News - newspaper articles: May 2005 Archives

The latest 2005.03 data from Japan's CIPA (Camera and Imaging Products Association) shows that digital camera sales have clearly peaked and are stagnating. Overall, first quarter production units are up 5% but revenue as a whole is down 10.9% compared to the same period last year.

By category: The sub 4-megapixel category is the worst hit with total quarterly production of only 29.8% and sales of 20.4% of last year's figures. The strongest category was 4-6 megapixel cameras with 8.7 million units sold first quarter for a revenue of 165 billion yen. Only 2.5 million 6+ megapixel cameras were sold, for a revenue of 90.7 billion yen.

The Asahi Newspaper is reporting (2005.05.09) that the famous tuna auctions at the Tsukiji Metropolitan Fish Market in Tokyo is off limits to tourists because of the "bad behavior of foreigners." Speaking as a frequent photographer there -- I can agree: foreigners were getting in the way of the merchants who were there to make a living, but so were some Japanese, it's just that we blended in more. The foreign visitors that I saw when I visited were both in the way of traffic and using the flashes on their cameras during auctions, which is very distracting. Visitors to the tuna auction will now need to get a permit from their local city or merchant association. The outside stalls in the Fish Market remain open.

Photoethnography.com's blog is in the news! Wayne Yang of SFGate.com has written an article titled ASIAN POP: Blogging Asia (dated 2005.04.27). In it, he mentions this site by name:

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Another way to comprehend a region is to understand its icons, a particular slice of culture. Many bloggers incorporate snapshots of branded goods and cultural icons, as well as personal photographs (sometimes to the chagrin of their friends), but there are also bloggers who use more accomplished photography to make their points. Karen Nakamura, a cultural anthropologist who writes about classic cameras and photo-ethnography on her blog, includes her written and photographic observations from her current fieldwork in Japan.

Thanks for the props, Wayne!

May 5th is Children's Day (kodomo no hi) in Japan. The Japanese government according to an article by asahi.com dated 2004.05.04 notes that there are 150,000 fewer children (defined here as under age 15) in Japan due to the falling birthrate. Japan is headed for a demographic nightmare -- too many old people and not enough young.