Dear People of the World (formerly Dear Americans)

I just recently bought the CD that contains the song of the below.

From the Halls of Montezuma
To the Shores of Tripoli;
We will fight our country's battles
In the air, on land and sea;
First to fight for right and freedom
And to keep our honor clean;
We are proud to claim the title
of United States Marine.

 

Very rythmical and powerful song, isn't it?

 

Then I want to ask,

What are they doing in Iraq?

Fight for right and freedom?

To keep your honor CLEAN?

See this! 

This is just like Japanese troops in China in 1930's.

I decided not to eat beef in my life. I do not eat steak or sukiyaki any more.

Beef are delicious but also very dangerous these days because of mad cow disease.

US beef imports to Japan is currently suspended now.

Actually, mad cow disease is not the only reason I stopped eating it. Raising cattles for meat consumes so much energey and burdens our planet's environment.  Cutting forest trees, Grazing the filed. Raise cattles only for milk! Let them eat only grass, not their own meat to cut cost.

Americans should eat less beef and eat more fish like we do!

 

 

Yesterday I went to the meeting to hear the testimonies of Nanking Masscre survivors. Two people showed up and talked about their experience in ther villages near the former Chinese capitol, Nanking, December 1937. They are very old people. One of them is 85 year-old man, and the other is 77 year-old woman. They were child at the time the masscre occured.

Japanese army came into their villages. The stories they told the audience (mostly Japanese) were horrible. Their parents were killed in front of them.

The old man's villagers were gathered on the ground and shot by machine-guns. 23 of them were all together killed and later stabbed by the swords. The old man was saved but sexually abused by the soldiers.

 

 

The old lady's mother was shot to death in front of her and she was also shot in her hand. Her life had changed greatly since then. She had to be married to someone for her life at the age of 12 or 13.

After the meeting I walked past the Parliament Building. The meeting was held near the parliament. It was very peaceful place. See the picture in the Photo Gallery. The contrast between the stories of the survivors and the landscape of the capitol was so big.

The reality was they are co-related. That place made a decision to dispatch troops to China at that time and caused them such painful memories. Yet the goverment has not compensated the victims. Some of the politicians expressed apologies but always after that, some of the cabinet members said something to turn down. Current prime minister visited war crimials' shrine. Their stance is so inconsistent.

Some so called right wingers are trying to rewrite the history. They believe nothing bad was done by Japanese army. They think or want to think the atrocities were made up by Chinese.

This nation is on the crisis. Now is such an important time to strengthen relationship with neighboring Asian nations but top politicians who have to place importance on national interests are deteriorating that. Unless Japan reviews and compensates the past atrocities, we will have no future.  

 

60 years have passed after Japan’s surrender in World War II, the citizens of Japan are able to speak about how much pain and suffering that they experienced as a result of the war, yet we are unable to discuss how much pain and suffering that Japan caused the citizens of other nations. To discuss such things one runs the risk of being labeled masochistic. Those in mass media willing to report upon the country’s responsibility for the atrocities that occurred during the war are also few and far between. Why do they not wish to cover such stories? One might reason that this is because the media reflects public opinion, but this is not the entire explanation. Rather it is also because the media itself bears a portion of blame.

 The photo shows an article in the August 5, 1937 edition of the Asashi Newspaper.

The headline reads, “3.5 Million Yen! A Glorious Monument to Patriotism”. The article contains a report on the collection of 3.5 million yen in donations and introduces some of the donors following the Asahi Newspaper’s collection of donations for the production of military aircraft. Even a mother and her child in elementary school are featured among the donors. However, the reality is that the military aircraft produced from these donations was flown to China and used to bomb such cities as Chongqing resulting in the slaughter of innocent civilians. Many people would probably be surprised to hear that the Asahi Newspaper collected donations for production of military aircraft. Considering that the newspaper is known for being a large liberal media outlet which often covers Japan’s accountability for war crimes such as the issue with so-called “comfort women” and the Nan king Massacre. The Asahi Newspaper may now even seem pacifist with its recent critical position towards the Japanese Self Defense Forces participation in Iraq, but this was not the case just prior to World War II.　In fact, it may be more accurate to say that this was not the case for the period between the Manchurian Incident and the end of the war. Prior to the Manchurian Incident, which thrust Japan into the messy quagmire of the 15 year war to follow, the Asahi Newspaper objected to the dispatch of troops to Siberia during the Taisho Period (1911-1926) and further took the position of moderates who were in favor of a peaceful resolution without the use of military force to protect Japan’s interests in Manchuria.

Why then did this position change? It is generally understood that this change was due to the boycotts that occurred after the outbreak of the Manchurian incident in 1931. As a public weary of the economic recession leaned towards military fervor, Asahi found that it’s stance contrary to other media and not in sync with military views resulted in a drop in its sales. After this, the Asahi Newspaper editorial policy changed drastically. 

 

Prior to the war, it is generally said that newspapers, magazines, and other media could not criticize the military because they were subject to intense scrutiny by authorities and laws limited their freedom of speech. However, this was not the only reason. Mass media of this era not only failed to criticize, it became a backer in a sense fanning the flames of war. It chose to support the war in an effort to increase circulation and sales. In other words, it did so in tune with the public opinion of the time which was in favor of war. This same phenomenon is at work today. Great example is US media's reports on wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Frankfurt School, established by Jewish Scholars who defected from Nazi Germany, is critical of mass media which takes this position. It says that the press and mass media should above all take a neutral and impartial position and should not curry favor with emotional public opinion. It is thought that the spread of Nazism in Nazi Germany was due to the bolster support provided by mass media. At that time it appeared that the papers’ sales grew and stimulated national opinion, but in fact mass media lost sight of the all important truth and dragged society in an utterly inane direction Germany, a defeated nation like Japan, chose to abolish all of the newspapers which bolstered the Nazi regime. Yet in Japan, the mass media of the prewar period survived. Moreover, it has yet to apologize to the public for the role that it played in World War II, and to this day the press club system symbolic of the cozy relationship between mass media and government officials still thrives. In fact, this may be why none of the Japanese newspapers are willing to own up to the past. It is for this reason that we, along with mass media, are unable to fully own up to our accountability and the circumstances of Japan’s defeat in the war.

On this, the sixtieth year after the end of the war, shouldn’t the media take this chance to recognize its past role in the tragedies of World War II to and apologize to the Japanese public? Moreover, shouldn’t it use this as an opportunity to apologize to the citizens of all of the countries in Asia which suffered as a result of invasions by Japan? In addition, it is imperative that we, as the passive readers and the consumers of mass media, use this opportunity to reflect on history and reexamine ourselves. We are now in the age of the internet in which media is not just limited to newspaper, television, and radio. It is time to broaden our intellect to fight back against the prevailing mass media that contorts the truth to cater to the masses. Furthermore, it is essential that we endeavor to promote the advancement of media that no matter the circumstances always meets the truth head on.

A man who has been known as "Deep Throat" exposed himself to the public.

Deep Throat was Mr. Mark Felt who was No.2 ranking officer of FBI at the time Nixon was accused of Watergate scandal.

Some say this exposion changed the watergate from journalism justice to inner politics quarrel because now we found Deep Throat was No.2 of FBI. FBI at that time was threatened by Nixon because of the organizational reform plan the president was trying to implement. FBI wanted to prevent that, then they used the Washington Post to turn the president down.

However, Watergate proved how American journalism was healthy at that time. Japanese media is in fact pets for the government. Our constitution insures freedom of speech but the media is so attached to politicians in order to protect their exclusive press club.

But American media today is becoming like Japanese. Media became conglomarit for big corporation. One example is NBC is owned by GE which has been providing products to US army, so they are not against war in Iraq. Media put the business ahead of seeking the truth.
Conglomarit is not the only aspect that changed American journalism. Public opinion became so conservative. Since 911, patriotism became the most important thing for Americans. People do not want to hear anything that sounds unfavourable to their government. Fox news is the symbol of this phenomenon.

Even the US government admits Iraq has no link with 911 attack and doesn't have WMD, FOX news watchers don't know such facts.

Our nation went through the same path in the past. In 1930's when Great Depression agonized the country's economy, the imperial army started invasion of China. Although the invasion started with fake incident that Chinese army bombed Japan owned railway and Japanese media knew it, they did not report it to the public but they rather supported the army's action which led to Rape of Nanking in 1937 and Pearl Harbor attack.

What should we learn from that?

I've heard the news that President Bush opposes ES cell research because human embryos are destroyed in the process of harvesting the cells.

Then how come he permitted the bombing of Iraq that killed hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians?

For those who supported Bush, Iraqi lives are less important than ES cells?

What is the definition of "human lives" for Americans?

I saw this movie on HBO channel at the hotel in Beijing.

The movie was with Chinese subtitle. The movie reminded me of one horrific history between China and Japan. That was biological and chemical experiments on real human bodies done by Japanese army's special unit called Unit 731. Maybe because I was in Beijing and anti-Japan riot was about to begin, I got into this story very seriously.

The story is New York's ER doctor named Guy (Hue Grant) met with a strange patient. After the patient died, he searches for the mystery of the patient's death. Then he discovered the secret experiments going on that uses homeless people's bodies. The project aims to find new way to create nerve for disabled people. So the motive was not to create biological and chemical weapons. But both of the experiments use human bodies without examinees' consent.

I used to meet with ex-Unit 731 soldier. His name was Mr. SHINOZUKA Shiro. He made a speech of his experience. He said he has been trained to be militaristic man that can give up humanistic mind. He and his collegues called the examinees "Log." The people called "Log" included Koreans, Chinese. After the war, he was captured but by Chinese government's generous policy he was released. He realised how horrible what he has done was.

Strangely ex-Unit 731 soldiers were never prosecuted even by US occupational force.
Why?
You can find a reason for that by seeing the last scene of the movie.

In the last part, Guy met with wife of the leader of the experiment. The leader died by gun shot of the quarrel between Guy and the leader's friends. She says to Guy that her husband's measure was wrong but the motive was right. She gave her late husband's corrected data of the experiment. Guy received that.

Japanese people including me should know such thing has happened in China. This week Tokyo high court rejected the compensation demand by victims and ex-victims of Nanjin atrocities and Unit 731 experiments.

I feel very sad these days.

I've heard from one Japanese student living in Shanghai that those who participated in the demonstration march were small portion of Chinese. China has a big population. Even 20,000 demonstrators is not big scale.

It is said Chinese government is using anti-Japan sentiment to distract people's attention from failures of the government's economic policy that created wider gap between the rich and the poor.

But yes there are problems on our side which provoked such riots.

One is Prime Minister Koizumi's visit to the Yasukuni Shrine that enshrined A-class war criminals of WWII. A-class war criminals were political leaders of that time including PM Tojo who ordered to attack Pearl Harbor. They are the invaders for Chinese but heroes or victims for Japanese right wingers. Koizumi and ruling party is backed up by such right wingers. The right wingers claim Tokyo tribunal that convicted A-class war criminals was unfair because the judges there were all from victors' countries. Also they claim Japan's war in China and against US was just war.

The other reason is related to the right wingers' interpretation of the history between China and Japan. They believe Japan is always right. They believe we should deny any unfavourble facts in our history such as atrocities in Nanjing, 1937. They've been campaigning to delete such facts from textbooks with politicians.

As a result, this year's newly published textbooks reduced such facts telling from previous edition.

This is outrageous. The right wingers believe it is good for our country. No. They are wrong. They are just embrassing our country.

As for A-class war criminals, I agree with their claim of unfairness of the court at that time, but we have to be aware of their responsibilities of the wrong corrupt war.

The below picture is taken in Nanjing (Nanking) last September. I was at the grave of victims of Nanking Masscre. Hundreds of thousands of innocent people were brutally murdered by Japanese army.

I do not support the riots but I understand the anger of Chinese people.

Mr. Colin Powell is one of my favorite politicians.

Although he was born in poor immigrant family, he worked hard and made brilliant accomplishments in his career, he became the first Black Secretary of State in US history. This is what the 60’s movie “Guess, who’s coming to dinner?” predicted.

Although, he was Republican, he was pro-choice of abortion issue, against forcible praying at public schools, against CA proposition 209 that bans affirmative action.

He was not only a great politician, but a cool war strategist, that is why he successfully led the Gulf war. That is why he was against the Iraq war.

The most memorable thing to me was the comment he made to 3 Japanese hostages captive in Iraq, April last year. They were kidnapped near Fallujah and the insurgents’ demand was pullout of Japanese forces dispatched in Iraq. One of them was human aid worker. The other 2 were journalists. The human-aid worker was helping street children in Baghdad. She was on her way to meet the children.

8 days later, they were released, but at the time they were released, they became the scapegoat of hysterica of Japanese politicians and society. The hostages’ travel to Iraq was very much criticized because the government released the warning of not to go there. Their respectable activities as human-aid worker and journalists were ignored.

The Prime Minister of Japan was so angry with the human aid worker’s comment that she wanted to continue her activity in Iraq although she had a hard time being kidnapped. He said “How dare she could say that, many people worked hard not sleeping and eating to rescue her.” The PM just gave up his duty as leader of Japanese government. Some politicians even ask them to pay the expense to rescue them.

Mr. Powell’s comment was totally opposite.
“I am pleased that Japanese citizens were willing to take risk to do better thing. Japanese people should be very proud that they have citizens who are willing to do this. Very proud of soldiers in Iraq. If nobody takes the risk you can’t move the world forward. You take the risk, you are captured, it is your fault. No. We still have obligation to do everything we can to recover them safely. They are the citizens and our neighbors.”

He knows the duty as politician unlike our PM.

He is in fact the great human asset of dynamic American society, isn't he.

I want to receive his message as given to me "If nobody takes the risk, you can't move the world forward."

I am Japanese and identify myself as patriot and pacifist.

In my country, there is an enormous criticism for that US dropped atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. However, I do not agree with those who criticise your country for that matter.

The following is the reasons for that,

1) Japan was the first one who started the war. Japan attacked Pearl Harbor first. Once the war is started, the rules are maximum damage on the enemy's side, the minimum damage on your side. The nation knew it when it started the war and the rules would continue until it wins or surrenders.

2) Japan did brutal masscre of civilians like Hiroshima and Nagasaki. During 1930's and US-Japan war time, Japanese army occupied China and masscred enoumous number of civilians. One of the examples is Rape of Naking in 1937. Not revewing such facts, we shouldn't blame others' brutality. In fact, we haven't reviewed the past brutality enough like Germans did.

However, I do not support US's dropping atomic bombs because civilian casualties should not happen and it started the age of nuclear war.

What do you think about my opinion?