N Asia – SoraNews24 —Japan News— https://soranews24.com Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today. Sat, 11 May 2024 03:21:40 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1.4 https://soranews24.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2020/05/en_rocket_1024.png?w=32 N Asia – SoraNews24 —Japan News— https://soranews24.com 32 32 176746664 You’re under arrest! Mongolian beauty serves and protects【Photos】 https://soranews24.com/2014/08/23/youre-under-arrest-mongolian-beauty-serves-and-protects%e3%80%90photos%e3%80%91/ https://soranews24.com/2014/08/23/youre-under-arrest-mongolian-beauty-serves-and-protects%e3%80%90photos%e3%80%91/#comments Sat, 23 Aug 2014 12:00:56 +0000 http://en.rocketnews24.com/?p=175315 
There is no shortage of beautiful women on the internet, but nowadays you need something…else, to separate you from the crowd. We’ve introduced hotties before, ranging from a marathon runner in China to a police woman in Xinjiang. Our next looker is from Mongolia and also puts her life on the line every day to protect the people in her city, which already makes her someone you don’t want to mess with. You’ll especially want to watch yourself when you find out that her husband and the majority of her family are in the business as well!
Hailing from Ürümqi in Mongolia, Halixian Yimingjiang, is no noob when it comes to knowing about a police officer’s life. Not only is her father an officer in her hometown, her darling husband protects the border 700km (435 miles) away.
In fact, there are eight police officers in total in her family, including her older and younger brothers. Wow, talk about falling into the line of duty!
Although she and her husband work very far away from each other and they may only see each other once a month, distance matters very little to them. She credits the internet and technology for maintaining their relationship so well. And with so many family members as part of the police force, it is also very difficult for everyone to gather during holidays since at least one of them usually has to work. But that doesn’t keep any of them from straying from their dreams and lifestyle.
Life is all about achieving goals, and this police officer can assuredly cross something else off her list.
- Follow in your father’s footsteps and become a police officer. CHECK
- Find a wonderful husband, who values the same things you do. CHECK
- Look fabulous while doing your job. CHECK
- Internet fame. CHECK
Keep on serving and protecting the lucky people of Mongolia!
]]> https://soranews24.com/2014/08/23/youre-under-arrest-mongolian-beauty-serves-and-protects%e3%80%90photos%e3%80%91/feed/ 0 175315 pretty cop 3 pretty cop 6 pretty cop 1 pretty cop 11 pretty cop 9 pretty cop 8 pretty cop 7 pretty cop 10 Why reading their own language gives Mongolians a headache https://soranews24.com/2013/09/27/why-reading-their-own-language-gives-mongolians-a-headache/ https://soranews24.com/2013/09/27/why-reading-their-own-language-gives-mongolians-a-headache/#comments Thu, 26 Sep 2013 17:00:02 +0000 http://en.rocketnews24.com/?p=87717 
Being able to read is something many people take for granted. I mean, English with its Latin alphabet only consists of 26 letters. Now imagine that the writing system (or script) of your country was changed for political reasons. Cities and towns across the border share almost the same spoken language, but with a totally different way of writing it down. This has been the situation in Mongolia. Drastic changes in scripts throughout the twentieth century have led to recurrent headaches for native readers.
I’ve met many a foreigner in Japan, or third culture kid who despite their fluent spoken language skills was unable to read. Here’s an example. A friend of mine who learned Bulgarian from her parents was visiting her native land. She jumped into a taxi, confident that she’d be driven to her destination, and fluently gave the address. The taxi driver gave her an extremely odd look. It turned out that where she wanted to go was right there, but she couldn’t read the signs to figure that out.
Spoken Japanese is fairly easy to pick up if you live in Japan, while memorizing the bare minimum of 2,136 kanji characters for everyday use requires serious study. And that doesn’t include the incredibly varied characters for personal names or place names. Foreigners who can chat comfortably in Japanese are a lot less likely to be able to read signs or menus, let alone newspapers. Let’s just say I’ve seen even native speakers sneakily looking up how to write a particular kanji on their phones.
Not being able to read easily is tough, wherever you live. In Mongolia, reading can be a huge pain for native speakers… this is why!
– “Ma, why do I have to learn my alphabet twice?”
There are currently two forms of writing the Mongolian language. One is the traditional Mongolian script (“Old Mongol script”) written vertically down the page like this:
The other is Mongolian Cyrillic, written horizontally like this:
Монгол Кирилл үсэг
Cyrillic is used in the state of Mongolia, while the traditional Mongolian script is used in neighboring Inner Mongolia (an autonomous region of the People’s Republic of China). You might expect that because Mongolian is now written in Cyrillic it’s similar to Russian, but in terms of grammar Mongolian is much more like Japanese.
Traditional Mongolian script is said to date from 1204, when scribe Tatar-Tonga was captured by the Mongols and introduced the Uyghur form of writing, originally written horizontally. Eventually, this became written vertically—Mongolians might say that happened because it was easier to write down the horse’s neck rather than across.
However, by the end of the century this would change. The Yuan dynasty of Kublai Khan (famous grandson of Genghis) promoted the imperial Phagspa script for the vast area they controlled. This intricate writing system was invented by Tibetan lama Zhogoin Qoigyai Pagba for Kublai Khan. It ambitiously aimed to be a script able to be used for all the languages under their sway, including Chinese, Tibetan and Mongolian.
▼ Phagspa script
In 1368 the Yuan dynasty collapsed, and as the Mongols retreated to the steppes, this writing system soon fell out of use and was replaced by traditional Mongolian script once more. The reason Phagspa disappeared so quickly could have been its privileged existence as a faithful representation of the language of the imperial court—it didn’t reflect how ordinary people spoke.
About 600 years later, Mongolian script reached another turning point. In 1921 revolution broke out, and by 1924 communist rule was established in the new Mongolian People’s Republic.
– “Workers of the world, unite!” Different alphabets adopted under Soviet pressure
▼ Latin script propaganda
In 1924, the literacy rate was below 10 percent. Mongolian script was held up to ridicule, and Latin script was named the alphabet of the revolution for writing Mongolian. Away with the old ways of thinking and in with the new—the traditional teaching of Buddhist parables gave way to educational reform.
From the early 1930s, there were attempts to switch from Mongolian to Latin script, but these early attempts met with strong opposition. However, in the latter half of the decade circumstances changed as continued use of Mongolian script was denounced as “nationalist” in the wake of Stalin’s Great Terror. Everyone was forced to support the Latinization of Mongolian writing, in fear for their lives.
In February 1941, the government gave an official green light to the use of Latin script, but the following month, these same public officials decided Mongolian should be written using the same Cyrillic alphabet as Russian. Clearly, there had been some kind of pressure exerted by Moscow.
In the 1950s, linguistically-divided Chinese Inner Mongolia also began to consider adopting Cyrillic. But from the end of the decade the Sino-Soviet split came to a head and cast a pall over this movement, which eventually sputtered and died.
During the perestroika period, Moscow’s grip loosened. People regained their appreciation for tradition, and cultural renaissance was in the air. A new movement to abolish Cyrillic and restore Mongolian script arose. In September 1992, education began in Mongolian script from the first year of primary school. Unfortunately, when these children reached third year, Cyrillic was adopted once more. In the face of harsh economic reality, the budget couldn’t stretch to train teachers and educate students in the vertical Mongolian script.
– Writing systems divided by national borders
As a result, while the state of Mongolia and Chinese Inner Mongolia speak almost the same language, it is written in totally different ways in each country. It’s possible that these writing systems may never be united.
The phenomenon of border lines creating linguistic division can be seen all over the world. A country which gains independence generally wishes to gain independence from the language of the oppressors and a distinct voice, especially if there is a shared border. Crucially, the changes in written Mongolian did not come about through the will of the Mongolian people, but through the political posturing of surrounding nations. Next time you come across a written English word that you don’t know how to pronounce, spare a thought for Mongolia’s differing systems of writing.
Source: Yukiyasu Arai, Japan Business Press
Featured image: Rona Moon
Insert images: Wikipedia, Akihabara Area Blog
]]> https://soranews24.com/2013/09/27/why-reading-their-own-language-gives-mongolians-a-headache/feed/ 0 87717 Steppes Monggol bicig.svg Phagspa script Xbox One delayed in Asia until late 2014, no release date for Japan https://soranews24.com/2013/06/12/xbox-one-delayed-in-asia-until-late-2014-no-release-date-for-japan/ https://soranews24.com/2013/06/12/xbox-one-delayed-in-asia-until-late-2014-no-release-date-for-japan/#comments Wed, 12 Jun 2013 01:30:34 +0000 http://en.rocketnews24.com/?p=63013 Microsoft’s forthcoming Xbox One console will not be released in Asia until late 2014, despite the fact that it will launch in the West in November this year, it was revealed last night.
The console, whose parade was rained upon somewhat by Sony during its own press conference at E3 yesterday, was initially thought to be coming to Asia soon after launching in North America and Europe. Asian gamers keen to pick an Xbox One up, however, are in for a long wait, with Microsoft representatives quoting “late 2014” as the console’s launch window in the East.
Although Microsoft has since gone on record to state that it fully intends to release the console in Japan at some point, it is thought that incredibly poor sales of its current hardware in Japan have prompted the company to step back from the territory for a while in order to devise a new marketing strategy.
This leaves us in the rather unusual situation where Sony may be left without a main competitor in the next-gen hardware race in its native Japan. While the 3DS continues to see strong sales, and promises of upcoming titles for the Wii U will likely bolster the struggling home console’s performance, Nintendo’s approach to gaming and hardware in general puts it and Sony on a quite different playing fields, with either company’s products often appealing to markedly different consumer bases.
Source: Engadget Japan
]]> https://soranews24.com/2013/06/12/xbox-one-delayed-in-asia-until-late-2014-no-release-date-for-japan/feed/ 0 63013 Sakhalin as Seen From a Japanese Tourist in 42 Points https://soranews24.com/2012/08/14/sakhalin-as-seen-from-a-japanese-tourist-in-42-points/ https://soranews24.com/2012/08/14/sakhalin-as-seen-from-a-japanese-tourist-in-42-points/#comments Tue, 14 Aug 2012 07:38:33 +0000 http://en.rocketnews24.com/?p=15929 
Sakhalin is a large and sparsely populated island in the North Pacific, lying directly North of Japan and East of Russia. While it currently belongs to the latter, the island was the source of a bitter territorial dispute between the two countries throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.
Getting into Sakhalin as a tourist can be rather difficult due to the restrictions set by the Russian government, which is why, despite the island’s proximity to Japan, Japanese and other foreign tourists are few and far between. While you can find tours of historical remains from Japanese occupation and landmarks visited by famous Japanese author Kenji Miyazawa, you’ll need quite a bit of cash and patience to get there in the first place.
One of our Japanese correspondents recently returned from a trip to Sakhalin and shares with us his rather random thoughts on the Russian island in convenient numbered list form.
1. No one speaks English (or perhaps no one can understand Japanglish…)
2. Prices are surprisingly high (probably as high as Japan)
3. Even at the most run-down apartment complexes have tight security
4. The crime rate isn’t that bad, but females should try not to walk the streets at night
5. Draft beer at restaurants comes in gigantic glasses
6. The sushi at the “Japanese restaurant” in my hotel was horrible and was probably made by a Russian part-time worker
7. The kombu (edible kelp) is delicious. Even better than Hokkaido, where most Japanese kombu is cultivated.
8. There are no Japanese people around
9. Russian smokers are everywhere. Many of them throw their cigarette butts on the ground.
10. There are lots of beautiful women (a common remark by Japanese tourists)
11. Cars are so dirty that I wondered if perhaps Russia doesn’t have a culture of washing cars. Opening a car wash in Sakhalin may be a profitable venture.
12. Police smoke in their police cars
13. No Japanese names for geographic locations remain
14. The bus costs about 15 yen (20 cents) to ride
15. When getting off the bus, you just hand money directly to the driver
16. Not many landmarks remain from the Japanese occupation
17. You can bring your car over by ferry from Hokkaido (about 28,000 – 34,000 yen each way)
18. Cars frequently make sudden stops
19. Sakhalin-born Japanese tourists visit frequently
20. Many people drive Toyota
21. You can’t drink the tap water
22. Nobody wants to speak English
23. Clouds of dust and sand in downtown areas are horrible
24. Other Japanese tourists who visit Sakhalin comment: “I could never live in Sakhalin. It’s not a good environment.”
25. There’s a plane that takes you to the disputed Kuril Islands, but you need to make a reservation in advance
26. There are Japanese shinto shrines still on the island, but they’re completely trashed
27. Amusment parks are so…Soviet.
28. There’s a chronic lack of fast food restaurants
29. Apartment complexes look unchanged from the Soviet Era
30. Many of the cars on the street are used cars from Japan
31. Sakhalin loves statues
32. The capital city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk is littered with small concession stands
33. They sell donabe in Sakhalin
34. Many Russians walk their dogs without using a leash
35. You can buy fake Paul Smith polo shirts
36. Japanese trains are on display but unused
37. You can always count on soup to taste great
38. The bus from the port to customs is definitely Japanese
39. Russians love Japanese kanji tattoos
40. There are two old Hokkaido Takushoku Banks on the island
41. Water drainage on the streets is horrible
42. Police men show butt crack on duty
Photos: RocketNews24
10. There are lots of beautiful women 
29. Apartment complexes look unchanged from the Soviet Era
30. Many of the cars on the street are used cars from Japan
31. Sakhalin loves statues
32. The capital city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk is littered with small concession stands
33. They sell donabe in Sakhalin 
34. Many Russians walk their dogs without using a leash
35. You can buy fake Paul Smith polo shirts
36. Japanese trains are on display but unused
37. You can always count on soup to taste great
38. The bus from the port to customs is definitely Japanese
39. Russians love Japanese kanji tattoos (“Angel”)
40. There are two old Hokkaido Takushoku Banks on the island
41. Water drainage on the streets is horrible
42. Police men show butt crack on duty
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