Jukdo; old and new

Dokdo-or-Takeshima?
Korean antique detail map of "USANDO" superimposed upon jukudo on google earth

Fifty cents gang--China’s growing armies of Web commentators

China's 50-cent Twitter censors

They have been called the “Fifty Cent Party,” the “red vests” and the “red vanguard.” But China’s growing armies of Web commentators—instigated, trained and financed by party organizations—have just one mission: to safeguard the interests of the Communist Party by infiltrating and policing a rapidly growing Chinese Internet. They set out to neutralize undesirable public opinion by pushing pro-Party views through chat rooms and Web forums, reporting dangerous content to authorities.

By some estimates, these commentary teams now comprise as many as 280,000 members nationwide, and they show just how serious China’s leaders are about the political challenges posed by the Web. More importantly, they offer tangible clues about China’s next generation of information controls—what President Hu Jintao last month called “a new pattern of public-opinion guidance.”

It was around 2005 that party leaders started getting more creative about how to influence public opinion on the Internet...

More on the 50 cent army
魚拓

Comfort women exploited by Korean men in In Mongolia

South Koreans’ sex tourism to Mongolia remains widespread. According to an investigative report by The Hankyoreh, Mongolians accused South Korean tourists of spawning a culture of buying sex in their country. In 2002, a South Korean opened the first karaoke bar in Mongolia’s capital city of Ulan Bator and most karaoke bars in Mongolia are owned by South Koreans. The number of karaoke bars in Mongolia has increased to include some 50 bars.

A 35-year-old South Korean businessman, who is only identified by the surname Park and lives in Mongolia, told The Hankyoreh, “When men visit, their purpose is obvious, so the number of bars has increased significantly.”

A Mongolian tour guide, identified only as Matha, said, “Regardless of age, more than 70 percent of male tourists on group tours buy sex.” The tour guide showed a list of business cards that he had received from South Korean tourists, who included a manager of a well-known securities company and a local government official.


Some South Korean nationals who live in Mongolia say they have seen older men who have a 20-something local woman as a mistress. A female South Korean national in Mongolia, who is only identified by her surname Park, said, “Korean men here have the worst behavior. For instance, a 70-something (Korean) man had a Mongolian woman as a mistress. When she got pregnant, he abandoned her and ran away.”

The South Korean embassy in Mongolia said, “Sex tourism is undermining the image of South Korea and its people.” At the end of 2007, there were some 3,000 South Korean nationals in Mongolia. Last year, the number of South Korean tourists to Mongolia stood at some 40,000 people.

With the practice remaining widespread, the Mongolian government stepped up its crackdown on sex tourism by passing new anti-prostitution laws last year. However, the effect was nothing more than a reduction in a few number of karaoke bars.

Perhaps even worse is there are signs that the crackdown has had an adverse effect on the industry. To avoid the crackdown, prostitution has spread to horseback-riding schools, massage parlours and others. An official at a Mongolian horseback-riding school, which is only identified by the letter “G” and is located an hour’s drive from the city center, said, “When (men who are here as sex tourists) arrive at the airport, they are escorted here. Local women arrive here in a different van. When they move off to the grassland, (the women) are accompanied by the men.”

The increase in sex tourism by South Korean male visitors has been a source of rising anti-Korean sentiment among Mongolians, according to South Korean nationals in the country. A 38-year-old South Korean national, who is only identified by the surname Lee and has lived in Mongolia for three years, said the number of assault cases against Korean people is on the rise.

A 42-year-old local tour guide, who is only identified as Temuchin, said, “Anti-Korean sentiment is high because (Korean men) buy sex from (local) women.”

With the recent emergence of a right-wing organization in Mongolia, the damage to Korean people is growing further.

Erden Birk, the head of the country’s biggest right-wing organization, Daiyar, said, “There have been cases in which four 60-something men spent time with one 20-something woman in a room until morning and others in which tourists go directly to an underground karaoke bar at their hotel as soon as they arrive from the airport, without even unpacking their baggage. If these things continue to happen, it will be difficult to stop the violence.”

Last year, South Korea’s Ministry of Gender Equality and Family revised a passport law and the government is now allowed to ban

people who have been arrested for buying sex from being issued new passports or passport renewals. However, the effect of the ban has so far been negligible. Bae Lim Sook-il, the head of the Incheon Women’s Hotline, said, “Prostitution (in South Korea) isn’t even being punished properly. So the government can’t punish people for soliciting prostitution in foreign countries.”

Lee Na-young, a sociology professor at ChungAng University, said, “The mindset and culture of Korean males, which view females as objects of entertainment, needs to be fundamentally changed.”The Hankyoreh

via世の中を生暖かく見守るブログ

Internet censorship in China

www.greatfirewallofchina.org

Japanese Nationalism

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Nationalism isn't an issue in Japan

By ROBERT DUJARRIC
Special to The Japan Times

As Japan renews its claim on Takeshima (Dokdo to Koreans) and prepares to mark the Aug. 15 anniversary of the end of the Great East Asia War, we can expect more Asians — and some Americans — to warn against the dangers of rising Japanese nationalism. What is striking, however, is the absence of nationalism in Japan compared to its Chinese and Korean neighbors and its American ally.

Regardless of the metric used, Japan scores very low on nationalism. Its investment in its armed forces as a percentage of national income is small, especially for a country living in close range of two potential war zones (the Korean Peninsula and Taiwan).

Moreover, in the past two decades the offensive capabilities of North Korea against Japan, namely its ballistic missiles and nuclear program, have grown significantly.

China, another potential adversary for Japan, clearly has a much stronger military than 20 years ago. But Japan continues to keep its military investment at around 1 percent of national income (perhaps a little more if other expenses are included).

The phenomenal waste in Japanese procurement programs also shows that the military budget is as much a funding mechanism for Japanese businesses as a tool to build up a strong military.

Moreover, when it comes to dealing with the outside world, Japanese diplomats are as unlikely as those of the Holy See to resort to threats of force. There are no John Boltons in the Japanese Foreign Ministry. This peaceful, low profile reflects a basic fact often ignored by outsiders: Japanese voters favor candidates who care about bread and butter issues over those whose concern is Japan's greatness and military might.

The origins of this phenomenon are that Japan, unlike other players in the region, tests negative on risk factors for aggressive nationalism.

Nationalism often arises out of a sense of national victimization. A major cause of Chinese and Korean nationalism is a belief that foreigners preyed upon and humiliated their countries. As a result, many Chinese and Koreans want to see no insult to their national dignity go unpunished, however insignificant.

A case in point is South Korea's quixotic campaign to rename the Sea of Japan the East Sea. In Japan's case, however, there is no sense of victimhood. Yes, Japanese either experienced or know about U.S. terror bombings during the war. But, with a few exceptions, this pushes them toward pacifism. It fuels their contempt for the Japanese militarists who led the nation on a war that destroyed the country. It may also make them dislike the alliance with America, but it does not make Japanese long for a new Imperial Japan armed to the teeth ready to conquer lost territories.

Another foundation of nationalism is a belief that one's country has a destiny to lead the world, or at least its region. This helps explain the support of Americans for military intervention and the conquests of Revolutionary and Napoleonic France. Though Chinese nationalism lacks the universalistic ambitions of America's, many Chinese think that history gave China a right to regional primacy.

In Japan, however, there is none of the messianic urge found in Western cultures. Nor do Japanese have the same sense of civilizational and historical greatness that is common in China.

There are also domestic factors that energize nationalism. One is fear for the country's territorial integrity and/or a belief that there are still unredeemed provinces. In the Chinese case, anxiety about Tibet, Xinjiang (Chinese Turkestan), and Inner Mongolia fuel Han nationalism. Moreover, for most Chinese, Taiwan is a Chinese island that must be brought back into the motherland.

In the Korean case, national division can only encourage nationalism, even though South Koreans are lukewarm toward actual unification. Memories of Japanese aggression in both nations also generate a nationalist reaction in China and Korea. In Japan, however, there is no domestic separatism to be afraid of. And, despite the pro forma Japanese claims on the Northern Territories and Takeshima, few Japanese care about them.

A second domestic issue is nationalism as an alternative tool to confront the government. In autocratic China, nationalism is an indirect way to oppose the ruling party. When demonstrators throw rocks at the U.S. embassy or attack Japanese diplomats, they are also criticizing their rulers for being weak-kneed. Moreover, simply by marching through the streets, or gathering virtually on the Internet, they demonstrate to the Communist Party that the people can mobilize on their own.

Though South Korea is now a liberal democracy, many of its leftwing nationalists came of age when anti-American (or anti-Japanese) nationalism was fused with the fight against the military regime. Japan, however, has been a free society for well half a century, if its citizens are unhappy they simply go to a voting booth rather than seek alternative forms of mobilization.

Japanese society may have problems but nationalism is not one of them.
Robert Dujarric is director of the Institute of Contemporary Japanese Studies at Temple University Japan in Tokyo

via Japan probe

Global Peace Index

Global Peace Index Rankings

Global Peace Index Rankings

The table below provides the GPI rankings for the 140 countries analysed in 2008 and the 121 countries analysed in 2007, as well as year-on-year comparison. Countries most at peace are ranked first. A lower score indicates a more peaceful country. You can click on a country to see the detail of its peace indicators and drivers.

Global Peace Index 2008

* Compare
* 2007
* 2008

Country
Rank
Score
Iceland Iceland
1
1.176
Denmark Denmark
2
1.333
Norway Norway
3
1.343
New Zealand New Zealand
4
1.350
Japan Japan
5
1.358
Ireland Ireland

comfort women Sexual enslavement by Nazi Germany in World War II

Forced prostitution by the Nazi state for sexual gratification of German soldiers and members of other Nazi controlled organizations became prevalent in occupied Europe during World War II.[1] It is estimated that a minimum of 34,140 women from occupied states were forced to work as prostitutes during the Third Reich.[2] The brothels established by the Nazi state were for use by the soldiers of the Wehrmacht, SS officers, and foreign laborers working in the German Reich (including those working within the concentration camps).

The subject of forced prostitution and camp bordellos has remained largely taboo in studies of Nazism until recently, when the new publications by women researchers broke the silence. [3] [4]

Usually organized in hotels confiscated from their rightful owners, they also served travelling soldiers or those withdrawn from the front. Usually they also included a bar, a restaurant and a brothel. [5][6] In most cases, especially in the East, the women were forced to serve as prostitutes after being caught at random on the streets in Łapankas (Nazi German military kidnapping raids against civilians in Poland). [5] [6] [1] The authors of a 2004 German documentary on the victims of forced prostitution in Nazi Germany[1] estimate, that in 1942 alone there were over 500 such brothels for German soldiers all over Europe.[7][1] It is estimated that at least 34,140 women were forced to serve as prostitutes in Nazi brothels for soldiers, SS and Nazi officials, but also in similar institutions for slave laborers and privileged German concentration camp inmates[4] even though many more women remained silent about the experience after the end of the war.[2] According to a Gestapo report on one of such brothels located in Łódź in occupied Poland, there were roughly 4,000 visitors a month, including more than 3,000 soldiers of the Wehrmacht[8]

The hotels/brothels in question were known as German Soldier's Houses (German: Deutsches Soldatenhaus), DSH, or in German Militärbordelle or Wehrmachtsbordell.

Thomas Gaevert and Martin Hilbert, authors of a documentary called "Women as trophy" (made for ARD)[1] claim that Eastern European sex-slaves in the hands of German military were the most perfidious form of slave-labor of World War II. The revealing of the extent of their abuse is not always desirable, because many victims remain afraid of being wrongfully accused of collaboration with the occupier. [9]wiki

Economic background

The rivalries between empires which lay behind much of the international conflict of the first j half of the 20th century drove forward many of the features of managed capitalism,・・・As international competition increased after industrial capitalism spread from Britain to other countries, free trade came to be eventually displaced by a protectionism that reached its peak in the 1930's . Markets could be protected, and the supply of cheap raw material maintained , by constructing empire and fencing it off from competitor nations.
page 45

By the middle of the 19th century Japan was a highly commercialized and entrepreneurial society but not yet an industrial one. After Meiji Restoration, Japan's 19th century revolution, industrialization was directed by the state as part of a programme to build a strong and independent country that could stand up to the the Western empires that were encroaching upon Japan. page 72

These empires took the form not only of colonial territories but also of spheres of influence that divided up areas of the world no under direct colonial control. While Europe first created overseas empires, the United States constructed its own less formal empire in the Pacific and Latin America, and in the last quarter of the 19th century Japan began to follow the European model and acquire its first overseas territories.
page 83

When domestic production faced a crisis, it was hard to resist the temptation to protect the national economy against foreign competition and as soon as action of this kind was taken by one country , others followed.・・・・・・the 19th century division of the world between competing empires provided the industrial societies both with an illusion of self-sufficiency and ready-made structures within which they could shelter. The result was culminate decline of world trade that made the depression worse.・・・・John Maynard Keynes argued that government could counteract tendencies towards depression by injecting demand into the economy, by borrowing and spending or lowering taxes. These 'Keynesian' policies began to make an impact in some countries in the later 1930's , though it was above all the huge state expenditure generated by the Second World War that hauled the global economy out of the depression.
page 113

Capitalism: A Very Short Introduction

The first, if limited, attempt to apply Keynes's ideas was undertaken in the USA during Roosevelt's New Deal'. However Roosevelt's commitment to a balanced budget and his consequent refusal to allow increased government spending on public works projects to exceed taxation revenues resulted in only a very gradual decline in unemployment. The Great Depression was in fact brought to an end by a widespread and substantial expansion of military spending in preparation for war, rather than a deliberate attempt to cure unemployment.　page 64 Political Ideologies: An Introduction
Andrew Heywood

The survey of hoteliers from around the world

'Ugly American' still fits, hotel survey finds

12:00 AM CDT on Sunday, June 8, 2008

By SUZANNE MARTA / The Dallas Morning News
smarta@dallasnews.com Suzanne Marta

It seems the "ugly American" stereotype of U.S. travelers overseas is a tough one to shake.

[Click image for a larger version] DOMINIC FAVRE/The Associated Press
DOMINIC FAVRE/The Associated Press
The Dutch soccer team, if true to the country's reputation, should be well-behaved at a hotel in Lausanne, Switzerland, where members are staying this month for the European championship games.

The United States didn't make the top 10 in nations recognized for having the world's best travelers, according to a survey released by online travel agency Expedia last week.

The survey of more than 4,000 hoteliers from around the world measured several factors, including behavior, manners, generosity, tidiness, willingness to learn the local language and a propensity to complain.

Hoteliers rated Japanese travelers the best, followed by visitors from Germany, Britain and Canada.

Travelers from the U.S. ranked 15th, with a score of 42 out of 100.

Hotel managers reported that Americans were among the worst-behaved and worst-dressed, left the messiest hotel rooms and were the most likely to complain.

That's not to say we don't have our selling points.

Hoteliers also said Americans were some of the most generous and were more likely to learn the language or sample the local cuisine.

Among other findings:

• The most popular tourists in their own country are the Canadians, Belgians and Swiss.

• The least popular tourists in their own country are the Spanish, Mexicans and French.

• French tourists are viewed by hoteliers as the most "fiscally conservative," followed by the Dutch and the British.

• German, Japanese and British tourists are considered the tidiest hotel guests.

The survey was conducted March 18-27 by online marketing research firm TNS Infratest.http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/DN-p2tourists_08bus.ART.State.Edition1.465f61b.html

Global Peace Index Rankings

Global Peace Index 2008

Walt's take on the U.S. attacks on Japanese civilians during WWⅡ

Taming American Power: The Global Response to U.S. Primacy
by Stephen M. Walt

The United States deliberately attacked thousands of civilians during World
War Ⅱ (including dropping two atomic bombs on Japan), and it did so with the explicit aim of sowing terror among the civilian population. Japan had started the war, of course, but the victims of these attacks were no more responsible for their government's policies than the victims in the World trad Center were responsible for the conduct of U.S. policy in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf. Yet , like most counties, the United States rarely acknowledges any moral similarity between its own "regrettable but necessary" actions and the "brutal and unwarranted " acts of its foes.
My purpose is not to shine a spotlight on America's past sins; it is simply to recognize that the United States often adopts one standard for its own behavior while demanding a different standard from others. As one would expect, the gap between what the United States prescribes for others and what it demands for itself has not gone unnoticed.
A hypocritical foreign policy creates several problems for the United States.....(page 100).........

But the problem is even broader than the ways in which U.S. leaders justify specific applications of military force. As in most countries, U.S. textbooks and public rhetoric tend to glorify our past achievements, give the United States too much credit for positive international developments, and omit or minimize the nation's worst foreign policy transgression. As a result, U.S. leaders----and the general public---are simply unaware of what the United States has actually done to others.
The consequence of this sort of historical amnesia can be severe,....(page106)

June 26, 2009
Britain considered chemical attack on Tokyo in 1944
gyotaku

Korean comfort women today

“Internet centrist” on Sparkling Korea

”Why I Left Greenpeace” By PATRICK MOORE

At first, many of the causes we championed, such as opposition to nuclear testing and protection of whales, stemmed from our scientific knowledge of nuclear physics and marine biology. But after six years as one of five directors of Greenpeace International, I observed that none of my fellow directors had any formal science education. They were either political activists or environmental entrepreneurs. Ultimately, a trend toward abandoning scientific objectivity in favor of political agendas forced me to leave Greenpeace in 1986.

The breaking point was a Greenpeace decision to support a world-wide ban on chlorine. Science shows that adding chlorine to drinking water was the biggest advance in the history of public health, virtually eradicating water-borne diseases such as cholera. And the majority of our pharmaceuticals are based on chlorine chemistry. Simply put, chlorine is essential for our health.

My former colleagues ignored science and supported the ban, forcing my departure. Despite science concluding no known health risks – and ample benefits – from chlorine in drinking water, Greenpeace and other environmental groups have opposed its use for more than 20 years.By PATRICK MOORE
April 22, 2008; Page A23・WSJ

魚拓

Chinese natinoalism outside China

DURHAM, N.C. — On the day the Olympic torch was carried through San Francisco last week, Grace Wang, a Chinese freshman at Duke University, came out of her dining hall to find a handful of students gathered for a pro-Tibet vigil facing off with a much larger pro-China counterdemonstration.

・・・・・・

The next day, a photo appeared on an Internet forum for Chinese students with a photo of Ms. Wang and the words “traitor to your country” emblazoned in Chinese across her forehead. Ms. Wang’s Chinese name, identification number and contact information were posted, along with directions to her parents’ apartment in Qingdao, a Chinese port city.

Salted with ugly rumors and manipulated photographs, the story of the young woman who was said to have taken sides with Tibet spread through China’s most popular Web sites, at each stop generating hundreds or thousands of raging, derogatory posts, some even suggesting that Ms. Wang — a slight, rosy 20-year-old — be burned in oil. Someone posted a photo of what was purported to be a bucket of feces emptied on the doorstep of her parents, who had gone into hiding.

“If you return to China, your dead corpse will be chopped into 10,000 pieces,” one person wrote in an e-mail message to Ms. Wang. “Call the human flesh search engines!” another threatened, using an Internet phrase that implies physical, as opposed to virtual, action.NYTBy SHAILA DEWAN
Published: April 17, 2008

Chinese strategy on history

NYT・By JIM YARDLEY
Published: April 17, 2008

BEIJING — Not far from National Stadium, the city’s mammoth, just-finished Olympic arena, another construction project is still facing an Olympic deadline. The building, sheathed in a green construction tent, will house Beijing’s first museum exclusively dedicated to Tibet.
Inside, curators will display antiquities, dynastic records and reproductions to demonstrate China’s dominion over Tibet as far back as the 13th century. Many experts question China’s historical claims, but few clouds of doubt are likely to darken the museum. Even the Dalai Lama is being edited out of the narrative.

“He will not appear after 1959,” said Lian Xiangmin, a Chinese scholar involved in the museum, referring to the year the Tibetan spiritual leader fled to India after a failed uprising against Chinese rule. “This is a Tibet museum, and we don’t recognize him as part of Tibet anymore.”

History is often interpreted to meet the political objectives of whichever government is doing the interpreting. The historical relationship between Tibet and China is replete with claims, disputes and caveats. But the ruling Communist Party does not hesitate to eliminate any uncertainty and use history as a political tool to validate its hold on Tibet.

Yet if the party’s unflinching line on Tibet’s historical status has effectively quashed any domestic dissenting views, it also has fueled Tibetan resentment. The authorities are now suppressing the largest outbreak of anti-Chinese unrest in Tibet in two decades, a violent uprising that many Tibetans trace, in part, to seething anger over cultural and religious repression.

Buddhist monks who led initially peaceful protests last month outside Lhasa were partly complaining about the “patriotic education” campaigns that required them to denounce the Dalai Lama and submit to history lessons about China’s rightful control over the region. Last week, monks at Drepung monastery outside Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region, reportedly protested a new round of patriotic education.

Across China, schoolchildren are taught that Tibet is an inalienable part of the country. Tour guides in Lhasa must follow approved versions of history. Dissenting scholars have been marginalized, censored and, in a handful of cases, imprisoned. Questioning official history can expose scholars to accusations of separatism. A Tibetan scholar, Dolma Kyab, has been jailed since 2005 after writing an unapproved history of Tibet.

“History is linked to legitimacy,” said Tashi Rabgey, director of the Contemporary Tibetan Studies Initiative at the University of Virginia. “The problem for Beijing is that their presence on the Tibetan Plateau has never been legitimized. And their attempt to control history is an effort to do that.”

Many scholars say that narrative oversimplifies history to support contemporary political and territorial claims. Historians generally agree that the relationship between China and Tibet became fully intermingled during the Yuan Dynasty, from the 1270s to 1368. The dispute is over the nature of the relationship.

The Tibetan government in exile says Buddhist lamas established a “priest-patron” relationship under which they became spiritual advisers to the Yuan rulers without sacrificing Tibetan self-rule or independence — an arrangement replicated in the last imperial dynasty, the Qing, which lasted from 1644 to 1912.

Chinese scholars say this logic is disingenuous. They point to records detailing how Tibet was subject to certain laws of the Yuan and Qing rulers — a paper trail they say proves not just that Tibet is an inalienable part of China but also that Chinese emperors had the authority to select the Dalai Lama.

Elliot Sperling, a leading Tibet specialist at Indiana University, said both sides massage their interpretations. He said Tibet cannot be regarded as truly independent during the Yuan and Qing dynasties, given that records show Tibet as subservient to Chinese rules and policies.

But Dr. Sperling said China’s claim to unbroken control of Tibet was also dubious. During the Ming dynasty, from 1368 to 1644, Tibet had scant connection to Chinese rulers, he said. And describing the Yuan and Qing dynasties as “Chinese” overlooks the fact that each took power after what was at the time viewed as a foreign invasion: Mongols established the Yuan; Manchus invaded and founded the Qing.

“What China doesn’t want to deal with is the fact that the Mongols had an empire,” said Dr. Sperling, director of Tibetan Studies at Indiana University’s department of Central Eurasia Studies. “It wasn’t a Chinese state. It was an empire.”

In this context, some scholars consider Tibet’s past relationship with China more akin to that of a vassal state. China’s government relinquished any remaining control over Tibet after the fall of the Qing in 1912. The current Dalai Lama, and his predecessor, ruled Tibet until 1951, when Mao invaded in what China maintains was a “peaceful liberation” that freed Tibetans from a feudal theocracy.

“We know that Tibetans and some Western scholars say that Tibet was an independent state during this period, but we don’t agree,” said Mr. Lian, the scholar with the research center.

Wang Lixiong, a dissident scholar in Beijing who has challenged some of the Communist Party’s historical claims, said imperial China regarded itself as the center of the world and had little concern about the political status of subservient neighbors like Tibet. But he said modern political needs had made this approach an inconvenient legacy.

“Now we are in a Westernized political situation,” said Mr. Wang, who is married to Ms. Woeser and is now banned from being published in China. “We have this definition of sovereignty, so we fight over every inch of territory.”

Robert Barnett, a Tibet specialist at Columbia University, said Tibet scholars inside China often did excellent work. But he said many scholars in China avoided specializing in Tibetan history after the 13th century because of the political overtones — and potential risks. He said one book was banned for including a sentence that questioned the official view that an eighth-century Tibetan king was half Chinese.

Mr. Barnett said that passengers arriving at the Lhasa airport from Nepal sometimes had their bags searched for unapproved books or photographs. “Managing accounts of history there and eradicating any sign that Tibet was separate from China is an official industry,” Mr. Barnett said in an interview conducted by e-mail.

Mr. Lian, the scholar at the Tibetology Institute, said plans were still evolving for the new Tibet museum complex. Officials are aiming for a pre-Olympic grand opening, but he noted that the project had hit delays. “We’re not going to rush it,” he said.

Asked about the importance of history, Mr. Lian paused.

“Why is history important?” he repeated. “By looking into history, we can see the future.”

NYT/Matthew Forney, a former Beijing bureau chief for Time, is writing a book about raising his family in China.

As is clear to anyone who lives here, most young ethnic Chinese strongly support their government’s suppression of the recent Tibetan uprising. One Chinese friend who has a degree from a European university described the conflict to me as “a clash between the commercial world and an old aboriginal society.” She even praised her government for treating Tibetans better than New World settlers treated Native Americans.

It’s a rare person in China who considers the desires of the Tibetans themselves. “Young Chinese have no sympathy for Tibet,” a Beijing human-rights lawyer named Teng Biao told me. Mr. Teng — a Han Chinese who has offered to defend Tibetan monks caught up in police dragnets — feels very alone these days. Most people in their 20s, he says, “believe the Dalai Lama is trying to split China.”

Educated young people are usually the best positioned in society to bridge cultures, so it’s important to examine the thinking of those in China. The most striking thing is that, almost without exception, they feel rightfully proud of their country’s accomplishments in the three decades since economic reforms began. And their pride and patriotism often find expression in an unquestioning support of their government, especially regarding Tibet.

The most obvious explanation for this is the education system, which can accurately be described as indoctrination. Textbooks dwell on China’s humiliations at the hands of foreign powers in the 19th century as if they took place yesterday, yet skim over the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and ’70s as if it were ancient history. Students learn the neat calculation that Chairman Mao’s tyranny was “30 percent wrong,” then the subject is declared closed. The uprising in Tibet in the late 1950s, and the invasion that quashed it, are discussed just long enough to lay blame on the “Dalai clique,” a pejorative reference to the circle of advisers around Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.
Then there’s life experience — or the lack of it — that might otherwise help young Chinese to gain a perspective outside the government’s viewpoint. Young urban Chinese study hard and that’s pretty much it. Volunteer work, sports, church groups, debate teams, musical skills and other extracurricular activities don’t factor into college admission, so few participate. And the government’s control of society means there aren’t many non-state-run groups to join anyway. Even the most basic American introduction to real life — the summer job — rarely exists for urban students in China.

Recent Chinese college graduates are an optimistic group. And why not? The economy has grown at a double-digit rate for as long as they can remember. Those who speak English are guaranteed good jobs. Their families own homes. They’ll soon own one themselves, and probably a car too. A cellphone, an iPod, holidays — no problem. Small wonder the Pew Research Center in Washington described the Chinese in 2005 as “world leaders in optimism.”

As for political repression, few young Chinese experience it. Most are too young to remember the Tiananmen massacre of 1989 and probably nobody has told them stories. China doesn’t feel like a police state, and the people young Chinese read about who do suffer injustices tend to be poor — those who lost homes to government-linked property developers without fair compensation or whose crops failed when state-supported factories polluted their fields.

Educated young Chinese are therefore the biggest beneficiaries of policies that have brought China more peace and prosperity than at any time in the past thousand years. They can’t imagine why Tibetans would turn up their noses at rising incomes and the promise of a more prosperous future. The loss of a homeland just doesn’t compute as a valid concern.

Of course, the nationalism of young Chinese may soften over time. As college graduates enter the work force and experience their country’s corruption and inefficiency, they often grow more critical. It is received wisdom in China that people in their 40s are the most willing to challenge their government, and the Tibet crisis bears out that observation. Of the 29 ethnic-Chinese intellectuals who last month signed a widely publicized petition urging the government to show restraint in the crackdown, not one was under 30.

Barring major changes in China’s education system or economy, Westerners are not going to find allies among the vast majority of Chinese on key issues like Tibet, Darfur and the environment for some time. If the debate over Tibet turns this summer’s contests in Beijing into the Human Rights Games, as seems inevitable, Western ticket-holders expecting to find Chinese angry at their government will instead find Chinese angry at them.

China’s persistent Japan syndrome (IAN BURUMA - The Financial Times)
April 15, 2005 中国の執拗なる日本症候群（イアン・ブルマ）

A review of "THE JAPANESE POLICE SYSTEM TODAY:"

To all outward appearances, the Japanese law enforcement system is a paragon of community-based, service-oriented policing: Police officers make house visits, offer directions, arbitrate neighborhood squabbles, and even counsel distraught mothers. So, what has gone wrong? According to this respected American criminologist, very little. "No system in the world is without its flaws . . . I do not believe that these abuses and missteps, regardless of their widespread, well-publicized notoriety, are symptomatic of a systemic breakdown."

In comparison, his evaluation of the situation in the U.S. is decidedly negative. According to Parker, the U.S. law enforcement system is an eight-cylinder car chugging along on six cylinders. "We currently have a fragmented patchwork of inefficient, marginally trained and poorly equipped police forces," he writes.

Nevertheless, Parker is not totally uncritical of the Japanese police force, citing the 1999 case of Stephen O'Toole as an example of how its overzealousness for convictions can lead to gross violations of civil liberties.
Sunday, April 21, 2002
By PHILIP ZITOWITZ

Read on yourself

Who Are the World's Most Influential People?

TIME　ON LINE



Who the hell is Miyamoto?

And who the hell is RAIN?

Reviews of "Human Smoke"

Human Smoke: The Beginnings of World War II, the End of Civilization /
Nicholson Baker (

Baker shows that the Japanese, as early as 1934, were complaining that Roosevelt was deliberately provoking them. In January 1941, Japan protested the U.S. military buildup in Hawaii. Joseph Grew, our ambassador to Japan, reported rumors that the Japanese response would be a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. Yet according to World War II mythology, America was blissfully sleeping, unprepared for war, when caught by surprise by the dastardly "sneak attack." (Isn't it curious that Asians carry out "sneak attacks," whereas Westerners launch "preemptive strikes"?) A year earlier, Baker shows, Roosevelt began planning the bombing of Japan -- which had invaded China, but with which we were not at war -- from Chinese air bases with American planes and, when necessary, American pilots. Pearl Harbor was a purely military target, but Roosevelt wanted to bomb Japanese cities with incendiary bombs; he'd been assured that their cities would burn fast, being made largely of wood and paper.

Roosevelt evinced no desire to negotiate. In fact, Baker writes, in October he "began leaking the news of his new war plan," with $100 billion earmarked for airplanes alone. Grew again warned Roosevelt that he was pushing Japan toward armed conflict with the United States, but the president continued his war preparations. Finally, the night before the Japanese attack, Roosevelt sent a message to Emperor Hirohito calling for talks. He read it to the Chinese ambassador, remarking that he thought the message would "be fine for the record."lattimes /By Mark Kurlansky
March 9, 2008

“Human Smoke” deliberately has no argument, but Churchill appears as more of a warmonger than he is usually portrayed, and there is far more than in most textbooks about pacifist opposition to the war in the United States and Britain and to Britain’s pre-Blitz bombing campaign of German cities.

“I came to the Second World War with a typically inadequate American education.” Mr. Baker said, “and I was surprised to discover that Churchill had this crazy, late-night side. He was obviously thrilled to be in the midst of this escalating war. This is a man who wanted Europe to starve — he wanted to starve it into a state of revolt.”NYT/March 4, 2008
A Debunker on the Road to World War II
By CHARLES McGRATH

Franklin Roosevelt, now a lawyer in New York City, noticed that Jews made up one-third of the freshman class at Harvard. He talked the problem over with Henry Morgenthau, Sr., and he went to the Harvard Board of Overseers, of which he was a member. "It was decided," Roosevelt later explained, "that over a period of years the number of Jews should be reduced one or two per cent a year until it was down to 15%." It was about 1922.

The Royal Air Force announced the staging of a mock bombing exercise at its annual air pageant in Hendon, north of London. It was June 11, 1927.

The New York Times described the Hendon event in advance: "The 'town,' which will be built largely of airplane wings, will be bombed to bits. Airplanes will drop food and ammunition to the European 'refugees,' who will be fl eeing after having escaped from the citadel in which they have been 'beleaguered' by the town's native inhabitants." The town was located in the imaginary land of Irquestine.onlinewsj

05/04/2010

The Horror of D-Day
A New Openness to Discussing Allied War Crimes in WWII

By Klaus Wiegrefe

D-Day may have been the beginning of the end of Germany's campaign of horror during World War II. But a new book by British historian Antony Beevor makes it clear that the "greatest generation" wasn't above committing a few war crimes of its own.

According to the findings of German historian Peter Lieb, many Canadian and American units were given orders on D-Day to take no prisoners.

In his 2007 book "The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1934-1944" Pulitzer Prize-winning author Rick Atkinson described various war crimes committed by the Allies. And now we have the same thing with Normandy.

Is Japanese love color blind?

The vast majority — 85 per cent — of interracial couples counted in the 2006 census involve a white person and a visible minority. But in a country where visible minorities are on a steep incline, so too are marriages among couples from two different visible minority groups (15 per cent).

The Japanese are most likely to enter a mixed union, the census showed, at 74.7 per cent. The second and third groups most likely to be involved in an interracial relationship are Latin Americans (47 per cent) and blacks (40.6 per cent).

In contrast, South Asians and Chinese are among the least likely to form a union outside their group. lifewise.魚拓

Anger as Seoul aims to reclassify dogmeat

Wed Apr 2, 9:41 AM ET

SEOUL (AFP) - The Seoul city government is seeking to classify man's best friend as livestock in order to set food safety standards for South Korean lovers of dogmeat, officials say.
ADVERTISEMENT

Somewhere between two and four million dogs are estimated to be consumed in South Korea every year but the slaughtering and processing is carried out in dirty environments and poses a risks to diners' health, they said.

Since dogs are not currently classed as livestock there are no hygiene regulations on their slaughter, officials said.

"Dogs are consumed in their millions in this country every year. That's a fact. We have to take care of this situation," said Lee Hae-Woo, head of the city government's department of food safety.

"We plan to recommend to the central government that dogs are classified as livestock," he told AFP. "This is like a hot potato but we don't pretend the issue does not exist."

South Korea's capital has always been ambivalent about dogmeat. To avoid adverse publicity before the 1988 Olympics, the city banned dogmeat and snakemeat as "abhorrent food."

The order is now largely ignored and an estimated 500 dogmeat restaurants operate in Seoul alone.AFP魚拓

Tibet and West

By Adrian Croft - Analysis

LONDON (Reuters) - When it comes to speaking out on Tibet, China has just got too much economic clout for western powers to talk too loudly.

In contrast to western condemnation of a crackdown on demonstrations in Myanmar (Burma) last year, western criticism of China's handling of protests in Tibet have been much more muted, analysts say.

"There's a tendency in Washington to make a China exception'," said John Tkacik, China expert at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative U.S. think tank.

"Things we would whack Burma, Sudan or Uzbekistan for, we want to ignore when China does them," he said.

The United States and other western nations called for restraint after a crackdown on anti-government protests in Tibet in which Chinese authorities said 13 had been killed, while exiled Tibetans put the death toll at around 100.

But expressions of concern have stopped there.

"There's a general unwillingness of governments to speak out on human rights violations involving China," said Corinna-Barbara Francis, a China researcher at human rights group Amnesty International in London.

"A lot has to do with this perception that has emerged of an all-powerful, influential presence of China which I think is exaggerated and goes beyond its economic clout," she said.
With economic growth of 10 percent or more a year since 2003, China now has the world's fourth biggest economy and may be on track to overtake the United States as the world's largest economy within a couple of decades.

It has been doing deals around the world to secure supplies of oil and metals -- notably when state-owned Aluminum Corp of China teamed up with U.S. aluminum producer Alcoa in February to buy a $14 billion stake in mining giant Rio Tinto.

Analysts argue that Tibet, which Chinese troops marched into in 1950, has never enjoyed much international support even when it launched a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959, prompting the flight of its spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

Then, long before China's economic boom, the west saw Beijing as a potential Cold War ally against the Soviet Union.

And although Tibet's ancient Buddhist culture won sympathy from many individual westerners, its remoteness and poverty gave it no international clout.

But a traditional western "hands off" approach to Tibet has been underscored this time around by the increasing economic interdependence between the United States and China.

CREDIT CRUNCH

The anti-government protests in Tibet come at a particularly delicate time, as Washington battles a credit crunch and a falling dollar, and looks to China to bail it out.

China has about $1.5 trillion of foreign exchange reserves, a large proportion of which are in dollar-denominated bonds. If China stopped buying, the dollar would likely fall sharply.
China's new investment fund pumped $5 billion into Morgan Stanley in December after the U.S. investment bank posted $9.4 billion of losses in subprime mortgages and other assets.

The economic interdependence is not however only one-way. China relies on U.S. and western markets to buy its exports which underpin its healthy trade surplus. The U.S. trade gap with China soared to a record $256 billion in 2007.

This has prompted some to argue that the United States and others could take a tougher stand with China.

Gerrit van der Wees, from the Formosan Association for Public Affairs in Washington, which lobbies for Taiwan's separate identity in international affairs, said the United States felt it had to be more accommodating to China.

"But, in our view, that doesn't mean giving in to what China says and does, which is what the U.S. has been doing a little bit too much over the past year," he added.

China's economic lure, however, seems to be strong, not just for the United States but the European Union.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on a visit to China in January that Britain was open to Chinese trade and investment and pitched for China's new $200 billion sovereign wealth fund to open an office in London.

French firms sealed $30 billion of deals during President Nicolas Sarkozy's visit to China last November. Tue Mar 18, 2008(Ruuter)

comfort women Korean comfort women in increase

Modern Korean comfort wmen are in increase abroad, according to OneKoreannews.net.
According to the article, it is due to the fact the strict law against prostitution's was enacted a few years back in Korea. Some women are deceived by brokers, but others go voluntarily abroad such as to Australia and Japan for quick money.

onekoreanews

現代版　人身売買 2008年3月12日発行


　





０４年「性売買特別法」施行後
学生ら安易な考えで海外に

　韓国人女性の売春が韓国国外で急増している。韓国では０４年に、売春行為を取り締まる「性売買特別法」が施行された。これによって居場所を失ったゆえの “海外遠征売春″なのか。売春行為が法で認められているオーストラリアなどのほか、近距離の日本でも急増している。“遠征売春″は金銭トラブルなどで人身売買につながるケースもあるようだ。韓国側の取締当局は、「それ以上に問題なのは、プロではなく学生や主婦が売春を承知で海外に出かけていることだ」と頭を抱えている。
（崔世一）
　今月８日、オーストラリアのシドニー市警に１０人の韓国人女性が保護された。彼女たちは１日２０時間以上も売春行為を行っていたという。
　ＡＦＰ通信によれば、売春組織は甘い労働条件で女性たちを誘い、偽造旅券を与えてオーストラリアに入国させたとみられている。入国すると彼女たちは旅券を取り上げられた上、想像以上の過酷な条件を押しつけられたという。
　韓国の警察庁外事局関係者は、「性売買特別法」で国内に居場所をなくした売春婦だった可能性が高いとみている。
　「たくさん稼げるという甘い話に乗って遠征売春に出かけても、密入国にかかった偽造旅券などの“斡旋料”や、現地で思いのほかかかった生活費などがかさみ、売春組織からの借金が雪だるま式に増えていく。だが、それこそがブローカーの真の狙いで、彼女たちを底なし沼に誘う。早い話が現代版の人身売買だ」
　韓国の警察庁関係者は、こうしたケースは逆にめずらしいという。
　「確かに、性売買特別法の実施により、国内の売春婦が海外に流れたのは事実だ。しかし、最近は、外国語取得とカネ稼ぎを目的に、売春を承知で海外に出る女子大生や主婦のほうがはるかに多いのではないか」
　韓国の警察庁外事局国際犯罪捜査隊は２月、これまで１５００人もの韓国女性に海外での売春をあっせんした組織を摘発した。ブローカーたちは「働きながら外国語を学べる」という言葉で女性たちを募っていた。
　韓国の女子大生が好む国は、英語圏のオーストラリアやカナダ、米国などだ。最近ではしかし、カネを稼ぐ目的で日本にやってくる学生や主婦が急増しており、彼女たちは売春が手っ取り早い稼ぎ手段と簡単に割り切っているようだ。日本はターゲットになりやすい。距離的に近いことや、オーストラリアなどに比べてブローカーの仲介料が安いからだという。
　都内のある韓国デリバリーヘルスの店長の話だ。
　「昔はブローカーに騙され売春をさせられることがあったかもしれないが、今は自ら望んで日本にやってくるケースが増えている」
　ビザを必要としない日本への渡航。不法滞在で取り締まりに遭ったことがなく、犯罪歴もない学生や主婦は、入国には何の問題もない。密入国する必要もなければ、偽造旅券を所持する必要もない。ブローカーの仲介料はしれている。店の紹介料や空港まで迎えにきてもらう手数料くらいだ。
　「１週間働いてブランド品を購入して帰国する人もいれば、３カ月で１年間の学費を稼ぐ人もいる」と言うのは、前出のヘルス店長だ。
　問題は、韓国や日本政府が、こうした実態を把握しきれていないことだ。今年３月、警察庁が発表した「来日外国人売春防止法違反検挙状況」をみると、韓国人の場合、０７年の摘発件数はわずか２５件にすぎない。前年比では、６７．９％も減少している。警察庁関係者は「増加しているとの認識はない」との見方を示している。現代版人身売買ともいえる実態に、日韓両国の警察が迫りきれていないのは事実だ。

　性売買特別法　売春斡旋などの行為の処罰に関する特別法。０４年から施行されている。人身売買、売春の強要、売春の広告行為に対する厳しい処罰を主な内容としている。特別法は暴行や監禁、人身売買などにより売春を強いられていた被害女性たちを救うために制定されたが、売春婦からでさえ歓迎されなかった。彼女たちは「売春を職業として認め、生存権を保障せよ」と訴えていた。


「短期間で稼げる」

　これまで、韓国人女性が短期間のうちに稼げるところといえば、“コリアンクラブ”だった。今では店舗を持たない“デリバリーヘルス”で働くケースが多い。駐在員など韓国人がよく訪れるコリアンクラブに比べ、人目につくことも少なく、摘発されるリスクも小さい。万一、摘発されても、“恋人同士”で通せる。韓国人女性に限った話ではない。日本では最近、主婦やＯＬの“援助交際”が盛んになっており、ビジネスホテルが頻繁に利用されているという。統一日報

Donation to South Korean Namdaemun

Japanese media reported that South Korean Namdaemun, national treasure in the heart of Seoul was reduced to ashes last month. Although Korean government will reconstruct it with her budget, the donations from Japanese and Koreans in Japan were made to All Korean Residents' Organization in the hope that they will be of help. And now it amounts to 30000000 yen. Some people wrote the letter to the effect that it pains me to see the South Gate collapse, or my husband began to study Hangule and I was fond of Korean drama, we really wish that it would be restored. It was the first time all Korean Resident's Organization received the donation this much from non-member of the organization. The person in charge of the organization says, "Japan-Korean communication has been developed well, and many Japanese has seen it once. I am glad Japanese and Koreans share the sentiment of sadness to lose something important." The organization will send this money to K government through Korean civil organization.

先月１０日、ソウル中心部にある韓国の国宝第１号の崇礼門（スンネムン）、通称、南大門が全焼した火災は、日本でも大きく報じられました。南大門の復元は、韓国政府が国の予算で行う方針ですが、在日韓国人で作る民団・在日本大韓民国民団には「復元に役立ててほしい」と火事の直後から募金が寄せられ、これまでにおよそ３０００万円に上っています。なかには、手紙を添えて現金を送ってくる日本人もいて、「南大門の崩れ落ちる姿を見て胸が痛みました」とか「夫がハングルを習い、わたしも韓国ドラマで韓国に興味を持ち始めました。元どおりに復元されることを祈っています」などと書かれています。これほど多くの募金が、日本人を含めた民団組織以外の人からも寄せられるのは初めてだということです。民団の担当者は「日韓の交流が進み、南大門が、日本人にも一度は目にしたことのある身近な建物になっていたのではないか。大切な物を失った悲しみを共有できて、ほんとうにうれしい」と話しています。民団では、寄せられた募金を市民団体を通じて韓国政府に贈ることにしていますNHK

魚拓

Military Power of China

ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS
Military Power of the
People’s Republic of China
2008
Office（PDF）

Comfort women 'Sex Slaves' Freed in Sydney

10 Korean 'Sex Slaves' Freed in Sydney

2 days ago

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) — Police have rescued 10 South Korean women who were forced to work in a Sydney brothel by a sex slavery syndicate that lured them to Australia with promises of legitimate jobs, officials said Friday.

Four Australian men and women and a South Korean woman were arrested early Friday and charged with multiple offenses relating to a sex trafficking business that was making $2.8 million a year, Australian Federal Police and the Immigration Department said in a joint statement.

The victims, who were rescued by police Thursday, were receiving counseling and government support, immigration official Lyn O'Connell said. She said no decision had been made on whether they would remain in Australia as prosecution witnesses.

Police allege the syndicate recruited women in South Korea by deceiving them about the jobs on offer and then organized their work visas, the government statement said. It did not say what type of jobs the women were offered.

Once in Australia, the syndicate took the women's passports and forced them to work as prostitutes in a legal brothel for up to 20 hours a day, the statement said. It did not say how long the women had been enslaved.AP

魚拓

さらに

China’s Views of Sovereignty

....Sovereignty Consolidation.

China’s East China Sea boundary dispute with Japan provides a good example of its efforts to consolidate its sovereign claims in its maritime periphery. The focus of the maritime boundary dispute between China and Japan in the East China Sea is an expanse of nearly 70,000 square nautical miles of water space that constitutes the overlap between China’s claim―which reaches from the mainland eastward to the Okinawa Trough just west of the Ryukyu Island chain--and Japan’s claim along a line equidistant from the coastlines of each state.......Significantly complicating factors in the delimitation of the maritime boundary in the East China Sea are the dispute over the sovereignty of the Senkaku Islands (Diaoyutai to the Chinese) and the unique status of Taiwan. The Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands are a group of 5 small uninhabited rocky islets, the largest of which is 3.6 square kilometers in area. Historically, they were known to the Chinese and mentioned in official documents as early as the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), but there is no evidence they were ever taken under effective administration and control by the Chinese.....The tension between China and Japan over resources, boundaries and sovereignty in the East China Sea―and especially the confrontation over Japanese administration of and claim of sovereignty to the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands--provides to the PRC government a lever of nationalism to use to divert the attention of the Chinese people from domestic difficulties and to shore up support for the central government during times of domestic political competition.
Peter A. Dutton
Associate Professor, China Maritime Studies Institute
U.S. Naval War College
Testimony before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission
China’s Views of Sovereignty and Methods of Access Control
February 27, 2008USCC魚拓

via 世の中を生暖かく見守るブログ

Japan lost to Korea

Last December, Chinese Internet's community conducted the poll.
Here is some interesting result.

Out 20 neighboring counrties, which country do you like most?

1 Pakistan
2 Russia
3 Japan


Out 20 neighboring counrties, which country do you dislike most

1 Korea
2 Japan
3 Indonesia
魚拓

We have contradictory attitude toward Japan. Historicaly we have reason to hate her, but there are a lot of things to lean from Japan. ....I can't respect Korea, despite the fact she is influenced by China and Japan, she is ultranationalistic, .... arrogant.

魚拓
魚拓

Diamond on line

The film"the most beautiful night in the world"

2008年02月27日

　少子化問題とエンターテインメントを織り交ぜた作品が公開される。出生率が日本一高い架空の村の謎を描いた映画「世界で一番美しい夜」（５月公開予定、天願大介監督）で、見どころは２５組５０人のセックスシーン。これまでにないユニークな視点に注目だ。主演は田口トモロヲ（５０）。文化庁が支援する。

nikkansports

A new entertainment film trying to stop the low birth rate will come out. The most beautiful night in the world is it;it is about the mysterious Japanese village where the birth rate is highest. The hightlight is the scene where 25 cuples are making love. This is unique perspective that we've never known. The ministry of Cultural Affairs supports it

AFTER THE REICH

How three million Germans died after VE Day

Last Updated: 12:01am BST 18/04/2007
A hellish peace
Rape, execution, and torture were among the wounds inflicted on a conquered Germany by Allied forces
Brutality didn't end when World War II did

By Bruce Ramsey

Special to The Seattle Times
From The Sunday Times
April 8, 2007
Casualties of peace
Max Hastings

AFTER THE REICH: From the Liberation of Vienna to the Berlin Airlift by Giles MacDonogh

J Murray £25
The Squall After the Whirlwind
A British historian takes Americans to task for their role in the post-World War II occupation.

Reviewed by Andrew Nagorski
Sunday, August 26, 2007; BW11

AFTER THE REICH

The Brutal History of the Allied Occupation

By Giles MacDonogh
via太田述正ブログ

How three million Germans died after VE Day

Last Updated: 12:01am BST 18/04/2007/Telegraph

Japanese people have started donation for Korean national treasure, "Namdaemun

People working for preservation of Himeji castle are raising funds for Namdaemun, a national treasure of Korea, which was burnt down by arson, saying that as one who feel obligation to preserve national treasure, it is not someone else's affair.

韓国：南大門焼失　復興募金を　姫路城登閣口に支援箱　／兵庫

　韓国・ソウル中心部の観光名所「南大門」（崇礼門＝韓国国宝１号）の全焼を受け、世界遺産で国宝・姫路城（姫路市本町）の保存活動に取り組んでいる市民団体「姫路城を守る会」（会長＝米田徳夫・ヤマトヤシキ会長）などが１５日から、南大門復興募金を集める。５月末までで、集まった募金は韓国に送ることにしている。

　同会は６８年に設立され、市民ら約６００人が城の清掃活動などを行っている。火災を知り、「国を代表する文化財を守る者として、他人事ではない。復興の手助けになれば」と募金活動に乗り出すことにした。

　姫路城管理事務所の協力で１４日夕、登閣口に募金箱を設置。火災を伝える新聞記事なども掲示し、１５日の開門時から観光客らに募金を呼び掛ける。受け付け時間は午前９時～午後４時。【久野洋】

〔播磨・姫路版〕

毎日新聞　2008年2月15日
Mainichi

Let's play fair, China

Japan beat hosts China in East Asian football

AFP（Cashe)
I don't care which wins, but China, let's play fair.

Japanese flag was set on fire while the plastic bottles and booing were aimed at the visitors.

jiji(cashe)
Asahi
魚拓
中国ラフプレー問題、罰金４５００ドル　サッカー日本戦

2008年02月23日19時02分

　東アジアサッカー連盟は２３日、中国・重慶で理事会を開き、東アジア選手権の日本戦などでラフプレーが問題になった男子の中国に対して、大会規定などにより罰金４５００米ドル（約４８万円）を科すと決めた。また北朝鮮も罰金１５００米ドル（約１６万円）の処分となった。審判の改善を求めた男子日本代表からの文書も取り上げられ、大会前の研修を徹底するなどの改善策が示された。

　１試合に４回以上警告を受けたチームには罰金が科され、中国は１７日の韓国戦で５回、２０日の日本戦で４回、北朝鮮は第２戦の韓国戦で５回の警告を受けた。
2008.2.23 13:56
このニュースのトピックス：サッカー日本代表
２０日の日本－中国戦で後半、中国・ＧＫ宗磊と交錯し、飛び蹴りされる安田＝重慶（共同）２０日の日本－中国戦で後半、中国・ＧＫ宗磊と交錯し、飛び蹴りされる安田＝重慶（共同）

　東アジア・サッカー連盟は２３日の理事会で、中国の重慶で行われている東アジア選手権男子でラフプレーが目立つ中国に計４５００ドル（約４８万円）の罰金を科すことを決めた。

　中国は１７日の韓国戦で５度、２０日の日本戦で４度の警告を受けた。理事会では、国際サッカー連盟（ＦＩＦＡ）などの懲罰規定にのっとって、韓国戦について１５００ドル（約１６万円）、日本戦について３０００ドル（約３２万円）の罰金を決めた。（共同）

Interview with Gerry On Sanin Ctyuou shinpou

HT to a reader.

The excessive anti-Japan movement that took place on March 2005 in Korea has died down now. Shimane prefecture established "the day of Takeshima that year.
Mr. Gerry Beaver, a teacher of English at the University near Seoul, who studies the history of Takeshima analyzes the change as follows.

" I think part of the reason for that is that many Koreans have turned their
attention toward China and the historical disagreements that exist between
China and Korea, but I also think that the Korean government has realized
that talking about the history of Takeshima (Dokdo) has done more harm than
good since the history supports Japan's claims on Takeshima."

He posted articles on the Internet about the Korean old documents and maps that were not in favor of Korean claim, which led him to get fired from the university last year.

" I now have a teaching job at another Korean university that I am very
satisfied with. I enjoy living in Korea because Koreans are very friendly
people, but the problem is that Koreans seem to think that anyone who
disagrees with them on Dokdo (Takeshima) are anti-Korean. That is simply not
true."


Lee Myung-bak will take office as new President on 25th of the next February. He
will place more importance upon the relation with Japan.

" I think Lee Myung-bak is a pragmatic politician that wants to improve
relations with Japan, and will, therefore, try to avoid making Takeshima
(Dokdo) an issue by continuing to pretend that there is no dispute with
Japan over the islets. However, there are still anti-Japanese groups in
Korea that he may sometimes have to appease in someway, so the issue may
still come up."

While anti-Japan movement has died down, Korea still seems to assert her claims on
Takeshima by doing such things as sitting up polling booths,
. On the other hand, Japanese government hasn't done anything to speak of.

"There are hardcore anti-Japan advocates in Korea.

Old documents and maps clearly support Japan’s historical claims on
Takeshima, so the Japanese government needs to stop being so passive about
this issue and start translating and writing the books and brochures that
will prove their claims to the world because I am almost positive that
Korean historians will continue to distort the facts to support their false
claims. However, telling the truth about the history and settling the
dispute are two different things."

Gerry has studied the history of takehsima for 3 years since he felt something wrong with anti-Japan sentiments in Korea.
He is confident that there is no evidence that Takeshima belongs Korean territory.

" I have pretty much answered all the questions I had about the
Takeshima-Dokdo issue, so I am not really doing any new research right now.
What I want to do now is to review and organize the information I do have
because I am thinking about writing a book. I think I have learned the truth
about Takeshima, and I want others to know it, too. "

Florida--Metal in Candy imported from China

Lakeland, FL (AHN) - Shards of metal were discovered in about 20 lollipops at a local elementary school in Lakeland, Florida.

The metal, found inside Pokemon valentine lollipops purchased at a Dollar General, was discovered at the Kathleen Elementary School Thursday afternoon.

According to ABC News, the blades were first found by a mother whose child was eating the lollipop discovered the metal inside her child's candy. According to the woman, she bought the candy from the Dollar General Store a week ago.

The candy was turned over to local detectives Wednesday. The metal was found in only one of the entire bag of lollipops.

The additional tainted candies found in the elementary school were discovered the day after.

Dollar General announced Thursday that they have removed all "Pokemon 10 Valentine Cards and Pops" from the store shelves all over the country.

The Orlando Sentinel reported that the product was imported from China by Sherwood Brands in Maryland.

AHN魚拓

How Japanese take pictures.

via linkinnand パルプンテニュース

Finally arrested

Arrests made in death of sumo wrestler

The Yomiuri Shimbun

Masanori Fujii, one of three arrested wrestlers, enters Inuyama Police Station in Inuyama, Aichi Prefecture, on Thursday.

NAGOYA--A former sumo stablemaster was arrested Thursday on suspicion of assault resulting in the death of a 17-year-old wrestler in June, police said.

The former Tokitsukaze stablemaster, whose real name is Junichi Yamamoto, was arrested along with three wrestlers from the stable over the death of Tokitaizan, whose real name was Takashi Saito, after apparent hazing. The three wrestlers are Yuichiro Izuka, 25 (known as Doto), Masanori Fujii, 22 (Tokiomaru), Masakazu Kimura, 24 (Akiyutaka).

Yamamoto, 57, became the first person to be arrested over a sumo-related incident that took place when he was a stablemaster.

According to the Aichi prefectural police and Inuyama Police Station, Yamamoto, the three arrested wrestlers and four others assaulted Saito during training sessions between 12:40 p.m. on June 25 and 11:30 a.m. on June 26 at the stable's temporary lodgings in Inuyama, Aichi Prefecture, where they were staying ahead of the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament. Saito collapsed after full-contact practice called butsukarigeiko on June 26. He was sent to the hospital but died later the same day.

Yamamoto allegedly hit Saito over the head with a beer bottle on June 25 after the wrestler tried to flee the stable's lodgings. Yamamoto also allegedly told the three wrestlers to assault Saito. During the butsukarigeiko, he allegedly hit Saito with a wooden stick.

According to the police, Yamamoto admitted to hitting Saito with a beer bottle, but he denied it was because Saito had tried to escape. Yamamoto also denied having instructed the wrestlers to assault Saito.

Izuka and Fujii basically admitted to the allegations, but Kimura said he believed he was disciplining Saito.

The police plan to send papers on four other wrestlers suspected of taking part in the assault.

The police initially said Saito died from illness, but an autopsy at Niigata University found he died from traumatic shock. Later, an examination by Nagoya University specialists of Saito's body tissue also found a connection between the assault and his death.

Butsukarigeiko involves a wrestler repeatedly pushing an inert opponent, who is in a brace position, across the ring. It is designed to build stamina and usually occurs at the end of training sessions. Normally lasting for a maximum of five minutes, it is not uncommon for wrestlers to vomit after such training. Police say Saito was forced to undergo the training for about 30 minutes.

Yamamoto was dismissed by the Japan Sumo Association in October over the scandal.

JSA Chairman Kitanoumi lamented the arrest of Yamamoto and the three others Thursday night. "It's so regrettable that sumo wrestlers have been arrested," Kitanoumi said at a press conference held at Tokyo's Ryogoku Kokugikan.

The chairman said he hoped the four would cooperate with the police investigation. Referring to a possible punishment by the JSA on the four, he said, "We'll take measures that we think necessary while looking at a future judicial judgment."

He added that the JSA committee set up after the incident to examine ways to prevent a recurrence will take measures to handle the case.
(Feb. 8, 2008)
National
go
Yomiuri

力士傷害致死、元時津風親方と兄弟子３人を逮捕　

　大相撲の時津風部屋の序ノ口力士だった斉藤俊(たかし)さん（当時１７歳）＝しこ名・時太山(ときたいざん)＝が急死した事件で、愛知県警捜査１課と犬山署は７日、制裁目的で２日間にわたって暴行を繰り返して斉藤さんを死亡させたとして、元時津風親方の山本順一容疑者（５７）（元小結双津竜）と兄弟子３人を傷害致死容疑で逮捕した。また、県警は同署に特別捜査本部を設置した。大相撲にかかわる事件で当時の親方が逮捕されたのは初めて。
Click here to find out more!

　逮捕された兄弟子３人は、伊塚雄一郎（２５）（しこ名・怒濤(どとう)）、藤居正憲(まさのり)（２２）（時王丸(ときおうまる)）、木村正和（２４）（明義豊(あきゆたか)）の３容疑者。県警は、暴行に加わったほかの４人の兄弟子も同容疑で書類送検する方針だ。

　調べによると、山本容疑者と兄弟子３人は、ほかの兄弟子４人と共謀し、昨年６月２５日午後０時４０分ごろから死亡当日の２６日午前１１時半ごろにかけて、愛知県犬山市の宿舎裏やけいこ場で、制裁しようと企て金属バットや木の棒で斉藤さんを殴打するなど、複数回にわたって暴行を繰り返し、外傷性ショックで死亡させた疑い。

　山本容疑者は２５日夕、食事の席で斉藤さんの額をビール瓶で殴打したうえ、兄弟子らに「お前らも教えてやれ」「鉄砲柱に縛りつけとけ」などと指示。２６日午前も、通常５分程度が限界とされる「ぶつかりげいこ」を約３０分続け、兄弟子たちはこの中でも殴るけるの暴行を加えたほか、山本容疑者が木の棒で殴った。

　調べに対し、山本容疑者はビール瓶で殴ったことは認めたが、「脱走したから殴ったわけではない」と供述。伊塚容疑者らに自らが指示したことなども否認している。兄弟子３人のうち、伊塚、藤居両容疑者は容疑をほぼ認め、木村容疑者は「しつけと教育のつもりだった」と犯意を否認している。

　当初、斉藤さんの死因は病死とされたが、出身地にある新潟大の組織検査で外傷性ショック死と判明。さらに名古屋大での再検査結果や兄弟子らのこれまでの証言などから、県警は２日間にわたる暴行と死亡の因果関係が立証できると判断した。
（2008年2月7日23時38分 読売新聞）（2008年2月7日23時38分 読売新聞

Debito's article and Global Voices Online

Oiwan Lam introduced Debito's article to her readers on Global Voices Online But in respond to the comments, she edidted her article. I think
she has been fair on this issue.
魚拓
Note Debito has banned the innocent comments contradictory to Debito's account which Oiwan Lam rightly let publicized.

Nanjing massacre and Korea

1937.12.24 Donga ilblo report the big cities such as Daegu, Busan, Incheon,celebrate the fall of Nanjing to Japanese army.

via 杉野洋明 極東亜細亜研究所

The Dong-a Ilbo (literally East Asia Daily) was founded in 1920 by Kim Sung-soo who also founded Korea University during the Japanese occupation of Korea. Later, Kim also served as the second vice-president of South Korea in 1951. DongA Ilbo started as a nationalist paper

Timeline
DongA Ilbo's Traditional Logo
DongA Ilbo's Traditional Logo

* 1920-04-01 : Published the first issue along with the civilization policy of Governor-General of Korea
* 1920-09-25 : The first suspension for indefinite period of time: for printing the article "Discussing the Problems with Rituals" which were critical of three items sacred to Japan
* 1926-03-06 : The second suspension for printing a message celebrating the March 1 uprising (Civil Movement)
* 1930-04-16 : The third suspension for printing "The Dong-A Ilbo Plays an Important Role in Chosun's Current Situation" which was a letter sent by a press in US in support of Korea
* 1931-03-21 : Held the 1st Dong-A Marathon Games, Korea's first marathon race
* 1936-08-29 : The fourth suspension: for erasing the Japanese flag from Korean born Olympic gold medalist
# 1940-08-10 : Forced closure by the Japanese government
# 1945-12-01 : Re-opening of DongA Ilbowiki

A girl from Norway in Japanese

youtube
Wow, she is so cute, and she speaks Japanese.
I am sure she will be popular in Japan.

Evil Japan---the videos from North Korea.

link1
link2
via日本の評判（the way people look at Japan)

The Japanese are mixture of many races?

Oniazuma
has an answer.

Japanese Robot walks like monkey

It may walk like a Japanese robot, but it's thinking like a monkey in the United States. Japanese and US researchers said Wednesday they have created a humanoid robot that acts according to the brain activity of a monkey all the way across the Pacific.

The experiment was part of efforts to develop prosthetic limbs which can be mentally controlled by people with disabilities.

A laboratory in the western Japanese city of Kyoto unveiled a 155-centimetre (62-inch) tall humanoid, with a friendly-looking face including bulging black eyes, who walked via signals coming into its legs through wires.

Researchers said the robot was responding to the cortical brain activity of a monkey that was walking attached to wires on a treadmill at Duke University in North Carolina. The signal was sent via the Internet.

"We were able to detect the monkey's brain activity while walking on the treadmill and relay the data from the United States to Japan," the state-backed Japan Science and Technology Agency said in a statement.

"For the first time in the world, we were then able to make our humanoid robot in Japan walk in real-time in a similar manner as the monkey," it said.

The robot was designed by the Japanese agency and Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh to move by responding to brain activity signals. AFP

Does the author mean what the title literally means, or does he suggest more than what it literally means?

Is the robot just Japanese Robot or isn't it Japanese and American robot?

"Yankee robot thinks like monkey?" might be okay as well?

Culture of comfort women still alive in Korea

U.S. Still Rates S.Korea as Sex Tourism Destination

The U.S. Congressional Research Service still rates South Korea as a major Asian destination for organized sex tours in a recent report entitled "Trafficking in Persons: U.S. Policy and Issues for Congress.魚拓

Korean sex workers are moving abroad after new anti-prostitution laws made the world’s oldest profession more difficult at home, police say.
They are heading for the U.S., Canada and Australia, but some settle for countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan better known for export rather than import of sex workers. In North America, they apparently work in smaller cities and towns as well as big urban centers like Los Angeles, New York, Washington DC and Toronto. Hong Kong and Europe have recently been added to the list of destinations魚拓

Hige change

Do you want to know how you look with beard or mustache?
Try this site.It is fun to see your face move with mustache.

Sony--- because caucasian is too damn tall

Sony-- because Caucasian is too damn tall(youtube)
Discuss whether it is racist video or not.


Incidentally discuss why being 3 cm taller than Japanese matters to Korean people.

Japanese kids thinking up the solutions to troubles Gaijin are having.

I came across this video.日本で暮らす外国人 スピーキング・アウト授業
This is about en elementary school classroom in Japan, trying to make Japanese students think up the solutions to the troubles Foreigners have in Japan.

A Chinese woman; People sometimes look down on me saying, you are Chinese, I am Japanese.

an Argentine man:When I disagree with Japanese, some Japanese say, you are an Argentine, so you don't understand.

A kid 1 : We should set up schools to teach different customs, culture.
A kid 2; We should not discriminate if we don't want to be discriminated when we go abroad.

Laws concerning pretection of the privacy

In 2007 the survey found surveillance "endemic" in nine countries - compared to five in 2006.

The nine were - England, Wales, Malaysia, China, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and the US.

bbcEPIC

Japan
PHR2006 - Country Reports

Some references to the equality clause.

Article 14. All of the people are equal under the law and there shall be no discrimination in political, economic or social relations because of race, creed, sex, social status or family origin.
Peers and peerage shall not be recognized.
No privilege shall accompany any award of honor, decoration or any distinction, nor shall any such award be valid beyond the lifetime of the individual who now holds or hereafter may receive it.Constitution

It is generally accepted that the protection of rights and freedoms under the Constitution extends to foreign nationals resident in Japan insofar as the nature of of the given right allows it. .....
Generally, Japanese nationality is a prerequisite to holding public office . Some local governments now allow foreign nationals to be appointed to public office which does not involve the exercise of prerogatory power......
.....The Supreme Court ruled that the Government is allowed to give priority to Japanese nationals in providing social welfare under limited sources.
It should be noted that after the ratification of the Treaty on the Status of Refugees, relevant laws on social security were amended and the requirement of Japanese nationality removed.
pp. 432-433 Japanese Law second edtion Hiroshi Oda, oxford

ryokan-gyou-hou (Hotel Business Law) Article 5.
“Article 5
Hoteliers may not refuse accommodation unless one of the following applies.
1. It is clearly recognized that the guest is infected with contagious disease.
2. The guest is likely to indulge in gambling or illegal or immoral activities.
3. The hotel has no vacancy or such condition as may be stipulated by local government ordinance holds.”

It is absolutely illegal to refuse accommodation because the guest is a foreigner.

If an hotelier does not comply with the law, the government may suspend hotel license, in addition to levying petty fine of 5000 yen.(stereo/japanprobe.com/?p=5874)

(Equal Treatment)
Article 3. An employer shall not engage in discriminatory treatment with respect to wages, working hours or other working conditions by reason of the nationality, creed or social status of any worker.
(Principle of Equal Wages for Men and Women)
Article 4. An employer shall not engage in discriminatory treatment of a woman as compared with a man with respect to wages by reason of the worker being a woman.Labour Standards Law,

Article 5.With regard to the recruitment and hiring of workers, employers shall provide women equal opportunity with men.

Assignment, Promotion, and Training

Article 6. With regard to the assignment, promotion, and training of workers, employers shall not discriminate against a woman worker as compared with a man by reason of her being a woman.

Fringe Benefits

Article 7. With regard to loans for housing and other similar fringe benefits as provided by ordinance of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, employers shall not discriminate against a woman worker as compared with a man by reason of her being a woman.

Mandatory Retirement Age, Retirement, and Dismissal

Article 8.With regard to the mandatory retirement age and dismissal of workers, employers shall not discriminate against a woman worker as compared with a man by reason of her being a woman. Law on Securing, Etc. of Equal Opportunity and Treatment between Men and Women in Employment

男女共同参画社会基本法　Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society

The supremecourt acknowledged that Article 1 of the Constitutionincluded a right not to be forced to have fingerprints taken butdound the fingerprinting under the Aliens' Resistration Law to be sufficiently reasonable and necessary. Page 126

Date of the judgment

1995.12.15

Case number

1990(A) No.848

Title

Ruling concerning impression of fingerprints

Case name

Violation of the Alien Registration Law

Result

Judgment of the Third Petty Bench; dismissed
[The Court of First Instance] Kobe District Court

Court of the Second Instance

Osaka High Court

Summary of the judgment

1. Any person shall have the freedom not to be forced to impress his fingerprints as one of the freedoms in individual private life, and it shall not be permitted according to the purpose of Article 13 of the Constitution for state organs to force people to impress fingerprints without any reasonable ground.

2. Article 14, para. 1 and Article 18, para. 1, item 8 of the Alien Registration Law (before revised by the Law number 75 of 1982) requiring aliens residing in Japan to impress fingerprints shall not violate Article 13 of the Constitution.

References

Article 13 of the Constitution, Article 14, para. 1 and Article 18, para. 1, item 8 of the Alien Registration Law (before revised by the Law number 75 of 1982)Judgments of the Supreme Court

男女同一賃金
同一労働同一賃金

HO Says:
July 24th, 2009 at 6:31 pm

debito.org/?p=3895#comment-180534

Wage disparity is hardly peculiar to Japan.
http://www.weforum.org/pdf/gendergap/report2008.pdf
According to the above report, ratio of women’s wage to men’s who do similar work is,
France 50%, Italy 54%, Germany 57%, Japan 59%, UK 62%, US 69%, Canada 71%.

Discrimination against foreigners at workplace is also prohibited by Labor Standards Act. The punishment is 6 months in prison per article 119.

Labor Standards Act
Article 3　An employer shall not engage in discriminatory treatment with respect to wages, working hours or other working conditions by reason of the nationality, creed or social status of any worker.

Japanese Air Law, Article 105, Paragraph 2, clearly states that “no specific passenger or consigner will be unfairly discriminated against

更新

教育基本法第四条 　すべて国民は、ひとしく、その能力に応じた教育を受ける機会を与えられなければならず、人種、信条、性別、社会的身分、経済的地位又は門地によって、教育上差別されない。
労働基準法第三条 　使用者は、労働者の国籍、信条又は社会的身分を理由として、賃金、労働時間その他の労働条件について、差別的取扱をしてはならない。
地方公務員法
第十三条　すべて国民は、この法律の適用について、平等に取り扱われなければならず、人種、信条、性別、社会的身分若しくは門地によつて、又は第十六条第五号に規定する場合を除く外、政治的意見若しくは政治的所属関係によつて差別されてはならない。
生活保護法
第四十七条　２　保護施設は、要保護者の入所又は処遇に当たり、人種、信条、社会的身分又は門地により、差別的又は優先的な取扱いをしてはならない。
電気通信事業法
第六条　電気通信事業者は、電気通信役務の提供について、不当な差別的取扱いをしてはならない。
熱供給事業法
第十四条　四　特定の者に対し不当な差別的取扱いをするものでないこと。
石油パイプライン事業法
第二十条　四　特定の利用者に対して不当な差別的取扱いをするものでないこと。
有線テレビジョン放送法
第十四条　四　特定の者に対し不当な差別的取扱いをするものでないこと。
卸売市場法
第六十一条の二　開設者又は第五十八条第一項の許可を受けた者（以下この章において「卸売業者」という。）は、地方卸売市場における業務の運営に関し、出荷者、買受人その他地方卸売市場の利用者に対して、不当に差別的な取扱いをしてはならない。
貨物自動車運送事業法
第二十五条　３　一般貨物自動車運送事業者は、特定の荷主に対し、不当な差別的取扱いをしてはならない。
電気事業法
第十九条　２　四　特定の者に対して不当な差別的取扱いをするものでないこと。
下水道法
第二十条　２　四　特定の使用者に対し不当な差別的取扱をするものでないこと。
水道法
第十四条　２　四　特定の者に対して不当な差別的取扱いをするものでないこと。
ガス事業法
第十七条　２　四　特定の者に対し不当な差別的取扱いをするものでないこと。

The dignity of the Nation.

The book,
the dignity of the Nation is sometimes cited as an indication of Japan's resurgence of militarism. In particular, the rivial of Samurai spirit is said to be dangerous. Here are some quotes from the book.

Originally bushido comprised the rules of battle for the Kamakura period---a sort of declaration of the spirit of fair play on the battlefield. But in the course of the 260-year-long peace of the Edo period, bushido-was reined into the samurai spirit,...
From Buddhism , particularly Zen came the quiet acceptance of one's destiny , a disdain for life and friendless with death. From Confucianism bushido took the five moral relations---between the governing and the governed, father and son, husband and wife, older and younger brother, friend and friend ---as well as the merciful benevolence of the statesman for the people. From Shinto , bushido adopted the virtue of loyalty to one lord, respect for one's ancestors ,and piety toward one's parents.
Most central to bushido is sa way of thinking indigenous to Japan since days of old. Not just from era of Manyoshu, but even imagines from the Jomon period , the Japanese have instinctively possessed a moral view and code of conduct that decrees anything base to be wrong, and that the strong must not bully the weak....
The samurai spirit went into freefall after World War Ⅱ、but it was already starting to face at the start of Showa period. This decline was one of the primary factors behind Japan's beginning to behave basely, as it did invading China after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident. The folly of forging an alliance with Hitler, the author of Mein Kampf, was another result of the samurai decline.
Seen in the historical context in which they occurred, the Russo0Japan War and the Pacific War against the United States had to be fought, I believe, for the sake of our independence and survival as a nation. It was wrong , however, to create situations in which war was the only option available to Japan.
The second sino-Japan War was different. Japan may have been egged on by the arch-schemer Stalin and by Mao Zedong, but invading China was nonetheless an utterly meaningless act of bullying. Contemplated in the light of samurai ethics, it is a wholly base and shameful act.....
Had Japan invaded China in respond to provocation, then it had no reason to lose. China , after all, did not even have an air force. had Japan taken advantage of its air supremacy to make aerial bombardments before sending in the army, it would have been sure to win in any engagement. .....The whole thing was a meaningless and embarrassing episode, with the Kanto Army simply running out of control. that is why the emperor,the government , and the army were all opposed to getting deeply involved.
Our having bullied a weak opponent like this is a stain on the history of Japan.
pp164-172)

What do you think? Is it a sign of revival of Japanese militarism?

See　also Hanami web