7 August, 2005

Who's blame to is the point or not - Hiroshima arguments

» BBC News | Memories vivid in Hiroshima park
6 August
By Chris Hogg

» BBC News | The men who bombed Hiroshima

Theodore "Dutch" Van Kirk said in an interview with BBC;

We turned to look back at Hiroshima and already there was a huge white cloud reaching up more than 42,000 feet. At the base you could see nothing but thick black dust and debris - it looked like a pot of hot oil down there.

Morris "Dick" Jepson;

Everyone's thoughts turned to what devastation there would have been down below - we all had that thought on our mind because we had seen what the bomb could do.

But it was the right thing to do.

Dr Harold Agnew;

What we did saved a lot of lives in the long run and I am proud to have been part of it.

There seems an idea that what America did saved many lived. If America didn't dropped the atomic bomb, Japan would have caused more victims. Therefore, he says he's "proud" of what they did. But I can never understand how he can say it. The atomic bomb saved a lot of lives in the long run? So the victims of Hiroshima don't matter? This remark is disgusting, indeed.

» BBC News | Hiroshima arguments rage 60 years on
3 August 2005
By Paul Reynolds

How could a president, or the others charged with responsibility for the decision, answer to the American people if... after the bloodbath of an invasion of Japan, it became known that a weapon sufficient to end the war had been available by midsummer and was not used?

This can be easy to understand if you're American. However, what I fear is that glorifying and justifying the Enola Gay's "achievement" lead to overshadowing the horror of atomic bombs.

Do they know what atomic bombs are?

What Japan should do is not to keep criticising America but to tell the story of the atomic holocaust. Seeing the increasing nuclear crisis, what can Japan do?

Here are two stories of suvivors.
» BBC News | Surviving Hiroshima: Keiko Ogura
» BBC News | Surviving Hiroshima: Yutaka Nakagawa

Eliminate nuclear weapons for the sake of the world peace.

4 August, 2005

Hiroshima

What we have to remember and we should not forget.

» BBC News | In pictures: Hiroshima then and now

Hiroshima marks its 60th anniversary of the atomic bombing on 6 August. The first atomic bomb used in war was dropped by the US army in Hiroshima on the same day in 1945.

21 May, 2005

Animal kingdom

Japan is a country which has a weakness for lovely animals. People get very excited about them quickly. The animals "of the moment" are admired by people and are to control the state's politics, media and economy.

Now an animal is becoming the next hero - a standing lesser panda (red panda). The Chiba Zoological Park, located at the east end of Tokyo, is now attracting nationwide attention with the standing lesser panda.

The two-year-old lesser pand, called Futa, is able to stand on two legs for more than 10 seconds. This is zoologically very rare. That's why people are excited about this standing panda.

The panda has already appeared in the frontpage of the UK's Daily Express. Doesn't the paper have any other topic?

Well, thinking how long this fever will last, I wonder where the baby seal has gone...

This article tells what I'm talking about here more clearly and intelligibly. I cannot compete with native people.
» Guardian Unlimited | Tokyo dispatch: A nation's fate is sealed

29 April, 2005

Golden Week's frenzy

May's special holiday, Golden Week, has just started. Golden Week consists of several national holidays in this period - Greenery Day (29 April), Constitution Memorial Day (3 May), National Holiday (4 May), Children's Day (5 May). So this period based on these successive holidays is called "Golden Week" in Japan.

Thanks to perfect calendar, this year's Golden Week is superb, ranging from 29 April to 8 May. In addition to the usual holidays, two weekends come at just the right time. Tomorrow, 30 April is Saturday and 1 May is Sunday. In fact, 2 and 6 May are Monday and Friday. Though many of companies have those two days off and, even if not, many workers take them as paid holidays. Then, another weekend comes again. As a result, ten days off. What a happy calendar.

In Golden Week holidays, Japanese people are busy at moving around. University students living alone in Tokyo return to parent's house in the countryside, fathers aka salaried male worker have to take their families to amusement parks and shopping malls, and 20's rich female workers visit to Paris to buy Louis Vuitton's handbags. Crowds appear anywhere in Japan - traffic congestions on motorways and crowds at trains stations. It's no surprise. We have got used to it.

But this year, it's going to be more crazier than ever. According to Japanese travel agency, JTB, the number of tourists who travel abroad during the vacation will be more than 60 million. 60 million people!!! 60 million Japanese go outside of Japan with digital cameras. 60 million Japanese gather to only a few airports in Japan... It's crazy.

Because if the long vacation, distant destinations such as Europe and America are popular. On the other hand, owing to recent anti-Japanese movements in China, many tourist have cancelled their visit to China.

I'm not going anywhere, in particular. Meet some friends, go back to my parents' and stay usual.

Have a nice holiday.

29 March, 2005

Shall we dance, Mr. PM?

Here is an interesting picture. This is a dance of Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and American film star Richard Gere.

Gere visited at the Prime Minister's official residence in Tokyo today. He is now in Tokyo to promote his latest film, Shall We Dance?, which is a Hollywood version of the Japanese hit movie with the same title. Among some fans of Gere in Japan, there is an opinion that he resembles Koizumi in that he's got silvery hair.

Here is more to it. Yesterday, Gere astonished reporters at a press interview of the new film in Tokyo. After the interview, he walked off a stage and grabbed presenter's microphone. Then, he expressed anger over Europe's plans to lift an arms embargo against China.

I so agree with your prime minister that the European Union should not remove the ban against selling arms to China. I agree with him totally.

As to a new Chinese law which sanctions the use of force against Taiwan, he said;

They should not be rewarded for this anti-secession legislation that's in now.

These comments were related to yesterday's disagreement between Junichiro Koizumi and French President Jacques Chirac, who is visiting Japan now and said that lifting the arms embargo would not result in an increase in weapons sales to China.

He's a Buddhist and supporter of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader. He also criticised Chinese government's policy before at the Academy Awards Presentation in 1993.

» Reuter | Actor Gere Hits at Plan to Lift China Arms Embargo
28 March 2005

» BBC News | France and Japan clash over China
27 March 2005

9 March, 2005

Different type of Samurai

Today Yahoo News Japan introduced some articles about Japanese Samurai actor, Ken Matsuraida, written by American media including the New York Times.

Now many Japanese people are fascinated by his flashy song, Matsuken Samba, and his performance. As far as I know, he is just an actor, specialising in Samurai dramas. But while I was in the UK for two years, somehow he became a man of the moment. When I saw him on TV for the first time, I was astonished - his white make-up, glittering costume, samba dance and extravagant stage.

What is the most astonishing is the gap - between when he plays in Samurai dramas and when he performs as this weird samba-Samurai. The fact that he is an serious actor seems to support this boom further.

The New York Times wrote;

Perhaps it was the equivalent of Americans waking up one morning to find John Wayne transformed into the Cowboy of the Village People.

To many, the enormous success of "Matsuken Samba" struck a deep chord in a Japan gripped by uncertainty and pessimism about its future. Here was a samurai icon for a quarter century, no longer bent on fighting with his sword for a better society, transformed into a hedonistic samurai who lives only for the samba.

This summer MTV is going to promote his song in America. Is he going to be an international Samurai? In any case, this Samurai figure will twist an Samurai image of people all over the world. I'm sure in the future when I travel somewhere abroad, I will definitely be asked; "I know Japanese Samurai! They wear a golden costume and dance a samba, aren't they?"

Here is part of the lyrics of Matsuken Samba;

Olé! Olé! Matsuken Samba! Let's fall in love, amigo. Let's dance, señorita. Let's forget about sleep and dance through the night! Samba! Viva! Samba!

» The New York Times | A Samurai And Japan Get Samba Night Fever
19 February 2005
By Norimitsu Onishi

7 March, 2005

Sony's link with Wales

Today, Sony announced Nobuyuki Idei, its president and CEO, is going to step down from his post and nominated Howard Stringer, currently chief executive of the Sony Corporation of America, as a new CEO.

Idei became CEO in 1995. For the first few years, he was being in luck. With favourable elements such as Play Station's hit, the profitable movie sector and strong Yen, Idei was successful in presenting his management skills. However, recently Sony's sales of main products have been ailing. As a result, Sony decided to carry out this personnel reshuffle as part of the reformation.

Personally the point of this news is a new CEO, Howard Stringer. It is a first time for Sony to take non-Japanese into its top management team.

Mr Stringer's appointment as chairman and chief executive is a ground-breaking move designed to symbolise Sony's determination to bring about corporate change, the BBC's Tokyo correspondent Jonathan Head says.

AND, to my surprise, this 63-year-old CEO is born in 1942 in CARDIFF, WALES. Do you know the connection between Wales and Sony? They have been related, since Sony opened its first factory in Wales in 1974. Prince Charles has once visited the factory.

When Sony announced its reform plan called "Transformation 60" that would result the downsizing　of 20,000 workers worldwide, Welsh workers was threatened with closure. But they were saved as a result.

So, is he going to turn round Sony's fortunes like Japanese car manufacturer, Nissan's Carlos Ghosn has done?

He doesn't speak Japanese, by the way. And he's Sir.

» BBC News | Sony appoints first foreign head

7 January, 2005

Haves and have-nots

What happened in the Indian Ocean is the worst earthquake disaster ever in history. As a citizen of one of the world's most earthquake-prone nations, this does matter to me. There are lots of earthquakes in Japan. It's been only two weeks since I came back to Japan. But I've already experienced two earthquakes. Scary.

I came across an article, in the BBC website, about quake and tsunami measures in Japan. In this article, writer Jamie Miyazaki says;

Underpinning this cutting-edge warning system are strict new building laws to protect against tsunamis and quakes, and good disaster planning that have so far kept Japanese casualties from such natural disasters low for such a vulnerable nation.

However, he adds, "the system comes with a price-tag - around US$20m a year." As he says, of course, this is too expensive to poorer nations - like the countries affected by the quake. And he concludes;

With some underwater quakes in Japan occurring just a few kilometres offshore, it could take only five minutes for tsunamis to hit land. That would make even Japan's cutting-edge system effectively useless, without further advances.

Even though Japan spends enormous money in the tsunami/quake system, terrible power of nature can be surpass Japan's technology. I think we know power of nature is immense. But we need to make efforts to minimize the damage. Some say if the countries, which have incured massive damage in this quake, had any system, the things would have been much better. But they don't have money. Where can they find money to allocate such an invisible monster? Before it, there are so many problems to be solved.

This makes me think why poorer people (always) have to be vulnerable. Almost all problems on this planet we have to combat are related to them. AIDS, hunger, malnutrition, conflict, bla bla bla... How can haves deal with the gap between them and have-nots? Ummm, difficult.

» BBC News | How Japan handles tsunami threat
5 January 2005
By Jamie Miyazaki