By Jer Renn Lam
As we all know, music piracy is now a worldwide problem, but yet is different in various countries and regions. For example, in America peer-to-peer file sharing is tightly controlled and thus, the incidence of music piracy has dramatically decreased.
In Japan, piracy is also becoming a big issue. It is estimated that there were about 400 million illegal music files that were downloaded in 2008, 70 million more than the number of legal downloads, resulting in Japanese telecom and music industry bodies to implement ‘a system to automatically check cell phone Web sites for illegal music files, in order to prevent the files from being uploaded or downloaded in breach of copyright law’.
Why the mobile phone you ask? This is perhaps where Japanese and American consumers differ- most Japanese access the Internet from their mobile phones, and it is where they also obtain the bulk of their illegally downloaded material.
But the problem doesn’t end here. In 2010 a study conducted by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) found that 24% of Japanese have downloaded music illegally from YouTube and Nico Nico Douga, a Japanese video-sharing website. In total, the average number of downloaded music files stand at 32.6 files per person, whereas the average number of purchased songs is only 6.7.
Interestingly enough, this was not a problem until recently; in 2004 music piracy was not rampant in Japan as mobile Internet connections were slow.
While there is the standard argument that illegally downloading music would deprive artistes of their income, at the same time can you really blame the Japanese people, and the rest of the world, when there is a cheaper alternative to obtaining their favourite tunes? It is simple economics- consumers will seek the cheapest method to obtain their goods. This is also why the newspaper industry is facing problems with charging users for online content- there are so many other free news sites. Similarly, consumers will not buy an album if they can download it for free. 
The RIAJ also states in its website that ‘the piracy problem for Japan is really a problem of unlicensed copying in Taiwan of Japanese music. The current problem involves is that these products being imported into and sold in Japan’.
The Japanese have come up with innovative ways to monitor users’ use of technology, which no doubt was boosted by the fact that it is a country of technological superiority and advancement. And it has also perhaps realised that taking legal action against consumers will result in a backlash that might further cripple the industry, something American companies are only starting to understand.
At the end of the day, however, what is important is still the appreciation of music. While fans are finding novel ways to obtain their favourite tunes illegally, musicians and record labels should still be happy that there are people who enjoy their music, and be thankful that there are still fans who are willing to support them by purchasing albums. The Japanese have an idea that might just prevent illegal downloads from happening, and that, of course, is always a bonus.
Japanese Pop Culture 
Piracy not only affects the music industry but just about every entertainment industry. Be it movies or PC games, piracy most likely has its fingers in it. Unfortunately as you said, consumers are always out for the best deals. Why pay a certain price to acquire a product when you can get it elsewhere at a much cheaper price.
Piracy is nothing new. This is just a long war between piracy and copyright. And the last time I checked, piracy’s still winning.
This is a very controversal debate happening whenever and wherever there are inventors and consumers. It’s true that in Japan, with music stars, a bit loss of money from copy right is not gonna damage much of their incomes. However, young artists and music companies are in worse positions. They may not want to release any album anymore cuz sooner or later their works will be rudely robbed by music piracy. I heard one music director said that if everyone buy music legally then the albums will be very cheap cuz they can sell their albums in a large number. guess we, the customers are the one need to change our habit of takeing music for granted.