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

]

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.

Tojo's last will

　　　　　　　　遺　書

開戦当時の責任者として敗戦のあとをみると、実に断腸の思いがする。今回の刑死は個人的には慰（なぐさ）められておるが、国内的の自らの責任は死を以（もっ）て贖（あがな）えるものではない。
しかし国際的の犯罪としては無罪を主張した。今も同感である。ただ力の前に屈服した。自分としては国民に対する責任を負って満足して刑場に行く。ただこれにつき同僚に責任を及ぼしたこと、又下級者にまで刑が及んだことは実に残念である。

天皇陛下に対し、又国民に対しても申し訳ないことで深く謝罪する。

元来日本の軍隊は、陛下の仁慈（じんじ）[*1]の御志（おんこころざし）に依（よ）り行動すべきものであったが、一部過ちを犯し、世界の誤解を受けたのは遺憾であった。此度（このたび）の戦争に従事してたおれた人及び此等（(これら）の人々の遺家族に対しては、実に相済まぬと思って居る。心から陳謝する。
[*1]仁慈（じんじ）：いつくしみ

今回の裁判の是非に関しては、もとより歴史の批判を待つ。もしこれが永久平和のためということであったら、も少し大きな態度で事に臨 (のぞ) まなければならないのではないか。此の裁判は結局は政治的裁判で終わった。勝者の裁判たる性質を脱却せぬ。

天皇陛下の御地位（おんちい）は動かすべからざるものである。天皇存在の形式については敢えて言わぬ。存在そのものが絶対必要なのである。それは私だけではなく多くの者は同感と思う。空気や地面の如（ごと）く大きな恩（めぐみ）は忘れられぬものである。

東亜の諸民族は今回のことを忘れて、将来相（あい）協力すべきものである。東亜民族も亦（また）他の民族と同様に天地に生きる権利を有（も）つべきものであって、その有色たるを寧（むし）ろ神の恵みとして居る。印度（インド）の判事[*2]には尊敬の念を禁じ得ない。これを以（もっ）て東亜諸民族の誇りと感じた。
今回の戦争に因（よ）りて東亜民族の生存の権利が了解せられ始めたのであったら幸いである。列国も排他的の感情を忘れて共栄の心持ちを以て進むべきである。
[*2]パール判事のこと

現在日本の事実上の統治者である米国人に対して一言するが、どうか日本人の米人に対する心持ちを離れしめざるよう願いたい。又日本人が赤化しないように頼む。大東亜民族の誠意を認識して、これと協力して行くようにされねばならぬ。実は東亜の他民族の協力を得ることが出来なかったことが、今回の敗戦の原因であったと考えている。

今後日本は米国の保護の下に生きて行くであろうが、極東の大勢（たいせい）がどうあろうが、終戦後、僅か三年にして、亜細亜大陸赤化の形勢は斯（か）くの如くである。今後の事を考えれば、実に憂慮にたえぬ。もし日本が赤化の温床ともならば、危険この上もないではないか。

今、日本は米国より食料の供給その他の援助につき感謝している。しかし、一般人がもしも自己に直接なる生活の困難やインフレや食料の不足などが、米軍が日本に在るが為 （ため）なりというような感想をもつようになったならば、それは危険である。依（よ）って米軍が日本人の心を失わぬよう希望する。

今次戦争の指導者たる米英側の指導者は大きな失敗を犯した。第一に日本という赤化の防壁を破壊し去ったことである。第二には満州を赤化の根拠地たらしめた。第三は朝鮮を二分して東亜紛争の因（いん）たらしめた。米英の指導者は之（これ）を救済する責任を負うて居る。従ってトルーマン大統領が再選せられたことはこの点に関し有り難いと思う。

日本は米軍の指導に基づき武力を全面的に抛棄（ほうき）した。これは賢明であったと思う。しかし世界国家が全面的に武装を排除するならはよい。然（しか）らざれば、盗人が跋扈（ばっこ）する形となる。（泥棒がまだ居るのに警察をやめるようなものである）

私は戦争を根絶するためには慾心（よくしん）[*3]を人間から取り去らねばと思う。現に世界各国、何れも自国の存在や自衛権の確保を主として居る（これはお互い慾心を抛棄しておらぬ証拠である）。国家から慾心を除くということは不可能のことである。されば世界より今後も戦争を無くするということは不可能である。これでは結局は人類の自滅に陥るのであるかも判らぬが、事実は此（こ）の通りである。それ故（ゆえ）、第三次世界大戦は避けることが出来ない。

第三次世界大戦に於いて主なる立場にたつものは米国およびソ連である。第二次世界大戦に於いて日本と独乙（ドイツ）というものが取り去られてしまった。それが為、米国とソ連というものが、直接に接触することとなった。米ソ二国の思想上の根本的相違は止むを得ぬ。この見地から見ても、第三次世界大戦は避けることは出来ぬ。

第三次世界大戦に於いては極東、即ち日本と支那、朝鮮が戦場となる。此の時に当たって米国は武力なき日本を守る策を立てねばならぬ。これは当然米国の責任である。日本を属領と考えるのであれば、また何をか言わんや。そうでなしとすれば、米国は何等（なんら）かの考えがなければならぬ。米国は日本八千万国民の生きて行ける道を考えてくれなければならない。凡（(およ）そ生物として自ら生きる生命は神の恵である。産児制限の如 （ごと）きは神意に反するもので行うべきでない。
[*3]慾心（よくしん）：欲心

なお言いたき事は、公、教職追放や戦犯容疑者の逮捕の件である。今は既に戦後三年を経過して居るのではないか。従ってこれは速（すみ）やかに止めてほしい。日本国民が正業に安心して就くよう、米国は寛容の気持ちをもってやってもらいたい。

我々の処刑をもって一段落として、戦死傷者、戦災死者の霊は遺族の申し出あらば、これを靖国神社に合祀せられたし。出征地に在る戦死者の墓には保護を与えられたし。戦犯者の家族には保護をあたえられたし。

青少年男女の教育は注意を要する。将来大事な事である。近事（きんじ）[*4]、いかがわしき風潮あるは、占領軍の影響から来ているものが少くない。この点については、我が国の古来の美風を保つことが大切である。

今回の処刑を機として、敵、味方、中立国の国民罹災者（りさいしゃ）[*5]の一大追悼慰霊祭を行われたし。世界平和の精神的礎石としたいのである。勿論、日本軍人の一部に間違いを犯した者はあろう。此等については衷心（ちゅうしん）[*6]謝罪する。
然（しか）しこれと同時に無差別爆撃や原子爆弾の投下による悲惨な結果については、米軍側も大いに同情し憐憫（れんびん）[*7]して悔悟（かいご）あるべきである。
[*4]近事：近頃の出来事、[*5]罹災者 (りさいしゃ)：被災者
[*6]衷心（ちゅうしん）：まごころ、[*7]憐憫（(れんびん）：憐れむこと

最後に、軍事的問題について一言する。我が国従来の統帥権独立の思想は確（たしか）に間違っている。あれでは陸海軍一本の行動は採れない。兵役制については、徴兵制によるか、傭雇（ようこ）兵制によるかは考えなければならない。我が国民性に鑑みて再建軍隊の際に考慮すべし。再建軍隊の教育は精神主義を採らねばならぬ。忠君愛国を基礎としなければならぬが、責任観念のないことは淋しさを感じた。この点については、大いに米軍に学ぶべきである。

学校教育は従前の質実剛健のみでは足らぬ。人として完成を図る教育が大切だ。言いかえれば、宗教教育である。欧米の風俗を知らす事も必要である。俘虜（ふりょ）[*8]のことについては研究して、国際間の俘虜の観念を徹底せしめる必要がある。
[*8]俘虜 （ふりょ）：捕虜

　　　　　　　辞　世

我ゆくもまたこの土地にかへり来ん
国に報ゆることの足らねば

さらばなり苔の下にてわれ待たん
大和島根に花薫るとき


『祖父東條英機「一切語るなかれ」』 東條由布子 著 (文藝春秋) より依存症の独り言

Double standard

observing Japan comments on Sankei's editorial on Aug 15th.
While Yomiuri and Asahi editorials comment on the cruel aspects of the war which inflicted Japanese as well as Asian people, Sankei only mentions the determination of the war-dead to protect Japan's independence and the importance to inherit it by strengthening the U.S.-Japan alliance.
True, Sanke should have given more space to the brutal aspects of the war for which Japan was responsible.
The blogger complains

there is no question that Sankei is far more concerned about North Korea and China when it looks at contemporary Japanese security policy.

But which country is not more concerned about her neighbors whose missiles aimed at her? Is the U.S. equally concerned about the each country of the world?

It is ready for Japan to reenter the East Asian balance of power in a big way.

In a big way or not, Japan IS playing the important role in the East Asian balance of power. How much role she should play is the point of discussions:Some American and Japanese policy makes want her to play more role, and others want her to play less. But nobody including China do not like the idea of power vacuum

Sankei — and, dare I say, at the Kantei — will ride the US train as long as it has locomotive power, but does anyone anticipate that Japan will value the alliance when the US is bruised, battered, and seemingly down for the count? (Such arguments have been cropping up ever more frequently in the pages of Japan's newspapers and journals.) Again, this need not be a problem — no alliance is permanent.

.
The allies are allies; they mutually get benefit from being the allies.

This is, I fear, the face of the men who govern Japan today. Free of humility, free of sorrow, free of regret, they see "uncertainty"

Is he talking about the European countries and the U.S and Japan , free of humility, free of sorrow, free of regret on the past, which see "uncertainty?

.....in Asia and are immediately prepared to send Japan into battle again.

Wow, he is talking about Japan: is Kantei prepared to send Japan into battle again? Wow that sounds like the article by Onishi of New York Times.

the persistence of this manner of thinking will in the long run make it harder for Japan to play a constructive role in upholding the global order, if only because every step taken by these nationalists will prompt a backlash at home and among Japan's neighbors (more specifically, the Korean and Chinese peoples).

Which manner of thinking?
Anyway it is true Yasukuni and other statement by Japanese will prompt a backlash.
And it is true that Japanese politicians should be much more careful about their statements and actions, but we can not miss the fact that a backlash in Korea and in China is also brought about by their irrational ultra nationalism.

The reality is that Japan will not be able to act in the world free of the shadow of the past until the leaders making the strategic decisions are sufficiently apologetic and humbled by their country's past.

Japanese leaders should be sufficiently apologetic, but because he miss the point on
the problem on China and Korea's side, he missed the point that no matter apologetic Japanese politicians are, that does not end the backlash.

Repeating the same apology, word for word, over and over again, does not constitute atonement.

Like European countries and the U.S, should not Japan have apologized?

Japan should sufficiently pay attentions to the sufferings and pains Japan brought about among Asian people and Pows, but I don't understand why some western people can conveniently forget sufferings and pains they brought about in Africa, in Asia, in their nations against non-white people.
Which former colonizers mention the victims of colonized nations on the day of their independence?
Why keep applying the double standard to Japan?

Have they " learned nothing from the war" and the colonization, perhaps except for the lesson that Europe and the U.S. should be more tactful in dominating other nations and other ethnicity?-----well the double standard is a tactful way, but it soulds like the same old prejudice the older generation of Japanese people felt against the West.

Protect the freedom to faith of Christian diet members,

Actually nobody is trying to violate it.

Doi is a Christian and a diet member.
Some of the diet members come together and have the prayer together. I guess they worship God under whose name countless massacres took place. And yet nobody dare to protest against it.

You know what I am trying to say.

Helpless Korean media?

JoongAng Daily(Japanese)(cash)

The announcer who aged suddenly in three months
....Looking at the photos from April to July, we can confirm he aged from a young man to an old guy in just three months.Until April he looked young.
But in July Tosaka's hair greyed and he developed dark under his eyes and got thinner.The (Japanese) viewers are shocked at it and swamped with inquiries as to what happened.

I don't understand how the Korean reporter could take the last photo seriously.

Here is the
latest news show in which Tosaka is reading the news.

Here(Japanese) is an forum in which Japanese kids are enjoying the "collage" and the joke about it.
Or is this article also a joke like Manichi waiwai?

この３カ月間急に老け込んだ登坂アナ



ネットに掲載された画像
日本のインターネット上では登坂淳一アナウンサーが話題になっている。登坂アナは、聞きとりやすい読みと低音の響く美声で大人気を博しているＮＨＫの「看板アナ」。

話題になった理由は、ここ３カ月間で急激に老け込んだ容ぼうのため。ネットに掲載された登坂アナの写真は衝撃そのものだ。今年４月から７月までニュースの司会を務める彼の姿を収めた写真を見てみると、彼は３カ月の間に青年からほぼ老年に変わった感じ。４月までも画面の中の彼は若々しい姿だった。

ところが７月にはクマがあって痩せており、髪の毛全体が白めいてきて、白髪が目立っている。今年で３７歳になった彼の急激な変化に、視聴者らは大きなショックを受けた。７月に登坂アナが新潟県中越沖地震を報じた後、彼の顔を見て驚いた人々から、問い合わせの電話が殺到したりもしたという。

登坂アナは人々の反応を気にしたせいか、最近髪の毛を黒く染めたりもしたが、顔色だけは隠せないもようだ。「元々白髪だったのでは」という推測から「深刻な悩み事があることに違いない」という断定に至るまで、登坂アナの「容ぼう変化」について様々な見方が出ている。

チャン・ジンリＩＳレポーター


2007.08.10 16:08:46

I welcome China's peaceful rise, but....

I don't welcom China's tainted procudcts.
Revisiting the China Modelvia 米流時評

Who did Kim ku kill?

Foreign Professor Calls Kim Gu, ‘Terrorists’
According to wiki

On October 8, 1895, Empress Myeongseong (Queen Min), the wife of Emperor Gwangmu (King Gojong) of Korean Empire was assassinated by a group of Japanese assassins (the Eulmi Incident). In February 1886, Kim assassinated Josuke Tsuchida (土田譲亮) for being involved in the murder of the queen in Chihapo, Hwanghae Province.

Who was Tsuchida?

the resulting "Report from acting administrator Hagihara Moriichi of Incheon Consulate on the current situation of Incheon" (在仁川領事館事務代理萩原守一ヨリ仁川港ノ情況ニ付続報ノ件, April 24, 1896) describes Tsuchida as a "commoner from Nagasaki Prefecture" (p. 6, "長崎縣平民土田譲亮") and an "employee of a Nagasaki trader on a business trip"(p. 7, "貿易商大久保機一の雇人")[1].

金九は誰を殺したか（一）
金九は誰を殺したか（第二回）
But wiki continues

this does not prove that Tsuchida was not involved in the assassination of the Empress Myeongseong, as the assassination was done by not only Japanese soldiers but also many Japanese Ronins as described in the report by Isizuka Ezo (石塚英藏), the Japanese consultant to the Korean Empire at the time, which is recorded in a book published by a Japanese historian Kentaro Yamabe (山邊健太郞). [2] In addition, Kim stated in his biography 'Baekbeom Ilji' (白凡逸志) that Tsuchida was carrying a sword and had identification papers that showed him to be a Japanese army lieutenant[3]

Huhhh?
Okay,
(1)Min was assassinated by several Japanese
(2)Tsuchida was Japanese
(3)Kim thought Tsuchia was a Japanese lieutenant.

It does not follow Tsuchida was a Japanese who was involved in assassination of Min.

After all witout further evidence, it is reasonable to suppose, based on the Japanese report that Kim killed an innocent Japanese who had nothing to do with the assassination of Min.

This illogical writing is the reason why the Korea -related articles of wiki are vandalized by Korean nationalists.

I am not sure whether Kim should be called a terrorist or an assassin.
But he was a murderer who killed an innocent person.
And Korean people worship the murderer　because he killed a Japanese whom he mistakenly considered to be involved in the assassination of Min.

　Moreover Korean media*1 reports that when a Korean blogger writes Kim ku was the terrorist on the blog, the blog had nearly 100,000 access from Korean netizen, mainly complaining that the blogger is sick. The article reports that the provider Naver can not shut up the blog, can not reveal the blogger's real name because of the freedom of the thought----This is the intellectual level of Korea media----they pick up moron's skirmish on the Internet, insinuating that the site should be shut down because it is against Korean nationalism.

Marmot wisely writes

This is evidence of why it may be better to study Korean Studies outside of Korea than within — there’s still quite a few “no-go” areas

*1
Chosun ilbo (1)(japanese)(2)
木村幽閉記

Japan Ministry of Defence developes experimental stealth fighter

中日新聞cash

Since the U.S. rejected selling F22, Japan decided to develop her own stealth fighter. Syouganaine.

Japan's right wing re-emerges----Huhhhhhh?????

Japan's right wing re-emerges・・・・Huhhhh????? What is going on?
There is something seriously wrong with the media, or I can barely resist the temptation to believe conspiracy theory that someone is desperately trying to pain Japan as militaristic

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ultra-right Liberal Democratic Party suffered a devastating loss in the elections to Japan’s House of Councilors July 29, becoming a minority party in the process.

Surely Abe's days are ending, but is Abe ultra-right ?
If that is the case, China and the U.S. are monstrous militaristic right-wingers and .

Look, even China take notice of the fact Japanese minister will not visit Yasukuni.
Abe unlikely to visit Yasukuni on Aug. 15

Japanese Defense Minister Yuriko Koike "will not visit" the Yasukuni Shrine on August 15(China daily

In fact, none of the ministers are visiting Yasukuni.
中日新聞

What people should understand is that basically visiting Yasukuni has nothing to do with militarism, the historical view, but it is a matter of personal freedom to faith and of how people pay respect to the war deads. It is nobody's business whether ministers visit Yasukuni or not.

Either there is a conpiracy or somethinng is seriously wrong with jounralism,or I am crazy.

Assessing Ozawa's refusal to extend the anti-terror special measures law

　Ozawa's claim
The operation is not based on the UN resolution.


Criticisms

The operation is based on the UN resolution (nikkei)
The operation in line with Japan's national interest.(yomiuri)
(1)Japan is also the target of the terrorism(yomiuri)
(2)Japan's role contributes to the world security.(Yomiuri)
(3)The Japan's role is important; it helps Pakistan and by having Pakistan participate in the operation, the operation avoid looking the fight against Islam.
(Nikkei)
(4)It is not just a matter of Japan-U.S. alliance. It is also a part of NATO preject.
(Japan Obsever)
(5)Ozawa needs to separate domestic gain by looking a big shot criticizing the U.S.A. from the diplomacy.
(Asahi)
.................................................................................

海自の活動は、多国籍軍のテロ掃討作戦の一環である。２００１年９月の米同時テロ後に採択された安保理決議１３６８に基づいている。アフガン国内で米英仏加韓など約２０か国が、インド洋では日米英仏独パキスタンなど８か国の１７隻がそれぞれ活動している。

米政府は再三、陸上自衛隊の輸送ヘリコプターのＩＳＡＦ派遣を打診しているが、日本側は「危険だ」と断っている。現在の海自の給油活動は、はるかに危険が小さい。国際的な評価も高く、国益に合致した人的貢献策と言える。

　アフガンでは、旧支配勢力タリバンが勢いを盛り返している。国際社会の対テロ活動は、今が正念場だ。

　シーファー大使は会談で、「日本の貢献は、日本と世界の治安にとって重要だ」とも指摘した。小沢代表は、日本自身が国際テロの標的とされている当事者であることを忘れたのではないか。

yomiuri

「国際連合」が２度も使われている点が極めて珍しい。シーファー大使はことし3月に採択された安保理決議1746にも言及したが、アフガニスタンでのテロとの戦いは安保理決議の明確な裏付けを持っている点がイラク戦争とは違う。それは国際的な常識であり、小沢氏の解釈は国際的には少数派に属する。

　テロ特措法に基づく海上自衛隊のインド洋での給油対象にはパキスタンが含まれる。日本の給油がなければパキスタンはインド洋での警備活動に参加する余裕はないとされる。イスラム国パキスタンの参加によって、この戦いがイスラム対その他の構図になるのを防いでいる点で日本の給油活動は重要とされる

Nikkei

インド洋とイラクでの自衛隊活動の詳細も明らかにしてもらいたい。イラクで活動する航空自衛隊は、何を運んでいるのか、どのくらい危険な業務なのか。文民統制の主体である国会がないがしろにされてきたのを、ただす必要がある。

　そうした検証の上で、日本の行動がテロをなくし犠牲を防ぐことに本当に役立っているのか、日本がやるべきことは何かをしっかり議論すべきだ。

　民主党には、米国にもの申す姿勢を世論に印象づけようとの狙いがあるのは間違いない。特措法をてこに安倍政権を追い詰める思惑もあるだろう。

　そうした要素は政治につきものだが、それだけが外交をかき回すことは好ましくない。民主党は政局の思惑を超えた外交の選択肢を示さねばならない。大きな構えの外交論議をしかけていくべきだ。 Asahi

no matter how inconsequential Japan's material contributions are in the Indian Ocean, it is important that Japan is there, for reasons having nothing to do with Japan's relationship with the US.observing japan

Somehow it seems that the need for Maritime Interdiction Operations in the Indian Ocean as part of Operation Enduring Freedom is as important as ever, given who and what (drugs, nuclear material, etc.) could be flowing out of Pakistan by sea. Japan is refueling the warships of some eleven of the more than twenty countries participating in the coalition, this according to the 2006 Defense white paper. Meanwhile, in the intervening six years the campaign in Afghanistan has been internationalized, becoming as much as NATO project as as US-UK project, in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions 1386, 1383, and 1378.

Observing Japan

Calculating the cost of 9.11

In an effort to bring some perspective to the nuclear debate, Sun Bin takes a look at some numbers in The net effect of Little Boy and Fat Man

the rest of the presentation is a very interesting and seemingly solid attempt try to quantify the possible significance of the events of August 6 and 9, in terms of lives lost.Shisaku

The relevant focus of the debate is whether Atomic bomb ended the war.

The sun in the morning comes after the stars at night, but it does not mean the stars brought about the sun. Likewise the surrender came after the atomic bombs, it does not follow the the atomic bomb brought about the surrender.

Many historians say the Soviet entry rather than Atomic bomb ended the war.
If that is the case, atomic bombing has nothing to do with the lives that could be saved without bomb. The direct cause of the surrender is rather related to the leader's decision.

If the Japanese leaders had ended the war earlier, the more soldiers lives would have been saved for sure. Japanese leaders were to blame for this.
If Japanese leader at Nanjing had paid more attention to make the soldiers abide by the international law, the more POWs would have been saved; the Japanese leaders
were to blame;they were hanged dead for that.
If the U.S. leaders hadn't used indiscriminate bombing, the more innocent lives would
have been saved. They U.S. larders are to blame for this.


If we follow his logic, Chinese people have to remember how many innocent lives were sacrificed in Nanjing because Chinese leader's decision not to surrender, American people have to remember how many innocent lives were sacrificed and will be sacrificed after 9.11 because of American policy on the Middle East.
The people who are sympathetic to this logic would be the so-called Nanjing deniers.


If that is the way they want to remember each incident, so be it.

That said, might it be that they are not used to admit atrocities the military of their background cuntries committed? Is it an indication that people are apt to justify the
killing of civilians if itl saves soldiers, if it does do so in the name of ending the war, if it implies a political advantage?

Debito all too Debito(5)

Debito all too Debito(4)

This time Debito attacks Steven Leeper, the newly-appointed director of the Hiroshima Peace and Culture.

Leeper says:

“I’m afraid I don’t see much of a role for foreigners in the Japanese government. It would never have occurred to me to pursue the position that I am in. I did absolutely nothing to pursue it, and I would not recommend that anyone pursue such a path. From what I have seen and experienced, foreigners who make a commitment to Japan and are willing to give what they can over a very long term get utilized in ways their communities need, and they get rewarded more than fairly for what they give.

In general, though, I see Japan as being a place where Japanese people can go about the business of being Japanese. Those of us who are not Japanese but enjoy living in Japan can learn from them and help them to relate to the outside world. But our influence is and should be rather limited. I personally hope the Japanese will remain quite Japanese. In fact, I wish they would get back to being more Japanese than they are today. For those who like diversity, which I also enjoy, we have the U.S. I truly enjoy both cultures, but I want them to stay different.
===============================

Debito

it’s clear to Leeper that foreigners (and their Japanese children, one assumes) being in our country somehow sully that and should be constrained. cash

Where did Leeper say that?
Debito wrote;

Never mind that some “foreigners” have been here for a “very long term” indeed (generations), and many have not reaped the ultimately forthcoming “fair rewards” he assures us of. And then there’s the hundreds of thousands of others (like guess who) have even naturalized.
But if these intruders aren’t somehow “Japanese enough” to qualify for GOJ jobs (or aren’t fortunate enough to have one fall into their laps through no fault of their own), they should go someplace more diverse, like America? (which will surely grant them all visas)

Again where did he say that?
And it seems he glorifies the U.S.A.
Didn't he learn American history?

Textbooks do tell how women were denied to vote in many states until 1920 and faced other barrier to upward mobility . Textbooks also tell of barriers confronting racial minorities. The final question Land of Promise asks students following its "Social Mobility" section is "What social barriers prevented black, Indianan, and women from competing on an equal basis with white male colonists? ...The Challenge of Freedom notes, "Not all people, however, enjoyed equal rights or an equal chance to improve their way of life." and goes on to address the issues of sexism and racism. But neither here nor anywhere else do Promise or Challenge (or most other textbooks) hints that opportunity might not be equal today for white Americans of the lower and working classes.
page 213

In the United States the richest fifth of the population earns eleven times as much income as the poorest fifth, one of the highest ratios in the industrial world: in Great Britain the ratio is seven to one, in Japan just four to one. In Japan the average chief executive officer in an automobile-manufacturing firm makes 20 times as much as the average worker in an automobile assembly plant, in the United States he (and it is not she) takes 192 times as much.
page 209 "The lies my teacher told me" Japanese W. Loewen.

If he wants to revolutionise society as he wishes, the USA might be the right place too.

I understand why Leeper might take a 100% Pacifist line–for example, that nuclear weapons should never be used, moreover eliminated from the face of the earth given the damage they do.

Right, that is the difference between Leeper and Debito, who implies that atomic bomb
can be used to massacre civilians for political purposes.

But Leeper is clearly out of bounds when he says that NJ should have no role in the decision making processes of Japan.

Again did he say that?
I wonder why the people who hold Green Card have no right to vote in the United States.

I consider Leeper modest, Debit arrogant-----
Leeper: Japan, you don't have to be like America.
Debit; Japan, you've got to emulate a great country like the U.S.A.
Again I am not against Debito's movement against racism in Japan;I believe education
against racism is in desparately in need in Japan but I am against his
cultural and ideological bias.


.......................................................................................
*

■

永住権と市民権はどこが違うの？
市民権には選挙権や被選挙権がありますが、永住権にはありません。米国市民権は米国永住権取得後5年経てば申請することができます。なお、米国市民権を取得することは、日本国籍から正式に米国籍の市民になることを意味します。ＪＴＢ

Does history repeat itself?

Immigration Act of 1924

When the U.S. congress passed the Immigration Act of 1924, which in effect singled out the Japanese for no further immigration to the United States, it was one more reminder that Japan had not yet achieved the status that had been its goal since 1868. Secretary of State Huges correctly warned Congress that if the bill was passed, "the Japanese ...unquestionably would regard [it] as fixing a stigma upon them. " In addition, he said it "would largely undo the work of the Washington Conference."nonetheless, the bill was passed both houses of Congress overwhelmingly It undoubtedly fixed the impression among many Japanese leaders that the international system was not going to realize their interest.
The Japanese were less concerned with the welfare of the migrants than they were with the implications for Japanese status and self-esteem. The Japanese , after all , had themselves never been hospitable to immigrants----and still are not. The point was rather how the Western powers and the Western people regarded japan and the Japanese people .In the United States and elsewhere, this point was often overlooked or dismissed. .....
When Congress singled out the Japanese for exclusion, the infringement of Japanese honor was not only angrily denounced by nationalists, it was also deeply wounding and embittering to Japanese statesmen trying to promote bilateral relations. The Industrialist Shibusawas Eiichi called the Immigration Act of 1924 a "scar on the national honor." kaneko Kentaro, a Harvard graduate and friend of the Roosevelt's, resigned as president of the American-Japanese Society, regarding the act as "a great insult to Japanese national honor.'. Nitobe Inazo, a graduate of Johns Hopkins University, who was married to an American woman and who served as undersecretary-general o f the League of Nations, resolved not to visited the United States unless the act was revised.
Rising states present a special challenge to a system. If they are to be satisfied to remain in the system, it is necessary to accommodate their interests. As one writer observed, "The status quo powers must exhibit empathy, fairness.. and a genuine concern not to offend the prestige and national honor of the rising power. This the Anglos-American powers had not done. They failed to reach out to much less to understand , this proud but highly vulnerable and insecure new power. The psychic wound inflicted at the time Japan entered the modern international system was repeatedly reopened by the experiences it had in the international system.
page 163-164 "Japan rising" Kenneth B. Pyle.

There are a lot of difference between this act and the resolution 121, but I think there are similar effects on Japanese. I must say the people who echoed with the hypocritical resolution 121 are not only hypocritical but also armature on Japanese society. Or it might be that they know what they are doing, and they are pleased with the results. China or Russia, or middle east countries, if they want to weaked the Japan's tie with the U.S. the time is now, just right after the resolution is passed.

Japan's nuclear dilemma?

In Jimmy Carter's words:

The United States is the major culprit in the erosion of the NTP. While claiming to be protecting the world from proliferation threats in Iraq, Libya, Iran and North Korea . . . they also have abandoned past pledges and now threaten first Ause of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states.

Robert McNamara, who used to run the American system, in March 2005 described US nuclear war planning as `illegal and immoral'Japan focus

Surely it is inconsistent to threat other countries to give up nuclear weapon while she has shown no sign of giving it up.

Each of the Parties to the Treaty undertakes to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a Treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control.

It is just that each nuclear-weapon state party has violated this article.

Yomiuri confusedly call Japanese situation as to nuclear weapon "dilemma"

What is Japan's nuclear dilemma？

Japan needs nuclear deterrence.
Japan maintains the abolition of nuclear weapon.

Yomiuri

It is not dilemma really. It is a project that has to be done step by step as NPT has intended.
It was hypocritical of Hiroshima to accuse of only the U.S, but it is not inconsistent to insist that all nuclear weapon state parties should give up the nuclear weapon step by step, mindful of the power balance.


It is far-fetched to accuse Japan in this regard: what should be accused is North Korea's violation of international law,

Theoretically being the victim of the gun does not mean she has no right to hold gun to protect herself. Likewise Japan being a nuclear victim country does not means she has no right to hold nuclear weapon. In fact, Japanese government does not exclude the possibility of holding it as a part of self-defence. I don't think it is a good idea that we should deny an option categorically.

But we should also keep in mind that what was cruel and barbaric of atomic bombing of Hiroshima was it killed innocent civilians unnecesarily and it is highly likely that the future use of nuclear weapon will bring about the serious effect and damages on the innocent civilians.
And the world as it is , I don't think Japan needs nuclear weapon now. (see 核武装関連(Japanese)

Like the US's, Japan's non-proliferation policy is contradictory – it turns a blind eye to US-favoured countries that ignore or break the rules, such as Israel and India, while taking a hard line on countries not favoured by the US, such as Iran and North Korea. It is also passive in the area of disarmament - specifically downplaying the obligations of the US and other superpowers; and because its own defence policy rests on nuclear weapons,(Japan focus

True it was hypocritical of Japan that she didn't point out hypciritical attitude of nuclear state such as China, Russia, the U.S.
But North Korean nuclear threat has created new kind of threat to the East Asia:the power balance was broken. We can not argue the North Korean threat on the same level .

For the related articles, see Shisaku
Japan observer

TheU.S, hegemony v. Europe and Japan

In terms of history, the United States is quite distinct from Europe and Japan from the following points. Since the earliest days of the colonial era, America has been pursuing ever lasting expansion. Its sphere of influence has expanded from the Wild West to Europe and Asia. After the Cold War, American influence spread furthermore to Eastern Europe, and Central Asia. On the other hand, Europeans and Japanese have experienced rapid shrinkage of their spheres after World War Ⅱ. Europeans withdrew from their colonial empires, and Japanese threw away the Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere.

In addition, Americans genuinely believe in universality of their national foundation ideals. Therefore, Americans are confident in their missionary spirit, while Europeans and Japanese are self critical to their behavior in the past. Neither Vietnam nor Iraq can erode this self-confidence.

Global American Discourse
グローバル・アメリカン政論

It is an interesting read.

Hiroshima Mayor's bias

Japanese conservatives are angry at Hiroshima's ideological bias.
Komori/Sankei journalis
依存症の独り言

What are they agnry at?

Not that they are angry at Hirosima's prayer but that they are angry at Hiroshima mayor's statment at the ceremony.

米国の時代遅れで誤った政策にははっきり「ノー」と言うべきです。

We should clearly say "No" to the U.S.'s wrong and outdated policy.

Their arguement is that granted Hiroshima has a right to speak for the abolishment of
nuclear weapon, why not tell it to North Korea and China to do so too.

Very roughly speaking, Akiba, the mayor of Hiroshima is the leftist, and Japanese leftist are tilted against the U.S. and for China and Korea. The conservative are for the U.S. execept for the extreme rightist like Kobayashi.
IMO, Komori is such pro-Amrerican that he wanted to blame China for the resolution 121. (It was ironical that the most angry Japanese who opposed the U.S. representative's resolution 121 were those pro-USA concervatives.)

As for me, not that I am opposed to China and Korea per se but I am sick and tired of "human activists" and the leftists who turn a blind eye on the crimes that have been happening in China and Korea.

Asashsyouryu's phimosis?

Japan Sumo Association Suspends Yokozuna Asashoryu For Playing Soccer

Japan probe

Shrink says suspended sumo champ's condition is borderline depression

mainichi

The shrink" has turned out to be a plastic surgeon, specializing in phimosis operation.

The doctor says

It is the same thing to me in that you need to treat the inferior complex, the cause of the symptom.Anyway I have a license for mental hygiene.

zakzak

Once the doctor peeled away the outer layer, he found the inferior complex in Grandchampion.

「私の中では（包茎治療も精神治療も）一緒。コンプレックスを治療する意味においては、その元を絶たねばならないので、矛盾はしない。精神保健指定医にも認定されている」と話した

現在、東京、沖縄で『本田ヒルズタワークリニック』など３院を経営する包茎界のカリスマ医師だ。

本田医師の診断に疑問を唱えるのは、精神医学の権威、医学博士の小田晋氏（７４）。小田氏はまず、「彼は形成外科が専門であり、今回の診断には疑問が残ります」と指摘する。

The rivival of KKK?

豪兵士が兵舎で白人至上主義団体クー・クラックス・クランの団員に扮装
08月04日 21:34

YouTube shows Aussie Ku Klux Klan 'soldiers'/By David Murray

August 05, 2007

YouTube shows Aussie Ku Klux Klan 'soldiers'

By David Murray

August 05, 2007 12:13am
Article from: The Sunday Mail (Qld)


* Video likely to have been filmed on Defence grounds
* Contains Ku Klux Klan images, binge-drinking
* Resembles Northern Territory's Robertson Barracks

THE army is investigating an online video that shows binge drinking and a person parading in a Ku Klux Klan outfit on what appears to be Australian Defence Force property.

The footage, titled "My experience in the Australian Army", shows young men, some in uniform, in a contest to drink alcohol through a long plastic hose they call the "super tube of death".

Video See the controversial video here

「白人優越の「ＫＫＫ」復活　移民問題背景と米人権団体2007/02/07

Has Japan changed?

Today I bought two books on Second Sino-Japanese War: From
Mukden Incident to the second sino-Japanese war満州事変から日中戦争へSino-Japanese war.日中戦争. I have just finished reading them.The former is an orthodox book on Second sino-Japanese war. I've found the latter more interesting.

The author points out;

・Chinese nationalist was much better with regard to the soft power:Japan lacked the concept of it.
・Chinese nationalist was　superb at a war of attrition;Japan　had only a short decisive war in mind.
・Most Japanese military leaders were stupid, lacking in strategy, while subordinates on-the-spot were efficient.
・Many Japanese soldiers and citizens were already disgusted by the war: the expression was censored .(The letters censored were publicized after the war)
・Some soldires were numbed to atrocities of war, dead to conscience.

And the author wonders if some of these might hold true even today.

I think many points still holds true.

For instance,

Keeping His Head Just Above Water

12. Economy's self-construction
The prospects for farm liberalisation in the near run have gone from slight to nil. New bilateral free-trade negotiations will be pulled from the table. A debate about a hike in the consumption tax as a way to tackle the budget deficit will also be postponed, as, perhaps, will be an expected interest-rate rise by the Bank of Japan. On the other hand, growth is likely to chug along at about 2% a year or so, providing jobs and record profits at companies, as well as paying higher revenues into the exchequer. Politicians may be amazed to find that things can carry along without them.Economist via 米流時評

Hey the Japanese leaders, no joking!!　People are sweating their guts out

The eve of the 62nd anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima

It’s that time of the year again. It’s the eve of the 62nd anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima

And why it will get under my skin just as much tomorrow as it does every year. It always seems to be someone else’s job, almost as if, by demonstrating its victimhood that Japan has done its bit. Undoubtedly there are brave survivors who have contributed something by telling their story, but they often seem to me like tools of a nation in denial of its past and of its present, overly content to hide behind the white glare of A-bomb innocence.
Beautiful Japan 美しい日本

The blogger has a good point here.
Japan should not emphasize only its victimhood:She also needs to face up to the atrocity Japanese troops had committed. For instance, Nanjing massacre was as brutal as atomic bombing of Hiroshima in that military killed POWs and civilians in the name of ending the war quickly. And in this respect, the people who justifiy Nanjing Massacre are just as offensive as people who justify Hirosima.
It is only logical we pay the same amount of time and reflections on the victim side of the war and the illegal aggressive side of the war. There were victims behind the illegal aggression.

( I don't agree with the rest of the blogger's point. I don 't believe peace will be brought about by demlitaization, rather the demilitalizaion will increase the possibility of inviting the war.)

comfort women;Japanese embassy refutes the Resolution 121

UPDATE Foreign Dispatches posted an excellent article again.
UPDATE Liberal Japan has just post refined criticism against the resolution. Must read.
Embassy of Japan in the United States of America
via Comfort women
It could have been more effective if the followings had been added.

1. The Japanese Government has acknowledged the Comfort Women issue and extended official apologies on many important occasions.

The U.S. govenment has never acknowledged the War time Sex Slave issue.
American Military-Base Prostitution
Jennifer Latstetter

2. The Government of Japan and the Japanese people have taken concrete measures for the victims.

2. The Government of the U.S. and the American people have never taken concrete measures for the victims.

3. This issue is not neglected in the public school education of Japan .

3. This issue is neglected in the public school education of the U.S.

And yet the resolution 121 was passed.

Military Prostitution and the Iraq Occupation

The rebirth of prostitution has generated fear that permeates all of Iraqi society. Families keep their girls inside, not only to keep them from being assaulted or killed, but to prevent them from being kidnapped by organized prostitution rings. Gangs are also forcing some families to sell their children into sex slavery. The war has created an enormous number of homeless girls and boys who are most vulnerable to the sex trade. It has also created thousands of refugee women who try to escape danger but end up (out of economic desperation) being prostituted in Jordan, Syria, Yemen or the UAE.

world news com

Before you blame someone who has already apologized several times for what happened more than 60 years ago, why don't you invesitigate the case that is happening now?
Even evil Japan regulated and arrested the illegal pimps.
And please refrain from being hyprictie.

Sincerely
Embassy of Japan

Doesn't it sounds better? ----- Why that is not bad

]
..................................................................................
“The U.S. wants to create trouble between Japan, China and Korea”
It is not me but Aljazeera who said it. (cash)
It is only some Americans who believes the U.S. has a higher moral ground to stand on, rebuking other nations based on false premise while turning a blind eye on what she has been doing..
Now, the myth is crumbling among the allies.It makes some people nausea.
More and more people are following her not because of her ideal, but because of brutal power with the hypocritical face on it.
Well as for me, I still believe in the U.S. self-corrective power. After all I learned the concept from my American professor who has taught Dewey's pragmatism.

..............................................................................
Reactions to the resolution from Japense media and some blogs.

慰安婦決議で新聞「猛反発」　朝日社説だけが「孤立」
米下院の慰安婦決議の採択に関しては「下院の意思表示であり、安倍晋三首相はすでにブッシュ米大統領、議会指導者に河野洋平官房長官談話を支持すると述べており、今後、この問題がメディアの注目を集めることはないだろう」と述べた

アメリカのネグロポンテ国務副長官は３日、東京のアメリカ大使館で記者会見し、
参議院で民主党がテロ特措法に反対する意向を示していることについて懸念を表しました。
「日本政府の海上給油活動は国際社会から高く評価され、有益です。
私たちはテロ特措法が延長されることを望んでいます」（ネグロポンテ国務副長官）

会見でネグロポンテ副長官はこのように述べ、参議院の第一党となった民主党の方針に懸念を表明しました。

また、慰安婦問題に関する決議が採択されたことについては、
「被害に遭われた女性には同情するが、歴代の日本の指導者は適切な措置を取っていると思う」と、
一定の配慮を示しました。

さらに、日本の貢献を評価する決議についても触れ、日米関係の重要性を強調しました。

また、シーファー駐日大使が民主党の小沢代表との会談を拒否したとの報道については、
会見に同席したシーファー大使本人が、「来週会う用意がある」とコメントしました。（03日23:59）

ソース　ＴＢＳ

Marmot
Anpontan
liberal Japan
Observing Japan
................................................................................
Those who support the resolution should also support the following resokution.

Resolved, That it is the sense of the upper House of the Diet that the Government of the United States–

(1) should formally acknowledge, apologize, and accept historical responsibility in a clear and unequivocal manner for The US army's coercion of young women into sexual slavery, known to the world as `comfort women’, during its occupatoin l and wartime occupation of Asia and the Pacific Islands from the 1945

(2) would help to resolve recurring questions about the sincerity and status of prior statements if the President of the United States were to make such an apology as a public statement in his official capacity;

(3) should clearly and publicly refute any claims that the sexual enslavement and trafficking of the `comfort women’ for GIs never occurred; and

(4) should educate current and future generations about this horrible crime while following the recommendations of the international community with respect to the `comfort women’.

Unless the upper house apply the same criteria to itself, it only leave the strong impression that "the U.S is hypocirite, Americans who support it are hypocrites."

On the road to atomic bombing of Hirosima (5)

On the road to atomic bombing of Hiroshima(4)

On the road to atoimc bombing of Hirosima(3)
On the road to atoimc bombing of Hiroshima (2)
On the road to atomic bombing of Hiroshima (1)
62 Years Since The Atomic Bombing Of Hiroshima/Japan probe

{M}odern research has demonstrated hat both of he estimate contained in Truman's letter are grossly exaggerated. Furthermore, the only estimate we can prove that was actually presented personally and directly to the president----on June 18 by Gereral Marshall---was 31.000. On the basis of ratios then common in the Pacific campaingn, this in turn would translate into 7,000-8,000 deaths.
page 518 "The decision to use the Atomic bomb"

In 1952, ....Truman asserted that he met with Marshall during the Potsdam conference and that Marshall told him that an invasion of Japan could cost a minimum of a quoter-million American causalities. ....[R]ecods from the the Potsdam Conference appear to demonstrate that this exchange could not have occurred, page 245 Downfall

What did or did not happen at this factual meeting forms a critical flash point of debate. ....Some go so far as to maintain that the "real " estimates provided to Truman was Marchall's figure 31.000 causalities.....
None of this is correct . A plain reading of the minutes of this meeting discloses that King was right: Truman never got an unambiguous or unanimous answer to his fundamental question about causalities, even for Olympics....
page 144 "Downfall"

To be sure no leader wants his boys to be killed. But when you wage the war, soldiers' causalities are expected. The war is a cruel game, but it has a rule:a soldier can kill the enemy if the enemy is a soldier, but it is a violation of international law to kill civilians and POWs.

You can't kill POW just because you yourself have little foods, just because you don't have place to put them.
So-called Japanese deniers of Nanjing Massacre deny the fact that Japanese troop killed POWs, saying that they were not POWs protected by the law because they were determined to fight and had some weapons.
Will somebody likewise say women and children in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not civilians protected by the law ?

And there was no international law to justify the act to kill civilians to end the war (quickly) or to avoid the soldiers' casualty. It would give us a chill to think of the future leader killing civilians in order not to waste their soldiers or to realize their purpose:that comes very close to the terrorist tactics---what is the difference?
I think this is one reason why so many military leaders and scientists proposed the alternatives and so many military leaders expressed the disgust at having used the atomic bomb afterwards,see quotes from military leaders and scientists(cash)
That is not the way traditional war was fought, and I think Truman crossed the line.

If you want to win a game, win the game, obeying the rule. A desire to finish it quick is no reason to justify the violation.

Some argue that protracted war would have resulted in more causality on the part of Japanese civilians. That is just an speculation;No body knows for sure.
Besides, It might be that starvation of the people might have pressured the Emperor to end the war quick since Japanese leaders were afraid of low level of public morale.
And accepting Japanese terms might have saved millions of Chinese and Koreans who were killed at the war and in the domestic confusions after WWⅡ.
In addition, if you follow the rule, and the enemy got hurt, you are not violating the rule. So it is not your fault that they got hurt.

So there was obvious alternative for Truman. All he had to do was just wait and continue the traditional legal attacks on Japan.
See also among the dead cities.

Are there any other alternatives?
Yes, so thinks Hasegawa.
He argues that if Truman had invited Stalin to sign the Potsdam Proclamation and included the promise to allow the Japanese to maintain a constitutional monarchy, polity, it is most likely that Japan would have surrendered based on two assumptions.
(page 292 "Racing the enemy)
1) Soviet entry did have, and would have had the decisive effect of the decision to surrender.
2) The Emperor intervention was, and would have had the direct cause for the surrender.
The first point is dealt with in this
article.Racing the Enemy Round table, Author’s Response pdf
We should note that Soviet had been geopolitically always the dominant factor for Japanese strategy since Russo-Japanese War. And the Emperor was sending the feeler to the Russia to end the war.
We should also note that the war ministry Anami, in order to be loyal to the Emperor,
, suppressed the coup by young officers

It is true that both atomic bomb and Soviet entry into the war contributed to the decision to the surrender and that they were used as a pretext.
Thus,
Kido

陛下や私があの原子爆弾に依って得た感じは待ちに待った終戦断行の好機を茲（ここ）に与えられたと云うのであった……そこへ原子爆弾が出現し国民も軍隊もこんな恐ろしいものが出て来たからには早く終戦しなければならないと思うであろうし、軍部首脳も我々は精神力や作戦で敗けたのではなく科学で負けたのだと云うことになれば降伏の面子も多少は立つようになるだろう。すなわち（天皇の）終戦指導が容れ易くなったのである。これが私どもの考えであったlink

quick translation

The emperor and I had the impression that the atomic bombs gave us a good opportunity to end the war…..people and the military will think that they have to end the war because of this horrible weapon, and the military top officers will save faces;for , Japan would be defeated not because of their spirit or strategy but because of science. That makes the emperor’s plan to end the war more acceptable.

Yonai

私は言葉は不適当と思うが原子爆弾やソ連の参戦は或る意味では天佑だ。国内情勢で戦を止めると云うことを出さなくても済む。私がかねてから時局収拾を主張する理由は敵の攻撃が恐ろしいのでもないし原子爆弾やソ連参戦でもない。一に国内情勢の憂慮すべき事態が主である。従って今日その国内情勢[国民の厭戦気分の蔓延と政府・軍首脳への反感]を表面に出さなく収拾が出来ると云うのは寧ろ幸いである。link

quick translation

It might be inadequate to say ,but atomic bombs and the Soviet entry into the war are, in a sense,God's gift.; We don’t have to say we end the war because of the domestic issue. The reason I have been long been advocating the conclusion of the [war] is not because i am afraid of the enemy’s attacks nor atomic bombs nor Soviet invasion but is my concern over domestic situation. So it is
rather fortunate that now we can end the war without bringing the domestic situation to the fore; people has begun to feel the detest against the war ,against the top dogs of the government and military.)

(Note, in passing, in their perception, people's morale was already low.)

But which played the decisive role in the eye of the military officers---Soviet entry
into the war? or the Atomic bomb?

In 1948
Kawabe(Vice Chief of the imperial Army General Staff)

Since Tokyo was not directly affected y the bombing, the full force of the shock was not felt. ..In comparison the Soviet entry into the war was a great shock when it actually came... it gave us all the more severe shock and alarm because we had been in constant fear (that) the vast Red Army forces in Europe were now being turned against us.(page 647 "the decision to use the atomic bomb"

In 1949
Toyoda(Admiral)

the Russian participation in the war against Japan rather than the atomic bombs did more to hasten the surrender.

(Page 347 "Downfall")
Prince Konoe recalled

the army had dug themselves in the mountains and their idea...was fighting from every little hole or rock in the mountain.

however, when asked specifically (in the very next question) "Would the Emperor have permitted them to do that?"---Konoe responded immediately

I don't think the Emperor would have let them go that far. he would have done something to stop them. page 647 "the decision to use the atomic bomb"

(In " The End of the Pacific War" Hasegawa cites other military officer's testimonies to show Soviet factor was more dominant)

Suzuki (prime minister)

At dawn, Sakomitzu drove to Suzukis private residence to report the news that Soviets had joined the war against Japan. The Prime minister received the news silently , and then quietly told Sakomizu:"What we feared has finally come". It is interesting to recall that these same words were uttered by Sato after he heard that the Soiets had declared war.
page 197 "racing the enemy

The Big Six

AT 11;30 A.M,, while the Big Six were engaged in a heated debate on what to do about the Potsdam terms, news of the second atomic bomb on Nagasaki was relayed to the Supreme War Council. The Nagasaki bomb, however had little impact on the substance of the discussion.The official history of the Imperial General headquarters notes;"There is no record in other materials that treated the effect [of the nagasaki bomb] seriouselyl."
page 204

Emperor
Aug15
Hirohito broadcasts Surrender, obliquely refering to the atomic bomb: The situation had developed not necessarily to Japan's favor. Moreover , the enemy has began to employ a new and most crutel bomb.
Aug 17

Now that the Soviet Union entered the war , to continue under the present conditions at home and abroad would only reult in furhter useless damage and eventually endanger the very foundation of the empire's exisitence. Thefore the fighting spirit of the Imprerial Navy and Army i still vigorous, I am going to make peace with the United States, Britain, the Soviet Union, and Chungking, in order to preserve our glorious Kokutai.

And Anami's episode before he committed a suicide is telling with regard to (2).

Anami

Anami told the coup plotters to obey the imperial will. When asked why had changed his mind, Anami answered; "The emperor told me, calling me Anami, that he understood my feelings. In tears he implored me to endure evern though it is painful. I could no longer raise any objection." Anami then raised his voice and threatedn: "Those who disobey must go over my dead body." Stunned silence was broken only by a sharp wailing. major Hatanaka wept without restraint.
page 243

August 14
Anami; "I sincerely apologize. My true intention was just to maintain the national polity. There is no ulterior motive.
Suzuki: I understand it well. But the peace and security of Japanese Imperial family will be no problem. Because His Majesty always pray to his ancestry at the spring and autumn festival.

(page 252 太平洋戦争の意外な裏事情　PHP文庫/日本の一番長い日 半藤一利　文春文庫　page183-186　）
It tells us for military leaders too, the ultimate condition for surrender was just to maintain the national polity and that militarist was obedient to the Emperor.
(I think few disagree with regard to (2)

Hiroshima was a tragedy. But,

it is stunning how little overt anti-Americanism one finds in Japanese discussions of the bombings. The Japanese, particularly the hibakusha (bomb-affected persons), have focused instead on their unique suffering. Drawing on the moral authority gained, they have translated this suffering into a positive message of world peace and nuclear disarmament.Japan focus

I think that is the right attitude.

But it is regretable that the world trend is such that the past incident that is legally settled can be used politically as a diplomatic card.


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

To respond to the President's demand for specific information, Marshall requested that MacArthur submit an estimate for "battle casualties in OLYMPIC up to D ＋90....
D-Day to D plus 30 50,800
D-Day plus 30 to D plus 60 27,150
D-Day plus 60 to D plus 90 27,100
page 138

(causalities meant not only servicemen killed but also those wounded and those who become classed as "missing page 135)

Marshall June 18
If a surrender were to occur prior to complete military defeat, it would be because Japan was face by

the completely hopeless prospect occasioned by
(1)destruction already wrought by air bombardment and sea blockade, coupled with (2) a landing indicating the firmness of our resolution, and also perhaps coupled with (3) the enemy or threat of Russia into the war

An important point of Russia participation in the war is that the impact of Russian entry on the already hopeless Japanese may well be decisive action levering them into capitulation at that time or shortly thereafter if we land them.
page 123 "the decision to use the atomic bombs."

On the road to atomic bombing of Hiroshima (4)

Friday, January 19, 2018 The war in the Pacific had ended by January of 1945 On the road to atomic bombing of Hiroshima (3)

The Genralissimo was tormented by the possibility that the war might be over before the Soviet troops crossed the Manchurian border. page 133 Racing the enemy.

Only July 16 Stimson wrote a memo to the president in which he noted that a warning to Japan, coupled with the possibility of Soviet entry into the war, would cause the Japanese to ponder "the great marshaling of the American forces." page 134 "racing the enemy

Mr. Byrnes recommended, and the Committee agree, that the Secretary of War should be advised that. while recognizing that the final selection of the target was essentially a military decision, the present view of the Committee was that the bomb should be used against Japan as soon as possible that it be used on a was plant surrounded by worker's homes;and that it be used without prior warning. (Notes of Interim Committee meeting, June 1, 1945) page 155 "The decision to use the atomic bomb)

Byrnes was alarmed by Japan's peace overtures to Moscow. he was concerned that the Soviet might gain territorial and other concessions from Japan to the detriment of U.S. interest. page 135 Racing the enemy

American military planners thought Soviet entry into the war would hasten Japan's surrender. But U.S. policymakers also pondered the political consequences of Soviet participation in the war. Thus they sough to bring about Japan's surrender, if possible , before the Soviet could join the fight. page 136 "Racing the War"

There is no reason to doubt that Truman initially welcomed the news that the Soviet intended to attack Japan in the middle of August. Stalin's assurance precluded the possibility of any deals between Tokyo and Moscow, thus removing one potential source of worry from Truman's mind. The Soviet would not take advantage of Japan's peace overtures to gain concessions at the expense of the United States and China, and they would not negotiate for Japan's surrender. ....The date Stalin gave for the Soviet attack on Japan---August 15----gave American policymakers a definite deadline to work for. if they were to force Japan to surrender without Soviet help, they would have to do so before that date. page 140

If Truman had came to Potsdam primarily to obtain Stalin's commitment to entering the war against Japan , it is strange that he did not actively seek that commitment. The best we can say about Truman's attitude toward this issue is that he was ambivalent. The president wrote in his memorial

By the time [the Potsdam Proclamation was issued, also we might know more about two matters of significance for our future effort: the participation of the Soviet Union and the atomic bomb. We knew that the bomb would receive its first test in mid-July. If the test of the bomb was successful, I wanted to afford Japan a clear chance to end the fighting before we made use of this newly gained power. if the test should fail, then it would be even more important to us to bring about a surrender before we had to make a physical conquest of Japan

At best, Soviet participation was an insurance policy. page 139

At three o'clock (July 17) .....Starlin revealed that he had received the Japanese request for mediation to terminate the war, and he showed the president's copy of Sato's note requesting the mediation in the emperor's name. Stallin explained that he had three alternative:"ask the Japanese for more details, ....ignore the overture, or send back a definite refusal. ...Stalin pointed out that the Soviet Union was not at war with Japan and that it might be desirable to "lull the Japanese to sleep". For that purpose, the first option would be best. Truman agreed.
page 142 "racing the enemy

Dutifully Stao obtained another audience with Lozovskii on July 25, in response to Lozovski's July 18 letter asking for clarifications on the Konoe mission ,,,,,The purpose of the Konoe mission was , he explained specifically and officially to request the mediation of the Soviet government to terminate the war. Prince Knonoe was personally chosen by the emperor to serve as his special envoy. He would bring to the Soviet government specific terms for ending the war, as well as concrete proposals for improving Soviet-Japanese relations during and after the war. page 144 "Racing the Enemy"

It is important to note that Handy's order to Spaatz, the only existing direct order to deploy atomic bomb against Japan was given on July 25, one day before the Potsdam Proclamation was issued. The popular myth... that Japan's rejection of the Potsdam Proclamation led to the U.S. decision to drop the bomb, cannot be supported by the fact. ...the rejection of the Potsdam Proclamation was required to justify the dropping of the bomb.
page 152

July 24

Why did Byrnes and Truman reject Stimson's recommendation to restore the provision allowing Japan to retain a constitutional monarchy? The July 24 entry of Walter Brown's diary gives the following account;

JFB told more about Jap peace bid to Russia, Japanese Ambassador to Russia warned his government that same thing which happened to Germany would happen to Japan if she stayed in the war. Emperor had said they would fight to the last man unless there was some modification of unconditional surrender.page 157 "Racing the Enemy"

Walter Brown wrote in his diary on July 24 JFB still hoping for time , believing after atomic bomb Japan will surrender and Russia will not get in so much on the kill, thereby being in a position to press for claim against China.....In Byrnes's mind the atomic bomb, as the ace in the US hand, assumed primacy. The atomic bomb would force Japan to surrender and forestall Soviet entry into the war. Thus atomic bomb had to be used. page 158 "Racing the enemy"

I think Hasegawa's explanation is incomplete; It explained the motivation to use the atomic bomb before Russian's entry, but it does not explain why the atomic bomb acutally had to be used.
Since I think Frank's "Downfall" is of little help in this regard either, let's turn to Alperrovitz's "The decision to the use the atomic bomb"

Why did Truman and Byrnes decide to reverse the momentum of the policy development eliminate from the warning statement he kind of specific assuarances for the Emperor recommended by every other significan figure involoved? page 301 "The decisioin to use the atomic bomb" page 301

Theory 1
They feared political criticism if they were to show any "softness" toward Japan.
page 308

After citing numerous sources,

Such statements of military , political media and religious opinion [to clarify the terms} was not universal. page 231

An instructive and balance assessment is contained in a detailed internal government study, "Current Public Attitudes Toward the Unconditional surrender of Japan" prepared at this time. This pointed out that despite continued support for "unconditional surrender"

Influential press and radio commentators are increasing calling for a statement to supplement---or to succeed---the "unconditional surrender Formula; and public opinion polls indicate considerable willing to accept less than unconditional surrender, since nearly a third of the nation would "try to work out a peace" with Japan on the basis of Japanese renunciation of all conquest

page 232 "decision to use the atomic bomb "

Theory 2
what has made Japan dangerous in the past and will make her dangerous in the future if we permit it, is, in large part, the Japanese cult of emperor worship.
page 308
Byrnes in 1952

When I became Secretary , I found in the Department a heated controversy, the left-wingers arguing that under no circumstances could we accept a surrender of the Japanese unless they agreed that Japan would no longer have an emperor. Without the emperor, we would have found it a more difficult task to secure the surrender....page 309 "the decision to use the atomic bomb"

Theory 3
Racist attitudes
←U.S. leaders were quite prepared to bomb European cities and Caucasian civilian populations as a matter of policy. page 655

Theory 4
The president was following the momentum of events.
page 314
←well defined choices were available and considered. ...All of Truman's top advisers except Byrnes urged a course of action which was specific---and the opposite of what one would expect if momentum theories were valid.(page 656)

Theory 5
They decided to used it to impress the Russia.
(Feis)

it is likely that Churchill and probably also Truman, conceived that besides bringing the war to a quick end,[use of the bomb] would improve the chances of arranging a satisfactory peace both in Europe and in the Far East. Stimson and Byrnes certainly had that thought in mind. For would not the same dramatic proof of Western power that shocked Japan into surrender impress the Russia?
page 317 "the decision to use the atomic bomb"