chinaSMACK is Proud to Finally Present: japanCRUSH

You didn’t think we’d forget Japan, did you?

China has a complicated and relationship with Japan, not unlike Korea, and for similar reasons. You can see it in the number of chinaSMACK translations involving Japan, the Japanese, and the Diaoyu Islands dispute. History definitely has created certain wounds that will not easily heal, or be forgotten any time soon.

At the same time, most Chinese have a begrudging respect and admiration for the island country, no matter how shrill they might be in denouncing it in the heat of certain moments. All you need to look at is how many Japanese brands and products they consistently and consciously purchase. To be certain, there’s die-hard hate in China just as there is contempt in Japan, but there’s more circumstantial lip-service. Even more, most people in both countries are the same as most people everywhere: practical.

Still, there’s an incredible amount one can learn from observing what becomes popular amongst a nation’s netizens and what they say amongst themselves in their own language. Like chinaSMACK, japanCRUSH is dedicated to just that, using translation to make trending Japanese internet content and discussion accessible to audiences who can’t read Japanese kanji, hiragana, or katakana. For some, the stories, pictures, and videos themselves will be plenty entertaining on their own, but for others, it’s the reactions, opinions, and sentiments of Japanese internet users that prove fascinating, enlightening, or just plain amusing.

Contrary to what some have suggested, there is no “political” reason for why chinaSMACK hasn’t developed a Japanese sister site until now. The simple reason is that finding a good lead editor and editorial team is not easy. We’re therefore very blessed to have the beautiful Beth be at the helm of our latest site. She and a rag-tag band of Japanese and non-Japanese men and women have worked long and hard to bring you the following introductory posts currently on japanCRUSH:

• Funny Japanese netizen reactions to survey results indicating that Japanese youth are uninterested in sex.
• Japanese netizens criticize the police for forcing confessions out of innocent suspects while investigating the iesys.exe remote control virus cases.
• A popular Japanese TV personality is embarrassed of being Japanese after seeing a no-entry sign specifically targeting Japanese tourists in the UK.
• Japan’s government wants to congratulate their Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine winner Yamanaka Shinya by giving him a new washing machine.
• Japanese netizens applaud a YouTube algorithm change that knocks Korean viral music video ‘Gangnam Style’ out of the Top 100 rankings.

japanCRUSH will be updated daily, so don’t forget to subscribe to the japanCRUSH RSS feed, get email updates, like them on Facebook, or follow them on Twitter.

Take a moment to go over and give them your support! We’re excited to have finally completed what we internally call the “East Asian Trifecta” or “EAT” for short of China, Korea, and now Japan. We love our Indonesian and Russian sister sites too, but there’s no denying the seemingly uniquely intense dynamic between these East Asian economies and their societies.

chinaSMACK fans, go over now and give them some love!