I have downloaded from the Web a few short paragraphs in Japanese that
I need translated to English.  The translation doesn't have to be
high-quality (I just need the gist), therefore machine translation is
OK.  Where can I get free/cheap translation from Japanese to English?

Dear gerbil,

Because of the complex nature of Japanese language and texts, the
number of automatic translation tools online is very, very small. I
decided to recommend you the Babelfish Translation of Altavista, which
I myself use for getting quick, rough translations. I tested it using
texts from the Japanese websites of Fujifilm, Toyota, and Honda and
found the results not perfect, but sufficient for getting the basic
content of a Japanese text. Also, it has the advantage of being free.

Please follow this link to Altavista's Babelfish translation tool,
then simply choose "Japanese to English" in the pulldown-menu right of
the large text box. Copy and paste the Japanese text into the box and
then click the "Translate" button:
http://babelfish.altavista.com/

Hope this helps!
Regards,
Scriptor