tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714063.post360312511566654494..comments2023-10-09T00:45:55.603+09:00Comments on Shisaku: I Me MineMTChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04626942240117432624noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714063.post-68973910289304961842008-08-18T17:37:00.000+09:002008-08-18T17:37:00.000+09:00Japan is going to be in a tricky situation when pr...Japan is going to be in a tricky situation when procuring resources abroad due to the US's strategy of pressuring Russia and China. The Brzezinski approach will probably lead to at least a new Cold War, and possibly more. <BR/><BR/>This may end up being dramatically rougher for Japan than the last Cold War, which actually benefited Japan.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714063.post-64359981263292278452008-08-18T15:58:00.000+09:002008-08-18T15:58:00.000+09:00One cannot help but agree with your assessment of ...One cannot help but agree with your assessment of the rather scary idea of the ministries trying to "round up" various resources, particularly give their track record.<BR/><BR/>On the Ashio Mine "bit", there is a lot more to it than that. Not only were various metals (gold, copper, silver) and coal critical and widely -- even voraciously -- exploited during the Edo and Meiji periods, the mining activities from that era (and extending into the Showa, of course) still scar much of the landscape of wide sections of Japan. In Akita, for example, there are whole townships (Now Kita Akita City and Kazuno City, or example) where the mountains are honeycombed with abandoned mines creating a pretty major hazard to anyone wandering about in them. The abandoned mineheads are concrete scars visible for miles. Finally, many of the rivers and streams are in interesting blue/green color because of copper pollution. All of this is in addition to a rather shady history of "labor relations" that seems to have involved various forms of slave labor (Chinese, Korean and "domestic"). Much of Kita Akita City is now sugi plantation (as much as 92% in some townships) but it had the fourth largest population in Akita Prefecture in the first national census in 1920.<BR/><BR/>Japan obviously did have substantial raw materials and basically exploited them until they were exhausted and now pleads poverty even while folks in many areas of Japan live with the scars.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com