Topics discussed in class

At the beginning of class, I introduced a few websites that I use to keep up with current events related to Japan:

• Newsonjapan.com
• Japan Probe
• Debito.org

I also talked a little bit about the usefulness of RSS and RSS readers like Google Reader.

After that, we discussed a variety of topics.  Among them were:

• Territorial issues with Russian, Korea, and China
• US bases in Okinawa
• The security agreement between Japan and the United States and the question of whether or not the U.S. supported Japan adequately during the territorial dispute between Japan and China last year
• The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction
• Citizenship and stateless children
• The treatment of WWII and the occupation of Korea in Japanese textbooks