce major pollutants by 2 percent may be too high. Clicking on the link on the .info site takes readers to the .com site, where there is a write-up for the article, complete with a nice graphic of an old man sifting through papers with the word “policy” at the bottom indicating the category that the article falls into. The article is linked from China Daily, and was posted on Peak Oil on February 13. The actual article on China Daily, written by Sun Xiaohua, is very well done, with no noticeable spelling errors, good grammar, and a great amount of solid facts and figures, such as that when China drew up its pollution reduction and energy conservation plans, it was assumed that the country was growing at a rate of 7.5 percent a year, but that China’s GDP grew 10.7 percent last year, and that experts have suggested that the country will grow at a rate of 9 percent through 2010. As I was talking about graphics, the .com site is the slightly more pleasing site to the eye. The main page has a more stylized logo, with other logos for news, discussions, resources, members of the site, and localized Peak Oil pages. Besides the old man for policy, there are also graphics for technology articles, environment articles, and production articles. Also at the top of the .com website is a graphic for their “What is Peak Oil?” article, where it’s stated that peak oil theory is that “any finite resource, (including oil), will have a beginning, middle, and an end of production, and at some point it will reach a level of maximum output”. The .com site also gives readers the ability to download files, (such as a food storage FAQ, a Peak Oil poster, and a disaster supplies kit) MP3s of songs, and links to other sites. One interesting difference between the .com and the .info sites is that the forums (where members post and read messages from others) on the .com site are hosted by Peak Oil themselves, while the ones on the .info site redirect readers to a different site altogether called Alternative Energy News. One energy article pertaining to China that was posted right around the time that I update this blog on the .com site is one linked from The Standard, a Chinese business newspaper magazine, and it reports that China has just cut thermal coal shipments to Japan and South Korea due to tight supply and high domestic prices. The article, which does not state the writer, also makes light of the possibility of China becoming a net coal importer in the face of the country’s need of energy. Its up to date articles like this that really make Peak Oil (both sites) an ideal place to find news on China’s ( and moreover Asia’s) growing need for energy, and I definitely recommend Peak Oil to people looking for information in this area.



China.org.cn is a very professional looking website, and it should: it is put out by the Chinese government, and besides offering the site in Chinese and English, it also lets readers read in Japanese, Russian, Arabic, German, Spanish, and more. As aforementioned, the site has its very own section for environmental news, and that individual section looks like its own site unto itself. The site’s orderliness is what is striking the most; the front page of the environment section features a host of current up-to-date news stories that are situated right in the middle of the page, with bolded links to them. Below this is a section entitled “Spotlight on,” which highlights things like the impact of global warming on China and the SEPA warning of a crackdown on foreign waste imports. Below this are SEPA press releases and news on ecological disasters, and then to the right of all this is a features section, which has features on things like panda facts, and saving Tibetan Antelopes. Also, in the lower right hand corner of the main page, basic information on things like land area, rivers and lakes, climate, etc. is given. On the very left side of the main page, there are sections for ecology, public endeavors, and international cooperation. So, to state things plain and simple, the site is rife with lots of useful information.

The problem with China.org.cn is yet again that it is a Chinese government website and is biased in the Chinese government's favor. For instance, at the time the website was accessed, the front page of the website featured a current story on China supposedly being no threat to global energy security, which was stated by Ma Kai, minister of National Development and Reform Commission. In the article, Ma goes on to state that this year's GDP growth target of 8 percent is "aimed to encourage the country to focus on transforming the growth mode, adjusting structures and improving the quality of economic development". Right below this article on front page is another story about the US and China trying to resolve industrial subsidy concerns. Since this is an English website for the Chinese government, these articles may perhaps be indicative of China trying to simply improve its image to U.S. readers, as China's growth is not something that Americans are particularly fond of hearing about. In the actual environmental section of the site, the whole right side of the page is devoted to information on the upcoming 2008 Olympics in Beijing, which are being touted as the "Green Olympics." Upon clicking the large logo for "Green Olympics," readers are given a list of stories that highlight things about how the city has successfully disposed of 90 percent of its urban sewage and is ahead of schedule, and how the mayor of Beijing has escalated the greening effort to make the city beautiful for the games. From the articles that are featured, it is easy for a reader to believe he or she is being fed what the government wants put out, as articles that are harsh to Chinese matters are not readily seen. Another article indicative of this is one that explains that 131 tons of waste from Japan were intercepted in Hong Kong and and promptly returned.

The actual articles themselves are quite well written, and they feature good factual information from authoritative figures complete with quotes and comments. The site appears free of grammar and spelling miscues, and every article is dated. While the actual writers of the articles are not referenced, the source of the articles and the date they were first published is always made available.

To wrap things up, I would give the Peak Oil websites a collective nine out of ten rating. The only real way I think the sites could improve is if they both got a bit of a web design upgrade. China.org.cn is a very visually attractive website that provides important information, but the feeling readers will get from the site is that they are being told what the Chinese government wants them to know, not necessarily what they should know. I would rate China.org.cn a seven out of ten.

On this week's menu: Chinese and Korean environmental news!

This week's subject is a departure in a few ways from my previous entries: Japan is no longer being covered, and the subject has changed over from business and economics to environmental and ecological news on China and South Korea. The websites that I have found this week concerning China are the China Digital Times and the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA). It is a safe assumption for me to make that the Chinese sites are superior to their Korean counterparts, as they both are completely focused on environmental news; while I did find a site that was dedicated to Korean environmental news stories, I could not find another news website that had a good dedicated environmental news section and had to search on a mainstream Korean news site to find environmental articles on its database.



Best: China Digital Times



Worst: State Environmental Protection Administration

Concerning China, I would say that the China Digital Times is the better of the two because not only are its articles headlined and presented to readers, every article in its "Environmental Crisis" has been scouted out (by graduate students at UC Berkeley, no less) and given a quick write up, and in some cases, the articles are even translated from other languages. This is immensely beneficial to English-only speakers. Most articles are linked from other websites, but the amount of effort afforded Chinese environmental news by the China Digital Times is quite extraordinary, especially considering that it is one of the few websites that has concrete environmental information from China in English. The website has a prolific amount of information on the environment, with highlighted stories, hot topics, editors picks, videos, and even podcasts. Every article comes has a “related articles” section at the bottom, which is very useful for readers to be able to get to know more about the subject a article is about. Aesthetically, the site is well organized and approachable; nothing is exceedingly attractive to the eye, but at the same time nothing is so overwhelming as to distract the reader. The site has a stylish logo with a nice blue, green, and white color scheme. Most articles have a corresponding picture, which helps aid the reader to engross him or herself in the articles. The site has only a few advertisements for books reviewed and recommended by various people.

Of particular interest to me was an article on the effects of China’s climate change. The article was posted on the China Digital Times by Xiao Qiang, with the actual article being linked from BBC News. While the article on the actual BBC News website lacks the writer’s identification and a copyright statement, it is still from BBC, which is a credible news source. The article explains that 300,000 people are short of drinking water due to the warmest winter climate China has experienced in 30 years, according to the Chinese state media. The article states that China’s top meteorologist, Qin Dahe, believes that the dry and warm weather in northern China is related to global warming. In the article, Qin also states that the Chinese government is taking this climate change seriously, but that changing the country’s energy structure would be very costly. Another article that I found to be interesting was one posted by Sophie Beach, which was linked from Voice of America. Unfortunately, the link was not working at the time of this writing, but fortunately the entire article was short enough that it could be posted in its entirety right on the China Digital Times. The article highlights the fact that one of China’s environmental problems is that a third of China’s water is not suitable for agriculture or industry, and that 300 million people drink contaminated water on a daily basis. The vast wealth of articles like these that allow me to give the China Digital Times my higher recommendation, and the fact that the China Digital Times is not affiliated with the Chinese government helps this recommendation.

SEPA on the other hand, while being thorough and informative, is run by the Chinese government; which, as this class has taught me and my fellow classmates, makes the site not in the reader's benefit, but rather the Chinese government's. That being said, the site is directly from China, and it benefits from this by being able to give information on standards, laws, and institutions (such as social organizations and human resources).

Being a government website, SEPA has no advertisements, and its aesthetic quality is a bit lacking, with the site being presented in a red and white color scheme with only a few graphics of greenery, air, and sunlight. That being said, what the site lacks in attractive qualities, it makes up for with solid environmental information that can only come from China itself. The front page has a section devoted to up to date news releases on the environment, a side feature that gives current air quality updates, and links to sections for internal affairs, water quality, and minister’s speeches. Unfortunately, the water quality link was not working at the time of this writing.

SEPA’s articles are free of grammatical and spelling errors, and the writing quality is quite good, with the articles not being stale or boring, which some might expect from a government website. Still, the site does not exude life the way the China Digital Times does. Many articles are from SEPA itself, but some are from outside sources that are sited at the end of the articles, such as the Xinhua News Agency. Many articles come in the form of warnings from SEPA, such as an article on the Chinese government investigating the dumping of waste into south China by Britain and cracking down on illegal imports, while others are of a calmer tone, such as an article on how the Chinese military saved millions of dollars on energy through scientific and technological advances.

While SEPA does a great job in relaying information to its readers, the site’s lack of life and sub par presentation in terms of aesthetics, combined with the fact that it is a government website that is concerned with the Chinese government first and the reader second makes it the inferior of the two websites.

I would give the China Digital Times a rating of eight and SEPA a rating of six and a half. I don’t foresee much changes for either sites due to their nature, but the China Digital Times could improve by making sure all their links work and continuing to improve on their good formula. The SEPA could make an attempt to be a bit more exiting in presentation with more pictures and graphics on the site.


Best: Birds Korea
Worst: Chosun Ilbo

For the Korean websites, I found Birds Korea (which is more sophisticated than it sounds) and the Chosun Ilbo, which although it does not feature a separate section for environmental news, searching its database does bring up articles on both North and South Korean environmental issues. (click this link right here and search for "environment" to easily find articles).

Birds Korea is not necessarily a news website, and as its name implies, it is a site devoted to the conservation of birds and wise use of natural resources. Its “about” section explains that Birds Korea surveys birds in South Korea in various places, gathers information, and helps to develop eco-tourism and public awareness of birds, and produces online and offline reports, among other things. In its environment news section, Birds Korea has surprising amount of documents that would thrill anybody wanting to know about Korean environment news. Unfortunately, the site does not have articles that are written by people within Birds Korea, and instead the news articles are from other websites. They are not linked from their original websites, but they are reproduced in their entirety with the name of the writer (if given in the original article), where it originally was from, and the date of its writing. Most, articles, but not all, pertain to South and North Korea, with some articles dealing with environmental information from other East Asian countries. While this does hurt the site as a definitive source of environmental news from the Korean countries, the fact that it does make an attempt to gather environmental news makes it worthy of my recommendation, as there are few websites in English for Korean environmental news. One particular article that caught my eye was entitled Seoul: Heart and Soul of the City, written by John Vidal and originally ran in The Guardian from the U.K. The article explains how the Cheonggyecheon river, which around 50 years ago used to be as polluted as a swamp, is now clean enough to play in.

Birds Korea is a bit on the basic side in terms of presentation, as there are no photos to accompany the articles. In fact, the only graphic on the environment news section is the logo of the website itself, which is not much to look at. There are few advertisements on the website as a whole, with the few that exist on the homepage pertaining to the website itself and other bird and habitat websites.

The Chosun Ilbo is a full-fledged news website, but it is not very geared toward environmental issues, and as stated before, finding news articles pertaining to Korean environmental matters on Chosun Ilbo essentially requires searching its database, and the amount of articles on the subject are limited, which forces me to recognize Birds Korea as the superior of the two websites for somebody looking for Korean environmental news in English. The Chosun Ilbo does posses a superior website design and layout in comparison to Birds Korea; whereas Birds Korea has all of its articles on one single webpage that requires lots of scrolling up and down, the Chosun Ilbo has individual pages for its articles, with the option to email and obtain a printer-friendly version of the article at the bottom of any given article. Additionally, the Chosun Ilbo’s white and blue color scheme is more attractive than Birds Korea’s green scheme.

A couple of articles that caught my attention were one on ecotourism, and another on Chinese pollutants causing acid rain in Korea. The article on ecotourism, which is cited as being from Arirang News, explains that the country’s demilitarized zone has been speculated to be the site of a natural attraction, while the latter, also cited as being from Arirang News, explains that 55 percent of nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxides that caused acid rain in Korea in March 2002 was from China, and that air pollutants from Korea have traveled to China. Both articles are short in length, but feature quality writing free of spelling and grammatical errors. The advertising that exists on these environmental articles is sparse, with a few adds sponsored by Google at the bottom of the articles and one at the top for home appliances.

I would give Birds Korea a rating of six and Chosun Ilbo a rating of five as a site for environmental news. Birds Korea could feature more articles on Korea specifically and better presentation. The Chosun Ilbo is fine as a regular news website, but it really should look into featuring more and longer environmental articles because a reader-base for environmental articles does exist.

Two new websites concerning business news in the Philippines...and two more ones concerning Japanese economics/business.

Best: The Inquirer
Worst: Manila Bulletin Online

From my initial outlook on the two sites that I have chosen regarding Filipino business news, it's readily apparent to me from the get-go that both The Inquirer and the Manila Bulletin Online have their act together. While both have their pros and cons to them, the sheer amount of information that The Inquirer gives the reader makes it the better of the two. I was actually quite shocked when I first clicked the link for the business section to the Inquirer, as it manages to give a copious amount of information in a reasonably orderly manner. One of the first things that I noticed that The Inquirer has over its rival that I personally designated (and over the websites covering Japanese business news, as well) is that its business section is divided up into several sections, with links devoted to money, the job market, the peso-dollar rate, and the marketplace. Sections devoted entirely to breaking news and stock market updates are featured prominently on the main business web page. In the breaking news money section, where the bulk of the business articles are, a good amount of new and pertinent articles on stock markets and currency rates are given, and each article link has a quick summary of the full story. At the bottom of the breaking news money section, the option to see all business headlines gives a wealth of articles from several days past at the reader’s disposal, although the links are unfortunately not individually dated. Every article that I read was well structured, with no grammar or typographical errors, with the author clearly stated along with a copyright statement. Additionally, every article has links to related articles, which is a very nice touch. Another aspect that the Inquirer has over the Manila Bulletin are more and better opinions and editorials; while the Manila Bulletin only has one section devoted to opinions across all categories (including business), the Inquirer features individual sections devoted to editorials and letters to the editor, in addition to several articles written by many individually listed columnists. The advertising on the site is not quite as innocuous as that on The Manila Bulletin, but the vast majority of it is related to real estate and finance.

The Manila Bulletin may be the humbler website upon first impression, but it is a remarkably well ordered website that is a quality source for Filipino business news. It has two main business links, one for business news and business agenda. In the business news section are articles that deal more with the economy and stock markets, while the business agenda section focuses more on the actions of corporations. The Manila Bulletin contains everything that one could expect from a business news website, including up-to-date stories by writers that are clearly identified, and articles that appear to be well researched and full of pertinent information. The site also gives readers easy links to print and email their articles to other people. However, one article that I read (and found to be quite interesting) on the world’s largest copper producer looking into using a Filipino mine, was unfortunately marred by a few typographical errors, such as a letter in uppercase lettering when it should have been lowercase, a few words stuck together when they should have been separate, and a paragraph break where it should not have been present. Another article that I read had HTML code scattered right in the middle of the text. The advertising on The Manila Bulletin is done quite well in my opinion, with the vast majority of it coming at the bottom of the page and not getting in the way of the news information. Most of it does not deviate from business news, with ads for things such as colleges and hotels. In fact, most of the advertising was for advertising itself, with links showing how to get an ad up onto the site.

On a scale of one to ten with ten being perfect, I would give The Inquirer a nine and The Manila Bulletin an eight. Both were quite impressive to me. The Inquirer could perhaps improve by finding ways to better organize the massive amount of information it has and make its advertising a bit less intrusive, but the site is hardly at fault. The Manila Bulletin should watch out for typographical errors from its writers a bit better. While the few mistakes I found didn’t hurt the content the site had, repeated instances like this in the future could damage the site’s reputation amount serious readers.

Best: Asahi.com
Worst: Kyodo News

After having looked at the two new websites that I have chosen on Japan, I would have to say that asahi.com is the superior website to Kyodo News, but neither are quite as good as the websites that I reviewed last week for business news on the region. Both are rather simplistic, especially in comparison to the ones I covered last week.

Asahi.com is for the most part a no-frills news website with few business stories, few links to other sites, and few advertisements. While the site may not be much, and to a certain extent it looks a bit “soulless”, the kinds of stories that the site does offer manage to be quite informative and approachable to the casual reader who wants to know more about Japanese business. While the actual writers of the articles are unfortunately not identified, every article is identified as being from the Asahi Shimbun Company, which is the parent company of Asahi.com. The site goes have copyright statements for its articles. The website features good articles on solid news stories, like the rate of imports on U.S. beef still being low six months after the lift of the ban on imports due to the mad cow scare, Toyota Motor Corp. closing in on General Motors in sales in 2006, and an estimated 39.7% of the Japanese national income going to taxes and social security payments in fiscal 2007, which would be a record high for the country. Of particular interest to me was a story on a 22-year-old computer programming whiz who has created a breakthrough computer networking software application. The story highlights that Japan imports more than ten times the amount of software that the company exports, with 90% of the imports coming from the U.S. alone. All the stories that I read on Asahi.com were fortunately free of grammar and typographical errors. Advertising is kept to the bare minimum, with all of it being links to other parts of the Asahi website for things like English tutoring. Asahi.com’s simplistic approach may not give enough meat for someone wanting intensive coverage of Japanese business, but it gets the job done for the casual reader.

Kyodo News is a website that is aesthetically better and more professional looking than Asahi.com, but it unfortunately requires its readers to subscribe to its website to read the full stories in its business section. However, on the front page of the website, breaking news articles are prominently visible and made available for all readers to enjoy, and many of them deal with business. The stories that I read on the website were well written, but like Asahi.com, the articles lack the identification of the actual writer, and merely credit the article to the website itself. A copyright statement is fortunately provided. I noticed that the articles of Kyodo News have what may be a bit of a nationalistic bias to them; An article on Japanese vehicle output being up 6.3% on strong exports to the U.S. flaunts that people in the U.S. are interested in car with good gas mileage, such as Japanese small-size cars, and an article on the Japanese health minister’s sexist remarks towards women being “birth-giving-machines” ends highlighting the Japanese defense minister’s criticism of the U.S. plan to relocate American troops in Okinawa. While the defense minister’s remarks were called “problematic”, the article gives the impression that it favors his opinions on the subject. Things like these perhaps may sway some readers away from the website.

Every article on Kyodo News appears to be free of typographical errors and such, but the spacing of the sentences could be better, as the articles appear to be a little cramped, which could make reading them troublesome for some readers. Advertising is nearly nonexistent; only a few ads for things like education and photos of Japan exist on the website’s main page.

On a scale of one to ten with ten being the best, I would give Asahi.com a seven and a half, while Kyodo News would be given a six and a half. Asahi.com could improve by giving more articles and improving the aesthetic look of the website. Kyodo News could best improve itself by making its business section articles free for all to read. Both website should identify the writers of their articles.

My updated review on websites for Japanese and Korean business/economic news! (UPDATED)

Reviews of (click for links):

After having compared the business and economic news sections of both The Japan Times and Japan Today, I have come to the conclusion that The Japan Times is the superior choice over Japan Today for someone wanting to be in the know about Japanese business. While Japan Today does have more business and economic articles in its business section of the website in comparison to the rather sparse amount that The Japan Times has in its respective section, the articles of Japan Today often concern issues that are a bit more sensationalistic than those of The Japan Times, such as articles on new automobiles and fast food promotions. It’s quite clear that while The Japan Times focuses on providing concrete information on the most pertinent information for people curious about economics and business in Japan, Japan Today aims for perhaps a younger audience that does not necessarily need minute details on issues. For instance, on different articles reporting on the same issue, the postponement of the Bank of Japan’s short-term interest rate, The Japan Times article, written by staff writer Kanako Takahara, is much longer than the Japan Today article, using a “one-or-two sentences at a time” formula that appears to be commonplace among articles in the Japan Times. The Japan Today article, while successfully giving readers the gist of what’s important, is only a mere three sentences long, and the writer of the article is not identified. Moreover, the articles of some of the more sensationalistic stories on the front page of the business section of Japan Today, such as ones on McDonald’s Japan’s extension of its “Mega Mac” campaign and a new Mini Cooper from BMW Japan, lack not only the names of their writers, but also copyright statements at the bottom of the articles. In contrast, all Japan Times articles on the front page cite the source of the article, whether it be written by a staff writer or from an outside source, in addition to copyright statements.

In terms of presentation, The Japan Times again one-ups Japan Today by virtue of a more orderly business section. Japan Today’s business section contains articles from several past days, while The Japan Times only carries articles from the current day and the day before on its main business section. While articles on Japan Today are more easily accessible this way, it creates clutter on the site that is compounded by links to articles on the side of the business articles concerning other areas of interest. The Japan Times search engine allows readers to pinpoint older articles with accuracy, and therefore the search engine frees up some clutter.

Overall, I would give The Japan Times a nine on a scale of one to ten, while I would give Japan Today a seven on the same scale. Japan Today could improve itself by making its presentation a bit more orderly and avoiding more sensational stories to appeal to a more serious clientele for business and economics.

Reviews of (click for links):

Concerning Korean matters, I would recommend The Korea Times over The Korea Herald as the better choice for business and economic information. While both sites provide up-to-date stories that are well researched and free of grammatical and spelling errors, I find that the Korea Times is the better of the two by virtue of better, more captivating prose in its articles. While both sites tend to rely on a similar “one-or-two sentences at a time” style, the writing in most Korea Times articles flows better, managing to avoid sensationalism while at the same time using interesting words to describe what is going on in the Korean business and economic world. For instance, in similar articles on both sites regarding the surge of overseas property investment, The Korea Times article gives the story with a great wealth of raw statistical information in a style that flows from sentence to sentence. In contrast to this, The Korea Herald’s article is much more gloomy in nature, focusing on the potential risks of so much overseas investment, perhaps due to a bias the author may have. While the article has a good deal of relevant information about the subject from legitimate sources, the article almost appears to be a patchwork of quotes and bits of information that almost make it look like a list of interchangeable facts, making the article a bit state and unexciting. Both sites do a good job in providing the names of the authors of their business and economic articles along with contact information, but unfortunately both sites do not have copyright statements for their articles.

Presentation is another aspect where The Korea Times wins out over The Korea Herald. Whereas The Korea Herald's business section is rife with many advertisements that use flashy graphics to attract readers, The Korea Times has fewer and smaller sized advertisement links that don’t rely on so much flashiness, in addition to information on stock markets and foreign exchange rates that would interest people concerned with business matters. The Korea Times also features a more organized page for its articles, with better spacing between links and a better font for reading the text.

Overall, I would give The Korea Times an eight on a scale of one to ten, while I would give The Korea Herald a six. I would recommend that the Korea Herald strays away from copious amounts of advertisements in its business section while at the same time trying to improve the quality of its writers’ prose to spark and maintain readers' interest. It also would be nice to see copyright statements at the end of articles from these two professional news websites.