"the "n-word" is not offensive in Japan" is a convenient excuse and normally I'm of the opinion that when judging the offensiveness of a word, it matters much less what the speaker intended by it and much more what the person the term references feels when s/he hears it. (i.e. if something you said hurts someone, you can't get out of it by saying, "i didn't mean anything bad by it.)

But...this being a different language and all, it gets tricky. One supposes even though the word's origin is recognizable to us as coming from English, the word in katakana is in fact now a Japanese word and therefore it is not too crazy to assume that it could take on a different, less offensive meaning in Japanese than it has in English, just like all the other katakana-ized loanwords that don't mean to the Japanese what they meant in the languages they came from.

Clearly the usage was inflammatory. And I have never once heard it used in a non-inflammatory context in Japanese. Didn't it come into Japanese as an offensive epithet? This is kind of like killing a guy and then debating whether the knife was regulation size or not.

From the Japanese wikipedia

ニガー(Nigger)は、主に英語圏において、一般に黒人を指す蔑称として用いられるスラングの一つである。ニッガ(Nigga)とも。日本語への訳は黒んぼ・黒坊などとされることが多い。

少なくともアメリカ合衆国においては、アフリカ系アメリカ人を指して使うところのまさしく差別用語と見做されることから、今日ではこれの暗喩である"N-Word"という婉曲的表現が用いられることもしばしばである。

So there you have it. 蔑称. Let:s not have any more nonsense about what it does and does not mean in Japanese.

Well, sure, in this case of course it was intended to be offensive. I just thought the guy's excuse brought up an interesting point on loan words differeing in meaning. Imagine a tribe from the middle of the amazon deciding to use the word "jap" for japanese people, should this be offensive even though they have no connection to the historical use of this term by, say, australians and americans? Anyway...carry on with the rest of the topics...

i ended up reading all the comments on the aridou page (thanks for that) and the real dychotomy that came across was not between japanese and foreigners but between those who have a chance to came close to zizek's great dictum "the only measure of true love is you can insult each other" ( http://www.spiked-online.com/Articles/00000002D2C4.htm ) and those deadened by (anglo-saxon) political correctness.

Yeah, but I’m too PO’ed to engage in socio-linguistic musings.
His excuse that it’s “not offensive in Japan” is a cowardly and condescending.
Cowardly for obvious reasons, but condescending in the oft-used way of implying that since your not Japanese you can’t know anything about Japan and I can just make up any sort of nonsense to excuse my behaviour.

And Zizek gets all ze love ...

"those deadened by (anglo-saxon) political correctness."

I don't remember "political correctness" going after the n-word, because it was already the most potent symbol of bigotry and hate before they even got started "policing dialogue." Was the civil rights movement "a bunch of anglo-saxon PC baloney"? Put me in the "no" camp.

I have this gut instinct that the Eichi guys aren't writing this stuff with Zizek in mind. Wouldn't a good cultural relativist actually try to figure out what the creators' motivations are (within their cultural context) rather than sticking ideological post-modern arguments on top to justify the end product?

I've actually done modeling work for a few different Eichi mooks, and I'm pretty sure they just like the $$$, they pay next to nothing and they publish everything from 411 for all your LA style hip-hop needs(probably one of their better selling magazines actually) to punk mooks to bicycle mooks.

From my experience with one of the magazines I model for that left them (Mixx now Shake, because Eichi owns the Mixx Name) Basically it seems like if you have any experience at all in publishing prior publications and you are willing to take a bit of the finical risk, they will get your mook out the door while treating you like garbage and wanting a large amount of the money.

I think we are just looking at a publisher that will publish almost anything for money not one with a philosphical outlook.

-- condescending

yes , i agree but it'd be hard to explain it to the guy doing it because he'd habitually escape into a japan-as-minor kind of mindset that would justify anything. surely aridou or marxy's bully-like approach don't help here.

-- writing this stuff with Zizek in mind.

no no (short circuit) just that zizek is quite spot on about certain things in the 'rest of the world'

another way to put it would be koreans and japanese insulting the hell out of each other are basically much closer and sensitive to each other than all those revolted aridou commenters ready to drop the bomb on both.

"other are basically much closer and sensitive to each other"

How so?

close enough to smell the kimchee odour in a pussy perchance?

--How so?

i could just cut and paste your own fragments when dealing with some even more bullying, omniscient american than thyself here to answer that.

I'd be interested to see how far the `criticise it and we'll like it' game of the MADs goes. I mean, you've managed to get them to come out as apologists of paedophilia, extreme xenophobia, and organised crime. Is there any event in which more than 0 Japanese are involved that they wouldn't explain as amusing antics of the little tribe that you just wouldn't understand? No matter what the majority of the locals thinks. Nietsch and Yeates are on their side (while Wilde is... probably as well).

Or you could try the opposite approach, to test if the presence of Japanese is a necessary condition. Praise, say, chocolate and they'll come out as hating that stuff. ("Art and science know that chocolate-as-a-mirror is just the usurper of the king's throne. Licorice is the answer.")

Chocolate? Licorice?

Will the racial slurs never stop??

pretty sick stuff--thanks for giving it the exposure it deserves.

those of us who love japan should continue working to keep this kind of racist, social cancer from infecting an otherwise amazingly creative and majestic place. i've heard from more than a few japanese themselves who don't appreciate this filth rearing its head in their country, either. how embarassing.

*ahem*

Zizek is talking about the reaction to/acceptability of ethnic stereotype jokes as a measure of how much true tolerance exists in a given situation. If my "other" co-worker/classmate/whathaveyou and I can collegially joke around about the stereotypes attributed to our respective ethnicity/gender/age/dialect/sexual pref/etc, that is a pretty good gauge of how comfortable we really are with one another's "otherness."

It most certainly does NOT mean that saying mean things to people with the intention of hurting their feelings and expressing your contempt for their "otherness" is an expression of love and tolerance!

brown - yes i'm quite aware of what he's saying and i'm not suggesting that publication is good (because offensive) in zizek's terms, rather i'm saying that the majority of those detached, enlightened PC commenters i was refering to are bad. the discusion actually reminded me of something zizek mentions. a talk show involving a bosnian, a serbian and an enlightened westerner.

i also think besides what you're saying he's also talking about a certain degree of passion which does not exclude the capacity to articulate evil thoughts rather then disguise them.

michael, are you for real mate ? you sound like something created by an NHK education program.

Why does free speech not apply to speech we don't like? Not something which is inciteful or threatening, but just words and ideas which, as deplorable and (justifyably) unpopular as they are, are held by some people? They will be quickly discounted by those who know better. For example: dinosaurs rode unicorns into a fire truck and this created the universe. This is not moral relativism, this is free speech.

One can find similar texts in any well stocked library or book store, which call for any number of racist, homophobic, sexist, anti-capitalistic, anti-communism, anti-science, anti-anything positions (without attempting to incite violence or hatred).

This magazine is deplorable and terrible and should not be sold in Family Mart. However, as long as you can buy Mein Kampf at Amazon/Kinokuniya/Maruzen/WHATEVER I think this mook should be allowed its awful place in published history.

"Why does free speech not apply to speech we don't like?"

"This magazine is deplorable and terrible and should not be sold in Family Mart. "

So where's your problem? Anyone here advocating death by torture for the publisher?

Free speech = say what you want, but be prepare to be called silly, morally despicable, weak brained, etc. as a consequence. The MADs make full use of this right every day.

I think we now have a second janitor in the block. Watch out for der, Chris!

yeah alin, i'm for real, "mate." nice out of the blue snarky remark there. if you want to belittle my love of japan as being NHKesque, please feel free. (and although i've read them, forgive me if i don't feel the need to mention zizek, derrida, deleuze, foucault, et. al. in every one of my posts--granted i will refer to k. marx occasionally though, i'll admit).

just keep taking your pictures of dildos and tossing out your half-hearted metacritiques. i'll keep responding to racist garbage in my own way, too. fair enough?

What's truly ironic is that all anyone seeking racism, pedophilia, yakuza stuff, conspiracy and just general Japan sleaze need do is come to Neomarxisme on a regular basis and click the links. It's all collated and collected here, a veritable mud bath, incluttered by balance. (We don't even get the Kiiiiiii commercials any more.)

And yet, according to Jani-der, I'm the apologist. Because, you see, I don't stand up and demand that everybody gaze at the "filth" in order to condemn it.

This truly is the technique of polarizing trolls and right-leaning authoritarian-populist tabloids -- racy content, glib, relentless and uncharitable condemnation of other ways of living, muck-raking, and pseudo-outrage concealing spurious prurient interest and irresistible fascination with "the dark side of human nature". All we need now are little adverts, running down the side, for some of the stuff Marxy is condemning / putting on the map.

Turn to Momus' site, ladies and gentlemen, for sparkling positive coverage of America's greatest cultural achievements.

"I think this mook should be allowed its awful place in published history."

I never called for a boycott, but I think all the attention is deserved.

Ladies and gentlemen, please do not bait Momus and Alin. If you don't fucking care what they say next or how they defend themselves - and I know you don't, don't get outraged. We have been playing out the same stupid ideological warfare for TWO AND A HALF YEARS and it always goes in the same circle.

I have come to a psychological limit about how much of this ideological bullying and pointed negativity I can personally take, and although I may to be to blame for bringing up controversial topics and setting a sarcastic, negative tone, I am having serious reservations about continuing this blog in this manner. Something new is in the works, precisely because this debate is all so old and stale. (I started reclassifying my old posts in new categories, one called "Ongoing Bickering.") While I am building the new boat, however, I hope we can keep it civil and not fall into the same enormous hole.

(And I am not going to personally respond to any accusational repsonses to this message.)

If you pull out, the terrorists will win. You've got to stay the course, Marxy.

The predictable, barely relevant responses from your okkake-tai are pretty bloody annoying for some of us readers too.

...David, you like Prince?

So, Momus, I don't think this blog is so much "putting stuff like this on the map" as it is making possible discussion of certain issues that English speakers outside of Japan may not have access to.
This post certainly isn't exposing the mook any more than say, placement on the shelf of my local AM-PM (saw it last night--thought it was only Family Marts!).

-- the terrorists

dude, i'm actually just a foreigner living in japan, no-english speaking background (and no extreme masochistic tendencies) either, that makes me more of a direct target of that particular evil publication than most people here and i am actually responding as such. guess i don't have the bomb but it might do you good to open up to a variety of human responses.

Dear alin,
Get your hands off that Japanese lady's ass.

Just kidding. Sure, sometimes you baffle me, but I'm always interested to at least hear what you've got to say.

Dear Rory,

Not to stray too far from the topic, but do you ride a fixed-gear bicycle?

Bonus question: In one word or less, could you describe why you are confused and/or kind of disgruntled by the above question?

Duffy

The post Marxy wrote was in three parts.
Since most of you are just interested in 2)part.I'll write something on 1)Steven"Freakonomics" Levitt claims that" every time sumo cheating claims actual make it into the Japanese media, it's when there's a foreign sumo wrestler to blame" conspiracy.

Now,this is hardly true.Shukan Gendai is so far the only media covering this scandal extensively and they have been working on this theme,which is fixed games conducted within sumo world, for nearly two decades.Though I haven't read the "Freakonomics"I wonder about the credibility of the authors research abilities.Japanese media do attack Yokozuna or Ozeki class foreign sumo wrestlers countless times for their manner on both in and outside of dohyoo(I agree this could be criticized as a form of xenophobia,but I also would like to add this happens to any high rankers regardless of their nationalities),but not for cheating.In fact my poor memory on these issues do not remember a single allegations on fraud by foreign sumo wrestlers.

Now I know for the fact Kyokusyuzan旭鷲山operates big land developing business in Mongolia and some of the condos his company built have some complaints from the residents for poor building and maintenance that lead to low sales performance.Some argues yakuzas are part of the condo business,and soon after the sales slump there were reports that Kyokusyuuzan's business associates are related with illegal traffic of Mongolian women to the "Mongolian Pubs"(Although I have no doubt the very women are more than happy to come to Japan for cash.)When my wife had some business trip to Uvs Aimag ,Mongolia ,on the same plane she observed Japanese men from Kyokusyuuzan related business of exporting rock salt used to make noodles in Japan.Definitely yakuza looking says she.
These are miscellany of hearsays and I wouldn't elevate them into the conclusion that Kyokusyuuzan does have connection with yakuzas.No definite proof,but that could however explains partly of his sumo beya was constantly harrassed by suspicious figure.And Asasyouryuu.Boy do I hear stories.....

Every Mongolian households watch Japanese Sumo games everyday using unauthorized materials from NHK broadcasting.Even the nomads in the remote steppes living in ger has satellite dish and watch the TV generated by using either Yamaha diesel power generators or solar panels.Now rumor hazard among Mongolians that Asasyouryuu was tricked by no good Japanese who are jealous of their countrymen's inability to win on dohyoo against foreigners.
So from these knowledge,I wouldn't say Levitt's suspicion is original to American prejudice on Japanese fairness.Sadly.

Hey, Marxy never said anything about Rory-baiting...

Yes!
Corndog.

(Actually, we've met before. Sorry couldn't make it to 20000V that time.)

Shit, actually maybe I'm wrong. Anyway, sorry to clog up the comments.

Just found out.In 2000 one of low ranking wrestler did accuse 20 wrestlers including Yokozuna Akebono for fixed games.Though not intending personal attacks.Sorry Steven.
I might just have to read "Freakonomics".

"Yes!" -- I knew it!
"Corndog" -- Very good.
"(Actually, we've met before. Sorry couldn't make it to 20000V that time.)" -- Not me. I was col' chillin' somewhere else.

So for those of you trying to solve the "Who the F*** is Rory?" riddle (t-shirts coming soon on Cafe Press), look for the dude on the fixie, probably a 3Rensho...

Sorry Aceface, your comments don't deserve to be surrounded by this crap. BTW, do you ride a fixie?

If you could just tell me what this"fixie"is
I'll be happy to answer,Duffy.

I believe he's referring to fixed gear bicycles (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fixed-gear_bicycle). It's like the Linux of the cycling world.

There are WAY too many in-jokes around here.

Wikipedia knows all:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fixed-gear_bicycle

Mode of transport favored by hipsters and bike messengers. Some claim they ride fixies because they offer a "different riding experience" than standard bikes, but it's probably more accurate to say that these bikes make you look cool.

You can see a Tokyo hipster next to what appears to be a fixie (I'm starting to hate that word) on http://www.jeansnow.net

Apologies to all.

You're fast, Don. Probably ride a fixie.

"I have come to a psychological limit about how much of this ideological bullying and pointed negativity I can personally take."

Male modelling,Mongolian hordes with solar panels ,Zizek,Fixed gear bicycle and of course Prince....All this in Japanese racial slur topic.
Oh Come on, Marxy.
You have an army of great commenters that could change fistful of sand into gold.
KEEP THIS AS THE WAY IT IS!
This is the only blog that would unite the fucked gaijins,the euro arty art and the bookworm Japanese geek.Tear down the tower of Babel and you'll find confusions.

Oh yeah I almost forgot,Duffy.
I don't ride on a Fixie.Sounds interesting though.
Another reason to read this blog.You learn something new everyday.That'll save my fee to go to NOVA.

"Oh yeah I almost forgot,Duffy.
I don't ride on a Fixie.Sounds interesting though.
Another reason to read this blog.You learn something new everyday.That'll save my fee to go to NOVA."

Actually, I've never ridden one, either. My bike has 20 gears, and I love them all. But someday, I may bow to the pressure of the street warriors on hot-pink 1974 Bridgestone track bikes.

"Though I haven't read the "Freakonomics" I wonder about the credibility of the authors research abilities."

They used economic techniques to analyse the data from sumo matches and found that wrestlers facing demotion towards the end of a basho were more likely to win their remaining fights in that tournament, but then lose the next fight they had with the same wrestler. The conclusion was that wrestlers were rigging fights - one would agree to let the other win a particular bout, on the understanding that the favour would be returned next time around. (Sorry, explaining this really badly I think - if you don't fancy getting the book, the original academic paper that chapter is based on is available as a PDF here: pricetheory.uchicago.edu/levitt/Papers/DugganLevitt2002.pdf )

I was a bit scared to come back today and see the reaction to what I wrote last night, because it was a bit over the top. Sorry!

Thanks Jrim for telling me about the paper.This is a kind of confusing isn't it.

It does prove(possibly) "one would agree to let the other win a particular bout, on the understanding that the favour would be returned next time around".But doesn't say much about "Mongolians are the favourite target so far".Besides Mongolians are the biggest regional group now,one of them is occupying only Yokozuna title for more than 5years.It is natural to me that Mongolian wrestlers' name come frequently in the statistic.But that does not directly means prejudice toward Mongolians exist in Sumo world per se.I'm also concerned about Levitt and Duggan used ONLY the controversial articles from the Shyukanshi like Shyukan Post and not established media.

This remaind me in flashback of now widely considered as the classic nonfiction"The Yakuza" by Alec Dupro and David Caplan(not readig the extended ver.).They were also using all the article from likes of Asahi Geinou et al to back up their arguments.Advocated Yakuza invasion to America as Japan Inc was flooding to American soils.And as many Japan threat books,it failed to predict the future ,for it was everybody but Japanese crime syndicate flock to America and The very Yakuza themselves had to face the fierce competition in their home ground against emerging small but ubiquitous Chinese crime groups.

"The Yakuza" duo was also pissing that major publishing companies failed to translate their book.Though eventually published by Daisansyokan第三書館,a publisher owned by former Japanese Red Army member Kitagawa Akira(also a seoulmate of MP Tsujimoto Kiyomi),and in spite of the book became a bestseller,Caplan kept on complaining about Japanese awkwardness to face" the inconvenience truth" and "took-a-long-time-to-be-published-in-Japan" became sales talk for the book.Damned if we do damnes if we don't.

15years later Levitt is also pissing about "Freakonomics" was not met with the proper attention despite of good sales,for no critics mentioning about Sumo corrruption.
My guess is that Levitt just do not know the past allegations had become legal issue in this country and my wild guess is that critics here simply didn't want to mention it in just a few words in the book review and have themselves in the middle of combat zone.
But this is all guessing.of course.

Momus:
I should not say this NOW,but are you the Momus the musician?For real?

and all this time i thought a fixie was a fixed sumo match.

Dzima, if someone else wants to take up the Golden Mop & Bucket to clean up what gets flung by Golden Shovels, let em have it.

FWIW the idea of boycotting Family Mart as called for in some other blogs due to that mook is very very silly. Every bookstore and combini that I went to lately has it. A boycot of Family Mart by a very small number of foreign residents is, shall we say, pissing in the ocean?

Anyways as has been pointed out elsehwere, wit no ads in the mook, it had to be paid for by someone. This dovetails into what CarlF says that Eichi will publish anything which is backed by a fistfull of Yen. Whats interesting to me is the NPA today published a "statistic" saying that crime by foreigners was actually down last year, thus removing Gov Ishihara of one of his favorite talking points. Since no one can point to higher "statistics" of foreign crime, why not pay to have something like this published to keep the pot bubbling?

In other news, how bout that Health Minister Yanagisawa? Two strikes yet the home team keeps him at bat! Everyone liked him much better when he was running the MOF, too bad for him he got this post.

"are you the Momus the musician?For real?"

I think so, but what IS real, in a world of simulacra, depthless surface, surfaceless depth, a world in which... [continued in Lacanian Ink, February 1986 edition, page 326]

OK,You are real...

The chapter on sumo in Levitt's book is fair enough. He analyzes the data and points out that a whole series of results are statistically improbable and can only be the result of some pre-arrangement. His later observation that rigging accusations are primarily aimed at foreign wrestlers just seems wrong and it appears from the follow-up comments on his blog that he is leaping to conclusions from very partial data. That doesn't invalidate his original work, though.

On your third point, I stumbled across the "Idolizing St. Anna" blog while looking for comments about Princess Tsuguku's inappropriate pictures. It is devoted to the writer's favourite idol groups. "Santos26" writes in English and can be very witty, talking about the industry and the fans. There are three old posts that might be interesting for the kiddie porn debate.

In this first post, he brings up the example of Yasunari Kawabata to put fans love of Saaya Irie into some context:

http://santoslove.exblog.jp/2271252/

This next entry identifies the U-15 market as kiddie porn but suggests that Saaya appealed to idol fans:

http://santoslove.exblog.jp/3009194/

This last one is about how the Child Pornography laws may be reinterpreted:

http://santoslove.exblog.jp/4528773/

Speaking of of Yanigisawa, did everyone see him absolutely demolished in the Diet the other day by a female DPJ lawmaker (didn't catch her name, but she is a former NHK announcer)? She really got to the heart of the matter too- NOT the machine analogy but the suggestion that the women of Japan have any obligation to "do their best" to bear children. Even the news anchors were laughing, saying poor Yanigisawa should just speak to the honne of the situation and say "Look, I want to quit, but Abe won't let me!" It was classic.

Chris, no less than former head of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's Emergency Public Safety Task Force Hiroshi Kubo has said that Ishihara is full of it:

http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/waiwai/news/20061221p2g00m0dm003000c.html

Not everyone buys this mania about dangerous teens and foreigners.

Aceface, I totally forgot we were going to talk about Nitobe. But that's good, because it gives me time go back and re-read Bushido! Have you read Ishii Hisaichi's『現代思想の遭難者たち』? It's 4コマ漫画 starring Marx, Freud, Lacan, Derrida, Foucault, et al. Even Bakhtin and Whitehead make appearances! I was so excited to discover this- how cool!

I did some googling and saw that Yanagisawa is married but could not find any references to him and his wife having done their duty. Can anyone prove this one way or the other?

I dunno about that Chris, but one thing that gets me is the line I've heard that "Yanigisawa's wife is a woodblock print artist, so he can't be a sexist." Say what?

oops, apologies for my repeated mispelling of Yanagisawa...

Re: Santos26

I don't really buy that "Kawabata sometimes has narratives about older men falling in love with little girls" and the rise in Saaya Irie obsession in that the U-15 phenomenon is relatively new as a market. Kawabata also lived in an age where young girls could be expected to become wives in a chattel -like contract.

It is interesting though that Santos26 defends Saaya and yet calls out the U-15 business for what it is: selling images of young girls to real pedophiles. He also correctly notes that the whole industry is a fraudulent scheme where girls "want to be idols" so they join the company, pay the company for "lessons," and then can only make the money back by appearing in U-15 photoshoots which the jimusho is happy to set up. (One of these youth talent agencies, mind you, is set up in the same building that registered the imouto.tv name, and does have girls on that site.) Parents may be negligent, but these companies are abusing the draw of becoming "famous" to trap families into having no real economic alternatives but to let their daughters be fodder for pedophiles. And with no one really reporting on these companies, there is an information asymmetry playing into the management companies' hands.

"Caplan kept on complaining about Japanese awkwardness to face" the inconvenience truth"

Robert Whiting's "Tokyo Underworld" - which pretty much used Caplan and Dubro's book as his source of historical links between the CIA, mafia, and LDP - sold like gangbusters in Japan as far as I can tell.

The main problem is not "the Japanese don't want to admit that the mafia is a problem" as much as the fact that the government is happy to condone the yakuza as a tier of "alternate economy" that works to promote the ruling powers, stifle dissent, sell products that are not traditionally considered "wrong" but need to be outlawed to look up to international standards (prostitution, speed, etc.), provide financing for unpredictable markets, and help resolve conflicts when underdog's market actions are "legal" but don't please the powerful parties. There is no coincidence that the government has never attempted a true eradication of the yakuza.

ALSO - NO FAKE MOMUS POSTS, PLEASE. I WILL HAVE TO BAN YOUR IP.

"NO FAKE MOMUS POSTS, PLEASE. I WILL HAVE TO BAN YOUR IP."

What IS fake....OK I'll stop.

Brown:
The DPJ lawmaker's name is Yoko Komiyama小宮山洋子.Of course she can get to the heart of the matter.She was the one who always talk about women's role in the society when she was in NHK as OP.ED commentator.Also a very nice person too.

Have'nt read that one by Ishiil,but I liked the one with Watanabe Tsuneo,the chairman of Yomiuri Shinbun as a comic character.

Mulboyne:
Glad to know you feel the same about Levitt on gaijin wrestlers.Although it is an irony that Levitt is a kind of character who is trying to demolish the idea of the economist who use graphs and stats to sell the ready made conclusion to the suspicious public.

My guess with Levitt is that he throwing his "foreign wrestler --> press coverage" theory out on his blog based on his limited research, but would not necessarily try to publish this claim. I don't think he has done the actual footwork to prove those claims.

Marxy said: "Tokyo Underworld ... sold like gangbusters"

Ouch- stop him before he puns again! By the way, I hear that it's been optioned for a movie by Scorsese (maybe that's old news).

Aceface: Thanks for the quick ID of Komiyama!

I find it funny that someone had to do "research" to figure out or support the contention that Sumo matches are sometimes fixed. I thought everyone knew this and everyone admitted it, in a wink-wink, nudge-nudge sort of way. What's next, scientific studies to prove that the larger Sumo wrestlers can't wipe their own asses?

As for pictures of young girls, occasionally someone in Japan makes the argument that having pedophiles looking at pictures in their homes is better than having actual child molesters attacking girls like we have "over there" (as if the japanese don't have the smae actual molesters. yeah, right).

Daugaa:

Asashyouryuu(Dolgosuren Dagvadorj,AKA Daugaa) is definitely going to be the everybody's problem in the near future.Kyokusyuuzan might be connected to petty mobs.But Daugaa is hooked to the bigger fish.

Every second weekend of May,there is the festival of resident Mongolians in Japan at Hikarigaoka park in Nerima ward,Tokyo.And there Daugaa is the regular guest.He always shows up on either Mercedes or white Rolls with Hosoki Kazuko sits besides him.
Some of you may know that Daugaa is an admirer of the fortune teller and TV celebrity.But how many of you know that Hosoki was the one time wife of neo-confucianist and "the mentor of the prime ministers" and one of the speech writers of the imperial rescript on the termination of the war on August 15th 1945,the-behind-the-scene ultra rightist Yasuoka Masahiro安岡正廣？Daugaa could be hanging around with Hosoki,simply because just like many of his countrymen,he is extremly superstitious.But both might have some other thoughts on this friendship.(Another TV celebrity big shot Mino Monta is a supporter of another Mongolian wrestler Ozeki Hakuho.Rivalry?Anyway Mino and Hosoki are incompatible)

Daugaa has a lots of connection in the high place in Ulaanbaatar.Daugaa's father is also a grand champion of mongolian wrestling but most of his relatives are member of SSA,The State Security Agency,the mongolian KGB.
Daugaa is known as an avid supporter of the ruling MPRP,Mongolian People Revolutionary Party,former communist party which is currently running the country.He showed up in TV campaign of the MPRP for the general election in 2004 against the interal rule of Japan Sumo Association.
NHK sumo coverage clips are used in TV station without any payment of the copyright fee.But nobody say a word about it,because the station is owned by N.Enkhbayar　the chairman of MPRP and the current President of Mongolia.Needless to say Daugaa and Enkhbayar are close friends.Chunk of the real estate locates right next to the Sukhbataar square(equivalent of the Red Square in Moscow)was given to Daugaa for Asasyouryuu Memorial Park,with a Big Torii and Japanese Garden built for celebrating his wedding in 2004.
The order of Sukhbaatarmthe highest decoration of Mongolia was given to Daugaa in 2006.
Back then MPRP's power was depend on the aid from Moscow and COMECON,now turned ultra liberal economy,heavily dependent on Tokyo and the World Bank.For Ulaanbaatar,Asasyouryuu is the most powerful Mongolian lobby in Tokyo and defacto ambassador. I witnessed in one of the party hosted by the embassy and Daugaa was late for more than an hour for speech and said not one word of apology to the ambassador.

These are just background facts.Don't proove anything for now..
But if Sumo association thinks fixing sumo game scandal is the fiasco, I say just look harder beyond the deck and see the huge iceberg is coming your way.

Parents protecting daughters from other men's perceived sexual perversity? There is no mention of the motivation for this perfervid campaign. May I ask, Marxy? ..and, if insults be the measure of ze true love Marxy, Momus and Alin are with you in sickness and in health..

さああ...same as it ever was... A little bit of the back, and a little bit of the forth.

Best of luck with the new boat, David.

I wonder if Debito will be protesting about this:
http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/398818