Dear People of the World (formerly Dear Americans)

I happen to watch this show while staying at a hotel in Okinawa. The hotel subscribed to Netflix so I could watch this American show on the hotel room TV. The TV show was remake of 1980’s popular soap opera of the same name. I watched that show while I was attending a university in the US. It was 1990’s so I watched the already re-runs of the show. I was addicted to the show, which helped me improve my English ability. The plot was not very much changed from the original version. A woman named Cristal was married to an oil tycoon Blake Carrington and joined his rich family but some people in the family such as her husband’s daughter and ex-wife were hostile to her and had quarrels with them. 

But there were some drastic changes in the drama, especially casting and setting of the characters due to the time difference. 

1. Normailised portrayal of gay characters; A son of the rich family, Steven was gay. In the original version, Steven and his family struggled with his sexuality and Blake even tried to cut off relationship with his son and removed him from successors of his family business. Cristal, his new wife dissuaded him from doing so because of her gentle character. Steven was married to a woman and had a child to another woman, Cristal’s niece, Sammy Jo. But Steven later got a love affairs with men and his family finally approved of his lifestyle. Although he was a gay character but no kissing scene of two men. 

In the new version, nobody questioned Steven’s lifestyle and he and his lover, Sam, Cristal’s nephew were happily married.

2. More characters of colors; in the original version, Cristal was a white woman but new Cristal was a Hispanic woman from Venezuela. Blake’s spoiled and flapper daughter, Fallon had a love affair with a chauffeur who was a white man but in this new version, the chauffeur was a Black man and had relationship with another Black man. Cristal’s nephew Sam who later became Steven’s husband is Hispanic as well. 

Sounds good but what is bothersome is these characters or their siblings had some criminal records due to the reality? 

In fact, even today, it is unrealistic that a rich conservative white parents would be happy to know their daughter had a love affair with a man of color. 

One more thing to note is more independent working female character setting than the original. In the new version, Cristal met Blake on the board meeting of his company as a board member, PR director. Fallon was a board member and later tried to take over her father’s CEO position. In the original Cristal was just Mrs. Blake Carrington and Fallon was just a spoiled child. 

Steven was not actively involved in his family’s oil business unlike the original version due to his liberal environmentalist thought. 

The new version indeed reflects the trend of 21st century such as more accepting of gay lifestyle and racially diverse demography. It was a good history and social study material for me who enjoyed watching the original. 

To Admission Office and those responsible for the university’s alumni’s academic records,

 

السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ‎  Assalamu Alaikum

My name is MASAGATA, a Japanese man living in Tokyo.

I work as a translator between English and Japanese.

 

I am writing this letter to urge Cairo University to release the fact regarding the current Tokyo governor, Yuriko Koike’s academic record in the university. Just simple fact, did she graduate from the university obtaining Bachelor's degree of Cairo University?

 

This week Tokyo is in the election campaign for this coming Sunday’s gubernatorial election. The incumbent governor, Yuriko Koike has served 2 terms for last 8 years. She is aiming to be reelected for her third term.

 

The problem arose as soon as her third candidacy was expected. That was actually been discussed last election as well. Whether Koike graduated from Cairo University or not.

 

According to her profile, she graduated from the university in October 1976. She has already disclosed her diploma issued by the university.

 

The election bulletin printouts distributed to Tokyo residents, say Koike graduated from Cairo University. That is public announcement to the voters. That must be true. 

In June 2020, Embassy of Egypt in Tokyo posted the statement from the president of Cairo University that claims she did graduate from the university on its facebook page. So her graduation seemed already proven.  

 

But last April, her former close aide, Mr. Kojima, lawyer testified that the statement by Cairo University president was set up to cover up her inability to show the genuine record of the graduation.

 

Kojima later submitted a proposal of indictment of her falsifying the academic record to Tokyo District Attorney Office. It is illegal in Japan to falsify the candidate’s profile when running candidacy in public elections.  

 

Her academic record has been suspected for a long time since her debut as a politician 30 years ago. Before she became Tokyo governor, she was a member of Japan’s Parliament and Cabinet member.

 

Some media outlets have already inquired the university about her academic career. Then the answer was yes, she did.

 

But they’ve got no hard evidence. Kojima suggested her graduation record can be easily denied by attributing to personnel’s errors, telling someone did it without instruction from the admission office.  

 

The only hard evidence is Koike’s own diploma issued by Cairo University but the diploma has a significant error, which is misaddressing her gender as it is read “Mister Koike” instead of “Miss Koike.”

She could have noticed the error and ask the admission office to reprint the diploma but she never did.

 

Recently her former roommate in Cairo during her college days and her former sponsor who backed her attendance in the university claimed she never graduated but quit halfway because of her poor grades and she failed to elevate to senior level for graduation.

 

Since the suspicion arose as the election nears. It is rumored that the university knew the fact but not disclosing it to blackmail Koike to get subsidy or finances from Japan or Tokyo governments. In fact Cairo University has already received 300 million US$ or Euro worth subsidies or finances from Tokyo during her terms.

 

She is also said to be blackmailed by her political rivals within the Tokyo city assembly members for her secrecy. In her first term, she was not aligned with pro-development politicians but now she supports controversial development of very traditional greenery area of Tokyo, which met the citizens’ opposition.

In addition, the rumor is spread that Cairo University is part of corrupt and authoritarian regime so the university could issue diploma to anybody without adequate qualification.

So as long as she is useful, the university keeps on hiding the truth and blackmailing her to get benefits from Japan, the rumor says.

The rumor in fact, sounds offensive to the university and the nation of Egypt, doesn’t it.  

But if the rumor is true, that's intereference with Japan's national sovereignty. 

 

More and more Japanese are suspicious of the Egyptian government and people. That is a very sad thing.

 

I, myself have been to Egypt and was very positively impressed by Pyramids and other ancient ruins as you look Album on this blog.

Your image has been diluted by Koike’s unproven academic record.

 

Although such suspicion has arisen, she is expected to win the election due to her popularity among the citizens. But the rumor of her falsifying academic record can hardly disappear even after the election.

 

Tokyo District Attorney Office may inquire the university about her academic record. Can you do the same response to the attorneys as Japanese journalists?

 

If Koike did graduate, it is time to release the certificate officially issued by Cairo University so that everyone can be convinced. Sooner the better, before the election date, 7 of July 2024, only a few days are left.

 

If not, Cairo University must state that she did not clearly, immediately before the election date. Otherwise, this fact might be revealed anyway later. In that case, Koike has to lose her job as well as facing criminal charges.

If that happens, we would have to feel very much betrayed by Egypt so our friendship would be severely deteriorated because of the fact that the university supports her false academic record to deceive Japanese voters.

Cairo University would be known to conspire with her. You deceive Japanese!

In the future, Cairo University would never be considered the legitimate institution and the university honour will be destroyed.

 

Is this what you want?

A real story about women who worked in America's conservative mainstream news media network, FOX during 2016 US presidential election. 

A popular anchorwoman, Gretchen was demoted and finally fired because she refused to accept her boss, Ailes, president of FOX news network. Then she decided to sue him for his constant harassment over a year. 

Another popular anchorwoman, Megyn Kelly was also harassed by him in the past. At first she was reluctant to join Gretchen's lawsuit fight but later she joined for women's rights. 

What was surprising to me was, even in 21st century America, such cases happen in a major corporation and it was really courageous thing for women to file a lawsuit against a boss. 

Women were still dealing with harassment but tried to conceal their emotional struggle in public. They often blamed themselves for what happened. 

FOX and its owner Murdoch supported Trump. Actually FOX culture was really Trump-like, sexist and racist. But people love such culture. Actually, more people view FOX than liberal news channels like MSNBC or CNN. 

FOX is like Goebbels strategy channel, attracting and harmonizing conservative people. The media represents the very honest opinion of some major portion of America who are fed-up with political correctness and diversity campaign. FOX is like silver-fox. 

This year, another election, it seems Trump can be reelected. His opponent, Biden is not a very strong candidate. Even polls indicated Biden has got more support but Trump has been supported by hidden fans who never responded to the surveys. 

America is dominated by FOX and Trump culture. It is just scary but this is the real America we have to deal with. 

While I locked down myself to prevent novel corona virus spread at home. I just happened to rent DVD drama programs "Ossan's Love" which was aired in 2018 on one of Japan's mainstream TV network channels, TV Asahi. The drama consists of 7 episodes. Each episode was about 40 minutes long.

What was shocking to me is the comedy drama featured male gay love affairs all the way although it was aired on the mainstream channel and then it became so popular that subsequent film version was released in nationwide theatres and another version of the TV drama was aired on the same time frame next year.

The story took place in a real estate agency in Tokyo. The protagonist is 33 year-old male worker named Haruta (Middle in the picture.) Although the story evolved around him, the most important character was his supervisor Kurosawa (right edge in the photo), 55 year-old man, which in Japan commonly referred to as “Ossan” meaning “Old guy” usually middle aged.

Kurosawa was head of sales department of the real estate agency, equivalent to vice president of the company and a rich man. One day Kurosawa told Haruta that he loved him and would divorce his wife (Second from right) to be with him. Haruta was shocked to know that because he did not share love romance with his supervisor although he respected and liked him as a good business man.

Kurosawa then asked his wife for a divorce and then Haruta got involved in Kurosawas divorce quarrel. But Haruta also got in love affair with another man, Maki (left edge in the photo) in the office. But Maki had another love affair with another male worker. Two gay love triangles crossed over in the drama. Finally Kurosawa proposed marriage to Haruta.

The drama was all about gay love and love romance between man and woman was sidelined in the story. The gay male characters were portrayed as normal and decent person, not like psychopath or deviant ones. This is the big difference from the past. Gay characters were very normal and positive in the mainstream TV drama. Gay love romance was treated just as equivalent to straight people’s love.

Not just broadcast nationally on mainstream media but the show became so popular that film version and another version in which similar gay love story took place in an airline company using the same main casts next year. In 2019 version Kurosawa was a captain pilot of the airplane and Haruta was a flight attendant. Airline company is really existing company meaning commercial airline company sponsored the program. 

Recently in Japan, more people have positive views on gay relationship and more people have become supportive of gay marriage. In national assembly there are two openly gay members, who call for legalization of the same sex marriage. Some municipal governments approved of the same sex partnership and provide certificates for the residents.

This show reflects this social change.

If you are interested, you can watch the English version of the show on Netflix.