Japan Times

Observing the furor on the Web and in newspapers last month over the attempt by members of the U.S. Congress to pass legislation aimed at cracking down on Internet piracy makes it clear that large numbers of people support the irresponsible positions of the Internet heavyweights such as YouTube, Google and Wikipedia.
It seems as if everyone has gotten used to the idea of having immediate access to anyone's work for free. Most of the ire over this proposed bill has been directed at the recording industry and Hollywood — the "fat cats" perceived as having gotten filthy rich undeservedly. But it is not only these large corporations who are being hurt by the present situation of mob rule on the Web. It is also individual authors, book publishers (especially academic publishers) as well as people who attempt to engage in responsible publication directly on the Web.

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Somewhere round there, yeah. I did a lot, three or four a year almost.

Josh Hamilton shed no tears, used no prepared statement as he apologized and shared few details about his relapse with alcohol. Still, it was clear he was upset by what he had done.
The Texas Rangers slugger and recovering drug addict said he had "three or four" drinks during dinner at a Dallas restaurant and bar Monday and continued drinking later that night.

An apparently new species of spider has been found in our woods, even though the creature has probably been around since long before humans came to Japan.
To be specific, our spider researcher, Koji Arai, has found an arachnid on our Afan Woodland Trust property in Nagano Prefecture that he believes has never been documented before.

bj-league
Saturday's games

An American resident in Osaka died Saturday after a passer-by found him lying unconscious on a street in the busy Minami area in Chuo Ward earlier in the day, police said.
The Osaka Prefectural Police think the 23-year-old man may have fallen from a six-story building, and are investigating whether foul play was involved.

In my opinion the reason why the not-so-prestigious private universities in Japan are said to be having a hard time attracting Japanese students is that many of the lecturers have poor academic knowledge and inferior research ability. As they lack the passion for teaching the importance of exploring new knowledge in their fields, they are contributing to the degradation of university academic standards. Many of these instructors could not even get hired if not for their connections with the institutions' management boards.
In the United States, those engaged in higher academic education are required to write an academic paper at regular intervals. We hear the phrase "publish or perish."

The IOC awarded Japanese broadcast rights to the 2014 and 2016 Olympics to a national consortium Friday in a $472 million deal.
The Japan Consortium includes state broadcaster NHK and the National Association of Commercial Broadcasters of Japan.

The Los Angeles Clippers and free agent Kenyon Martin have agreed to a one-year deal, returning the veteran forward to the NBA after a brief stint in China.
Martin's agent, Andy Miller, confirmed Friday that the sides reached agreement. The deal, believed to be worth the mini mid-level exception of $2.5 million, is expected to be finalized as soon as Martin passes a physical.

Younis Khan scored his first half century of the series as Pakistan steadily progressed to 120-2 at tea on the second day of the third and final test against England on Saturday.
Khan and Azhar Ali denied England success in the mid-session after England got a 42-run first innings lead and had reduced Pakistan to 30-2 by lunch in the second innings.

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on Saturday said the sales tax could be raised higher than the 10 percent rate currently proposed, due to the radical overhaul of the welfare system he is pushing.
"There is a possibility the consumption tax might be increased to more than 10 percent, as a result of implementing drastic reforms of the pension and social security systems," Noda said during a question and answer session after a speech in Tokyo.

Sorry, Los Angeles.
The only NFL expansion happening anytime soon is to next season's schedule of Thursday night games.

Who can contemplate a newborn infant unmoved by its helplessness? Few living things are as vulnerable; none for anywhere near as long. Far beyond infancy, into childhood and adolescence, human beings are, if not utterly at the mercy of circumstances beyond their control, at least impressionable to a frightening degree. Who and what the parents are don't by any means absolutely define the child. But parents are, so to speak, the shaping mold into which the child is poured. How many are worthy of the influence they wield?
None. Only perfection would confer that level of worthiness. Given the limitless human potential for failure, error, frustration and — sometimes even among fundamentally good people — evil, it's a wonder our offspring turn out no worse than they do. Soaring child-abuse statistics suggest their vulnerability is increasing. In 2010 child consultation centers nationwide handled more than 50,000 emergency cases, 354 of which led to arrests on abuse charges — a 5.7 percent increase over the preceding year and a 1.2-fold rise in five years.

The Japan Fashion Week Organization, which sponsors the Tokyo Collection, the nation's biggest fashion event, gave a government grant last year to a label owned by a member of its selection committee, sources said Saturday.
The apparent conflict of interest is likely to draw fire since the event involves joint public- and private-sector efforts to bolster the Japanese fashion industry's competitiveness and growth.

A little extra time on the clock went the Columbus Blue Jackets' way this time in Southern California.
Derick Brassard scored his second goal with 1:05 left in overtime, and Columbus snapped its six-game skid with a come-from-behind 3-2 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Friday night.

The expression of the poet Ryuichi Tamura, as he looks out at the reader from the cover of this book, reminded me just a little of photographs of the Irish poet W.B. Yeats, though without the pince-nez and the cravat. There is a similar haughtiness and distance to Tamura, as he casts a cold eye upon the world. It is reflected in his poetry and undoubtedly derives from his experience.
Tamura was born in 1923 and, "like many of his contemporaries, was something of a political and cultural dissenter in the years leading up to World War II," the introduction tells us. Though he was obliged to serve in the Japanese forces once the war had begun, he had also been greatly impressed by a translation of T.S. Eliot's great Modernist poem "The Waste Land" when it appeared in 1940. After the war, Tamura joined with other poets to form a group called Arechi (The Wasteland).

Ed OdevenSTAFF WRITER
Chalk up a major victory for the Hamamatsu Higashimikawa Phoenix's front office. The Eastern Conference power improved to 5-0 since versatile forward Lawrence Blackledge joined the team.

Arecent education ministry survey of third-year middle school students nationwide found most students have an ambivalent and contradictory attitude toward English. Of the 3,225 students surveyed, most felt English was important to study, but few wanted a job requiring English. The disjuncture between what they consider important and what they want for themselves is puzzling and disappointing.
In the survey, 85 percent agreed English was important and 70 percent — up from 47 percent in 2003 — agreed that knowing English would give them an edge in finding a job in the future.

Multiple hot dog eating champion Takeru Kobayashi has won an annual chicken wing eating contest in Philadelphia, downing a record 337 wings in 30 minutes.
At Wing Bowl XX, the 33-year-old Kobayashi on Friday smashed the previous record of 255 wings set last year by local champ Jonathan Squibb to win a $20,000 cash prize, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported on its website.

The Memphis Grizzlies know the team they are chasing to reach the top of the Western Conference.
Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder keep finding ways to stay one step ahead.

The case against Lance Armstrong is closed. His legacy as a seven-time Tour de France champion endures.
Federal prosecutors dropped their investigation of Armstrong on Friday, ending a nearly two-year effort aimed at determining whether the world's most famous cyclist and his teammates joined in a doping program during his greatest years.

"Oh, if you want to pee you can just do it out the front door," my host Yuki says as he gives me an introductory tour of the house and points out the powder room — merely a pit with a long drop and an unconnected toilet pedestal covering the hole.
I had just arrived with a friend named Henry on the island of Yakushima, which lies in the East China Sea about 190 km south of Kagoshima in Kyushu. It is famed for its wild virgin forests, including many specimens of yakusugi (Yakushima cedars more than 1,000 years old), amazing wildlife and dramatic coastlines — but it also rains a lot: 35 days a month, or so the saying goes. The day we arrived at this outpost of Kagoshima Prefecture was no exception, and there were two more days of torrential downpours forecast.

Alas, this very important subject gets short shrift in this misleadingly titled, hastily cobbled together assessment of the causes and consequences of the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant. Less than one-third of the entire book deals with events since last March 11, and it is far better on the political economy of Japan's bureaucratic institutions than on the nuclear crisis. She concludes that prospects for scaling back nuclear energy are dim, but has hopes for institutional renovation.
The nuclear crisis seems grafted on to the author's main focus and previous books on Japan's dysfunctional bureaucracy and the collusive and corrosive ties between business, politicians and the bureaucracy.

"The idea is not to block every shot. The idea is to make your opponent believe that you might block every shot."
- Bill Russell, Boston Celtics Hall of Famer

The IMF said it will send a team to Tokyo this week to discuss the yen's appreciation with government officials, academics and business leaders.
"The mission will especially discuss near-term risks, including from the ongoing crisis in Europe and the volatile currency markets, where the Japanese yen appreciated significantly," Anoop Singh, director of the International Monetary Fund's Asia and Pacific Department, said in a statement Friday.