When Japan Newsweek editor Keigo Takeda said that it was all over during the live broadcast of Fuji TV's Sunday night newsmagazine "Journal" on the second day of the Vancouver Winter Olympics, he was talking about Japanese news coverage of the games.

Earlier that day, Japan's moguls hope, Aiko Uemura, had failed to win a medal. The media had invested a lot in Uemura, though not necessarily because her face was all over those ubiquitous Asahi beer and TBC commercials. Based on what he had seen so far, Takeda thought there was nothing really left to cover at that point, except maybe the controversy over snowboarder Kazuhiro Kokubo, for which Takeda also had a comment: Who cares?

Well, Mikako Kotani, his cocommentator on "Journal," for one. Kotani, a medal-winning synchronized swimmer, was strong in her denunciation of Kokubo for flouting propriety when he appeared in front of the media with his shirt untucked, his tie askew and his pants riding low in accordance with hip-hop fashion.