The Japan Echo Foundation (formerly Japan Echo Inc.) has launched a new
website: Nippon.com.

http://nippon.com/

The site carries content in English, Japanese, Chinese (both traditional and simplified characters), French, and Spanish. We have plans to expand this to include Russian and Arabic, too.

Readers of _Japan Echo_ magazine may know that our print publication came to an end when the DPJ's "jigyō shiwake" process axed the MOFA funds that bought a portion of its print run for distribution via Japan's embassies and consulates. For a year following the last issue of the magazine, we operated the website Japan Echo Web (http://japanechoweb.jp/), a MOFA-funded project. The contract for this is subject to an annual bidding process, and for the current fiscal year we decided not to take part; a different firm is producing that site's content now.

The Nippon Foundation approached us last year and offered us funding for a new website, which is what we launched yesterday. GRIPS president Shiraishi Takashi has agreed to serve as editor in chief for Nippon.com.
His inaugural comment describes some of the developments that have brought us where we are today:

http://nippon.com/en/editor/f00001/

The "In-depth" section of the website will carry content similar to what we used to translate for _Japan Echo_, although most of it will be original material, rather than translations from the Japanese monthlies.
The other sections of the site include lighter content on Japan's society and culture, interviews with political and business figures, photographic and video presentations, and much more. I hope you'll take a look and add us to your bookmarks.

(I'm posting this to a few lists; apologies if you see it more than once in your in-box.)

Peter Durfee
Director, Japan Echo Foundation