I know very little about Japan and I’m not part of the Japan blogosphere, but after Chinalyst a Japan based blogger suggested that I duplicate the site to provide the same platform for the Japan based expat bloggers. I spent about 3 hours doing small tweaks and introduced Japanalyst. It hasn’t been doing very well, mainly since there was no one to promote it. Every once in a while I would get an email about something …

 All good scandals come to an end. Can’t remember what this is about? Check “China : Sex, Pride and a bit about Israel” and “Is Chinabounder’s Sex and Shanghai back?!” (and maybe a lecture I gave with his casestudy on “Blogging Ethics - Anonymity Freedom of Speech vs. the Dark Side”). Sex and Shanghai’s Chinabounder (流氓外教) story was a great tale to tell about the mysteries of Chinese netizens behavior and expat-local sensitivities, but now – finally – we can …

This is a question I hear alot. It’s also usually followed by “Do you recommend NCKU?”. I get lots of emails and blog comments asking me about NCKU, universities in Taiwan, programs offered, rankings, and the Taiwanese education system. Though I don’t consider myself a big expert, I do have some experience with trying to learn as much as I can about how things work in Taiwan. To the question of whether I recommend coming to study in Taiwan and in what university or program I usually disappoint people by replying that I can’t recommend or not recommend, this is a very big decision that requires the person to do a lot of research prior to deciding this, probably more …

It’s been a few years since Taiwan announced the plans for promoting the Taiwanese universities into the top of university world rankings. The Australians have recently published an in-depth analysis of the program with details I wasn’t able to find anywhere else on the English web. I strongly recommend that you read through the Australian Government’s “Taiwan’s Aim for the Top University Program - Innovation, internationalisation and opportunity”. This can also provide you with an overall image of Taiwanese academics : The Taiwanese Ministry of Education (MOE) has invested NT$50 billion over five years in twelve universities (the ‘T12’ universities) to boost their international competitiveness. […] …

This year’s Miss Universe is in Nha Trang, Vietnam. Last year, 2007, it was the Japanese Royi Mori who made us proud (?) and took the Miss Universe 2007 title. (Updated : Miss Venezuela Danyana Mendoza was chosen as Miss Universe 2008) Following are the Asian contestants for Miss Universe 2008 from : China, India, Israel, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Miss China – Ziya Wei …

This is quite a remarkable story of a Chinese Jewish community in Kaifeng-China. Haaretz tells their story with “Taking the Silk Route back home” (found through “Truth from Facts” in Chinalyst): Jin Jin and Nina Wang are students in Hebrew University’s preparatory program. They will soon commence their BA studies, but they already have long-term dreams. Jin wants to eventually serve as a diplomat in the Foreign Ministry. Wang hopes to use her …