Japan Arrests Anti-Whaling Activist

Japan conducts whale research each winter in the Southern Ocean when in fact Japan is using a Loop Hole to conduct commercial whaling. Over the years various environmental groups have staged protests attempting to halt the practice. In last few years Sea Shepard an anti-whaling group has used ships, laser pointers and the throwing of rancid butter at the ships crew.

During Japans most recent hunt one of its ships the Shonan Maru 2 rammed the Sea Shepard vessel Addy Gil during a confrontation causing the ship to sink. On February 15 Peter Bethune captain of the Addy Gil boarded the Shonan Maru 2 in an attempt to make a citizens arrest of its captain over the ships sinking. Captain Bethune was detained by the ships crew which immediately set sail for Japan where the captain was arrested by the Japanese Coast Guard.

Under Japanese Law a person can be detained for 23 days without charge and can be questioned without a lawyer present. All of which can be used against the accused at trial.
Don't think for a moment that any trail conducted in Japan won't be nothing but show as the Sea Shepard group has embarrassed the Japanese government with its activities.

Around Asia

I'm sure the lines are forming

The place where the body of Pol Pot, the former Khmer Rouge leader, was unceremoniously burned in a pile of rubbish is set to be the latest location from Cambodia's dark recent history to be transformed into a tourist spot.

In a controversial move that underlines the increasing allure of the country's genocidal history and the importance of tourists to Cambodia's coffers, the government has decided to "preserve and develop" Anlong Veng. The jungle town in the far north of the country was the last stronghold of the rebel movement responsible for the deaths of up to 2 million people. In a statement, the authorities in Phnom Penh said the town will be transformed into a "historic tourism site for national and international guests to visit and understand the last political leadership of the genocidal regime".

Making money off of a War Criminal

Rural Internet

India is to embark on an ambitious scheme to provide all its 630,000 villages, no matter how remote, with broadband internet access.

The plan is to use the internet to improve education and health services in areas blighted by poverty and to help to bridge the cultural chasms that still separate India’s regions and castes. It would also enable the country’s outsourcing businesses, clustered in cities such as Bangalore, to serve Western clients from the most isolated hamlets.

The government-run scheme will focus initially on the northeast, an area in the grip of several insurgent battles, as well as the poorest tribal and border regions, which often lack reliable mobile telephone coverage, let alone the internet.

Bringing information and education to those most in need

Out smarted

The government intends to impose rules on Internet users, but these attempts could be rendered irrelevant as the Web goes mobile.

Since last year, Korean users have been required to make verifiable real-name registrations when leaving comments or posting files on Web sites with more than 100,000 daily visitors, as part of the government's steps to curb cyber-bullying and libelous claims on the Internet.

However, the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) is finding it difficult to enforce the same regulations on the mobile Internet, which looks to be on the verge of exploding due to the popularity of the Apple iPhone and other smartphone models.

By the Smartphone

Who needs a Tropical Paradise?

For someone who has become accustomed to the convenience of the omnipresent vending machine in Japan, trying to get something to drink after the cafes and supermarkets have closed in France can be a nightmare.

Most likely you will find yourself giving up the search thirstier than when you started.

The reason being there are no vending machines on the streets. If one were to set up a vending machine, chances are that before serving anyone, the device would soon be destroyed and the merchandise inside stolen, I am told.

When you can have Vending Machine Paradise

Uh that Smell

An intensive care paramedic and three ambulance crews met a Jetstar flight on arrival in Queensland this morning after six passengers fell ill on board.

Ambulance officers assessed the passengers, who complained of nausea and headaches, during the Brisbane-to-Mackay flight.

Four cabin crew were also checked after they reported feeling off-colour.

Flight JQ882, with 182 passengers on aboard, landed after 8am this morning.

Can't you Smell that Smell

Korea Where Teachers Can't Speak Freely

Many rights are enshrined in the Constitution of Korea one of which is Free Speech yet because there is a National Security Law which allows the government to decree almost by fiat any cause, organization and right which in all its paranoia believes threatens its power to be illegal. Its the 21 century and Korea is a Republic, so why is the government attacking 15 union teachers for criticizing the government and willing to prosecute Kim Sang-gon, the 60-year-old top educator of Gyeonggi Province for his refusal to discipline them for exercising their Constitutional Right of Free Speech. One of the prosecutions main arguments is that teachers are role models for their students and thus they shouldn't have the right to speak out. Teachers are indeed role models for their students and when in their private time they feel compelled to point out the foibles of government which is a right given them they shouldn't remain silent. In speaking out as citizens and not as teachers they are being exemplary role models. Students need to understand these rights and know that when a miscarriage or abuse of their legal rights has taken place speaking in defense of these rights is an acceptable form of redress.

What the Public Prosecutor is doing isn't protecting the students but showing them that governments no matter their political ideology will subvert the rights of its citizens for questioning or criticizing policies they disagree with.

LDP Leader Rewrites History

Sadakazu Tanigaki the Leader of the Liberal Democratic Party has taken a page of America's Conservatives and decided to reinterpret or rewrite history. Recently Tanigaki remarked that the Democratic Party of Japan was guiding the nation towards a Fascist one party state. Now I don't know what his fascination with that particular political philosophy is? Because this not the first time he's used that analogy.

That said Mr. Tanigaki's party ruled Japan for more than fifty years. Japan wasn't a multi-party state as Mr. Tanigaki seems to believe it was a one party state ruled by the Liberal Democrats. Usually one party states are associated with varying forms of authoritarian rule: Soviet Union, China, North Korea, Vietnam and Myanmar are a few examples of this. However there are examples of supposed nations founded on the principle of governance through electoral politics that were and are one party states: Mexico from 1929 to 2000 under the Institutional Revolutionary Party (Spanish: Partido Revolucionario Institucional or PRI) , Singapore since independence under the Peoples Action Party, Germany from the end of World War II until 1982 under the Christian Democratic Union and Malaysia under the United Malays National Organisation still in power today.
So, Sadakazu Tanigaki Super Genius decides that his parties more than fifty years of rule never happened. As mentioned this isn't the first time that the Sara Palin of Japan has made reference to Fascist and the Democratic Party of Japan. In November after Yukio Hatayama had given his first speech before the Diet Tanigaki somehow in all his George W. Bush brilliance extrapolated that speech into comparisons with Hitler and the speech's he gave at meetings of the Hitler Youth. Its simply amazing that this person is the leader of anything other the Cat Herding Association.

Clear Thinking AT Its Best

Everyone knows about the Great Firewall of China and its ability to keep information from its citizens yet someone might think they could have a basic understanding of certain issues.

Mr Yao, 29, who plays for the Houston Rockets NBA team, has returned to the United States with his wife ahead of the birth of their child, which is reportedly due in July.
The unborn child has already captured the public imagination in China, with fans trying to guess how tall he or she will eventually grow to be.
Both Mr Yao, 7'4" tall, and his wife Ye Li, 6'2", are basketball players. Both of Mr Yao's parents were also basketball players. "This child will be a third generation basketball star!" wrote one anonymous commentator on a Chinese internet forum, with relish.

Its true that any child born in the United States does automatically become an American citizen however that doesn't mean the child wouldn't be a Chinese citizen. as the child clearly would be. Additionally it the child born is a boy he would have to decide at 18 which country he would be a citizen of because all males aged 18 to 24 must register for the military draft. It just goes so show you how much fear, paranoia, bias and xenophobia exists in China.

On Wednesday Akio Toyoda President of Toyoda Motors and the grandson of its founder will testify before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. I'm not sure Mr. Toyoda realizes what he is in for. Given the right of investigation and oversight by the U.S. Constitution these hearings can be very combative especially when committee members see an opportunity to not only abuse the testifying witness but as a large stage for political grandstanding. That is the cynical view. These hearings can and have lead to embarrassing moments not only for the witness bu the corporation they represent. Who doesn't recall the presidents of Americas Big 4 automakers being chastised for travailing to Washington in their corporate jets when those same companies were on the verge of financial collapse seeking because of their poor business practices while seeking a government bailout to save their ailing industry. They were treated with almost complete contempt by the members of the committee for a complete lack of foresight.

Don't think that Akio Toyoda will be treated any better by the Government Oversight Committee simply because he is Japanese. Further compounding his problems is that Toyoda North America hired two former Bush era members of the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration to hinder any investigation into safety problems involving Toyoda's sold in America as far back as 2004. The individuals hired had absolutely no background in automobile safety but clearly understood the workings of the NHTSA thereby allowing Toyoda to hide known safety flaws from its customers and the public.

If Akio Toyoda acts like a Japanese business executive and becomes emotional the committee members will lose all respect for him and wonder how this person became the president of the worlds largest manufacturer of automobiles.

Journalism Even More Censored

Those willing to report news have always taken risks not because they are adventure seekers or egomaniacs its because they believe the public has the right to know. History is littered with governments and regimes that have sought to silence the media.
Even with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact media repression continues unabated. Asia has a large number of governments which repress the ability of the media to report on a wide range of issues. China goes to great lengths to subdue the press. Here are few examples from a report complied by the International Federation of Journalists (pdf file) for 2009.

Xinjiang Riots

On June 27, media was told that no journalists
were to go to the factory. Any articles on the issue
should not be placed in a prominent position.
On June 28, only Xinhua and the Southern
Metropolis website were permitted to publish reports
on the factory incident. No other media could republish
these reports.
On June 29, only the Southern Metropolis
website and Shaoguanes local media reported on the
alleged cause of the factory fight, based on reports of a
police investigation. No re-publication was permitted.

Reporting Foreign News

On June 19, protests in Iran against the election
outcome prompted an order that all media report the
issue in a low-key way without commentary. Media
were encouraged to limit the number of articles on the
issue.
In July, only Xinhua reports could be run in
relation to the detention of four employees of Australian
mining company Rio Tinto.
On August 20, any reports about Russia limiting
Chinafs access to Russian markets had to be submitted
to government

But as China's government continues its widespread censorship its citizens find ways to mock these attempts.

The Yake lizard is the latest creation of China’s nimble and imaginative netizens as a way to poke fun at the authorities and their bid to corral online debate and to block access to sites the censors deem inappropriate.

After a Uighur performer performed a song called “The Party’s Policies are yakexi” – using the Uighur word for “good”,
As with any such opportunity in which satire is screaming to be created; that's just what happened.

Chinese is a language rich in homonyms, and the Uighur word became Yake lizard. The word “xi” in Chinese can mean lizard.

China’s most popular blogger, the youthful writer and racing driver Han Han, then set up a competition, offering 5,000 yuan (£500) to the creator of the best new lyrics for the song – although the chorus line was not to be changed.

The first verse of the official song goes: “I, Maimaiti, am full of joy, With my donkey I am going to town, Brand new bank notes on my shoulder, Filled to bursting with renminbi. What is yakexi, what is yakexi? The Party’s policies are yakexi.