The jackboots of JASRAÇ (Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Çomposers and Publishers) are having a crackdown on Japanese users who illegally download copyrighted music and video under Japan’s new Jail-time-for-downloading Law (3Yen/ 2013-01-01)
______ P2P file sharing software Winny user nodes significantly decrease by approximately 20,000 ITmedia News | 2013/02/23(goofy Google Translate)
According to a survey conducted in January this year of Association of Copyright for Computer Software (ACCS), the number of P2P file sharing software users has been greatly reduced.
The survey results are from search-bot crawling the Internet looking for Japanese file sharing software that showed a decrease of 20,000 Winny nodes from March last year… More…
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Note: “Share” is the replacement for Winny* (which stopped development because its Japanese creator was imprisoned a few years ago). Why Japanese love old-style P2P file sharing networks like Winny and Share is a mystery since modern BitTorrent clients have Japanese versions.
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Arrests of 27 people in a crackdown of copyright infringement by Japanese using file-sharing software My Navi News | 2013/02/23 (goofy Google Translate)
February 22, police announced the results of intensive crackdown simultaneous case of violation of copyright law of using file-sharing software. Police in 47 prefectures carried out these arrests in the fourth major crackdown since 2009.
According to the announcement of the authorities, carried out in three days from February 19 through 21 are simultaneously centralized enforcement… More…
Everyday, inexplicable Japanese pictures like this show up in my RSS reader as just a truncated message with a hinky picture…
Even seeing the front view of the above animated GIF did not help explain what the hell I was looking at…
Finally I was forced to go the source, Sankaku Complex (Not Safe For Work or your sanity) to learn that… …Once again Tomodachi ga Sukunai NEXT demonstrates the importance of personal hygiene to its cast with more bathing service, in addition to featuring saucy bondage and plenty of nuns for variety…more… –Sankaku Complex | 2013/02/23 (NSFW): Tomodachi ga Sukunai NEXT Sexy Bathing Anime.
**Ding dong**: “NHK…{and a bunch of Japanese blah, blah, blah}… Me: GO AWAY!
NHK collector (in stilted engrish): Sir, I am from Nippon Hosso Kyoai and I am here for your TV licence contract payment.
Me (irately): I ain’t paying for your government propaganda channels! Go way.
Thus continues my seemingly endless, 29-year battle with the subscription fee collectors of NHK, Japan’s national public broadcaster. These collectors are determined to extort from me the monthly 15,000 to 25,000 yen ($160 to $266 US dollars) semi-voluntary fee for their broadcast (propaganda) service.
I never pay.
Yet, another NHK man will return in a few months to try again. However, I will be armed with this shocking bit of information the next time the NHK man calls:
Arrrg!! That salary of 11.85 million yen equals $127,000 US dollars per year. The next time the NHK man comes ringing my doorbell try to sell me a NHK payment sticker for my doorjam (see below), he’s buying me lunch.
The next time you’re on the Tokyo Metro subway and you see the logo on the right, you can catch MANTA rays—the free Wifi of the new “MANTA” (Metro Amusement Network Trinity App) service. This is a good deal because in Japan, WiFi is seldom free and always a nuisance to find.
According to the wonders of goofy Google Translate of the MANTA developer, NTT Broadband Platform Inc., Metro station information, subway timetables, station maps will offer via mobile device apps for the particular service area you are in without the hassle of searching. The WiFi and apps will offer the day’s video news and “entertainment information” as well as information on avoiding crowded areas and which train cars to board for the best access.
In case you were wondering about it being ominously called a “Trinity App,” learn more information on how this new mobile app with free Wi-Fi access will be used to “track and provide changes to passenger habits” at the report at Computerword (Feb. 13, 2013): Tokyo Metro, which runs the underground trains in the city, will test how riders react to a new mobile portal.
Whether it’s The Atlantic magazine1 or the CBS News2, the Internet decided to explode with the silly meme-of the-moment, “The Harlem Shake.”
What few people in the West don’t realize is that The Harlem Shake video “originated” in Tokyo, ↓ created by a gaijin/alien no less, hahaha… ^_~
Also refer to the earlier Shakeseque assault on Japanese sensibilities…
1CBS News (February 8, 2013): “The Harlem Shake” is a ridiculous trend (and we love it) 2The Atlantic Wire: This ‘Harlem Shake’ Meme Is About to Make a Cult Music Genre a Very Big Deal
Last year the 3Yen reported on the Japanese airline ANAL’s travel promotion, Is Japan Cool?(3Yen / 2012-03-07) offering a free pair of round-trip airline tickets to Japan.
The target market that ANAL’s campaign is focused on is sort of hard to imagine—Unemployed/unemployable Wapanese living in their mom’s basement don’t jet off for a madcap, 3-day, shopping holiday in Harajuku. (⌒▽⌒)
It has been three months since the enactment of Japan’s Jail-time-for-Downloading Law and almost nothing has happened.
Since October 1st, downloading pirated material in Japan can result in two years in prison and a fine of two ($25,600 USD) for each pirated file. For uploading, you can be facing 10 years in prison and a fine of ten 115,320 yen ($115,320 USD) (3Yen/2012-07-02).
Let’s look at the boxscore of the Japan’s jackbooted jackasses of JASRAÇ (Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Çomposers and Publishers) and their assmonkeys at ACCS (Association of Copyright for Computer Software of Japan).
The following lists all the current arrests for copyright infringement involving illicit downloading/uploading –Google Translate of the official Japanese site: www2.accsjp.or.jp/criminal.
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• 2012-Nov-22 (Case 8) Illegal distribution of Pachiko/slot machine “music” [painful noise] by Japanese hobbyists via “Icecast” on a US server—A man arrested by the Fukuoka Prefectural police’s ‘Cyber Patrol’
• 2012-Nov-19 (Case 7) A wall clock with an unlicensed photo AKB48 (3,400 yen / $39 USD) was caught being sold at Internet auction—A man arrested due to a copyright owner complaint
• 2012-Nov-15 (Case 6) Sales of pirated Microsoft Office Pro (60,100 yen total)—A man arrested because of a purchaser complaint
• 2012-Nov-06 (Case 5) Sales of pirated Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 32bit (8,960 yen total) through an Internet auction site—An arrest instigated by copyright owner complaint
• 2012-Nov-01 (Case 4) Unlicensed pillow cover of AKB48 members caught being sold (6,660 yen total)—Three households raided and arrests made by the Tochigi Prefectural police’s ‘Cyber Patrol’
• 2012-Oct-22 (Case 3) One man uploaded “Ichitaro” wordprocessing software to a cloud storage site with the intent of sales—A man arrested because of a copyright owner complaint
• 2012-Oct-16 (Case 2) Upload pirated Tecmo Koei Games through WinMX—Three men arrested due to action of the police ‘Cyber Patrol’ in Fukuoka, Ukiha, Asakura and Ogori
• 2012-Oct-15 (Case 1) Uploading English teaching materials through the Cabos file-sharing program—A man arrested due to the action of the Ibaraki Prefectural police’s ‘Cyber Patrol’
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That’s it.
A whopping eight cases and fewer than 15 people prosecuted—Your taxes at work!
Even more “effective” than those eight cases was that A Month After Japan’s Strict New Download Law Comes into Effect, Survey Suggests that Consumers are Spending Less Than Ever on Music(RocketNews24 | 2012/11/05).
Do you avoid people trying to take your picture? Do you avoid looking into your own eyes in the bathroom mirror? Do you sincerely hate yourself and really want to change into a new “morally and spiritually superior” human being?
Well, now you can do that with the all new “Make Me Asian(rocketnews24.com)” Android app! Yes, just in time for the New Year and the New You! Gaijin Samurai (3Yen / 2005-11-14) and Gaijin Geisha (3Yen / 2007-12-23) are all very welcome! Come on down! (^▽^)
Rocketnews24.com: “As one Japanese netizen comments, ‘We put on Groucho Glasses and pretend to be white people, so we have no right to be mad.’”