Sep. 11, 2014 - Sep. 17, 2014 www.japanupdate.com

¥150Fantastic OkinawaLocal News

ClassifiedsOkinawan Culture

WeatherJU Weekly Raffle

Events this weekEnglish Lesson

HoroscopeRecipe

Fantastic Okinawa

Okinawa local elections

Drums, dancers highlight Worldwide Eisa FestivalThe Eisa season rolls on, and there are Eisa festivals every-

where on Okinawa. For that matter, Eisa is performedaround the world as well. Eisa is categorized into twokinds, traditional Eisa and original Eisa, with the upcom-

ing Worldwide Eisa Festival holding the Eisa contest as the mainevent of the Festival, an open campus of Eisa College and someworkshops that children can enjoy. The contest is for groups thatperform original Eisa from all over Okinawa, Japan and the World.

The Worldwide Eisa Festival 2014 takes place Saturday andSunday at the Okinawa National Theatre in Urasoe City, with bothday and evening activities, performance’s and workshops. Thegrand prize will be chosen among the groups entered in the com-petition. For example, there are groups from not only in Okinawabut Tokyo, Miyazaki and Kumamoto, and overseas from England,China and Taiwan. The Worldwide Eisa Festival aims to strength-en the worldwide network of Eisa, delivering people ‘love’, ‘emo-tion’ and ‘fellowship’. Eisa groups and Eisa fans all of the worldwill come together. Admission is ¥1,500 for reserved seats at theEisa contest. Kids under three years of age are free, but must siton parents’ laps.

The Open Campus of Eisa College will also take place, andadmission is free! Knowledgeable people like Eijiro Gibo, knownas a researcher of performing arts of Okinawa, and SusumuKumada, a professor of Okinawa Prefectural University of Artsand the principal of Eisa College, will give keynote talks. Theyare also preparing a certificate test. In the workshop, people canmake their own craft ‘Paranku’, which is a small drum used inEisa dance, and learn to finger whistle. The whole family canenjoy it.

The initial seven Eisa performances at the Okinawa NationalTheatre take place Saturday, shortly after doors open at 12:30 p.m.Winners will be chosen at 2:50 p.m. The second round of per-formances begins at 5:30 p.m. with winners announced at 7:50p.m. Nine groups perform in the kids and junior programs, withlive guest Hidekatsu on stage.

Sunday’s Eisa action begins shortly after noon, with winnerschosen from the Grand Prize group of eight teams at 3 p.m. A sec-ond round of eight Eisa groups will perform at 5:30 p.m., withwinners chosen at 8 p.m.

The Eisa College Open Campus at Okinawa National Theaterwill have entertainment on its small stage, Saturday Admission isfree. Sunday there will also be workshops in the Theatre Lobbyon making craft paranku, and a finger whistling training course.

The ballots for Sunday’s assem-bly seats election are counted,and the results –at least in NagoCity—do not bode well for the

plans now under way to relocateFutenma Marine Corps Air Station to

northern Okinawa.The Nago City assembly election

has drawn national attention as anti-base supporters of incumbent mayorSusumu Inamine captured 14 of the 25seats up for grabs. It was a loss of oneseat, but still leaves parties opposed torelocating Futenma to Camp Schwaband Oura Bay in Nago City’s Henokodistrict in the majority, and increasesworries for both the central governmentand Governor Hirokazu Nakaima thatthe protests will increase in numbersand fervor. Of the 35 candidates for theassembly posts, 16 had supported thereplacement airfield facility with itstwin V-shape runways extending intothe Oura Bay.

All 337 local assembly seats acrossOkinawa are confirmed, except forTaketomi Town. With exception ofNago City, voters were somewhatunconcerned about prefecture or nation-al issues, with voter turnout dropping to60.74%, a drop of 2.5% from the lastelection in 2010. In the 23 municipali-

ties voting, 235 winners were incum-bents, while 91 are new faces at thetable. Women scored gains of 26 seats,up to 34.

In Nago, the New Komeito party isopposing the Futenma relocation, andheld on to its two seats. Over the pastfour Nago elections, in which Inamineswept into the mayor’s office in 2010,Nago citizens have been opposed tomoving Futenma to northern Okinawa,in their back yard. Anti-Inamine candi-dates campaigned not on the Futenmaissue, but instead made stimulating thelocal economy a priority. They did crit-icize Inamine’s administration, but itdidn’t gain them added support. Thevocal opponents were loud, but Nagocitizens seemingly weren’t impressedwith either side, ducking the polling sta-tions. Only 46,219 eligible voters castballots, a record-low turnout of 70.4%.

In Okinawa City, 16 ruling partymembers held on to the majority of the30 seats. Incumbents kept 19 seats, 10were first timers, and one was a former

Election results signal possible rough road ahead for Henokoassembly member. In Ginowan City, incumbentswon 21 of the 26 seats. The ruling party candidateshold more than half of the seats. In Nanjo City,incumbents won reelection, taking 13 of the 20seats. In Ishigaki City, incumbents claimed16 of the22 seats, five are new to the assembly, and one is aformer member. Norimitsu Miyagi won the OgimiVillage mayoral race. He served seven terms as a

Continues on page 2

Nago Mayor Susumu Inamine promis-es to continue his fight against theHenoko plan although his backers lostone seat in the Sunday Nago Assemblyelection.

Eisa, the quintessential, and physically demanding, Okinawan folk dance is winning new fans even outsideof the prefecture. The best of the best of Eisa will compete at Okinawa National Theater this weekend.

2Japan Update Classifieds Sep. 11, 2014 - Sep. 17, 2014

File sharing and downloading laws in Japan

By David Higgins

If you have been using the Internetsince the mid 1990s, then you knowthat since the inception of the file-shar-ing company Napster that download-

ing copyrighted music, movies and soft-

ware has been illegal in most countries fora long time.

Japan is one of those countries wheredownloading copyrighted music is prose-cutable, although it took a while to create alaw to prohibit it.

In October 2012 Japan officially

began prosecuting individuals who piratedmusic, movies and software. Although Iuse the word “began”, in reality there hasbeen no record of any individual caught bypolice under this law, so maybe began“threatening” to officially prosecute wouldbe a better choice of words. The criminalpenalties for downloading material hold amaximum penalty for two years in prisonand a ¥2,000,000 fine.

The Recording Industry Association ofJapan (RIAJ) claims that illegal downloadsoutnumber legal ones 10:1. The pirates ofJapan use anonymous file sharing networkssuch as Perfect Dark, Share and Winny tomask their identity. This is in contrast tothe western world pirates where anonymityisn’t as big as a concern as convenienceand the timeliness of delivery.

The RIAJ says since introduction ofthe legislative action and its enforcement ofthe new laws in 2012 that they have beensuccessful achieving a 40% decline in peer-to-peer file sharing. However, even withthe decline of illegal downloads, CD salesare still in a downward trend. Music pub-lishers say it’s too early to say whether thenew penalties are having effect. I personal-ly think that people are aware and perhapsmade rethink their pirating practices,although I think we’ve all probably seenenough of the dancing camera guys at thatbeginning of each movie at the theaters

here in Japan.The new era of smart phones, stream-

ing music online, and YouTube have defi-nitely had an impact on media consump-tion. Why would someone in Japan buy alatest hit when they can listen to it anytimeof the day on YouTube?

Given that the average price of a CDin Japan is ¥3,000 and the economy isn’texactly in the most vibrant of stages rightnow, it could explain why not so manyconsumers are running out to buy the latestAKB48 album.

It really seems that it will be an uphillbattle to fight the media pirates, as everytime their system of downloading is dis-covered and taken down, another system iscreated.

The future for the artists creating con-tent and getting paid for their hard workseems like it will not be as lucrative as inthe decades past, but these artists couldtake heart in knowing that their work is stillbeing seen or listened to, possibly even bymore people, which may be the only typeof compensation they will receive.

David Higgins’ website dealing withadvice to couples who have decided to splitwhile living on Okinawa is athttp://www.japanupdate.com/2014/06/what-are-your-options-when-facing-divorce-in-okinawa/

Downloading content is illegal in Japan and punishable with a prison term and heftyfines although no one has been convicted yet.

Aplatinum-selling Nu MetalBand and a longtimeOkinawa favorite are thisyear’s showstoppers at the

Camp Hansen Festival coming up thisweekend.

The 2014 Camp Hansen Festivalwill be held on Saturday and Sundayfrom 2 to 10 p.m. on the northernOkinawa Marine Corps base. Thisfree festival will have a variety ofbooths featuring cultural foods,games, Fun Land, giveaways, amuse-ment rides, static display of militaryequipment and live entertainment.

This year’s live entertainmentincludes a performance by P.O.D., aPlatinum-Selling Nu Metal Band, onSaturday evening at 8 p.m., whileMurasaki, a popular local musician,will perform at 8 p.m. Sunday.

There will be shuttles from des-ignated parking areas to the festival.No pets, outside alcohol, bottles,backpacks or coolers allowed. Taxiand daiko services will be available.Hansen Festival is a free event opento all DoD ID card holders andJapanese citizens.

There’s something for everyoneduring the course of the weekend:

Saturday3–3:30 p.m. Ka Lehua Hula

Studio (Hula Dancers) カレフアフラスタジオ (フラダンス)

3:45–4:15 p.m. Youhi Daiko

(Taiko Drum Group) 雄飛太鼓 (太鼓パフォーマンス)

4:45–5:15 p.m. Nerd of Corpse(Metal Band) ナードオブコープス(メタルバンド)

6–6:45 p.m. As Alliance (MetalBand) アズアライアンス (メタルバンド)

6:45–7:45 p.m. The MVMNT(Electronic Dance Music Group) ザムーブメント (エレクトリックダンスグループ)

8–8:15 p.m. P.O.D. (Nu MetalBand) ピーオーディー (ニューメタルバンド)

Sunday3–3;30 p.m. Dazoku (Wadaiko

Japanese Drum Performance) 沖縄和太鼓　打族 (和太鼓パフォーマンス)

4–4:15 p.m. Capoeira Academy(Brazilian Martial Arts) カポエイラアカデミー (ブラジリアン武術)

4:45– 5:30 p.m. Koza CityRockers (Rock Band) コザシティーロッカーズ (ロックバンド)

6–6:45 p.m. Shores (Metal Band)ショアーズ (メタルバンド)

7:15 p.m. Mattallica (MetallicaCover Band) マタリカ (メタリカカバーバンド)

8– 8:45 p.m. The MVMNT(Electronic Dance Music Group) ザムーブメント (エレクトリックダンスグループ)

8:45– 9:45 p.m. Murasaki(Japanese Hard Rock Band) 紫(ハードロックバンド)

P.O.D. headlines Camp Hansen Festival

Everyone is guaranteed fun at Hansen Fest with its top-notch entertainmentand plenty of food and drink.

Tools of the Marines' trade are a guaranteed stopper for festival visitors.

Platinum-selling Nu Metal BandP.O.D. entertains Saturday evening.

Okinawa local electionsContinued from page 1

village assembly member. In Tokyo, the central government appeared to be

unconcerned by the Nago voters’ action. YoshihideSuga, the Chief Cabinet Secretary, called relocatingFutenma to Henoko “the only effective solution” toreducing safety concerns about the Marine base locatedin the heart of downtown Ginowan. He predicted thelocal assembly election results will not alter Okinawanopinions heading into the November gubernatorial elec-tion, because supporters of the move gained a seat. Hesays there is no change in the government plans to pressforward with the relocation, and the ruling LiberalDemocratic Party is backing Nakaima in the upcomingelection.

Takeshi Onaga, mayor of Naha City and Nakaima’schallenger in the gubernatorial election, is hoping,though, that the assembly results will help his cause onNovember 16th. He opposes Nakaima’s bid for a thirdterm, and disagrees with the governor’s approving theland reclamation off the Henoko coast late last year.Already, preliminary work is in progress with drillingsurveys in Oura Bay.

Japan’s new Defense Minister, Akinori Eto, has alsoweighed in quickly on the controversy, promising the“earliest possible” relocation of MCAS Futenma to CampSchwab. “We have to avoid keeping Futenma in the cen-ter of Ginowan, which is densely packed with houses andschools,” the 58-year-old Eto said at the DefenseMinistry. He acknowledged “though we are fully awareof the various opinions among the local public, the onlysolution is to avoid continuous use of Futenma by relo-cating it to Camp Schwab”.

Asked about the Nago mayor’s position, and theSunday assembly election results, Eto said “as a Cabinetminister, I prefer not to comment on the results of a localelection.” Eto is also the nation’s Security LegislationMinister, a new position created by Prime MinisterShinzo Abe during his cabinet reshuffle little more than aweek ago. He is a LDP politician from AomoriPrefecture, and served as parliamentary senior vicedefense minister seven years ago.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga was quick toconfirm that Tokyo would do all it can to get the Henokoplan realized.