Happy New Year!

Cute Japanese rocker kids

Japan sugoi

Akiba Christmas

　Instead Maid cafe, Akiba has created "sister cafe"
Sakei

Machimura' and UFOs

#

A senior Japanese government official has said that he believed in UFOs. “Personally, I absolutely believe they exist,” said Nobutaka Machimura, the chief cabinet secretary.

He added there was no other explanation for how the Nazca Lines were drawn in the Peruvian desert.

Mr Machimura’s comments followed a government rebuttal that it had official knowledge of UFOs.

“The government has not confirmed the existence of ’unidentified flying objects believed to have flown from outside the Earth’,” it said in response to a question from an opposition politician.

Questioned later on the issue, the prime minister, Yasuo Fukuda, stuck to the official line. “I have yet to confirm (that UFOs exist),” he replied. telegrhaph

I like this kind of comment.

2channel kids have won

......We selected 20 of the best submissions and after a week-long online poll the sunglasses-dragon has emerged as the overwhelming favourite, with 55 per cent of the vote......The Norwegian designer, who wishes to remain anonymous, said he intended the flag to represent the union of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland in a modern, cool light.

The dragon itself was inspired by a Japanese anime television series.....Telegraph

天元突破グレンラガン

イギリスの高級紙「Telegraph」(テレグラフ)が新しい英国国旗のデザイン案を募集し、人気投票を行った結果、「2ちゃんねる」発信の作品が2位を獲得した、と同紙の電子版が2007年12月12日付けで報じた。作品は、日本アニメの主人公がドラゴンに乗り、ユニオンジャックを持っている、というもの。ちなみに、1位も日本のアニメーションから影響を受けた作品だった。

■ドラゴンの背にアニメの主人公が乗りユニオンジャックを持っている

　「テレグラフ」が英国国旗のデザイン案を募集した背景は、同国の一部の閣僚や議員から、英国旗ユニオン・ジャックにウェールズ旗の赤いドラゴン「ウェルシュ・ドラゴン」が描かれていないという強い抗議が出たため。それならばどんなデザインがいいのか、として一般公募した。

　日本では「2 ちゃん」にスレが立って、思い思いのデザインをアップ。「テレグラフ」は「日本が『英国国旗問題』を解決する、と動いている」と「2ちゃん」にアップされた新英国国旗デザインやカキコミを紹介。そんなこんなで「2ちゃん」から多くの作品が応募されてきたそうなのだ。

　新国旗デザインの選考で、最終20作品が残り、07年12月5日からネットに公開。1週間にわたって人気投票が行われた。20作品の中には、明らかに日本のアニメ、キャラクターを使ったものが数点含まれていて、例えば、アニメ「苺ましまろ」の英国人キャラクター「アナ・コッポラ」が描かれていたり、歌うバーチャルアイドル「初音ミク」が持っているネギ、のようなものがあった。そして投票結果では、「2ちゃん」から応募された作品が2位になった。

　この作品は、ドラゴンの背にアニメ「ゼロの使い魔」の主人公「ルイズ」が乗りユニオンジャックを持っている、というものだった。他国の国旗デザインの2位に選ばれたのはある意味、名誉なことだが、「2ちゃん」の反応は異なっていた。「1位も日本のアニメ」、というのだ。ちなみに1位のデザインは、ユニオンジャックの中央に、サングラスをかけたドラゴンの顔が描かれている。

　「2ちゃん」ではこんなカキコミが出ている。

　　「外人は一位の元ネタが分かってないのか」
　　「この(1位を取ったデザイナー)ノルウェー人は日本アニメオタなのかよ」

■1位も2位も日本のアニメじゃないか

　何かというと、サングラスをかけたようなドラゴンの顔が、日本のアニメ「天元突破グレンラガン」の「グレン団旗」のデザインとそっくりだというのだ。J-CASTニュースが「グレン団旗」と1位の作品を比べてみると、本当に似ていることが分った。
yahooheadline魚拓

A radish that looks abashed

　A radish that looks like a man and a woman.
A radish that looks like a man is not uncommon, said the farmer, but it is the first
time to see a radish that look like a woman. The farmer especially likes the way the female radish's legs look---it express the shyness, she said.

「曲線に恥じらい」　男女の形した大根評判に　秋田

2007年12月12日03時17分

　秋田県北秋田市の会社員佐藤梅子さん（５３）が、人間の男女のような形の大根２本を自宅そばの畑から収穫した。２本はすぐ近くで見つかった。「夫婦大根がある」と近所で評判になり、地域のお祭りにも展示された。「縁起がいい」などと人々が手を触れて帰ったという。

　７０年以上農業をする義母のヨシヱさん（８２）も、男性の形の大根はよく見かけるが、女性の形は初めてという。「脚の曲線に恥じらいがあっていい」とお気に入りの様子だった。

Asahi

Another aspect of Japan's invasion to Manshuria

Manchuria

apan’s security policy until recently has been similar to that she followed after the grand bargains struck at the Washington Conference of 1921-22, in which China came to the international table for the first time as a full equal and saw her territorial grievances, notably in Shandong, remedied, the presumption being that she had now become a fully-fledged and responsible international player, while at the same time Japan was forced to abandon her bilateral alliance with Britain, in return for promises of consultation among the Powers should conflict emerge, and multilateral security (i.e. everyone agrees to protect everyone else) in place of the tangible tie to London. Japan then planned for peace guaranteed by a concert of Asia.

Of course things did not work out as planned: within ten years of the end of the Conference (to this date still the most comprehensive and thorough attempt to deal with Asian issues) Japanese troops had occupied Manchuria and were menacing China. The outbreak of the full Pacific War, ended only with nuclear weapons, was only five years away.

Something had gone terribly wrong; something that should be noted very well today. Some historians have argued that blame for Japan’s new aggressive policies was to be found in internal developments: hunger, economic down turn, autocracy, eventually the Japanese version of fascism—an argument that, whatever its merits for explaining the 1920s and 1930s is clearly irrelevant to the solidly constitutional Japan of today. So perhaps we should listen to other historians, less well known than those who concentrate on Japanese domestic history, stressing instead a series of completely unexpected developments in the region that even the most liberal Japanese leaders saw as threatening to their country’s security.

Most important of these was a strong but erratically guided rise of Chinese power that saw that country’s government, goading and reacting to the resentments of her people, flout many of the undertakings she had made at Washington. Almost simultaneously came political splits and then civil wars in a China that at the time of the Conference had seemed politically stable and set on a course of peaceful economic development. These wars threatened continental interests that Tokyo considered vital, and when the allies who had promised at Washington to consult on such threats and act to protect legitimate interests failed to do so, Japan attempted to do so herself—in a catastrophic way that saw both democracy and millions of Japanese people perish.Japan Emerges


by Arthur Waldron, Ph.D
Published on March 31st, 2005
LOOKING FORWARD

一般的に、満州事変は関東軍（特に石原莞爾）にその責任が求められるが、本書に収録されているメモランダムの著者マクマリーは「日本をそのような行動に駆り立てた動機をよく理解するならば、その大部分は、中国の国民党政府が仕掛けた結果であり、事実上中国が＜自ら求めた＞災いだと、我々は解釈しなければならない」（180頁）としている。すなわち、「列強諸国の文字通り真摯で誠実な努力―各国が中国と協力して不平等条約の状態を解消させ、ワシントン会議の精神に具体的な成果を与えようとする努力―を挫折させてしまったのは、ほかならぬ中国自身であった」（112頁）とし、ワシントン体制の崩壊の原因を中国の姿勢―国際法を全く遵守しようとしない姿勢―に求めている平和はいかに失われたか―大戦前の米中日関係もう一つの選択肢 (単行本)
ジョン・ヴァン・アントワープ マクマリー (著), アーサー ウォルドロン (著), John Van Antwerp MacMurray (原著),

Japan to take steps to regulate the Internet

The government is set to regulate the Internet by integrating current laws concerning information, telecommunications and broadcasting, it was announced on Thursday.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications unveiled its plan to submit a bill to the regular Diet session in 2010 aimed at unifying the Telecommunications Business Law, the Broadcast Law and other relevant laws.

The move is aimed at paving the way for the government to regulate the contents on the Net, which has enormous influence on society.

The new legal measures could also affect the distribution of newspaper articles on the Internet.

Cut it out. JG has no power to regulate the content on the Net. It is against the Constitution.

Korea: war time Propaganda movie

Gusts Of Popular Feeling
It was an interesting post. You might want to take a look at it.
And also interesing was the comments.

n the final shot of the film, Bun-ok’s face is just as mysterious. Again, she’s neither happy nor sad, though perhaps the beginning of a smile can be discerned. Is this failure to cheer of bemoan his departure an example of sullen resistance to the Japanese propaganda effort (and censorship)? Or does it reflect a time when people were less likely to show emotion in public?

Iguess the blogger is young. Or may he is projecting his hope that Koreans did resist into the woman's face. My reading is that the woman had a mixed feelings: she'll miss the man, but she cannot express it at the time. That all happened to Japanese women at the time.

Whatever might explain the above shot, this shot is worth looking at:
The Japanese character (the one who told Choon-ho about the opening of the military to Korean volunteers) would likely be termed a caricature of a Japanese person today, except that this film was made at the height of the Japanese military control over every aspect of society in the Japanese empire. What the censors missed was this: in the final shot showing the Japanese character, he’s standing next to the crafty Kim Deok-sam and his sons, who were so clearly identified as the ‘bad guys’. Perhaps, in 1941, that was as much resistance as anyone could hope for.

Here again probably the blogger is reading too much.

The films are all so full of aspects and nuances that are fascinating from a historical perspecitve. For instance, did you notice that all the characters have Korean names. Except for a few in HOMELESS ANGELS who have Western names (Baptized names, I guess). Whatever happened to the Japanese forcing Koreans to change their names?

Right . What happened to the Japanese forcing Koreans to change their names?

Protest with hatredーーーDebito san's tactics revealed ---Japan ura file

Let me make myself clear on this issue. I think that the inconvenience should be cleared for the finger printing system. I don't want to wait for hours to enter Japan, or the U.S. In particular, I don't think there is a need to fingerprint every time people enter the country:if you record once, that'll be sufficient. I reserve the judgment whether the system per se is justified or not:I want to examine pros and cons more carefully.
And I think Gaijin has every right to protest against this system:it helps Japanese to understand the issue, and it helps JG to improve the system.
Now here is Mr.Arudou Debito's way to protest against the finger printing system.
Debito.orgcashe

I am receiving links to angry diatribes on the Fingerprint policy in the Blogosphere. Two that leave a lasting impression:

And here is the one that is problematic.

Oppose Japan’s bid for The Olympics
http://nofj16.googlepages.com/home

cashe
Now I happen to be opposed to Japan's bid for The Olympics.
But just look at the site.
To me it is just a site filled with hatred, lies, half-truth.

"DON'T!"

Don't visit Japan.

Don't do business in Japan.

Japan is a fascist police state, intent on ethnic cleansing & racial purity.

Your crime is being a foreigner!

Welcome to the land of Government sponsored xenophobia!

Meet Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara......Let's meet his personal friends!

These are his extreme right wing neo-nazi supporters longing for a return to the glorious days of the Japanese Imperial Army.

I don't approve ishihara's remarks on Gijin, but the statement above will constitute the crime of libel.

Japan is the sick man of Asia now

Any favour you want, from having a railway stop put in near your house, to having laws passed in the Diet, to having your political opponent eliminated, is available for a price.

D: Dango (Public Works Bid-Rigging) Corrupt politicians get 3% of the bid price as a favour for rigging the bid. Dirty business indeed!

E: Education (Failed System) The Ministry of Institutionalized Incompetence. Students learn "how to be Japanese" at school. That's all! Obedience, marching and conformity!

F: Fuji-san (The World's Biggest Toilet) 900,000 People a day climb Mt. Fuji in July and August. There are no chemical toilets, so all the effluent stays on the mountain surface. Someone who fell last year got tetanus from a scrape on the ice.

G: Gaijin (Foreigners: NOT Japan's Main Problem) Whenever there has been a crime committed the racists shout "foreigners!" The jails are 99% full of Japanese, many on death row for mass-murder. Foreigners are NOT the problem!

H: Health Care (System In Trouble) 55% of the population is over 65 years of age. Hospitals are closing down daily. Doctors move overseas for better working conditions. Drug companies push snake oil medicines. Government is "studying the problem!"

I: Ijime (Bullying At All Levels Of Society) Overseas bullies are punished. Here the bullied are the bad guys. many children commit suicide because of being bullied. Company workers are also bullied by their superiors

M: Money Politics (Government-Wide Corruption) Cash is preferred, as it can't be traced. At least in China they get a bullet behind the ear. In Japan they get promoted.

P: Pornography (All Day Every Day Everywhere) Modesty is given lip-service here by little fuzzied out parts on porn pictures. But magazines depicting violent, S & M acts, shown done to children are sold everywhere, and are read on the trains and buses by salary-men and school children. And we wonder why we have horrible copy-cat crimes against children!

And Debito san was impressed.

You can read on and judge on yourself. But I'll tell you, as far as I know, they are half-truth and mostly lies and filled with hatred. Notice that Debito san knows it.

Asked if these are true statements, Debito san's answer is

NOW TRY TO EMPATHIZE WITH THE NJ FOR A CHANGE–DON’T FALL INTO THE VICTIM COMPLEX ALL OVER AGAIN.

Asked if this is justified,

SOMETIMES I REALLY MISS THE FACT THAT THERE IS A DEARTH OF IRONY IN THIS SOCIETY.

What do you think?

To me, it is just as bad as gaijin Ura　file. Debito san used to accuse.
Why the hell he picked up this site which protests against the bid for The Olympics
with lies and half truth and hatred in order to protest against the fingerprinting system is a mystery.
Anyway, gaijin-san, sorry, next time you hear unfounded accusations about gaijin, complain it to Debito-san and he'll tell you----if he is logical, that is,--- " NOW TRY TO EMPATHIZE WITH THE Japanaese FOR A CHANGE–DON’T FALL INTO THE VICTIM COMPLEX ALL OVER AGAIN, DON'T YOU MISS THE FACT THAT THERE IS A DEARTH OF IRONY IN THIS WORLD？."

If he indirectly approves the fabrications to counter unfounded accusation, who will believe his posts?
If he indirectly approves hate-speech to let people empathize with the vicitms, how can he blame somebody who uses hate-speech to gaijin and Debito-san himself.

It is really regrettable, because his basic message was right, and it will make people sad that it seems, ,he is being possessed by the dark force.





...............................................................................
この件に関して有用な情報がございましたらメールでも結構ですのでお知らせください。

Comfort women; Still another evidences to show Japanese police regulated illgal agent for the comfort women

The followings are the newspaper articles at the time that says the local agents abducted Korean women to sell them to the private brothels and the comfort stations for the military men and Japanese police regulated the illegal agents.
via 杉野洋明極東亜細亜研究所　



（1939,3.9「東亜日報」

most Americans do not understand how sensitive the abduction issue is in Japan

Jeff Kingston, director of Asian Studies at Temple University in Tokyo, says most Americans do not understand how sensitive the abduction issue is in Japan.

Washington's decision not to sell the advanced F-22 aircraft to Japan is highlighted by some as evidence that the US does not "trust" Tokyo.

Others suggest that US efforts to enlist China to "co-manage" Asia with the Japanese has upset those in Tokyo who fear that they are being taken for granted.

"We have politicians who cannot resist grovelling when they meet up with their American partners and I think Japanese people are starting to be irritated," she says.


"It is not that they have anything against the Americans as such," she says. "I think what the Japanese want to see is a more intelligent set of people willing to speak their minds towards their best friends in the world." BBC

BBC has a good point , which it seldom does.

China's ambition

Chinese sub pops up in middle of U.S. Navy exercise, leaving military chiefs red-faced
By MATTHEW HICKLEY - More by this author » Last updated at 00:13am on 10th November 2007

He said: "It was certainly a wake-up call for the Americans.

Mr. Jenkin sells Sado rice.

U.S. Army deserter Charles Jenkins, right, shakes hands with a girl as he joined a sales event in Tokyo on Friday for rice from his Japanese wife Hitomi Soga's hometown Sado island, Friday, Nov. 9, 2007. Jenkins, who spent nearly 40 years in the North after fleeing his Army unit in 1965, served a month in jail after arriving in Japan from North Korea in 2004. (AP Photo/Kyodo News)

Keep　itup, Mr.Jenkin.I'll support you!!

The biggest fan of Japanese perverted culture.

We will welcome the fan of Japanese culture.
Marmot hole
This Korean American gentleman seems to be an expert on Japanese pervert culture.
I would like him to tell us what Japanese equivalent of the full salon is.

Update;This blog is honored to be mentioned in The Marmot's hall.

Room Salon, Sexy Bar, Racing Girls, AV Girl, Dae Dal Bang, Yu Ri Bang, I these English words that don’t exist in the English world, but exist in Japan and Korea only…connect the dots

This Korean American expert on Japanese pervert culture says he knows the Japanese equivalents of those term mentioned above .
Now I would like to ask Japanese people if you know them.
Room Salon?　ルームサロン????
ソウルでルームサロンといえば、韓国人も時々行きますが
　　　値段が高くて一般の方はほとんど行けません。

　　　　カラオケのルーム（個室カラオケ）とあまり変化はありませんが
　　　もっと広くてきれいな造りでゴージャスな雰囲気を持っていて
　　　韓国女性が侍っているところです

Room Salon is where Korean people visit, but average people cannot go because it is too expensive. It is similar to Karaoke room but it is bigger and beautiful and the atmosphere is gorgeous;Korea women are waiting for you.

Sexy bar セクシーバー?
「セクシーバー」とは、 アメリカのストリッパーなんかが、 つかまったり脚を絡めたりしてるあのポールだ。
Sex bar is a poll that a stripper wind her legs in American movies.

Racing Girls .....レースクイーン（race queen)?

AV Girl.....AV女優（AV　actress)?

Anyway I am sure he must be an expert on the subject in Korea and American culture, and I am also sure, judging from his earnestness on the subject, he will get more accurate knowledge of Japanese pervert culture. Welcome to Japan!

Teachers of NOVA needs help

The union said in Tokyo that it has also started accepting donations to help Nova teachers who find themselves destitute and face being evicted from their homes, said Bob Tench, president of the Nova branch of the National Union of General Workers Tokyo Nambu.

"Why are we doing this? People have no money . . . they have no food," Tench told reporters at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan. "This is a crisis that is rapidly turning into a tragedy."
JT

Let's do what we can do and pay attention to the next notice they'll make.

The decline of American Empire

The embassy had paid the Japanese government an annual 2.5 million yen ($21,897) for the 13,000-square-meter plot in the Akasaka district of Minato Ward in the central part of the capital.

But in 1998, the Japanese government proposed to gradually raise the rent to around 10 times that level.

Washington strongly objected, and has since refused to pay anything. Asahicashe

Sir, I know a friend who has a cheaper building for rent. Are you interested in that?

Don't worry JSDF has Gundam.

Toward the realizaion of Gundam (研究発表会プログラム(PDF)】)









Not only that, Japan hast kinetic missile
system.

via
JGNN
面白きこともなき政治を面白く

S. Korea to apologize to Japan for Kim Dae Jung abduction

(Kyodo)

A team play with the U.S.

As for Mr. Ozawa, if Americans would listen carefully to his arguments, they would find that he seeks to expand, not contract, Japan's global security role.

csmonitor com
I think he is quite right about Ozawa

Nationalism is China's new ideology

On the practical level, western countries have to decide how hard a line to take when China threatens Taiwan, or Russia squeezes Georgia. How much of a fuss should we make about human rights?

It is too soon to answer these questions definitively. China and Russia once again pose an ideological challenge to the west. But authoritarian nationalism, backed by massive foreign reserves, may turn out to be simply a phase on the long march to liberal democracy. Or it may turn out to be something more durable – and Orwellian.FT

今日の覚え書き、集めてみました。

Looks happy.

Lingerie maker Triumph International Japan's new promotional girl Yuko Ishida enters a news conference as reporters look on in Tokyo October 25, 2007. Ishida will take part in various events to promote the lingerie maker until October 2008. REUTERS

Japanese comfort women

Fucked Gaijin

"Do you need a moose?" A moose* was a kept girl. Not a street whore, but one who was maintained by a soldier and (supposedly) slept with only him. There were advantages to such a set up. I said, having been several months without female companionship, "Yes, I do." He said that his moose had a girlfriend who needed a Sergeant, and would I like to go meet her that night. I told him that I didn't have a uniform, that what I was wearing was all I had to the world, and he said he would get me a uniform. So less than 24 hours out of Korea, I was in the arms of a pretty Japanese girl, and sipping on Asahi beer. I thought, life ain't all bad. I didn't stay with her long, though, because I was more of a rogue than I was a steady man...
link

Do you say that is different from comfort women?

Do you remember the former Korean comfort women who fell in love with Kamikaze pilot?
Hey, what is the difference?

Japan used the local agents to recruit the women. In Korea most of the agents were Koreans.
The U.S used the local agents to recruit the women. In Japan the agents were Japanese .
Did the US order Japan to recruit the women. Hell, no. She blackmailed Japan to do so.

Japanese festival in Korea

Speaking of a example that a cooporation between Japan and Korea is greater than it appears, here is a new
article that introduce the Japanese and Korean festival in Souel, Korea.

A Filipino comfort woman's lonely protest

.

When she got to the club, she learned that it was a place of prostitution for GIs. She would even have to service Koreans looking for “2-cha” (i.e., sex). After about a month, she left the club, and drifted from job to job, including a stint at a food product factory, before meeting the GI. The two would live together, and she would have his son.

The soldier would get a US passport for his son, but in the meantime, he left the mother for another Filipina.Hankyore

via Marmot

Explaining her case, she said she wants to make US soldiers realize that they mustn’t have sex with women and leave them without fulfilling their duties. She wants to do this, she said, because many US soldiers are doing just that.

So far, no human right activists who worked for the Korean comfort women under Japanese rule demand apology from the U.S. and Korean governments.

Mr. Robert Koehler, the writer/translater of this article , who vehemently criticised Japan for the similar case during WWⅡ, has made no comment on it so far.
This is a story from Korea.

Impressive video on Chinese people in Japan

Oniazuma

Comfort women for UN soldiers.

The UN army registered Korean comfort women.


The UN army had 800 Korean comfort women take a lecture on "culture" and VD.


via 杉野洋明 【 極東亜細亜研究所　　　　　　　　～韓国企業での勤務経験を持つ著者の呟き～

Korea blocked a Korean Japanese from entering Korea

O Seonhwa, a Korean Japanese, was temporarily blocked from entering Korea at the airport. She was rejected because she was pro-Japanese. She was visiting the funeral for her mother.


cashe

China banned sexually provocative sounds or tantalizing language

BEIJING (Reuters) - China has banned "sexually provocative sounds" on television and pulled the plug on a show reconstructing infamous crimes by women ahead of a major Communist Party meeting next month.

"Commercials containing sexually provocative sounds or tantalizing language as well as vulgar advertisements for breast enhancement and female underwear are banned, effective immediately," said the SARFT notice.
The watchdog also ordered an end to programs with titles including the names of "sex-related drugs, products or medical institutions."Reutercash

What is the tantalizing language in Chinese letter? 欲欲？

［北京　２６日　ロイター］　中国の国家ラジオ・映画・テレビ総局（ＳＡＲＦＴ）は２６日、５年に１度の共産党党大会の開催を来月に控え、「性的に挑発的な音」のテレビ放送を禁止した。また女性が犯人の破廉恥な犯罪についての再現番組を打ち切った。　　

　ＳＡＲＦＴはウェブサイトで「性的なものを連想させる広告やシーン、女性がいかに犯罪に手を染めるかを見せることは、社会にとって有害である」と指摘。犯罪ドキュメンタリー番組「Red Question Mark」の打ち切りに言及した。

　また、性的に挑発的な音や、欲求をかき立てるような言葉を含むコマーシャル、豊胸治療や女性の下着などについての低俗な広告も即時禁止すると発表した。link

Korean ultar-nationalist organization VANK is pissed off by kimchi insulting youtube

Naver(Korean)

If you want to look at the videos in question, here they are.

Of Kimchi and Tapestries (English)


South Korean food culture.(Japanase)

UPDATE

Marmot and Foreign dispatches picked up the vide. Look at the commment section of Maromot.See how exciting to live in Korea?

(ソウル=聨合ニュース)世界最大動画シェアリングサイトであるYoutube(www.youtube.com)
にキムチを侮辱する内容の映像が広がって問題になっている。

26日サイバー外交使節団バンクによればYoutubeで検索語「キムチ(kimchi)」を入力した後、
一番多く見られた動画のヒット数(再生回数・ViewCount)をクリックすれば「Of Kimchi
and Tapestries)」というタイトルの動画が出る。

この動画は日本に住んでいるアメリカ女性が、日本を説明しながらキムチに対して否定的
に世界の人たちに紹介する内容だ。動画では「日本に住む韓国人たちは、キムチを食べる
けど、私はキムチが嫌い。臭いがひどくて気分が悪くなる、臭いを嗅いだら拷問を受けて
るようだ」(01:24-01:40分)という侮辱発言がつながる。

この映像は2007年8月21日登録され、一月後の現在、ヒット数が13万6千351件に達して'キ
ムチ'関連ヒット数1位に登録されている。またYoutubeに上げられている動画の中で、「韓
国、腐った材料で食べ物を製造」も韓国の食品文化を侮辱している。

この映像は2004年、韓国のごみ餃子騒動を報道した日本の放送ニュースを編集したものだ。
この動画はYoutubeで'Korean food'で検索する場合、もっぱら下の方に載っており、ヒッ
ト数も2007年8月14日の登録後、2千90件を超えた。

検索エンジン会社であるGoogleの運営するYoutubeは利用者が作るコンテンツという意味の
新造語'UCC'を作り上げたほど、Web2.0時代の先頭走者に数えられている。朴起台（パク・
キテ）バンク団長は「全世界の人の生活に莫大な影響力を及ぼす代表的なUCCに、韓国の食
べ物文化が奇形的に広報されている。拒否感を与える映像より親しくて好感のある映像を
製作して積極的に広報する必要がある。」と述べた

Fukuda has something to learn from Merkel

herald tribune
Cashe Tribune via 今日の覚え書き集めてみました

Spiegel Online [September 18, 2007]
by Andreas Lorenz in Beijing

His Holiness the Dalai LamaAngela Merkel has invited the Dalai Lama to engage in a “private exchange of thoughts” at the Chancellery. The Chinese authorities are not pleased and German businessmen are worried too.
Tibetblog

The situation is the same here in Japan. Japanese businessmen are worried not tojeopardizes Japan business interests but not worried about human rights.

Xenophobia? Foreigners 'commit fifth of crime.......in London, reports Telegraph

More than one crime in five in London is now committed by a foreign national, raising fresh fears over the impact of immigration.
Telegraph：23/09/2007
cashe

I guess Debito has something to say about it.


via 今日の覚書、集めてみました。

U.S. embassy instigates hate-Korea wave among Japanese?

Update
A commenter kindly told me that she was not a fervernt supporter of DPJ. She was just thought by many to be a supporter of DPJ. She herself thinks she supports social democratic party.

そんなワケで、未だに、あたしのことを「民主党の関係者」だとか言ってる大バカもいるみたいだけど、これほど何度も何度も何度も何度も「あたしはオムライス党を支持してる」って書き続けて来て、みずほたんとのメールの内容まで公開してるってのに、どこをどうしたら、あたしが「民主党の関係者」ってことになるんだろう？link

And the comment reads,

She supports Socialist Party.
This makes you look like a real fool.

Thank you (^_-) I have corrected it. How do I look now? (^_-)

[The original post]

The one of the most popular Japanese blogger,Kikko's blog reports that U.S. embassy instigates the hate-Korea wave among Japanese by rewriting the article about Korean history;IP identified as U.S. embassy deleted the title "Korean history" and wrote that Korea has no history it has been a client state of China or Japan or barbarian states.

Supposing that U.S embassy wrote that, I don't understand the logic why it means U.S. embassy is instigating the hate-Korea consciousness among Japanese.
BTW. Kikko is a fervent supporter of DPJ.

Aceface' insigt on foreign journalists

If I had to do a report on defense policy of the U.S,I probably would not to go to Noam Chomsky or Michigan Militias to ask them what they think threatens America’Microsoft,Black choppers from UN).But when it comes to Japan,foreign people do just that,and they call themselves serious journalists,and mouthfed public would accept that.Aceface/Ampontan

Well said.

Comfort women; How was it Korean parents sold their daughter

　July 16 1934 Donga Daily
Korean girl of 11 years old asked for help, crying. She claimed that she was sold by
her adoptive father.
2 May 25 1939 Donga Dailly
The governenment prohibits adoption by Chinese in Korea to prevent human traficking.
3 March 23 1932 Donga Dailly
Korean former police man was arrested for kidnapping, working with the agent.


via 杉野洋明 極東亜細亜研究所
杉野洋明 極東亜細亜研究所

see also how a Korean woman became a comfort woman

why can't the U.S. say no to China?

"As a leader in the community of democracies, why can't the U.S. say no to China?" he asked. "Why can't the U.S. openly say that you can't hold a gun pointing at the head of the 23 million people of Taiwan and use the other hand to choke Taiwan?"

It is simple. The U.S. has been playing the power game .

"For past decades, the U.S. has supported the people of Taiwan, but now our democracy is being locked in a birdcage,"

"I'm convinced that the United States would rather improve relations with North Korea than Taiwan," Chen said. "The U.S. also believes Kosovo will be independent eventually. If you support Kosovo, why can't you support or at least care about Taiwan? Are we that unworthy?"CNNcashe

Yes, people are watching how the U.S. acts toward the voice of deomocray and liberty from the world.
Keep it up, Taiwan!!

update

Speaking via video to an audience in New York, Chen Shui-bian said he believes the U.S. opposes the referendum because of China's opposition, intimidation and threat of military action.

Chen said the referendum is the best way to show the world that the majority of Taiwanese favor the island gaining a U.N. seat. While polls show three-quarters of people support U.N. membership, he said, opinion surveys cannot substitute "a formal democratic procedure."

(Xinhua

Korean soul seraching on education

chosun.com(Korean)/cashereports that the rate of rape in Korea is twice as that in the U.S. and ten times as that in Japan. The report attributes the cause to the inappropriate education in Korea.

米FBIと日本の国立警察学校、我が国の最高検察庁が2000年から2005年まで5年間の10代青
少年強姦の発生推移を調査した資料によると、2000年には日本が人口10万人当たり2.1人、
アメリカが6.4人、韓国が7.3人の発生頻度を見せた。2002年には日本が1.7人、アメリカが
6.7人で似た水準だったが、韓国は14.5人に急増した。2005年には韓・米・日共に減少した
が、日本が1.1人、アメリカが6.0人の一方、韓国は11.5人で日本の10倍、アメリカの2倍を
越えることが明らかになった。

どうして我が国でばかり、強姦事件がたくさん発生するのだろう？これは、何より公開的
で持続的な教育の不足が原因である。まだ我々の社会は性の問題を歳月が経てば自然に分
かるようになる事で、公開的に討論するには不便な主題だと思っている。我が家庭と学校
では、学生の学業成績だけ最優先して単に‘気を付けなさい’と被害者の立場でばかり教
育が行われている。

同時に被害にあった人を被害者と見るのではなく、身体の障害を負ったかのように見る社
会の雰囲気のせいでもある。未熟な人間関係で、相手の心を正しく読めずに発生するセク
ハラと、個人はもちろん家庭や社会を病ませる性暴行の予防のためには、学校や職場で使
い捨ての特講を脱して、持続的な教育が行われなければならない。

少なくとも無知の招いた結果から、セクハラと性暴行を行う場合は、消えなければならな
い。そうするためには、人間尊重、人格尊重の文化、他人に迷惑をかけない礼節教育とと
もにセクハラ・性暴行に対する教育が家庭で、学校で、そして職場で討論され、教育され
なければならない

The next PM =Fukuda

Fukuda is getting the largest support among LDP factions, and reading the following blogs, I have a strong feeling that he will win.
Okuma
Ban
Abiru

But he is extremely boring and the way he deal with politics is the old LDP way, and that will not get support from Japanese citizens. I don't think the next election will work in favor of LDP.

How the U.S. see Japan's role as an ally

"Japans reliability as an ally" would also be questioned if the anti-terror law was not renewed, warned Michael Green and Kurt Campbell, Asian experts who had served in the Republican and Democratic administrations respectively.

The point is what will happen if it is not renewed.

But some experts believe the US-Japan alliance is rock solid and cannot be shaken by a single issue.

"Japan's retreating from a mission like that will be very unfortunate, sends a bad signal and certainly be a disappointment to the US but with continued engagement between the close allies, I think they will find a way to move ahead," said Nicholas Szechenyi of the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"My sense is that Japan in the long run will continue to maintain its leadership role," he said.

Bruce Klingner, a Northeast Asian expert at the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington, cautioned against using Japan's military mission in Afghanistan as the sole benchmark to gauge bilateral ties.

"Although it certainly is an important test, I think if the US places too great an emphasis on it, given the DPJ's opposition, that overemphasis may hurt the relationship more than the legislation itself," he said.

"Washington needs to be cognizant of the new political paradigm in Japan and realize that securing a victory in renewing the legislation may come at a cost of straining relations with Japan," Klingner warned.

P. Parameswaran Thu Sep 13,

I am inclined to think that the U.S. consider Japan an essential ally in the East Asia.

South Korean strong candidate for the next President

Lee Myung-bak　one of presidential candidate in South Korea says,

Japan hasn't done to amend the past as the economic giants should do.

Compared with German, I think Japan is　tight-fisted

I think South Korea can build an new relation with Japan if Japan shows the sincere attitude toward amending the past.nocutnews/Koreancashe

In a nutshell, for Japan, the next South Korean Presindent is as wonderful as the present President Roh.

viaThe truth of Asiaアジアの真実

李明博「日本、経済大国らしい歴史清算すべき」ノーカットニュース（韓国語）　

　李明博(イ・ミョンバク)ハンナラ党大統領候補は韓日過去清算問題と関わって「これまで韓国と日本の歴史清算において、経済大国らしい措置をしていないと思う。」と述べた。

　李明博候補は10日、ソウル新羅ホテルで開かれたJ-フォーラム基調演説に続いた日本側記者の質問に対して「日本は世界第二の経済大国で、そんな日本が極東アジアにあるという点は誇らしく思う」とこのように言った。

李候補は特に「ドイツが被害国家にしたことを見れば、日本は歴史清算問題においてちょっとけち臭くないか思う」「日本が過去の歴史を清算する真摯な姿勢を見せれば、次期政権は日本との新しい関係を開いて行くことができる」と強調した。

Hatoyama on foreing nationals

“Cutting the number of illegal immigrants in half is also a goal for this administration. We must tighten up immigration management to achieve that,” he said, referring to the growing perception that more crimes are being committed by foreign nationals.

But he disagreed with some of Nagase’s proposals to open the market and accept manual laborers and unskilled workers.

“Considering Japan’s culture, I must question whether that is a good idea,” Hatoyama said. “This may not be the right thing to say, but that could provoke an increase in crimes by foreign nationals.”

via Debito
I have expressed an disagreement with Debito several times, but this time I agree.

I agree with Hatoyama that we need to create a brain drain into Japan with encouragement of skilled labor. But he’s barking up the wrong tree (as is the JT article’s claim of a “growing perception” of rising foreign crime, which is unsubstantiated and debatable given last season’s quietly-announced drop in NJ crime) when it comes to claiming that bringing in foreigners will result in more illegals and proportionally more crime. The historical record suggests the opposite.

I thought Hatoyama of LDP looked stupid compared with his elder brother of DPJ---his elder brother looks intelligent like E.T. I was right Hatoyama was stupid.

BTW Debito's newest post, to be exact, the comment to it, is interesting.

feitclub Says:
I have an opposite problem regarding my identity. I did go to Hebrew school and I had a Bar Mitzvah, but since I no longer practice I don’t identify myself as Jewish, much to the confusion of other people who insist I’m a Jew. I suppose I might be “culturally Jewish” if I had some idea of what that meant. Does that make my friends who grew up celebrating Christmas but not going to church “culturally Christian?” How does one separate the culture from the practice of a religion?

That’s one of things I love about Japan. No one seems to care about any religion one way or the other. Sometimes people ask me about how I celebrated Christmas in America and I explain that I didn’t, and the biggest reaction I might get is naruhodo. Meanwhile, I’ve had Americans look at me like I’m a monster when I tell them I don’t celebrate Christmas.

The three traits of Asahi

I am not necessarily against Asahi shimbun, but I've found this author's perspective on Asahi's article intereting. He says there are three fundamental principles on which Asahi's articles are written.
They are, roughly,

The socially week is always right. Defend them no matter what.
Don't offend other countries (probably except for the U.S.) no matter how their claim is wrong.
Blame Japan every time you have a chance.

It is not exactly true, but can't say it is totally wrong.

Princess Masako

It seems a controversial book,Princess Masako was translated into Japanese and published finally.
According to Ikeda, reading the book, there is nothing new, nothing controversial, nothing scandalous.
If you have to pick up somehow scandalous,

Masako's family was not happy with the marriage.
She is depressed disorder.
There is an alternative that she might leave the royal family.
Akishinomiya, the brother of the prince, had an affair with two women, and one woman pressed him to take the responsibility. That is his present wife.

But these are, as it were, an open secret.

Though Imperial Household Agency blames the book, saying there are mistakes in every page, in fact there was only one substantial mistake, the author claim the royal family are not concerned with a controversial event such as seeing the patient of Hansen's disease, which is false.

Ikeda attacks the Imperial Household Agency for the violation of Masako's human right; she is depressed because she has been "imprisoned" by the Imperial Agency, and still the people concerned are only worried about not losing face and an inheritor.

Asian excutives will be increasing in Japan

Koube shiunbun/ 2007/09/09
The article says the reason is the population of Japanese are decreasing and that they are essential in the trade strategy abroad.

The necessary and important condition for them to be the would-be executive, of course, is that they can speak Japanese fluently.
It is great that Japanese companies begin to employ Asian people as a executive. I hope they will also bridge the cultural differences.

...............................................................................

　日本経済と密接な関連を保つアジアからの留学生を将来の幹部候補生として採用する企業が目立ち始めた。人口減の日本で確保しづらくなった技術者や、海外戦略に不可欠の人材を確保する狙いで、各国の“頭脳”を集め国際競争力を高める狙い。政府も留学生の採用増を国家戦略に位置づけており、兵庫県内の企業でも同僚や上司が外国人という職場が増えそうだ。（西井由比子）

　神戸大学（神戸市灘区）は二十九日、外国人留学生向けの就職説明会を初めて開く。「優秀な外国人を求める企業が増えている」と担当者。当日は情報技術（ＩＴ）、化学系企業など十社が集まる予定だ。

　神戸製鋼所系のシステム開発会社・コベルコシステム（神戸市中央区）もその一社。成長事業のＩＴだが、国内では開発技術者が不足気味。人件費が安い点も考慮して、同社は将来的にはアジア各国での開発も検討している。その際、本社との橋渡し役になる人材を確保する狙いだ。

　現在、中国や台湾から日本に来た社員が七人おり、最高位はプロジェクト支援部長を務める趙永健さん（４８）。「日本人と違い、問題点をはっきり指摘する。発想もちょっと違うし、いい刺激を受ける」と周囲の評価も高い。酒井哲夫社長は「世界レベルで競争するには、人材も世界レベルで確保する必要がある」と話す。

　二月に中国に進出した化粧品メーカー、ノエビア（神戸市中央区）も、神大の説明会に参加する。「今のうちに留学生に会社の概要を知ってもらい、将来の採用につなげたい」（国際管理部）という。

　採用の数値目標を掲げたのは家電首位の松下電器産業。二〇〇八年度から三年間で、計百人の外国人を幹部候補として採用する。三年間で海外売上高を１０％以上伸ばす計画で、「国籍に関係なく活躍できる組織風土であることを明確にするため」と同社広報グループ。

　　　　◇

　経済産業省と文部科学省は今年秋、国内企業にアジア留学生の採用を促す「アジア人財資金構想」を始める。

　全国で千人程度の留学生を対象に、各地の大学が企業と合同で日本語会話や日本の商習慣などを二年間教える。インターンシップも実施し、参加企業が採用の受け皿となる。近畿では京都大と立命館大が核となり、各十社・団体、七社・団体が参画する。

　さらに十月には、「初めて外国人の就業促進を明文化した」（厚生労働省）改正雇用対策法が施行される。

　日本で就職する留学生は増え続けている。法務省の調べでは、二〇〇六年に就職目的で在留資格を変更した留学生は八千二百七十二人と、前年比４０・７％の増加。十年前の三倍に増えている。

　経済産業省の「アジア人財資金構想」担当者は、「日本の人口が減れば国内需要が落ち込み、企業の海外進出は不可欠。加えて、優秀な人材は地球規模で移動する時代だけに、もっと留学生を採用しないと世界競争から取り残される」と力説する。

　　　　◇

　コベルコシステムは近く中国人留学生三人、韓国人留学生一人に内定を出す。外国人採用は今後も拡大する方針だが、重要な条件は「日本語ができる」ことだ。

　英語を操れる社員が豊富な企業は一握りだけ。国際化を急ぐ企業にアジア留学生が人気なのは、日本企業の海外現地法人がアジアに多いのに加え、日本語を使える人の比率が高い点も要因と言えそうだ。

Multipolarization

People often talk about multipolarization and endorce the similar concept.
What is the multipolarization? Googling it, we find

multipolarization is the contemporary phenomenon that various regional arrangements take shape and interact with one another. The days are gone when a couple f mighty powers decided the destiny of the rest of the world. link

The analyst Tanaka claims,

The United States' power is declining militarily, diplomatically, and economically. It is predicted that the international system will be established in which the countries such as China, Russia, and India will be key players, resulting in multipolarization. .....The multipolarization is necessary for the world to keep
developing:It is necessary to replace the existing system in which the United States subordinate Europe and Japan.

アメリカは軍事的、外交的、経済的に衰退する傾向にあり、アメリカに代わって中国、ロシア、インドなどが台頭する国際体制の「多極化」が進むと予測される。....先進国以外の国々の経済成長を誘発するには、アメリカが欧日を従えて形成している従来のアメリカ中心の体制を壊し、世界を多極化する必要があるlink

masa_the_man agrees that the multipolarization will take place in the domain of economic and politics, For instance 6-way talks with North Korea is the case in point.But he argues that the multipolarization is buck passing in disguise and in view of military, the US dominance will continue.
I find Masa's argument more convincing:The US needs to back up economic stability (the free market and the stability of dollar as a key currency etc.) with its strong military and she will not allow the regional hegemony.

The multipolarization is all right:for instance, Japan should welcome China's economic rise. But the we should not disregard the fact Masa pointed out; The US primacy in military will continue. Besides, Japan needs to keep saying to China that Japan upholds the liberal democracy in which an individual right has priority and that we can not support the policy of whatever country that will violate the individual rights.How and how much we use the political power to influence China's oppressing policy is another story, though.

..................................................................................
references
Back to the Future/Mearshimer
バックパッシングの応用Masathe man
米軍撤退論Masatheman
多極世界と門戸開放
Asia's future seen in Sydney/observing Japan

Finally---the end of Korean war?

the two leaders agreed that depending on the progress made in North Koreas nuclear disablement, the idea of signing a peace treaty between the two Koreas could be considered.

Chosun Ilbo
Actually some analysists have predicted it.
Tanaka
Edajima
Edajima

I am not convinced of Tanaka's argument, but North Korea as a pivotal point in relation to China and Iran in the U.S. strategy is an interesting and persuasive perspective.

Sato

update

Bush's talks with Roh focused on the six-nation negotiations to get North Korea to give up its nuclear ambitions. Soon after the mini diplomatic incident, Christopher Hill, the U.S. envoy handling the talks with Pyongyang, announced that nuclear experts from the U.S., China and Russia will travel to North Korea next week to survey nuclear facilities due to be shut down.

Bush said that during his talks with Roh, he reaffirmed the U.S. position that Washington will consider the war formally over only when North Korean leader Kim Jong Il actually dismantles his nuclear program.

Whatever Roh heard Bush say through his translator, it wasn't good enough.

``I think I did not hear President Bush mention the - a declaration to end the Korean War just now,'' Roh said as cameras clicked and television cameras rolled.

Bush said he thought he was being clear, but obliged Roh and restated the U.S. position.

That wasn't good enough either. ``If you could be a little bit clearer in your message,'' Roh said.

Bush, now looking irritated, replied: ``I can't make it any more clear, Mr. President. We look forward to the day when we can end the Korean War. That will end - will happen when Kim verifiably gets rid of his weapons programs and his weapons.''

The White House immediately downplayed the testy exchange and said the meeting went smoothly.

``There was clearly something lost in translation,'' National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said in a rushed e-mail to reporters.

``I really think the interpreter must not have conveyed the president's comments entirely clearly,'' Johndroe said. ``The president made clear in his opening remarks that he told Roh that the U.S. is committed to a peace agreement once North Korea complies.''

The photo-op began with the usual diplomatic pleasantries.

Bush said he and Roh had a ``friendly and frank'' discussion. He thanked South Korea for providing support for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and spoke optimistically about negotiations that the United States, South Korea, Russia, China and Japan are having to pressure the communist regime in Pyongyang to end its nuclear programs.

The president noted Roh's upcoming meeting with the communist leader and urged him to tell Kim that he needs to honor his agreements. link

Probably I was wrong. It was Roh who was willing to make the US to cut the deal and it seems Bush is ambvalent on this issue. It seems Korean media like even Chosun Ilbo welcomed it. Does that mean it was Roh's political show for domestic viewers?

Thougts on Mr.Idubor' case.

I blogged on the criminal procedures and trial in Japan, but I didn't examined the case in detail. I googled Indubor but there is none in Japanese.
So I have to rely on Debito's description of the case.
What is said is the defendant's account of the case, but what is lacking is the account of the case given by the victim and prosecutor.
According to his wife, he is denied the media cal treatment, but there is no report on it by his lawyer despite its serious violation of human right.
According to his lawyer, the testimonies are inconsistent, but the victim was not given a chance to account for the inconsistency.
As it is, all we can say so far is that he deserves the speedy trial, in addition to the fact that Debit account is one-sided, unfair.

If the case is just the rape without involvement of the minority, their account might have been even labeled as a chauvinistic account defending the rapist filled with the bias.
I am not saying that their account is not true , but I am saying that you can not judge the case based on the story told by one party.Since the defendant's claim and the victim's claim are at odds, one of them must be false. But if that is the case, it is only fair that they present both sides of the story. Besides, since this is the case of rape, it needs to be dealt with care; it is well known that the victim of the rape receive multiple insults in the process of the investigation and its reports.

What is interesting is that Debito and TPR were for the resolutions for the comfort women despite the facts that the the direct testimonies made more than 50 years later were inconsistent and that there are official Japanese document to show the contrary.
Aren't they biased?


Anyway I approve of their effort to help the defendant, but I don't like the way they argues the case.

Suppose someone is mistakenly wronged because the prosecutor mistaken him for another person; it is the prosecutor's fault.
Suppose further he is a foreigner.
That itself does not show that he is unfairly discriminated because he is a foreigner:you need another argument to prove it.


In Mr, Indubor's case, he was denied the bail.

Mr. Idubor has been imprisoned since his arrest, the court denying him bail based on his Nigerian citizenship, which, they say, makes him a high flight risk.TPR

If you look at the condition the court can not give him the bail, you will find;

1. 死刑、無期又は短期1年以上の懲役・禁錮に当たる罪を犯した場合（同条1号）　「短期1年以上」とは、「2年以上の懲役に処する」（非現住建造物等放火罪）など、法定刑の刑期の下限が1年以上であることをいう。
2. 過去に、死刑、無期又は長期10年を超える懲役・禁錮に当たる罪について有罪判決を受けたことがある場合（同条2号）　「長期10年を超える」とは、「15年以下の懲役に処する」（傷害罪）のように、法定刑の刑期の上限が10年を超えることをいう。
3. 常習として、長期3年以上の懲役・禁錮に当たる罪を犯した場合（同条3号）
4. 罪証隠滅のおそれがある場合（同条4号）
5. 被害者や証人に対し、危害を加えるおそれがある場合（同条5号）
6. 氏名又は住所が明らかでない場合（同条6号）

Strange, the high flight risk is not the among the conditions.
Probably someone misinformed the reason.

*1 The short sentence of quasi-rape is 3 years in prison, and if the crime in question is more than 1 years in prison, the bail is denied.
But I am not sure how it is working in practice.
*2It might be somebody is confused with US bail law

Suppose for the sake of the argument that he is denied the bail for the reason TPR says.
The rate of the bail is 13%.
All you can claim is the rate is too low,citing other country's case, but if it is equally unfair even for Japanese, it is not the case of the discrimination;It is just the case of injustice. Their favorite conclusion does not follow.

Sometimes some people want to draw the conclusion they want to draw no matter what, but to draw the conclusion you need a sound argument.

Anyway I hope the justice will prevail over this case.

Pleasure

Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign master, pain and pleasure.

.....
Contemporary utilitarians...talk of the maximizing the extent to which people may achieve what they want;we should seek to satisfy people's preferences, page 62 "philosophy of law" Raymond

The pleasure principle and the reality principle are two psychoanalytical terms coined by Sigmund Freud.

Respectively, the desire for immediate gratification versus the deferral of that gratification. Quite simply, the pleasure principle drives one to seek pleasure and to avoid painwiki

Nothing is wrong with seeking pleasure, but something is lost when their concepts of pleasure and preference govern our life.

An older understanding that goes back to Aristotle holds that pleasure is not itself an experience, but something that supervenes upon experience. What this means is that the pleurae we derive from an activity is not an after-effect of the activity in the way that being slightly drunk is the after-effect of a few glasses of wine. Pleasure, rather, is the manner in which we engage in that activity. If I play a game for pleasure, this is to be contrasted with playing for money, or because I am compelled to , or because I can think nothing else to do, and it means I am playing it for the sake of the game itself. page 12 "philosophy of the arts" Gordon Graham

This concept opens up the possibility of our finding the pleasure out of tedious or stressful daily work.

A dangerous game

Korean media reports a dangerous game is spreading across Korea. I've seen the similar photos about China;The difference is that in China, people are tied for punishment, in Korea for fun.
I am relieved that Korean media is critical of this game.







...................................................................................

若者たちの危険な‘誕生日パン（センイルパン）’が論難になっている。誕生日パンと言う
のは‘誕生日を迎えて友達同士ふざけて叩く’と言う意味の俗語だ。

去る2日にインターネットのポータルサイトには衝撃的な写真が一枚上げられて来た。

写真の中では10～20代に見えるある若い女性がテープで全身を縛られたまま電柱に
括り付けられている。顔と頭には卵と小麦粉をたくさん被っていて、周りの人々はこれを
見ながら笑っている。珍しそうに携帯電話を取り出して撮影する人々も捕捉された。

写真をあげたネチズンID‘ガラムアボン’は「先月25日、富川（プチョン）駅近くの路地を
通ったら酷い光景を目撃した」「誕生日パンみたいだったが殺伐で言葉では言い表せ
なかった」と語った。彼は「甚だしくは自分の息子が‘あのおばさんは何か悪いことしたの’
と私に聞いて来た」「本当に不快な気持ちを隠すことができなかった」と語った。

写真を見たネチズンたちも驚愕を禁じえない。

当時現場を目撃したというID‘ブルーナイン’は「人々が群がって写真を撮っていて、最初は
芸能人が来たのかと思っていたが全身を縛られたまま泣いている女性を見てびっくりした」
「（一緒に誕生日パンをしているつもりは無くても）笑って写真を撮る人も悪い」と語った。

一部ではこのような危ない誕生日パンが全国的に広がっているという憂慮の声も出ている。
他の地域でもこれと似たような姿がたびたび目撃されているというのだ。

‘ジヒョン’は「危険な誕生日パンを楽しむのは高等学生だけでなく大学生も同じ」として「春川
（チュンチョン）地域の大学街で二日に一回位似たような現場を目撃している」と伝えた。
彼は「小麦粉に卵、食用油、酢まで動員されたら翌日朝の路頭は完全な乱闘場」として
「ぜひ思慮の足りない行動を慎んで下さい」と語った。

これ以外にも「原州（ウォンジュ）の某大学前でもこのような姿を目撃した」「天安（チョナン）
でも似たような場面を見た」と言う目撃談が続いている。

▲国民日報クッキーニュース（韓国語）2007/09/06 14:52
온몸을 묶어 전봇대에 매달아…젊은이들의‘위험한’생일빵
全身を縛って電柱に吊り下げて…若者たちの危険な’誕生日パン
http://www.kukinews.com/news/article/view.asp?gCode=soc&arcid=0920653771&code=41121111
WEB翻訳後に記者が辞書で修正

Yasukuni and Thanksgiving

'Thanksgiving' did not begin as a great loving relationship between the
pilgrims and the Wampanoag, Pequot and Narragansett people. In fact,
in October of 1621 when the 'pilgrim' survivors of their first winter in
Turtle Island sat down to share the first unofficial 'Thanksgiving' meal,
the Indians who were there were not even invited! There was no turkey,
squash, cranberry sauce or pumpkin pie. A few days before this alleged
feast took place, a company of 'pilgrims' led by Miles Standish actively
sought the head of a local Indian leader, and an 11 foot high wall was
erected around the entire Plymouth settlement for the very purpose of
keeping Indians out! Officially, the holiday we know as 'Thanksgiving'
actually came into existence in the year 1637. Governor Winthrop of the
Massachusetts Bay Colony proclaimed this first official day of Thanksgiving
and feasting to celebrate the return of the colony's men who had arrived
safely from what is now Mystic, Connecticut. They had gone there to
participate in the massacre of over 700 Pequot men, women and children,
and Mr. Winthrop decided to dedicate an official day of thanksgiving
complete with a feast to 'give thanks' for their great 'victory'....
ISSUES MISTAKES LIES & MISCONCEPTIONScashe

On occasion, we pay a more direct cost; censorship. In 1970, for example , the Massachusetts Department of Commerce asked the Wampanoags to select a speaker to mark the 350th anniversary of the Philgrims' landing. Frank James "was selected, but first he had to show a copy of his speech to the white people in charge of the ceremony. When they say what had written, they would not allow him to read it.
James had written:

Today is a time of celebrating for you...but it is not at time of celebration for me . It is with heavy heart that I look back upon what happened to my people.....The Pilgrims had hardly explored the shores of Cape Cod four days before they had robbed the graves of my ancestors, and stolen their corn, what and beans....Massasoit, the great leader of the Wampanoog knew these facts; yet he and his people welcomed and befriended the settlers..., little knowing that ,....before 50 years were to pass, the Wampannoags....and other Indians living near the settlers would be killed by their guns or dead from diseases that we caught from them ...Although our way of life is almost gone and our language is almost extinct, we the Wampanoags still walk the lands of Massachusetts.....What has happened cannot be changed, but today we work toward a better America, a more Indian America where people and nature once again are important.

(page 96 lies teacher told me, James W. Loewen

A horrible history distortion is going on about Thanksgiving.

But let me relate this distortion to the issue of Yasukuni..

Are people cerebrating the massacre?
Does people have no right to cerebrate the Thanksgiving because history has been horribly distorted?
Does President have no right to cerebrate Thanksgiving in private capacity because history has been distorted offensively?

It is one thing to tell the accurate story, it is another to respect the practice people are committed to. In this respect I think this Indian American person shows the mature judegement:

I see nothing wrong with
gathering with family to give thanks to our Creator for our blessings and
sharing a meal. I do, however, hope that Americans as a whole will one
day acknowledge the true origin of this holiday, and remember the pain,
loss, and agony of the Indigenous people who suffered at the hands of
the so-called 'pilgrims'.Mistakes, Lies & Misconceptions
about American Indian people

Criminal procedure and Trial in Japan

Just as civil litigation in Japan is not noticeably slower than its U.S. analogue, so too, with criminal litigation. If anything, Japanese criminal litigation may be a bit quicker than at least federal criminal litigation. In U.S. federal courts in 1995, the median time from prosecution to final disposition for the total 54980 cases was 5.7 months. If a defendant pleaded guilty(as he did in the vast majority of cases), it was 5.4 millions; if he demanded a jury trial , it was 9.6 months. Japan is a bit quicker. ..in 1994 Japanese courts disposed of most of their cases in two to six months, with the median time in the two -to three-month range.
page 172

Japanese court convict defendants. As most reader have heard, they convict with a vengeance. In district court criminal cases (excluding those in summary court), they convict 99.9 percent (in 1994, 49598 out of 4643) of the defendants. In murder cases, they convict 99.7 percent(587 our of 589) In the United States, federal courts convicts only murder cases, only 85.1 percent(for 1995, 46773 out of 549800) of the defendants and in murder cases only 83.3 percent 265 our of 318). page 178"Japanese Law J. Mark Ramseyer & Minoru Nakazato

Prosecutors have broad discretionary powers to decide whether to prosecute or not. ....
In 1997, while 68040 people were indicted for offence provided the Criminal Code, 39072 were eventually not prosecuted. ....Public prosecutors claim that from a criminological point of view, this discretionary power to the prosecutors contributes to the rehabilitation of the offender and facilitates his correction by liberating him fro the procedure at at early stated. ....page 426 Japanese Law second edition Hiroshi Oda.

Conviction rates in Japanese trials have been running at around 99.9% in recent years(Horiuchi 1995), but prosecutors and Ministry of Justice officals are quick to point out that there are sound reasons for this astonishingly high conviction rate and that it does not reflect weak legal defense. Tsuchiya(1980) has claimed that only when the evidence is strong are cases prosecuted. Furthermore he and other Ministry of Justice officials argue that many offenders are diverted from the criminal justice system at various stages.
Another factor influencing both the low crime rate and high conviction rate is that many crimes that are still "on the books" in Western nations, including the United States, are not treated as crimes in Japan. As examples, Tsuchiya offered vagrancy, homosexuality, and public drunkenness, which have never been considered crimes in Japan. Without the worries caused
by these prevalent but victimless offenses, law enforcement authorities have been freer to pursue the solution of what most people would consider more serious crimes. As noted, earlier, Japanese prosecutors actively consider the rehabilitation prospects of offenders in deciding whether to prosecute or not. This factor is also taken into account at the sentencing stage, should the defendant be convicted.（The Japanese Police System Today: A Comparative View L. Craig Parker page 140

Some claims that the high conviction rate is due to the fact that "if the prosecutor is to prosecute he has to be fully convinced that the offender is actually guilty. therefore, once a person is prosecuted, there is a high probability that he will in fact be found guilty."

Others argue

When a judge issues a accquital , the faces of his superiors and the displeased faces of prosecutors with whom he's become friendly will appear in his mind. Those sorts of psychological pressure exist at the subconscious level,, and there is a psychological brake at work that leads judges to issue as few acquittals as possible.

Setsuo Miyazawa is among the more radicals; "forces confessions to false charge are endemic to Japanese police tactics.
page 178

I have no statistics to prove which view is correct. Do you have any?

While I agree that Japanese system of criminal procedures and trials has problems such as 代用監獄 and numerous other things, I would like people to argue based on the facts.

It seems some of the arguments are either radical, or unfamiliar with Japanese laws, and/or hasty generalizations from a paricular case.
It often happens when what you read happen to be a translation of what a Japanese radical says but you don't read Japanese books to see how it is located among Japanese intellectuals. But when there is a controversy in Japan, that means there is a controversy among Japanese , I am sure you can find several pros and cons articles and book on the issue. Let's not be lazy about searching them. Otherwise that will just add up to another stereotype.
( There are tens of books on the issue in Japanese, and the books from which I cited are the most common books on Japanese law in English;It is not even for a specialist. )
UPDATE

Why Is the Japanese Conviction Rate So High?
..................................................................................
BTW
Some have argued that it is offensive that Japanese newspaper list the criminal rate based on race---which I agree to some extent---but FYI, notice the U.S. crimanal
reports also cites the data based on races.
For instance,
Japan......Murder rate 0.49 %
U.S. white Murder rate 1.01 %
U.S. total Murder rate 1.34 %
(the data about Japan is based on Japanese police, of course)
(page 177 Japanese law J.Mark Ramseyer & Minoru Nakazoto)



UPDATE

nigelboy said
Saturday, September 26, 2009 at 3:11 am

“Take Japan’s 99% conviction rate. I think it’s shocking and bad for Japan, but it has been like that for donkeys years, shows little sign of changing soon (despite the jury changes), and most crucially has no impact on the lives of people overseas. Like it or not, it isn’t news. Ergo, it’s little reported.”

If you did a little research on your own, the reason for high % can be attributed to the following:

1) # of prosecutors are very low per capita compared to, let’s say U.S.

http://www8.cao.go.jp/kisei-kaikaku/old/minutes/wg/2005/1109_2/addition051109_2_03.pdf

2) Low % of people/cases actually going through criminal trial versus # of people/cases prosecution receives. According to the MOJ material, roughly 6% of those who are indicted actually go to a trial while a whopping 55% gets dismissed.

http://www.moj.go.jp/HOUSO/2008/hk1_1.pdf

In other words, the prosecution will go to court on slam dunk cases.

But my question to you Tony is why is 99% shocking and bad? Are you implying that the lower the %, it’s “good”? How about 5%? Is that good?

nigelboy said
Tuesday, September 29, 2009 at 12:37 am

Thank you Ampontan for allowing my post to go through even though I failed to address the relevance to your story.

Looking at the statistics from the Ministry of Justice, it seems to be that the high conviction rates is completely justified and that decreasing the % would mean the prosecutors will go ahead with a trial on cases which they would deemed in the past would be “dismissed”. To me, that’s more scary.

And I don’t expect Tony to answer my question because he probably has the fixed mindset that conviction rate should equal to that of his own country and that anything higher or lower to that fixed amount would be construed “shocking and bad”. In other words, anything that deviates from his country’s perspective is in fact deviating from a “global standard” and therefore, should be condemned.

Update

Why Is the Japanese Conviction Rate so High?, by J. Mark Ramseyer and Eric B. Rasmusen © 2001 The University of Chicago.
Abstract
Conviction rates in Japan exceed 99 percent. Because Japanese judges can be penalized by a personnel office if they rule in ways the office dislikes, perhaps they face biased incentives to convict. Using data on the careers and opinions of 321 Japanese judges, we find that judges who acquit do have worse careers following the acquittal. On closer examination, though, we find that the punished judges are not those who acquit on the ground that the prosecutors charged the wrong person. Rather, they acquit for reasons of statutory or constitutional interpretation, often in politically charged cases. Thus, the apparent punishment seems unrelated to any pro-conviction bias at the judicial administrative offices. We suggest an alternative explanation: the high conviction rates reflect case selection and low prosecutorial budgets; understaffed prosecutors present judges with only the most obviously guilty defendants.

Exporting the baby and the myth about blood

According to NPR, the Korean government encourages inter-Korean adoption but now some 19,000 children live in orphanages.
Korea sends the world's fourth largest number of babies abroad. Some 1,376 Korean babies were adopted to the U.S. last year. China took first place with 6,493 babies sent to the U.S., followed by Guatemala with 4,135 and Russia with 3,706.Aug.28,2007

via 木村幽閉記
It is intereting that a Korean person blame the myth about the blood as a factor for this "exporting babies"

Gyarusone got the butt broken

Garu sone got her hip broken. Her office says the she had been feeling the pain since a few week before, and when consulted the doctor, it turned out she had a broken hip. Probably she had the coccyx broken. The office says the cause is unknown.Nikkan sports

The cause is obvious:Either she took a monsteous shit several times, or she had the butt bitten by the bug so badly.

ギャル曽根お尻亀裂骨折していた

　女性ユニット、ギャルルのリーダー、ギャル曽根（２１）が臀部（でんぶ）付近を亀裂骨折していたことが２８日、明らかになった。所属事務所は負傷個所を「右臀部」としており、尾骨の骨折とみられる。ギャル曽根は、東京・多摩市で行われたイベントに出演。ダンスの一部を省略したものの、負傷を押してデビュー曲「Ｂｏｏｍ　Ｂｏｏｍめっちゃマッチョ！」を歌った。所属事務所は「２～３週間前から痛みを覚えており、１週間前に診察して判明した。原因については特定のことは無く、いつの間にか痛んでいたということ」と説明。現在は痛みもなく、予定通り仕事もこなしている。

［2007年8月29日Nikkan sportsDaily sports

Tragedy of Taiwan

The Island of Taiwan has not been an integral part of China for thousands years. The Qing dynasty took control over it---along with Tibet, Xinjiang, Mongolia, and Manchuria---in the seventeenth century and then lost it after its defeat in the Sino-Japanese War two hundred years later. In the 1940's, Mao Zedong actually told Edgar Snow, an American journalist, that after the CCp defeated the Japanese , it would let Taiwan become independent.

page 186

During the 1990's , the Communist Party sought to bolster its support by portraying itself as the defender of China's nationalist honor on the world stage. As China scholar Tom Christensen observed, "the CCP is more beholden to its long-held nationalist mission(i.e., Taiwan reunification] than never before . In fact , other than the raising of living standards, noting is more important to the CCP's claim to rule than its nationalist credentials.

page 186 China

The State Department hinted at possible retaliation if the Taiwan president takes further steps to change the status quo, perhaps by withholding approval for arms sales , denying Taiwan officials visas to visit or transit through the United States, or some other sanction. The Bush administration demonstrated the credibility of this threat by denying President Chen apporval to transit anywhere in the mainland United States on his way to visit Latin America. page 266 "China" Susan L Shirk

If China wants to rise peacefully in a responsible way. I think she has a lot of things to do, and the democratic countries should help the independence of the country with democratic constitution if its people are determined to get the independence.

Ozawa's strategy

Does Mr. Ozawa think the UN is providing security for Japan against the
North Korean missile threat, keeping the Taiwan Strait in order or is
likely to seat Japan as a permanent member soon? Perhaps the pension
fiasco will bring the DPJ closer to taking power in Japan but I doubt
waving the flag of a "can't do organization" will do so.Jim Auer

NBRvia Komori
Interesting.
Aside from Ozawa, as for the Japan's strategy, I think you have to look at how the US look at the rising China (and Russia) because Japan's strategy depends on it.
What is crucial is that the U.S. will never allow the regional hegemon;The U.S. is neither against/for China nor Japan, but she is against the regional hegemon. As far as China keep militarily growing, I think, to put ecumenically, the U.S. wants to play the blancer.

I don't like illegal gaijin smash

you don't have to pay the ticket price. Just Gaijin Smash this dude. ....The girlfriend is amazed. "Wow, you just rode all the way to the airport and back, totally for free! And just because you're a Gaijin?! Man, I wish I was a Gaijin..."
gaijin smashcash

I don't like it. "It is just a cheat on his train fare, some Japanese also do it." you might say. But Japanese or not, it IS illegal, and he used a gaijin smash, and that will work for the negative image of Gaijin. His girlfriend is stupid. Why didn't she warn him? Sure it is wrong to generalize from this case all gaijin , or all the black people cheat on their fare, but that's how stereotype will spread.
Besides, it might be even possible that the police will find the blog and arrest him.
I am a big fan of his blog, but this is wrong.

Rerurn our island Tsushima!!!

The Korean media reports a Korean guy is demonstrating in front of Japanese embassy, demanding Tsushima be returned to Korea.
Well, there are a few stupid Japanese who act like him, But few would pay attention to such stupid guys.
Why does the Korean media keep reporting these Korean nationalists?
Are they ridiculing him?
Are they endorsing it?
Are they proud? ----Maybe?

Naver

【ニューシス】対馬を返せ [07/8/18]

【ソウル=ニューシス】李承晩（イ・スンマン）初代大統領が日本に対馬島（テマド）の返還を要求した1948年8月18日をたたえ18日午後、ソウル在韓日本大使館前でファルビン団（代表ホン・ジョンシク）が我らの領土対馬島を返せと要求しデモをしている。

Chinese product contamination

New Zealand launched an investigation into Chinese garment imports Monday after children's clothes from China were found to contain dangerous levels of formaldehyde, officials said.The China post

「中国製衣類に有害物質」テレビで指摘　ＮＺ政府が調査

2007年08月20日20時55分
Asahi
China needs to take some fundamental measures.

Korean ultra nationalist's disturbing performance

Naver
cash

On Korea's independence day, Korean nationalists act the "performance" in which a Korean person disguised as Japanese emperor in wired , stereotypical Japanese clothes and shoes kneels down in front of the Korean national flag and Koreans are kicking him. And the Korean media just reports it without any criticism.---In Korea, it seems there is no intellectuals who can criticise racism and ultranationalism. Korean ultrannationalism is getting out of hand.

【ソウル=ニューシース】

62周年光復節を迎えた 15日午前ソウル日本大使館の前でデハンミングックトックスイムムスヘングザフェ(HID) 所属会員たちが過去日本の過去蛮行を糾弾するパフォーマンスをして集会をしている./キム・ゾンヒョン記者 kim-jh@newsis.com

What intellectuals in Meiji period saw in the West.

Fukuzawa

Whenever I go abroad and stay in Europe or in the United States, I frequently have unpleasant experiences because the peoples of these nations tend to treat me less than cordially. Recently I took a voyage across the Indian Ocean. During that trip, I saw the English officers land on many places in China and elsewhere that they controlled. They were extremely arrogant and their attitude to the natives was so brazen that it was not possible to believe the English were dealing with the same human beings. In seeing all of this, my reaction was a mixture of pity for the natives and of envy for the English. Even now I cannot forget the promise I made secretly in my heart. We are Japanese and we shall some day raise the national power of Japan so that not only shall we control the natives of China and India as the English do today, but we shall possess the power to rebuke the English and to rule Asia ourselves. page 105 "Japan rising" Kenneth Pyle

Fukuzawa was wrong just as the kind of feminist who think acting, and thinking like a man makes women equal to men.


Konoe

Konoe scorned the gap between U.S. rhetoric and reality. The high minded ideals of democracy, peach, and justice that the victors proclaimed and that were sweeping the world, including Japan, he wrote should be understood not in an abstract but rather as a mask of Anglo-American self interest in preserving the status quo.....Even in the West, as the British historian E.H. Carr tartly observed, the English speaking peoples became known on the European continent as "master in the art of concealing their selfish national interest in the guise of the general good." Carr added that "this kind of hypocrisy is a special and characteristic peculiarity of the Anglo-Saxon mind. page 176 "Japan rising" Kenneth Pyle

...in East Asia [Britain's] primary purpose was not territorial control. ..Instead, the British brought to bear sufficient force to exercise "informal imperialism", imposing treaties that assured "free trade." They could exploit their comparative industrial advantage and technological superiority by insisting on rights of free trade, a unified international monetary system, and a set of international rules protecting private property.........
Free trade was the ideology of the strong , a dogma preached by a nation in the firm confidence that No other country could compete with it. To other nations unable to compete, the British ideology of free trad smacked of hypocrisy, to say the least . The British, after all, decades earlier had protected their own domestic industries from foreign competition until they were strong enough to outperform the competitors. The German Friedrich List ....wrote:

It is a very common clever device that when anyone has attained the summit of greatness, he kicks away the ladder by which he has climbed up, in order to deprive others of the means of climbing up after him.

page 71

Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere might have been his way of emulating western hypocrisy.

New cold war?

. Russian and Chinese forces held major war games exercises/AP/ Aug. 17, 2007 via 米流時評

It will have a profound imapact on the U.S. strategy.
Let's wait and see.

Hey, he knows how Japan's politics works.

Shisaku
UPDATE
Well I should have said they know
GlobalTalk 21

And for an interesting analysis of Ozawa 池田信夫ブログ

China's nationalism : the way to collapse of China or the way to Fascism ?

From "China" Susan L. Shirk. Oxford

History teaches us that rising powers are likely to provoke war page 4

*1

The worst nightmare of China's leaders is a national protest movement of discontented groups....The two previous dynasties fell to nationalist revolutionary movements. Mass movements that accused leaders of failing to defend the nation against foreign aggression brought down the Qing Dynasty in 911 and the Republic of China in 1949
China's leaders became fixated on what they call "social stability." They that euphemism to convince the Chinese public that Communist Party rule is essential for maintaining order and prosperity page 7

Domestic considerations take precedence over foreign relations during international crises page 8

The Communist Party has embraced nationalism as its new ideology in an age when almost nobody believes in communism anymore. page 11

An informal poll of provincial officials enrolled in a shot-term course at the Central Party school in 2001 found that they expressed surprising hard-line views on relations with Japan and the United States.(One possible explanation was offered by a scholar who said that the local officials "free ride on hard-line nationalism" because it helps them get promoted but is "completely disconnected from their local economic interests. page 43

A retired PLA general confided to me that he worries about the lack of a political counterweight to the nationalist public, military, and intelligence agencies that might push China's leader into military action. page 43

ALP general candidly suggested that the students demonstrated against foreign targets to express their domestic discontents. "Demonstrations after the Belgrade embassy or against Japan aren't really about foreign policy . They are result of an accumulation of people's grievances against Chinese government, just the same as in the Qing Dynasty and the Republican government. page 61

The leaders recognize that popular nationalism is intensifying as the country grows stronger. IN fact they have been largely responsible for this trend. In schools and the mass media, they have promoted nationalist themes as a way to bolster the legitimacy of the Communist Party, now that almost no one believes in Communist ideology anymore.
After Tienanmen, the CCP launched a nationwide "patriotic education campaign" in school and the mass media.....
Beginning in 1994, schools added new courses to stimulate patriotic loyalty, and students won awards for reading the one hundred patriotic books and seeing the one hundred patriotic movies chosen by the Party. Patriotic songs, patriotic books, and patriotic version of history became the steady diet of school children School tours crowded historical sites established earlier, now called "patriotic education bases." The Museum of Testimony to the Crimes of Japanese Army Unit 731, the Japanese unit....received more than three million visitors a year.
page 62

Chinese history textbooks teach that dynasties fall when they are overwhelmed by the twin threats of internal unrest and foreign aggression....
The Qing Dynasty , weakened by multiple economic and administrative problems, was unable to prevent the Western powers from encroaching on Chinese sovereignty beginning in the late eighteen century. After the British defeated China in the Opium War, Beijing was forced to surrender a number of its key ports to the British, the French, the Americans, and other foreign governments. ....
China's defeat by Japan in the war of 1894 was the most painful humiliation of all because the Chinese had always considered themselves superior to the Japanese. page 64-65

News media, competing for audiences but "guided by the propaganda authorities, reinforces nationalist myths......Journalist ...have to satisfy two masters; their audiences and the Propaganda Department. A nationalist slant on news events works for both of them. Nationalism has become the politically correct point of view, enforced by the market place as well as the censors page 85

Chinese politicians use Japan-related issues to mobilize support for themselves as strong leaders or to divert attention from difficult domestic problems. The less confident the leaders, the more they fan the fires of anti-Japanese nationalism. Jiang Zemin took a much tougher public stance toward Japan than Mao Zedong or Deng Xiaoping ever did page The propaganda effort to revive popular support for the Communist Party through patriotism----effort that began after Tienanmen---took Japan's aggression against China as its main historical justification. The Party facilitates Internet-based mass petitions against Japan, and even permits small demonstration on a regular basis outside the Japanese Embassy in Beijing. page 144

Until recently stirring up popular hostility toward Japan looked safer than stirring up anger toward the United States or Taiwan, ....."The U.S. is a superpower, so China does not want to offend it. But most Chinese view Japan as a second-rate power whose economy depends on China's growth. ""That's why the leaders take tough public positions against Japan. "page 145

The Chinese government has not publicized the (Japan's development)aid. (page 146) *1

A young netizen I interviewed said that when posting any online opinion regarding Japan, you have to begin by saying how much you hate Japan, otherwise the Web site manager will usher you off. page 152

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A survey of young people conducted in summer 2005 found that more than half said they hated or dislike Japan. Nearly 80 percent said they had never met anyone from Japan. More than 60 percent said they formed their opinions about Japan through the press, TV. and the Internet. page 152

Every perceived slight by Japanese leaders, every revision of Japanese textbook---as well as every misstep by Japanese students studying in China or Japanese visitors to China ---is an opportunity for tabloid newspapers and Internet Website to attract audiences and whip up popular passions.....Advertisements for Japanese products that inadvertently affront Chinese consumers---such as a Toyota and ad that showed a Toyota Prado(unfortunately transliterated as Ba DAo, "the way of of the hegemony") driving in front of bowing Chine stone lions under the line, " You can not but respect the "Ba Dao"---give people a chance to vent their anger. page 156

On the occasion of diplomatic recognition in 1972, Mao and Zhou willingly forswore any Japanese reparations from World War Ⅱ, reaffirming the commitment that Chiang Kai-shek, the leader of the Republican government , had made following the war.
....Mao and Zhou were satisfied with Japan's statement of remorse in the joint communique. "The Japanese side is keenly conscious of the responsibility for the serious damage that Japan caused in the past to the Chinese people through war, and deeply reproaches itself." They believed that it settled permanently the issue of Japan's attitude toward its wartime aggression against China As one Chinese scholar of relations with Japan said, neither Mao nor Zhou "thought it was necessary fro Japan to apologize all the time. "

The Chinese government did react vigorously in 1982 when a Japanese court handed ownership of a student dormitory, purchased in 1950 by the Republic of China , to the government on Taiwan instead of the PRC,. page 160

Under Jian, as China continued to move toward a capitalist-style economy, nationalism replaced communism as the rationale for people to support the Party. Beginning in 1994, the CCP Propaganda Department's "patriotic education campaign", designed to ensure the loyalty of its subjects---young people in particular---by nurturing their nationalist attachment to the state, became the dominant theme in school and media socialization....
The Nanjing Massacre Memorial Museum, built in 1985, was expanded in 1995. (in 2005, the city government announce plans to further expand it---the expansion track perfectly the high points of nationalists mobilization. ) It became a focal point of Chinese popular nationalism and a counterpoint to Japan's Yasukuni Shrine. ...When a local figure proposed turning the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Museum into the Nanjing International peace Center to signify a more forward-looking attitude in 2002, he was viciously attacked in local newspapers and Web sites for being unpatriotic. (page 165)

The PRC Minister of Education began in 2001 to revise senior and junior high school history textbooks for the first time since the early 1980's. ...The treatment of Japan ....was made even more negative and more emotional. page 170

The Communist Party's post-Tienanmen effort to rebuild its legitimacy through the patriotic education campaign is largely responsible for the increase in anti foreign nationalism among today's youth. page 258

Chinese leaders tolerate more citizen activism against Japan than they do in any other foreign policy domain. Anti-Japanese Web sites survive for years while Web sites attacking the United States are shut down. page 171

Anti-Japanese activist like Tong Zeng hold small protests outside the Japanese Embassy in Beijing. Nothing similar is allowed outside the American Embassy. Tong Zeng, who began his activism in 1991 with a letter demanding reparations from Japan, was fired from his job and sent out of Beijing by the authority during the 1990's, but several years ago was allowed back , and now freely organize anti-Japanese activities. page 172

One Chinese student recently told me, "our generation thinks that anything that we're not told not to do it's probably OK to do".page 173

..Civilian control over the military remains incomplete,. Therefore , the leadership can 't say no to the PLA's budget requests for fear of alienation the people with the guns, as double-digit annual increase in official military spending make clear. page 259

Even if Prime Minister Abe actually desists from visiting the Yasukuni Shrine, China will not be able to negotiate a comprehensive resolution of history issues and overall improvement in relation with Japan unless it can credibly commit to stop criticizing Japan's wartime history. The South Koreans, who pledged in writing to do so, couldn't keep their promise because of the same sort of domestic political pressures that roil China. (page 179)

Singapore former prime minster Lee Kuan Yew, ....says that although he is confident that the current leaders want to concentrate on economic development and avoid the mistakes made by Germany and Japan when they were rising powers, he worries about "whether the next generation will stay on the course...We know the mind of the leaders but the mood of the people on the ground is another matter. Because there is no more communist ideology to hold the people together, the ground is now galvanized by Chinese patriotism and nationalism. page 257

I share his apprehension.

Given the fact above, and its aggressive policy towards Tibet and other minority, it is laughable to say Chinese nationalism is healthy.Nationalism and Democracy

We should be reminded that

Adolph Hitler used a combination of myth, ethnic nationalism, and national pride in his regime of power, which resulted in the deaths of millions of innocent people. Nevertheless, German people felt pride in their nation and in their leader, who was bringing Germany back as a world power. Adolph Hitler used pre-existing nationalist sentiment, pre-existing views on other nationalities, and sheer force to instigate his regime. His Ethnic Nationalist views led both to the extermination of millions as well as his desire to make gains in Europe.

The extreme negative forces of Ethnic Nationalism were at work in Germany under Adolph Hitler. Hitler believed in a 19th century German belief known as the Volk, in which Germany surpassed other nations in terms of culture and society and had a duty to dominate.

Ethnic Nationalism(cash)

Fascism regarded nations not as equal and interdependent entities, but as natural rivals in struggle for dominance. Fascist nationalism did not preach respect for distinctive cultures or national traditions , but asserted the superiority of one nation over all others. .....
Germany had been both defeated in war and German s believed, humiliated at Versailles by reparations, the loss of territory and the deeply resented "war guilt clause"....Fascism page 226 "political ideologies" Andrew Heywood.

China, for that matter, another rising power, Korea 's ultranationlsim are getting out of control. They cover up their atrocity and the invasion after WWⅡ. Instead, they make up myth for their convenience. They have been using nationalism to cover up the domestic issues.They have made up a collective memory to "build their identities around symbols of collective humiliation. The politicians have been using pre-existing nationalist sentiment to instigate the regime. They tend to look upon Japan as inferior in their value of hierarchy.

People often miss the the point that anti-Japan activity and their nationalism are the two side of the same coin:the Chinese and Korean ultra ethnic nationalism is a blind spot in journalism.


"How about Japanese nationalism?" someone might ask.
Japanese nationalism is practically dead.
In this respect it is important not to be mislead by journalism who often focus on " Japanese nationalism".
The best that Japanese nationalists have done is to write the patriotic history textbook that less than 1 % of school has adopted. China and Korean journalism takes it up like crazy. Journalism domestic and abroad focuses minor statements by politicians to use and abuse it as an opportunity to bash them, saying it is nationalistic.
Paying respect to war dead privately is criticized domestically and internationally by fanatic bashers. The number of cabinet members visiting Yasukuni is shrinking at the cost of freedom to faith, alleged that visiting Yasukuni is "too ultranationalistic. "
Even hoisting a national flag and singing a national anthem are regarded "too patriotic".
In this regard, it is vital to realise that "patriotism" is politically correct in China and Korea, but it is politically wrong in Japan.

That said, I don't think Japanese people should overreact to China and Korea's ultra nationalism----It is devilish idea to provoke their ultra nationalism to destabilize their society (^_-),
.................................................................................
*1

Historically among nation-states, the pursuit of rapid industrialization inevitably leads to the emergence of mass nationalism....
Industrialization undermines domestic political equilibrium, yet it is this very stability that successful industrialization requires. Thus the leaders begin to use nationalism as a tool to maintain social cohesion. A nationalist ideology can legitimate and even exalt the hardships that industrialization inevitably entail, .It can justify the effort and self-sacrifice, the high savings rates, and the deferral of consumption that are required......
Moreover , nationalism inevitably spills over into foreign relations. it can be argued that every case of industrialization has led to expansionism. The political scientist Samuel Huntington wrote that in the past "the external expansion of the U.K. and France, Germany and Japan, the Soviet Union and the United States coincided with phases of intense industrialization and economic development." page 306 "Japan rising" Pyle

*2

During his October 1978 visit to Japan, Deng indicated receptivity to low-interest Japanese government loans in the form of ODA. ....Amid rising tensions between the two countries in June 1987,Deng asserted that Japan had an obligation to assist China's development because as he put it, "it has the biggest debt to China. In 1972 China did not ask for reparation. Frankly speaking, we harbor dissatisfaction over this point.."......
The circumstances under which Japanese ODA began.therefore, signaled a tacit understanding on both sides that it was related to the Chinese expectation that Japan was obliged to provide reparations. page 325-326 "Japan Rising" Kenneth Pyle.