Sweden: Supreme Court mulls manga child porn appeal
The highly publicized last appeal of Simon Lundström, a Swedish translator of Japanese manga comics convicted of child pornography crimes, was brought up in Sweden’s Supreme Court (Högsta Domstolen) on Wednesday.
“To me personally this might mean that I am finally cleared. For me as an intelligent human being it would be very interesting to see this absurd law finally being tested in the highest instance,” said Lundström to news agency TT before the negotiations started.
The auditorium was filled to the rafters and several expert witnesses were heard when the final appeal of the case was made.
“These are not real people. The prosecution has a tendency to view these drawings as camouflaged photos, but these are animated fantasies," said one of the expert witnesses, Johan Höjer, a researcher in comics from the University of Gävle.
Höjer also said that it is not unusual that erotic drawings come up when doing a Google search for manga.
Lundström, described by Swedish media as a top manga expert, was found guilty by two lower courts of having 39 drawings portraying figures in sexual poses stored on the hard drive of his computer.
A district court fined him 25,000 kronor ($3,500) but an appeals court lowered the sum to 5,600 kronor.
Lundström's lawyer Leif Silbersky told Swedish news agency TT during a break in proceedings on Wednesday that "this whole case has grown to unreasonable proportions. This is not a crime. This is research."
But according to Hedvig Trost of the prosecution, it can be hard to draw a line between what is an animation and what is a photograph.
A Japanese child prodigy climbs to new heights - literally
HUECO TANKS STATE PARK AND HISTORIC SITE, Tex. — With a concentrated squint, Ashima Shiraishi silently sized up her first rock of the day, a menacing slab of jagged beige boulder 20 feet high, scuffed by white chalk left behind from bigger, older, more experienced climbers.
A black crash pad as thick as a mattress was placed on the ground, and without a rope or harness for protection, Ashima shrugged off her purple jacket, hoisted herself onto the boulder and began to scramble up, her calf muscles bulging gently as she grabbed one nearly invisible ledge of rock after another. With a final stretch, she reached the top, her glossy black ponytail disappearing first, then one limb at a time, until she was out of sight.
A tiny voice floated over the top of the boulder. “How do you get down?” she said.
Ashima had just begun a two-week climbing expedition this spring at Hueco Tanks, a state park that is a mecca for bouldering enthusiasts, 860 acres of rock masses surrounded by endless desert and sky 30 miles northeast of El Paso.
Three days after she arrived, she stunned the bouldering world by climbing Crown of Aragorn, an exceedingly difficult route that requires climbers to contort their bodies and hang practically upside down by their fingers as they navigate a rock that juts out from the ground at a 45-degree angle.
On the scale of V0 to V16 that governs bouldering, Crown of Aragorn is a V13, a level that only a few female climbers had reached.
None were 10 years old, as she was.
Ashima, a petite girl with pale skin, a toothy smile and a thick fringe of bangs cut in a perfect line across her forehead, is not only... [Read More]
Akimoto Yasushi's idol group from Osaka, Japan, NMB48 gets its name comes from NaMBa, an alternate romanization of Nanba, a district of Osaka. Oh yeah, and the fact that there are 48 performers, broken up into different teams.
Junjou U-19 ("Innocence Under 19") is the group's 3rd single, containing four tracks featuring various members from Team N and Team M.
To add a little J-pop to your collection, enter [the] contest...
The former Dodgers righthander became the latest high-priced American-import bust in Japan, released by the Pacific League's Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks on Tuesday after appearing in just one game. That request came from the player.
In his one appearance, Penny gave up six runs, four earned, on seven hits while walking three in 31/3 innings in a 6-5 loss to the Tohoku Rakuten Eagles on April 4. The 33-year-old, who signed a one-year, $3 million contract with the Hawks in February, leaves with a 10.80 ERA.
Penny follows such stars as Kevin Mitchell and Joe Pepitone as failures in the Land of the Rising Sun.
Oddly, it's the guys who weren't big names who did well in Japan, including Tuffy Rhodes, Randy Bass, Alex Ramirez . . . and a slugger named Charlie Manuel.
Rates of anoxeria and bulimia in Japan are increasing more rapidly than anywhere else in the world, with one in 100 Japanese women dealing with an eating disorder.
In fact, women in Japan are consuming fewer calories than they did in the Second World War. A third of the population of Japan has a Body Mass Index of less than 18.5, considered in Japan to be the lowest healthy weight.
Dr Hiroyuki Suematsu, a professor of clinical psychology explains a culture of privacy and stoicism has led to an inability to confront the rise of eating disorders.
‘From a young age, we are discouraged from discussing personal problems or sharing our true feelings. Here, society is brought up to always give people the impression everything is fine,’ he told Hanias.
The article explores the Japanese phenomenon of ‘kawaii’, meaning cute, a bizarre mix of highly sexualised, pre-pubescent imagery. Dolls, cartoons and pop stars all radiate the message that thin is beautiful.
The article is a fascinating insight into an issue that appears, paradoxically, all pervasive and yet unseen in Japanese culture.
A new KFC restaurant in Japan has given fast food a boozy boost with a fully-stocked bar featuring whiskey cocktails.
Located in Tokyo, the three-story restaurant opened Wednesday and is the company’s first location to include a bar. The first two floors of the restaurant feature an original KFC while the top floor functions as a bar after 5p.m.
Called KFC Route 25, the bar is named after U.S. Route 25, which runs in front of the original Sanders Cafe in Kentucky.
The KFC Japan website notes that it aimed for a “good-old USA” approach with a casual and welcoming feel.
KFC Route 25′s menu features classic items like the original recipe chicken and crispy strips in addition to pizza and pasta. New items include a pizza with six kinds of cheese and maple syrup and a dessert menu that includes tiramisu and cream puffs.
The drink menu features a variety of typical bar options like tequila, rum and vodka. Specialty cocktails include the Early Times High Ball or Mint Sparkle, which gives nod to the Mint Julep and the restaurant’s Kentucky origins. ... [Read More]
Akiba Online
