Nonsequittal Rumblings

Here’s a proof.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/nm/life_sex_dc

Hmmmm…

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=562&e=3&u=/ap/20041004/ap_on_hi_te/japan_the_sound_princess

I thought I knew the culture and feelings of my homeland pretty well. But news like this still shocks me. Wow. Just wow.

With such stark differences in the mentality of everyday thing, it’s a great wonder to me how anime is still as popular as it is all over the world nowadays…

Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers, and Publishers (JASRAC) just won a case against 7 dance schools around city of Nagoya on the case of copyright infringement for the use of unauthorized copy of music during the lesson. JASRAC was asking the schools to retro-pay for the 10 year usage fee of 51,300,000 yen (US$460,000).

According to JASRAC, there are approx. 1000 out of 2400 dance schools using illegal copy of music in their lessons. This decision will empower them with the justification to stop the organization from doing so. ( http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20040928-00000513-yom-soci )

I completely cease to understand how these copyright enforcement organization act. JASRAC’s objective is the protection of the artist’s right for their own artistic creations, and the enrichment of the culture through these artistic mediums. Or so I thought.

Now these people are going after these educational institutions (although they are not part of the core educational curriculum… but still…) to get them more money through these outrageous fines. So, if the dance schools are unable to pay these due fees, and are forced to shut down, isn’t that actually killing the artistic culture? Killing the environment in which kids can have alternative education?

Besides, what is this outrageous fee, even if you’re willing to pay the annual due? That’s 46,000 dollars per year, just so you can use music in your lessons?! Wow, I don’t know how these usage fees are being set…

I’m utterly, completely shocked, I really don’t know what to say.

I just noticed that http://www.athens2004.com has gone through the complete makeover since the completion of the Olympics, and it’s now a Paralympics site. I get happy when I see stuff like that. Compare that against http://www.nbcolympics.com – there’s no sign of coverage of paralympics there. Seeing stuff like this still reminds me of the low awareness of these special events behind the scenes of the parallel major events… It’s not that I’m very knowledgeable about it. I just want to see that people care more than now.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/japan_bobby_fischer
What is this world coming to? We can be accused of violating immigration and international relations laws for the sake of arts and fair competition? I know that laws are there for anyone and everyone. But at the same time, I thought there’s certain amount of public relations that the enforcers need to keep in mind. So, what good does detention of a chess master bring to U.S. and Japan? I really can’t tell. I personally feel somewhat repelled. Hrm.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200407/s1152402.htm
This is one news I need to hide from my daughter. The kins of Kanga and Roo being culled! She will start worrying about when kins of Pooh will be culled.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl…/japan_iraqi_boy

When the news these days are filled with crimes and people’s idiocity, it’s a good change to see a good news make it to the headline news once in a while. And I like what I read! (The article was the top headline news for “World News from AP Asia” section on MyYahoo for me this morning.)

http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/local/9076360.htm

There are more people who are bored than I can imagine. I generally don’t like bitching, but sometimes, I can’t help. It’s clear that some people just can’t get the grasp of the bigger picture. And the cries from the officials speaking in this articles are not being heard by enough people. Why… why… why…

Jeff just called me into his office, and asked me if I’ve heard or read about the story on…
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/06/21/japan.blood.reut/

What a sick story. And to see that it happened in Japan…

Don’t think that this kind of punishment is acceptable in Japan. It’s just that teachers like to escalate the disciplinary action, and often too much that it becomes abuse.

Of course, the other thing we can see in this story is how the victim did not ask for any more disciplanary action taken to the teacher either. And the school is willing to put this teacher back to work in a few days. I really don’t see exactly whose fault it is. Is it the fault of the system who don’t take these things seriously enough, or the fault of the students who don’t stand up for their rights?