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Friday, February 23, 2007

Darpa Chief Speaks


Wired, Feb 20, 2007

"We're on the verge of having computers with densities approaching a monkey's brain, and it won't be long before we'll have a computer with ... the equivalent to neurons and almost human," says DARPA director Tony Tether.


Read Original Article>>

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Mag on foreigner crimes not racist: editor

Friday, Feb. 23, 2007
FAMILY MART CANS SALES

Staff writer

"Now!! Bad foreigners are devouring Japan," screams the warning, surrounded by gruesome caricatures of foreigners who look like savages, with blood red eyes and evil faces.

News photo
The subtitle along the bottom of special edition magazine Kyogaku no Gaijin Hanzai Ura Fairu (Shocking Foreigner Crime: the Underground File) asks, "Are we allowing foreigners to devastate Japan?" with a tiny qualifier "some" on the first kanji. YOSHIAKI MIURA PHOTO

This is the cover of Kyogaku no Gaijin Hanzai Ura Fairu (Shocking Foreigner Crime: the Underground File), a special-edition magazine published by Tokyo-based Eichi that has triggered public outrage and caused Family Mart to call it discriminatory and pull it off the shelves.

The 125-page single edition is about crimes committed by non-Japanese.

The pages are filled with crime stories and photographs of alleged crimes being committed, drug deals, stabbings, gang fights and arrests -- all of them involving people from a wide range of countries. Some of the nationalities named are Iranian, Chinese, South Korean, Brazilian and Nigerian.

A spokesman for Family Mart, the main distributor, said that two days after the magazine was released at the end of January, it began receiving e-mail complaints.

According to a leaflet circulated by a group of protesters, the magazine "gives discriminatory statements and images about non-Japanese residents of Japan."

After receiving more than 10 complaints, Family Mart took a closer look at the magazine.

"When we read it, we found some expressions to be discriminatory and decided to stop selling the book," said the spokesman, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

On Feb. 5, the firm ordered all its 6,800 outlets nationwide to remove the magazine from the shelves and shipped them back to Eichi. It said that of the 15,000 copies in stock -- of the 20,000 to 30,000 that had been printed -- 1,000 were sold.

Shigeki Saka, editor of the magazine, claimed Eichi did not intend to discriminate against foreigners but wanted to provide an opportunity for "discussion" about the issue.

"This book was not originally published for foreign readers," Saka said. "It was to raise the issue (of crimes committed by foreigners) in Japanese society. . . . But I believe the foreigners have the fear that they will be viewed in the same way" as criminals.

Carlo La Porta, whole holds British and Italian citizenship and has lived in Tokyo for 16 years, said he thought the magazine painted foreigners as criminals.

The magazine "brings a problem into focus without adding perspective to it, and as such implies that foreigners at large commit a lot of crimes," La Porta said.

Although the headline of a feature interview with a former Metropolitan Police Department investigator, on the magazine cover, says, "In 2007, anyone could be the target of foreigner crime!!" the number of crimes committed by non-Japanese has actually fallen recently. Continued online by clicking on the title bar...........

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Japan wants to encourage studies of Hindu gods

Satyen Mohapatra


New Delhi, February 21, 2007

Japan wants to encourage studies of Hindu gods and goddesses found in their country. Saraswati, Laxmi, Brahma, Ganesha among large number of other deities are still prayed to there though under a different names.

Saraswati's sketches (Benzaiten in Japanese) sanctify kitchens in rural areas of Japan even now, says Director International Academy of Indian Culture Lokesh Chadra.

Japanese understood her as sa-rasavati or the goddess of the kitchen, Rasavati is 'rasoi' in Hindi.

Talking to the Hindustan Times the Japanese Cultural Counsellor Shigeyuki Shimamori said, "We would like to encourage more studies by scholars on the Hindu deities found in Japan."

It is the Mantrayana sect of Buddhism emphasising mantras (chants) and rituals through which Hindu deities reached Japan, Dr Chandra said. The Japanese also perform "homa" known as "goma" to their deities even today, they get ghee flown from Australia, he added.

Sarasvati or Benzaiten in Japanese is one of the Seven Lucky deities (Shichi-fuku-jin) blessing every home. Couples who desire to have beautiful daughters pray to her . She is known as the patroness of writers, composers, musicians and painters.

Besies veena holding Saraswati's another popular form of Sarasvati found in Japan is eight armed Saraswati holding weapons in each. In the Rig Veda itself Sarasvati is termed as "Vritra-hantri" or slayer of demons, Dr Chandra said.

In Golden Light Sutra there is a hymn to Sarasvati "May Goddess Saraswati protect us in the field of war". Many Japanese Generals used to pray to her to defeat their enemies. Japanese classical theatre NOH has a drama dedicated to Saraswati" Dr Chandra says.

"German scholar Philipp Franz von Siebold has written that in 1832 there were 131 Shrines dedicated to Goddess Sarasvati and 100 to Lord Ganesha in Tokyo itself .

A 12th century temple to Ganesha in Asa kusa suburb of Tokyo is a National Treasure of Japan." Hindu Gods and Goddesses were introduced into Japan in 806 AD by Kobodaishi a Japanese saint who went to China and brought with him Manytrayana text, scrolls and images.

Ganesha is worshipped as god of love by many young boys and girls for achieving success in their courtship. The old worship him for success in business, Dr Chandra said.

Letters or 'bijaksharas' for twelve devas like Agni, Varuna, Indra, Chandra, Nairritri, Prithvi, Ishana, Brahma, Aditya ,Yama, Vaishravana, Vayu,were calligraphed by Master Chozen in Siddham script (called Shittam in Japanese) a seventh century form of modern Devanagari, he added.

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Number on death row reaches 100

Kyodo News

The number of death row inmates has risen to 100 after the Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a man's death sentence for a 2000 robbery-murder, effectively finalizing the sentence.

Kazuo Shinozawa, 55, was convicted of killing six female employees at a jewelry shop in Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, on June 11, 2000, by binding them with rope and setting the store on fire using gasoline. He also stole rings and other jewelry worth 140 million yen.

Following the top court's ruling, Amnesty International Japan issued a statement expressing concern over the increase in death sentences in Japan, particularly since 2000.

"Public concerns over deterioration in security have grown, but statistical data deny such a tendency," the statement said. "Toughening penalties stirs such concerns, rather than wiping them away."

Stalin, Kim, Mao plotted Japan invasion?

Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2007

Archives: Stalin, Kim, Mao plotted Japan invasion?

By WILLIAM HOLLINGWORTH

LONDON (Kyodo) U.S. Army intelligence officials were told that China, the Soviet Union and North Korea planned to invade Japan during the Korean War, according to documents uncovered by Kyodo News at the National Archives in London.

News photo
Mao Zedong and Joseph Stalin, shown above at the Soviet leader's birthday celebrations in 1950, along with Kim Il Sung may have plotted that year to invade Japan. AP PHOTO

An unnamed source told the officials that the three countries were to attack Japan by air and submarine and that the assault would also involve an invasion of Taiwan.

The informer said Joseph Stalin, Kim Il Sung and Mao Zedong met in Moscow for around five days to formalize the plan on or around Dec. 3, 1950. They also discussed strengthening their alliance and agreed to complete their occupation of South Korea by April 1951.

The report by U.S. intelligence was passed to Britain's military adviser in Tokyo, Brig. Gen. A.K. Ferguson, who put it in a report he sent to his bosses in London on Jan. 5, 1951.

Members of the G-2 intelligence section of the U.S. Far East Command had doubts about the plan but thought it could not be ruled out given the circumstances at the time. However, G-2 did not think any of the three countries were capable of transporting the huge number of troops by sea to invade Japan.

Korean War experts in Britain said they had never heard of a plan to invade Japan but did not think it would have been implemented. They said it might simply have been disinformation fed to the U.S. forces.

According to the source, the plan was for 500,000 Soviet troops to attack northern Japan, 500,000 North Korean soldiers to invade central Japan and 1 million Chinese troops to go into southern Japan and Taiwan.

These forces were to be aided in Japan by members of the Japanese Communist Party Youth Action Corps.

Britain's senior representative in Japan, Alvary Gascoigne, who made some comments on the U.S. report, said it was unlikely Mao and Kim would have been in Moscow on or around Dec. 3 due to the major military offensives going on in South Korea at the time.

U.S. intelligence suspected the information could have been passed on by someone acting on behalf of the Japanese Communist Party.

"The large figures used are typical of the Communist rumor that is fed to local supporters in an attempt to boost morale by the knowledge that the 'Great Soviet Union' is behind them," the G-2 section said in a document. "On the other hand, various reports are being received of Soviet intentions to attack Japan, and the possibility should not be ignored."

Things were not going well for U.S. forces at the time the dispatch was written. On Jan. 4, 1951, Communist forces captured Seoul.

"Stalin was careful not to escalate things into a global war," said Peter Lowe, an expert in Japanese history at England's Manchester University. "He felt the Soviet Union would not be ready for a world war until the mid-1950s. In any case, the magnitude of invading Japan and Taiwan would have been beyond the capabilities of the Soviet Union, China and North Korea."

The Korean War began in June 1950 when North Korea invaded South Korea.

The North Koreans were later assisted by Chinese troops, while the Soviet Union provided weapons and advice to their Communist neighbors.

Sunday, February 18, 2007

From 0 to 60 to World Domination

From 0 to 60 to World Domination

Toyota will soon produce more vehicles than General Motors. How did a Japanese company that started out making textile looms become not only the best automaker in the world but also maybe the best corporation?

U.S. deploys F-22 Raptor fighters in Japan

Two U.S. F-22 Raptors arrived in Japan

Saturday, the first overseas deployment of the America's most advanced stealth fighters, the U.S. Air Force said.

Ten more F-22s were expected to arrive at Kadena Air Base on the southern island of Okinawa on Sunday, the Air Force said in a statement.

It said the deployment of the jets and more than 250 personnel from the 27th Fighter Squadron, Langley Air Force Base, Virginia, was a scheduled rotational assignment.

The fighters' arrival had been delayed by seven days due to bad weather and some problem with the navigation system software.

The newest fighters, which are successors to the F-15 fighters, will take part in drillings with U.S. Air Force units based in northern Japan and South Korea.

Source: Xinhua

Monday, February 12, 2007

Biker gangs—the notorious bosozoku

Biker gangs—the notorious bosozoku “speed tribes”—have long terrorised highways up and down Japan. To the dismay of Tokyoites, they have a particular love of the Wangan expressway, which links the capital with Yokohama. But bosozoku members are no longer simply angry teenagers. The Tokyo-based National Police Agency (NPA), which has been compiling data on the gangs since the 1970s, found that in 2006 the majority were not teenage tearaways but, for the first time, adults. It seems adults (defined as those aged over 20) now make up 51% of the gangs' national membership.
The NPA's explanation is not that bikers are lingering in the gangs for a few more years, but that one-time “speed tribesmen” are returning to their old ways in their late 20s and 30s. These ageing bikers seem to be driving with zeal: reckless-driving incidents involving bikers rose 4% in 2006.

Saturday, February 03, 2007

Meet Mr. Anne Ediger

Arlen Fast

Arlen Fast joined the Philharmonic in 1996 as Bassoonist and Contrabassoonist after serving 17 seasons as second bassoonist for the San Diego Symphony and San Diego Opera. Mr. Fast earned his music degree at Wichita State University in Kansas, where he was second bassoonist of the Wichita Symphony Orchestra. While on the West Coast, he studied with Norman Herzberg, who himself had studied with the New York Philharmonic’s former second bassoonist, Simon Kovar. Mr. Fast has performed on tours with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the Japan Philharmonic. Active in chamber music as well as teaching, Mr. Fast has appeared with the New York Philharmonic's Ensembles at Merkin Concert Hall, the Orchestra's collaboration with the 92nd Street Y Chamber series, the Making Music series at Weill Recital Hall, Music from Copland House, Sunriver Music Festival, Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego, and the Summerfest Chamber Music Festival in La Jolla, California. He has given numerous master classes and lectures, including at Juilliard and U.C.L.A., and was twice the featured guest artist at the Contrabassoon Festival in Park City, Utah.A pioneer in instrument design, Mr. Fast has invented a new system of register keys for the contrabassoon, the most significant design change for this instrument since the 1870s. This new system greatly improves the performance and significantly extends the practical range of the instrument. His collaboration wtih the Fox Bassoon Company has produced a new, improved instrument, one of which he presently plays in the Philharmonic. He is married to Anne Ediger, an applied linguist and author who is a professor at Hunter College of the City University of New York.

Friday, February 02, 2007

LaoTzu brothers visit nirusen in San Diego

Ideas are clean. They soar in the serene supernal. I can take them out and look at them, they fit in books, they lead me down that narrow way. And in the morning they are there. Ideas are straight--

But the world is round, and a messy mortal is my friend.

Come walk with me in the mud.............

by Hugh Prather in Notes to Myself 1970