I’m not supposed to be on the internet right now, as I’m “on vacation” in Hakodate (which rocks, by the way).  However, I wanted quickly to post a link to Brad’s column on our new friends at JapanesePod101, a language podcast that’s helped us get through Japan with some shred of grace.  Here’s the story

Tonight is our last real night in Tokyo. We leave for Hokkaido tomorrow morning, and while we’ll be back to sleep over on Friday before our flight home on Saturday, it will be part of travelling through here, not part of living here.

While I won’t be sorry to return to my beloved San Francisco, I’m sad to leave here. I love Tokyo. Many times when I travel I think, oh, I’m walking down the wrong street, the guidebook doesn’t show anything down there, so continuing would be a waste of time, I should turn around. In Tokyo, that’s never true. There are no streets with nothing down them. Everywhere you go, there’s a hidden gem. Curiousity is rewarded. Even if you put together all the guidebooks and all the websites in the world, they still wouldn’t list everything that’s wonderful about Tokyo. You are discovering things all the time.

I’ll write more about the trip when I’m back on line, but for now, farewell, Tokyo!

Tan-Ya

Originally uploaded by Ms. President.

These are tongues. This was our dinner this evening with Joi Ito at a restaurant in Roppongi that specializes in tongue. Click for more photos.

On one of my mailing lists, a woman asked for readings about the frailties of the criminal justice system. Her query prompted me to describe two books, one I’ve read, and one I’m reading.

The first is Arc of Justice by Kevin Boyle. In 1920s Detroit, a black family moved into a white neighborhood. Whites gathered threateningly in front of the house, shots were fired from inside, and two white people died. The black men in the house were prosecuted. The NAACP took up the case as one of its very first cases, and brought Clarence Darrow in to do the defense. The details of Darrow’s questioning of witnesses shows what a very weak tool crossexamination is against an intentional liar. That may be a good reading for the class, but the book as a whole is fascinating in its sketch of the crimal justice system as symptomatic of the times, and also in the portrayal of the early days of the NAACP.

Arc of Justice is so good that I’m surprised to be able to say that Tulia by Nate Blakeslee may be better. I’m in the middle of it right now, but it is an absolutely infuriating account of a white narcotics officer who concocted cocaine cases against the black residents of a Texas panhandle town. Forty people were charged and some received 300 year sentences for deals that never happened. The book details the economics of criminal defense in rural areas, and why and how defense attorneys failed to do even the minimal amount of investigation that would have revealed that the narc was lying. Yet, even when a good lawyer shows up, the DA and the judge simply don’t want to credit the evidence, and the rules of court allow them to keep relevant information from the jury.

Happy reading.

Yesterday I went to Nakano Broadway, a mall in a Tokyo suburb, to do some shopping. I’d read that Nakano was a good place to find otaku stuff. Despite my research, I was amazed. You can read a lot about Nakano Broadway on the web, and I won’t bother to add to the geek praise of the place. Let me just say its all its advertised to be. One thing that other visitors haven’t said is that, interspersed with the manga and comic boutiques are cheap clothing stores selling flowered pantssuits to older ladies. So you have these 60 year old women wandering around among the otaku boys and girls. Its a lovely generational melting pot there.

Here’s a conversation I had with a store clerk (tenin) yesterday. English translation to follow.

I was in the collectibles boutique when I found a flat of boxes with Star Wars figurines. The back of the box had pictures of all six figurines in the series, the front of the box had a picture of Boba Fett. I wanted to know if that meant that Boba Fett was in the box, and I could buy him for a mere 500 yen as I hoped, or whether I might get one of the other figurines by accident.

Me (showing the store guy one of the boxes): Kore wa Boba Fett desu ka?
Tenin (looking at the box): Iie. Kore wa Jango Fett.
Me: Un. Jango Fett desu ne. Boba Fett wa arimasu ka?
Tenin: Chotto matte. (Looks through all the boxes) Sumimasen. Boba Fett ja nai.
Me: Hm. Arigato.

Me: Is this Boba Fett?
Store Guy: No. This is Jango Fett.
Me: Oh, its Jango Fett. Is there a Boba Fett?
SG: Wait a minute. I’m sorry. There are no Boba Fetts.
Me: Drat! Thanks anyway.

And people say you can’t learn Japanese in a month.

In addition to my interview with Professor Toshimaru Ogura, my column on Japanese opposition to the Conspiracy Law was informed by:

UN Legislative Guide describing the requirements of the convention: link

Journalists Protest Conspiracy Law: link

On JukiNet: Economist: There’s always someone looking at you—and the people don’t like it

Statement of the Japanese Federation of Bar Assocation: link

Article on the peace activist arrests: link

I know you are all waiting for the yaoi links. Those are coming soon.

When I write my Wired News columns, the format doesn’t allow me to provide many links to information upon which I’ve relied. I’ve decided to supply those links here for people who are interested in digging deeper. Here are some of the resources I used for my column on the Korean wiretap scandal.

Ex-Spy Chiefs Convicted in Wiretapping Scandal

KOREA: Kim DJ administration bugged mobile phones

The extensive wiretappings, dubbed the “X-files” by South Korean media, revealed not only problems with the agency, but also collusion between top conglomerates and politicians—one of the inveterate ills of South Korean politics: link

Suicide: link

Xfiles scandal and politics: link and link.

North Korea , pres. Kim position: link.

Scandal extends through 2002, technology used more advanced than previously admitted: link

Legal wiretapping increases:
link

My Wired News column:Harry Potter Loves Malfoy is now up. It’s about fan fiction, yaoi (a subgenre of manga) and copyright law.

My Way by def tech is currently my favorite Japanese pop/rap song. It’s huge. Play it.