21 August 2007
"Tokyo Joe" Humphrey Bogart in Japan
The film was shot in late 1940's Japan which was occcupied by U.S. led allied forces.
Humphrey Bogart was starred in this film as Joe, who came back to Japan after the war. Before the war Joe managed a club in Ginza, which is Tokyo's most famous shopping and entertainment district like 5th Avenue in NY.
The story was like post-war version of "Casablanca." The plot is very similar. Joe re-encountered his past lover in Tokyo, but she was already married to another man. First he was jealous of her but later he tried to help her out.
I was really surprised. "Casablanca" was war propaganda movie against enemies like Germans. But this movie was kind of friendship movie with Japan which was also the enemy during the war. It seems to reflect post-war diplomatic policy of U.S.
The description of Japan was not very strange even though it was filmed in such old days. Very precise, in fact. The streets, black markets, airport. Japanese characters portrayed in the film were very real. The film producers showed respect to our people. Bogart spoke some Japanese, not good accents but very accurate words.
In the last part, Joe said to his Japanese friend, "We are not enemies any more. Now we're helping you to stand up against old system."
Yes, indeed, we became democratic nation with the help of the U.S. and two countries became greatest friends.
Bogart was a great prophet. Thank you, Americans.
21:40 Posted in Film, US-Japan relationship | Permalink | Comments (0) | Tags: Humphrey Bogart, International Relations, Tokyo
16 August 2007
Apollo never went to the moon!?
A few years ago, there was a shocking TV show broadcasted in Japan. It was translated version of "Did we land on the moon?" It was a hoax theory of Apollo lunar landing that took place in 1960's and 70's. It was broadcasted in U.S. already on FOX channel that gave a shock to American viewers.
After Japan's hoax theory boom, a few books about this topic were published and I bought 2 of them.
The following are the famous reasons that the lunar landing was fake.
1. The flag was waving in the vacuum moon surface.
2. The same mountain shape of the photos that should have been taken in different places.
3. Humans could never pass Van Allen radiation belt, which covers the earth because of enormous amount of radiation passing through the rocket.
The answers from NASA are the below.
1. It did not wave because of the air, it waved because the astronaut was rolling the pole to stick it on the ground.
2. The two photos were shot a few miles apart, but the background mountain was miles away from the both shooting points.
3. Van Allen radiation belt was safe as long as the rocket stayed there less than an hour.
Well, I just believe what NASA says. But what if NASA lied?
The books I bought suggested some interesting points of the theory.
Van Allen belt is flexible one, it can stretch to longer than NASA claimed. In fact, not so much was known about this radiation belt in 1960's. The belt was discovered in late 1950's. Russians were reluctant to manned mission to the moon because of this heavy radiation belt.
What is important is Apollo mission was the mission the U.S. government never wanted to fail. They did not care about the astronauts' lives but they cared about national pride. It was amid Cold War and Vietnam war. Failing the project means losing the war to the communists and trust from the voters.
They neither fail nor cancel the mission. Apollo mission was assassinated JFK's promise. It has to be acomplished by the end of 1960's.
Think about it, did they want to air failing mission on live worldwide? At that time, there was a great possiblity of the mission failing as well as succeeding.You never know what would happen in the outer space. Even the rocket got in a trouble, no one could come and support.
It was much cheaper to set up the studio that looked like moon surface than to really send men to the moon without sufficient technology.
If it was hoax, what about moon rocks that was said to be taken from the moon and reflection mirror placed by the astronauts?
These things can be done by unmanned mission, in fact Russians did. As for moon rocks, you can find ones in Antarctica which became meteorites.
The reason I kind of believe the hoax theory is not because of anti-America sentiment. I am American lover.
One is I do not trust media and information from the authority. As Goebbels said, people tend to believe big lies rather than small lies. No one could deny such big project really existed once it was reported worldwide.
The other is there should be a limitation on our technology, especially things related to space programs. We were born on the earth and will be dead on the earth, no other places to go. I do not like to live in space. Try not go so far, stay on this planet, that is our destiny.
These days, ecology crisis has been a biggest issue in this world, so I would say "Rather than spending so much money on space project to make dreams come true or to escape from the earth, we should concentrate on fixing this damaged environment of our precious planet. That would be good for our descendants."
23:35 Posted in Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | Tags: Apollo, moon, conspiracy theory
11 August 2007
Do not bring 3rd atomic bomb to our capital!
I recently heard very, very surprising news that the U.S. navy has decided to station nuclear aircraft carrier, George Washington in Yokosuka city, which is 2 hour train ride from the capital of Japan, Tokyo. In fact it was agreed more than 3 years ago between the U.S. and Japanese governments.
Outrageous and stupid! Japanese government allowed that happen. How ignorant they are!
We are paying so much money to the U.S. military. The government have to let them not to do what we hate.
Nuclear aircraft carrier is so dangerous. They've made some radioactive leaking accidents in the past.
The carrier will be stationed there permanently, we will have to live with the danger for half a year long every year.
If the worst thing happens in the Yokosuka, people living in the capital area would be required to evacuate, 30 million people have to leave! No way! Impossible! Millons of people would die after the accicent by cancers. It is like 3rd atomic bomb after Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Local residents near Yokosuka navy base are suing the government not to construct pier to station the carrier. Since the carrier is US navy's property and its operation information is highly classified, we would never know how actually the inner nuclear reactor is operated nor intervene their operation. Even an accident happens, the U.S. government would not take any responsibility nor compensate for the damage because US-Japan Status of Force Agreement stated so.
It is time Japan rethinks the militaristic relationship with the U.S. We cannot get along with the U.S. navy's policy.
They made us help invade innocent Iraq.
We, ourselves have to realize the only military that can protect our country is ours. We have to amend the constitution so that we can have full-fledged military force so that we do not have to rely on the U.S. military any more.
Please read this article NUCLEAR CARRIER UNWELCOME on Japan Times. Yokusuka base is only 20 miles away from Japan's capital, Tokyo. This is just outrageous! U.S. government has to know this would just threaten relationship between the two countries. I became very anti-US person after I hear this news. A lot of us would be.
God damn America! Yankees, GO HOME!
13:05 Posted in Politics, US-Japan relationship | Permalink | Comments (1) | Tags: Nuclear aircraft carrier, military, navy, environmentalism, Tokyo, Nuclear power, nuclear weapon
02 August 2007
How Japan should react to "Comfort Women" Resolution
Is Japan regressing to its pre-war condition? The past and present cause me very much to think so. Prime Minister Abe’s pronouncement that the “Imperial army’s comfort women were not coerced in the strict sense of the word” has shaken the American political world and media. Consequently, criticism of Japan has risen, and the American Congress has adopted a resolution demanding that Japan apologize to the WW II comfort women in Asia.
In some respects, this evokes close resemblance to past generation. Before the war was an era before Japan and America were in conflict. During this era, criticism of the Japanese invasion of China mounted, and the Rape of Nanking was widely reported, leading to boycotts of Japanese products, etc. Americans at the time empathized with the Chinese, who were suffering under the Japanese, and with public opinion as a causal factor, sanctions against Japan in the form of the ABCD encirclement were implemented. "A" is America, "B" means British, the “C” means China and "D" means Dutch . At the time, in Japan , there was a sense that the Japanese themselves were not at fault over the sanctions, and with their backs to the wall there would be no option but to retaliate. They merely excused their stance out of emotional theory, which led to the attack on Pearl Harbor .
The same is happening now. Just as before, the conservative media and politicians claim that the Japanese government is not responsible for the comfort women problem, and maintain their position that the facts should be reexamined. This, despite the fact that an examination was completed 14 years ago, and the Secretary of the Cabinet at the time admitted in conversation direct army involvement. Just as in the prewar years, the judgment is extremely inward-looking and purely subjective. Further, there is no strategy behind the action. There is no sense that the resulting destination has been coolly considered. Indeed, it resembles Japan just prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor .
Nevertheless, in one sense, I can hope that the current adoption will lead to a cooling off. This is because public opinion and politics in America, which is our greatest ally overseas, has started to become greatly involved in the problem of our war responsibility, which was hitherto thought to be merely a problem of the Right and Left. This is so-called “outside pressure”. This is not merely ideology, but clearly starting to develop into a question of national interest. The outside viewpoint becomes clear, forcing us to realize just how irrational our actions are. Relations with China and Korea have already chilled because of the ceremonial visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, and at this juncture, America can also now be added. This closely resembles the process that led to the formation of the ABCD encirclement previously. The adoption of this resolution may cause Japan to feel a sense of humiliation like having been scolded by a teacher. This should not lead, however, to citing “hara-kiri” as in the past, but should be linked primarily to coolly considering what is in the national interest. I want Japan to quit acting on emotion alone.
The first thing should be done is that Prime Minister Abe resign from his position. He made things worse.
22:10 Posted in Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | Tags: war, International Relations, feminism, history