"CL" <flot...@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:f6ge15$j0s$1@nnrp.gol.com...
> *Nude news: Driving your tax money further*

> Japanese taxpayers' hard-earned money is being used to subsidize a nude
> news program, according to Shukan Shincho (7/5).

> The program being partially funded by public money is "Hadaka no News
> Station (Nude News Station)," a Friday night program on adult-oriented
> satellite channel Paradise TV where the female newscaster removes one item
> of clothing with each news piece presented until she is fully nude.

> It's a five-minute segment of the program that is earning it the
> government money targeting those who want to buff up, literally, their
> signing skills. This segment is called "Hadaka no Shuwa News (Nude Sign
> Language News)" and features Miyabe Fujino, who dexterously sheds her
> clothes while presenting the news in sign language. Text runs along the
> bottom of the screen outlining what Fujino is signing.

> Fujino also presents another segment called "One Point Sign Language
> Lessons," where she teaches viewers the sign language for such terms as
> "kiss me."

> Public funding for the program is being provided by the National Institute
> of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), an independent
> organization funded by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and
> Communications. NICT is committed to subsidizing TV programs that promote
> text messaging for deaf viewers, much to the delight of Paradise TV.

> "We only get about 140,000 to 150,000 yen a month in subsidies," a
> spokesman for Paradise TV tells Shukan Shincho. "But we're absolutely
> thrilled that the national government officially recognizes our programs."

> Paradise TV's website now proudly boasts of how its nude news is sponsored
> by the government.

> NICT, however, wishes the adult channel would get nicked.

> "We are paying directly to the Broadcast Programming Center of Japan, a
> charity corporation. The center has a contract with Paradise TV to make a
> sign language news program," a NICT spokesman tells Shukan Shincho. "We
> really wish Paradise would stop going around telling everybody that it's
> being funded by the government." (By Ryann Connell)

> July 2, 2007

> http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/waiwai/news/20070702p2g00m0dm013000c.html