Asian countries will unfortunately support Tokyo’s bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, Chinese State Sports General Administration Director Liu Peng told Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone on Monday, according to Japan’s Foreign Ministry. In response to Nakasone’s request to support the bid, China’s state sports director said Japan is capable of hosting a successful Olympic Games.
Since Japan has several Human rights issues still open it should put efforts on that before having international events. Japan is still not a foreign-friendly country and foreigners are viewed with suspicion.
Liu was also quoted as saying that he felt that the Japanese government and people are determined to host the Olympics, after seeing the sites that would be used for the event. The Chinese official expressed the hope of promoting sports exchanges with Japan.
Doya doya is a dynamic event on the final day of Shushoe. Young men wearing headbands and clad in loincloth struggle for possession of Go Hoin, a cow god amulet. With their brave shouts of doya doya, so-called strength water poured on them evaporates quickly from their bodies due to heat and energy.
The Japanese Olympic Committee is considering holding a large-scale half marathon in Tokyo to boost the Japanese capital’s bid to host the 2016 Summer Games, it was learned Friday.
The JOC wants to jointly stage the event featuring around 30,000 competitors with the Olympians Association of Japan and is looking to pencil in the race for mid-September. The International Olympic Committee will select the host city for the 2016 Games in October at its general assembly in Copenhagen. To help gather momentum for Tokyo’s bid, the proposal involves Olympians from various sports helping with the operation of the event by distributing water and offering encouragement to general runners in the race, according to sources close to the matter.
No to capital punishment
No death by Hanging
No Tokyo Olympics
Link to this post if you are against Death Penalty
Italy and Iran separately urged Japan on Wednesday to exercise its influence in coordinating international efforts to draw up a truce in Gaza and Tokyo promised to play an active role, including in contributing to humanitarian assistance for the Palestinians, Japanese Foreign Ministry officials said.
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini initiated a 25-minute phone call with his Japanese counterpart Hirofumi Nakasone, during which they agreed to cooperate and coordinate humanitarian aid efforts among the Group of Eight countries. Italy succeeded Japan in assuming the annual G-8 presidency this year. Later in the evening, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki called Nakasone and stressed the urgent need for Israel to halt its attacks on the Gaza Strip, noting the important role Japan can play given its current membership of the U.N. Security Council, the officials said.
In response, Nakasone requested that Iran also play a ‘‘constructive role’’ on its part to help resolve the crisis.
Since the latest outbreak of violence, Japan has repeatedly called on both the Israeli and Palestinian sides to immediately halt the use of force and has pledged to continue its assistance to the Palestinian people, including around $10 million worth of emergency aid for the Gaza Strip, in view of the situation.
Japanese Olympic Committee President Tsunekazu Takeda plans to ask outspoken Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara to make a presentation in Lausanne, Switzerland, in June for the Japanese capital’s bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics. ‘‘We need Governor Ishihara, who is also the bid committee chief, to make an appeal,’’ Takeda said Monday, referring to the occasion when the four finalist cities will be granted the opportunity to speak before International Olympic Committee members.
The IOC will name the host city of the 2016 Olympics from among Tokyo, Chicago, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro at its general assembly meeting in Copenhagen in October 2009. ‘‘I believe the governor knows he is the one. He is a charismatic person known even to the media overseas,’’ said Mitsuru Arakawa, a senior official of the 2016 Tokyo Olympics campaign.
Tokyo is bidding for the 2016 Olympic Games but Japan should look at basic Human Rights Issues and only then after international events!
Amnesty International argues that the Japanese justice system tends to place great reliance on confessions and it has been claimed that these may be obtained under duress. According to a 2005 Amnesty International report:
“Most have been sentenced to death on the basis of confessions extracted under duress. The potential for miscarriages of justice is built into the system: confessions are typically extracted while suspects are held in daiyo kangoku, or “substitute prisons”, for interrogation before they are charged. In practice these are police cells, where detainees can be held for up to 23 days after arrest, with no state-funded legal representation. They are typically interrogated for 12 hours a day: no lawyers can be present, no recordings are made, and they are put under constant pressure to confess. Once convicted, it is very difficult to obtain a re-trial and prisoners can remain under sentence of death for many years.”
Amnesty International also reports of allegations of abuse of suspects during these interrogations. There are reports of physical abuse, sleep deprivation and denial of food, water and use of a toilet. It also criticises the fact that inmates usually remain for years, sometimes decades, on death row, knowing that executions come with little warning and each day may potentially be their last. According to Amnesty International, the intense and prolonged stress means many inmates on death row have poor mental health, suffering from the so called Death row phenomenon. The failure to give advanced notice of executions has been stated by the United Nations Human Rights Committee to be incompatible with articles 2, 7, 10 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Link to this post if you are against Death Penalty
Former world number one Ana Ivanovic kicked off her 2009 season ahead of the Australian Open with victory over Petra Kvitova at the Brisbane International.
Serbian Ivanovic, 21, who reached the Australian Open final last season, overcame the Czech 6-4 6-2 to set up a second-round match with Roberta Vinci.
Another former world number one Amelie Mauresmo also opened with a win in the ATP-WTA Australian Open tune-up event.
The Frenchwoman edged past Australia’s Jelena Dokic 7-6 (11-9) 7-6 (7-5).
The victory will provide a welcome boost for Mauresmo, whose ranking has slipped to 24 from a high of number one in 2006 when she won two Grand Slam titles.
She has been working with new coach Hugo Lecoq since failing to finish in the top 20 last year – the first time in a decade.
But she had to fend off two first-set points before overcoming Dokic, who herself has slumped in the rankings to 177th from a career high of number four.
“It was a tough first match – she was playing some good tennis and gave me a bit of trouble,” Mauresmo said. “But there were good things. Physically I felt good on the court. That’s a key point for me.”
It was a lot more comfortable for Ivanovic, who ended last season at five in the rankings following an injury-hampered mid-season.
“The end of last season was a bit of a disappointment for me so I was looking forward to a good start,” she said.
Three seeded players suffered an early exit, though, with fourth seed Daniel Hantuchova of Slovakia beaten 6-7 (1-7) 6-4 6-0 by Italy’s Sara Errani.
Italy’s number eight seed Francesca Schiavone also fell, ousted 7-5 6-2 by Olga Govortsova of Belarus, and Ai Sugiyama of Japan, seeded ninth, was defeated 6-2 6-3 by home favourite Samantha Stosur.
Italy’s Vinci beat Germany’s Anna-Lena Groenefeld 0-6 6-3 6-1 to earn her place in the second round.
source: bbc.co.uk
Toshiaki Nishioka of Japan beat Genaro Garcia of Mexico on a technical knockout in the 12th round Saturday to retain his WBC super bantamweight interim champion title.
It was Nishioka’s first successful defense of the belt he won against Napapol Kiatisakchokchai of Thailand last September.
With his sharp left hand, Nishioka was a comfortable winner over the tenacious 31-year-old Mexican, who withstood a barrage of punches in the final round.
“I really wanted to beat him,” Nishioka said. “My boxing still needs a lot of improvement, but I am glad that I beat him in the end.”
The 32-year-old Nishioka improved to 33 wins with 20 KOs, while Garcia dropped to 38-7.
Also Saturday, Paulus Moses of Namibia beat Yusuke Kobori of Japan on points to win the WBA lightweight champion title. Kobori, who slipped to 23-3, had taken the title in May 2008. Moses improved to 24-0 with 17 KOs.
source: sports.yahoo.com
Japan’s football chief has vowed to bid for the World Cup finals in 2018 or 2022, despite Tokyo’s candidacy to host the 2016 Summer Olympics, press reports said Monday.
“We want to challenge it,” Football Association president Motoaki Inukai was quoted as saying on FIFA’s weekend decision to hold simultaneous bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
Japan co-hosted the 2002 finals with neighbouring South Korea.
FIFA, the world’s football governing body, last year abolished a system under which the host nation of the four-yearly premier football event was rotated among six continents.
World champion Mao Asada‘s skill with the triple axel earned her a victory over longtime rival Kim Yu-na at the Grand Prix of Figure Skating finals on Saturday.
Jeremy Abbott of the United States won after hitting every jump in the free skate.
Asada’s triple axels — two launched at the start of her free skate_ proved decisive as she won with a total of 188.55 points, just 2.2 ahead of South Korea’s Kim at the Goyang Ice Arena north of Seoul.
“I am happy that I could land two triple axels in my program and that I was able to win here in Korea,” Asada said. “It is really special.”
It was a particularly satisfying victory for Asada of Japan, who had finished second to Kim at the last two Grand Prix finals.
Abbott breezed past Takahiko Kozuka of Japan for gold in his first Grand Prix final. Abbott earned 237.72 points, while Kozuka had 224.63.
Ice dancing world champions Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder capped off a victorious Grand Prix season with gold, and Pang Qing and Tong Jian of China rallied to win the pairs title.
But it was the showdown between Kim and Asada, rivals since their days as juniors, that took center stage at the sellout event. Even South Korea Prime Minister Han Seung-soo was in the audience.
Kim, the world bronze medalist, had won her last five consecutive Grand Prix series events. Asada, the reigning world champion, won the NHK Trophy but the finals title had eluded her.
Kim admitted to nerves Friday but pulled off a narrow, half-point lead over Asada in the short program. Fans showed their love for “Queen Yu-na” by throwing more than 550 stuffed animals and 500 flowers onto the rink, organizers said.
GOYANG, South Korea : South Korean starlet Kim Yu-Na took first place in the ladies short programme at the ISU Grand Prix Friday, held in Goyang on the outskirts of Seoul.
In front of a huge home crowd, Kim scored 65.94 points to take top ranking despite making one mistake in her routine.
After nailing her opening jump combination of triple flip and triple toeloop, she botched the takeoff on her triple lutz, managing only a single rotation in the air.
A solid skate in the remainder of her routine enabled Kim to narrowly edge her Japanese rival Mao Asada, who is second at 65.38 points.
Olympic champion Christine Ohuruogu was named athlete of the year by the British Olympic Association on Saturday, a year after she overturned the organization’s ban for a doping violation.
The 24-year-old Londoner beat favourite Sanya Richards at August’s Beijing Games to become Britain’s first ever female Olympic gold medallist over 400 metres.
Ohuruogu was banned for 12 months after missing three out-of-competition doping tests from October 2005 to July 2006, and had to win a court battle to overturn her lifetime BOA ban.
UK Athletics had said she was guilty of a technical offence and welcomed her onto the Beijing team, but Ohuruogu’s achievements have consistently been overshadowed.
She won the world championship in Osaka, Japan, in August 2007 barely weeks after returning to competition.
source: google.com
Carolina Kostner earned the Cup of Russia gold on Saturday, topping error-strewn overnight leader Fumie Suguri with an elegant free skate.
Suguri’s mistakes allowed American Rachael Flatt to take the silver medal after posting the session’s top technical score at the Megasport arena. Suguri of Japan finished third.
“I was quite nervous going into my program,” said Kostner, who landed a triple-triple that she missed in her short program. “I got my confidence and then enjoyed my skating.”
She fell on a triple toeloop later in the free skate, but that wasn’t enough to deny her victory.
Suguri, meanwhile, skipped an early double loop, two-footed a triple salchow, and didn’t attempt some other elements.
“I did a lot of mistakes on my jump,” she said. “I was in very good condition over the last two weeks, so I’m very disappointed with how I did.”
Flatt managed to come away with second place.
“I thought I skated very well but it wasn’t my best program. … But I had a lot of fun and it was very exciting,” said Flatt, who adjusted her program after a wobbly landing on an early triple loop.
Kostner and Suguri remain in contention for a Grand Prix Final berth heading into the sixth and final preliminary competition, the NHK Trophy, in Japan next week.
Kim Yu-na and Joannie Rochette have already qualified for the Grand Prix final with two golds apiece. The other four final places remain open.
source: iht.com
Japan’s Fumie Suguri took the women’s lead Friday at the Cup of Russia with a short program that was confident and precise, if short on adventure.
Suguri, who took silver at Skate Canada, is in line for a slot in the Grand Prix final if she gains a gold or silver in Moscow, the fifth of six Grand Prix series competitions. With a score of 58.30 points, she edged Carolina Kostner of Italy, the world silver medalist, and American Rachael Flatt at Moscow’s Megasport Arena.
In a disappointing performance, 2006 world champion Kimmie Meissner was eighth.
Suguri nailed all her jumps, with the only flaw a bit of apparent hesitation before her triple flip. She took fewer risks than Kostner or Flatt, essaying only a triple-double combination and front-loading all her jumps into the start of her program to “Fanfan” by Nicolas Jorelle.
Kostner tried a triple-triple, but put a hand down on the second jump, then fell on a triple lutz. But her drama and elegance won her the highest artistic marks of all the women.
Flatt stepped out of the first part of her triple-triple and only doubled the toe loop jump when she tried to add it on to her ensuing triple lutz.
But she held back a double axel until more than two minutes into the program, and got the second-highest technical marks.
Eri Yoshida to Become the First Female Pro Baseball Player in Japan
news, other sports No Comments »A Japanese schoolgirl is making headlines across the world today as the first woman to play pro baseball in Japan.
A 16-year-old schoolgirl with a mean knuckleball has been selected as the first woman ever to play alongside the men in Japanese professional baseball.
Eri Yoshida was drafted for a new independent league that will launch in April, drawing attention for a side-armed knuckler that her future manager Yoshihiro Nakata said was a marvel.
“I never dreamed of getting drafted,” Yoshida told reporters Monday, a day after she was selected to play for the Kobe 9 Cruise.
“I have only just been picked by the team and have not achieved anything,” she said. “I want to play as a pro eventually in a higher league.“
Yoshida, 155 centimetres (five feet) tall and weighing 52 kilograms (114 pounds), says she wants to follow in the footsteps of the great Boston Red Sox knuckleballer Tim Wakefield.
A female professional baseball federation existed for a few years in the 1950s, but Yoshida will become Japan’s first-ever woman to play alongside professional male players.
(c) AFP
International Golf Federation launches bid for inclusion in 2016 Olympic Games
information, olympics No Comments »The two, who were speaking on behalf of the International Golf Federation, were embarking on what will be a year-long process in which golf will vie with six other sports – rugby 7s, squash, karate, roller sports, softball and baseball – for inclusion in the 2016 Games.
Dawson and Votaw came away from their presentation feeling upbeat. The Commission appeared impressed that golf’s amateur and professional bodies were speaking with one voice – and they seemed similarly taken with the news that the game boasts 60 million participants worldwide.
Again, a bit of name-dropping on Dawson’s and Votaw’s part did not go amiss. The Commission liked the sound of golf’s Olympic drive having the full support of such as Tiger Woods and Lorena Ochoa.
Golf’s charitable input would have been viewed as another plus. The R&A, for instance, dig deeply into their Open championship profits to send balls, clubs and other equipment to developing golfing lands. Votaw, on behalf of the PGA Tour, referred this morning to the many millions raised for charities via the American circuit. In 2007 it amounted to 123 million dollars, with that figure upped for ’08.
In answer to whether the members of the IOC Programme Commission as a body had looked as if they leant more towards, say, golf or roller-sports, Dawson said a wry, “Golf, I hope.”
Even with big, mythological adjectives like “titanic”, “gargantuan”, or “colossal” placed in front of it, the phrase “fiscal stimulus package” does not begin to explain what happened in Beijing on Sunday night.
“Olympic” comes closest. This was truly the Beijing Games of fiscal stimulus packages: impressive, suppressive and excessive.
Common-or-garden stimulus packages are what governments in places like Britain, South Korea and Japan do to stimulate their economies. China’s $586 billion splurge is something entirely different. If Washington directed an equivalent percentage of its GDP at a stimulus package, it would be worth more than $2.2 trillion, and would consequently be utterly terrifying.
And, on closer inspection, China’s could indeed be something scarier than just a big stimulus package. Neatly disguised as the Kool-Aid that everyone else is drinking at the moment, Beijing’s offering is actually a knockout cocktail of political manifesto, Great Game diplomacy and domestic Riot Act.
There are three vital questions which that volume of money raises – beyond the technically critical issue of precisely where, and in what order, the money will be spent. The details were tantalisingly vague, and given the suspicion that Beijing may be double-counting investment plans already announced, economists are already at odds over how close the package’s actual financial impact will be, compared with its dramatic face value.
CHICAGO may be riding a wave of Obama-mania, but can the American city receive a “yes you can” from the International Olympic Committee to host the 2016 summer Olympic Games?
Bookmakers certainly believe so.
The lengthy process of awarding hosting rights to the Games is well and truly under way as the competing field has been narrowed to a shortlist of four: Chicago, Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo and Madrid.
A final decision is to be made on October 9 next year.
Japan’s capital has hosted the Games already — in 1964 — while a Chicago Games would take the Olympics back to the US for the first time since Atlanta in 1996. Chicago has previously bid for the Olympics three times (including losing out to Melbourne for the 1956 Games).
Rio, if successful, would be the first South American city to host the Games.
Previous Brazilian bids have failed due to concerns about lack of modern facilities and security fears. But the country will hope to springboard from the legacy left by hosting the soccer World Cup in 2014.
Madrid lost out to London for the 2012 Games but is bidding again, pushing its sporting culture and stadiums, status as one of the few major European capitals to have never hosted the Games and support from former IOC head Juan Antonio Samaranch.
source: theage.com.au
Officials aiming to bring the 2016 Summer Olympics to Tokyo fear that Barack Obama’s victory in the U.S. presidential election will have a positive effect on the bid of his hometown of Chicago, one of the three rival cities competing with Tokyo to host the Games. ‘‘I wonder how IOC members will react when Mr Obama appears in a presentation for Chicago,’’ Japanese Olympic Committee President Tsunekazu Takeda said Wednesday.
Tokyo, Chicago, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro have moved to the final phase of the selection process after their bid plans were given the nod by the International Olympic Committee in June. The IOC will name the host city of the 2016 Olympics at its general assembly meeting in Copenhagen on Oct 2, 2009. ‘‘Mr Obama is popular and good at speeches, so things could get tough for Japan,’’ said Tomiaki Fukuda, a senior JOC executive board member.
But Ichiro Kono, the 2016 Tokyo Olympics campaign chief, showed a subdued reaction to Obama’s victory, saying, ‘‘It was within expectations. We will just do what we have to do no matter who becomes U.S. president.’’
source: japantoday.com
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